Friday, December 21, 2007

The Precious Locks Are No More





We finally did it. We cut Maxwell's precious locks off. Okay, they weren't precious to him, just to Steve and I, and maybe some family and friends who got attached to the glorious strands. Steve and I had discussed the matter several times but just couldn't find the courage to take action. A bad haircut from me is what finally sealed the deal. I trim Maxwell's hair every 4 weeks or so, only cutting approximately 1.5 inches, but last week I was a little less precise with the scissors and gave him a minor mullet. So rather than try to fix the bad haircut myself I decided it was high time he had a haircut from a professional. The morning of I decided that maybe it was time for short and spiky. I really loved his hair, but he definitely had good and bad hair days, which just isn't right for a boy. The day after we washed his hair was always the worst hair days because it didn't have enough build-up yet to be styleable (you all know what I mean), and then everyday thereafter got better. I am making it sound like he went weeks without a washing, but it was usually just 3 or 4 days. I took him to Great Clips in a really bad hair state (mullet and bed head), and we had the most friendly hairdresser I have ever met, Tonya, as our professional. She did a wonderful job, but Steve and I were still in mourning for 2 days. Although it was very fun to kiss his skinny little neck, because we hadn't seen the back of it for a long long time. I am now accustomed to his new look, and have not yet decided if the locks will be grown back or not. For the time being, I love that it only takes 30 seconds rather than 3 minutes to do his hair. Also, I think Max likes it because I told him it makes him look 6, instead of 5 1/2!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Scrubs



Last week Steve was feeling a little bit stressed in his role as breadwinner, as I'm sure most breadwinners do at times, so I thought it would be really fun to have a special night to remind him how much we love and appreciate his hard work each day. Most nights when Steve walks in the door the kids call out, "hello Dr. Steve Payne". I'm quite sure this greeting emerged from listening to Steve on the phone as he is checking to see how his patients are doing in the evening. When he makes those check-up calls he refers to himself as Dr. Steve Payne, so after hearing that repeatedly the kids must have decided it would be fun to use that title for Daddy also. With this as my inspiration I hatched a great plan. We all dressed in scrubs and jumped out to surprise Steve as he walked in the door. We also shouted out in unison "we love you Dr. Steve Payne". I think he loved it, or at least he pretended like he did. Then we ate a steak dinner, because that is one of Dr. Steve Payne's favorite meals. For family night we sang Daddy's favorite songs and had Daddy share his favorite scripture. Hopefully this helped a little in boosting the confidence of our favorite breadwinner. (Sidenote: This is what Sophie's hair looks like when her ponytails come out for the night. We call her our little cocker spaniel!)