I am very grateful to those of you who pushed me to call the OB. I am a terrible, terrible wimp about calling the on-call doctor. I’ve done so only one time in my whole life, and it was when I thought I was in early labor with the twins—and even then, I waited until the sun came up to call. I tell you this with cringing shame. But anyway, I did call the OB on Saturday, because you guys are so bossy, and I got a very bossy antibiotic that won’t let me eat for 2 hours before or 1 hour after taking it and makes me set an alarm to take it in the middle of the night, and I am so so SO glad I got it two days earlier than I would have if I’d followed my usual wimpy ways.
Elizabeth is going to cause me to lose whatever mind I have left. After several nights of going down fine for bedtime and naps, she’s back to the crying. Last night she cried for an hour and a half after her bedtime. I finally went in and snuggled her and patted her and comforted her—and then when I put her in her crib she cried. So then I rocked her to sleep, feeling both Right and Wrong about it, and she didn’t wake up when I put her in her crib, but she DID wake up at 3:30 a.m. and didn’t go back to sleep. So! You can imagine what a happy, happy household we are this morning, with a crabby, nodding-off mother and a crabby, tired toddler. She keeps emitting these SCREAMS at NOTHING, and I am about ready to join her.
Today I really must start packing for the trip to my cousin’s wedding. We leave Thursday morning, which means I have three days for packing. I must do it! I must! I must stop blogging and go start on the packing!
I have been waiting so long to dye my hair again. I’d dyed it back to my own color shortly before getting unexpectedly pregnant, and my OB has a stroke if his patients color their hair, so even though I keep reading it’s probably safe, I don’t like to tease him and I’ve been suffering my natural color for about ten months now. That’s too long. Last night I colored it—and the color didn’t take. Did you know that hair color can expire? I did not—and if I HAD known, I would have assumed it was like those things that tell you to throw out ALL your make-up every 2/3/6 months. Not because they want more of your money, oh no! It’s purely because they are concerned about your health!
I’ve acquired many boxes of hair color on one clearance or another, and I’ve been sitting here all smug on my pile of riches—but now I find out that I am sitting on a pile of useless boxes. The active ingredients change with time, so you can get a different color than you expect, or patchy results, or no effect at all. I guess I should be grateful that I got the last option, but I was still disappointed: I was expecting to see my light-absorbing brown-blonde change to a more appealing, light-reflecting, blondier color. But no! I removed the towel for the big reveal—and there was my very own brown-blonde as usual, sucking the light and color from the room. Well, now I have to toss out a bunch of hair color, and then go buy another box.
At least my hair is all yum soft from the conditioner that comes with the hair color, so if you met me in the dark you would think I had great hair. Man, why don’t they sell that conditioner separately? It is so much better than any conditioner I’ve ever used.
Why don’t you save all the conditioners from the expired boxes and just throw away the actual color? Then you can have the silky softness whenever you want.
EEEE! ears!
and I as thinking the same thing about harvesting those boxes for the conditioner. Maybe you can try another box, see what happens this time.. it’s like playing hair roulette!
Shelly!! You saved me from making a sad mistake!! I hadn’t even THOUGHT of taking out the conditioners before tossing the hair color!! These children, they are stealing my brain.
i love the conditioner in those boxes. i always need two boxes for my hair and i ration and cherish those two little conditioners for as long as i can
Why oh why won’t they sell that conditioner separately? I even wrote to the company begging them to, and they were glad to hear that I liked it so much, but sorry to say that it was only available with the hair color and that there were no plans to sell it separately. But I WANT it!
AAAH! But they do sell the conditioner seperate now….it costs about as much as the box of hair dye for the teeny tiney tube. I just ration my tube for like, 8 weeks after I color my hair and then it’s time to do it again anyway.
And also, mental note to throw those old boxes of dye away under the sink….
Sara: WHERE WHERE WHERE WHERE WHERE TELL ME MORE!
First of all, I am late, but: Congratulations on the beautiful new baby! What an adorable picture you have up today! I’ve been reading your blog for a while, but I don’t think I’ve ever commented, so here I am today. One thing I love the most about your blog is when you talk about baking and share your recipes. I’ve even tried the Ranger cookies, they were delicious! So when I heard about the Cookie Challenge from you, I couldn’t resist writing a whole post on cookies, and it is up now. I am definitely looking forward to all the other cookie posts and hope more will join in soon!
All the best to you!
That baby is too beautiful. Good luck with the packing and sleeping. You are admirably frugal, coloring your own hair. I insist on going to the salon. Maybe because I need those two hours of quiet.
Can you turn this misfortune into a necessary trip to Target??
Oh man, I need to go dye my hair now.
Sorry to hear about your daughter. How are all your kids adjusting to the new edition? Do they all display weird behavioral things after a new baby comes home? Do the older ones get immune after the first one or two?
First and foremost, what a darling picture! Secondly, you CAN buy the conditioner at beauty supply stores! And last but not least, I’m SO glad you called the doc. Hope you feel all better soon.
OH, that picture! I love it so!
I have also had this problem, my hair has been looking frazzled and dull despite my various VERY EXPENSIVE conditioners and detangling/shine sprays. And then I tried this John Frieda Luminous Color Glaze. It works… not kidding, my hair went from frazzled to soft and gleaming in the space of a single shower. You can find it on the website but I’m sure Target stocks it too
http://www.johnfrieda.com/products/products_main.asp?section=products&subSection=lcg&lineID=5
It can expire? Good grief! You would think they’d put that in giant bold letter somehwere.
At least your hair didn’t turn our hot pink like mine did when I tried to go strawberry blonde (apparently natural blondes should never do such thing and it cost me 300$ to fix it and be reprimanded).
Yes, hot pink. I was a punk rocker momma! :)
Get to packin, lady! :)
Oh and good you called the doctor, that is what they are there for. And Henry is all sorts of beautiful infanty goodness :)
Good luck with packing. We just got back from a five day road trip with our two kids and I found that packing is HARD! We go again in a few weeks and I hope I’ll do better next time.
I love that conditioner too! Unfortunately, I usually need about two of those teeny bottles because I have crazy thick jungle hair.
I usually use the deep conditioners from Garnier Fructis after I realized they were just as good as the $28-a tub-Keratase brand.
Beautiful picture, Swistle. May vibrant color and much-needed sleep find you soon!
i’ve been admiring your baby and enjoying your writing in lurkitude for ages, but i’ve decided to come out of the woodwork ;-)
apparently i should have checked the date on the last hair dye i used, because instead of coming out a nice vibrant natural red, my head was that alarming purple color that only little old french ladies like. except in the sun, when it somehow reflected radioactive-bright orange. it was awesome.
Have fun on your trip. Sorry you are in what I like to call “sleep hell”
if it matters, we’re there too, so you’re not alone. The random ear piercing screaming is my favorite part.
Catharina: I liked your post, and I printed out your metric recipe for Paul, who lurrrrrrrrves metric. (I got him metric measuring cups for Christmas.)
Kathi: YOU BET I WILL. Not only do I need more hair color, I need to claw the shelves for the conditioner everyone is promising me exists.
Penny: Short answer is that so far only the girl has freaked out about new babies. Long answer seems like a good idea for a post!
Brillig: Tell me what to ask for! I get dazzled by all the rows of choices.
Emblita: I’ll check Target for it! “Soft and gleaming” = good.
Andreanna: Were you tempted to leave it pink for awhile?
Mona: I’m going to try the Garnier!
If anything, you can still buy hair dye on clearance, but just use the conditioner. (I wouldn’t have thought to harvest the conditioner, either. Smart commenters are the best!) My hair recently choked on my 10 buck Rusk conditioner (from Target!) and so I went back to an old high school favorite, Aussie’s Three Minute Miracle. And it is – a miracle! Soft and silky and NOT TANGLY.
Henry is precious, gorgeous. I am eating up all your newborn posts and hoping I can be this coherent in a month!
I think I must be the only one who hates the hair color conditioner. It’s far too much for my bordering-on-greasy hair. 12 hours after using it, I look like the Exxon-Valdez crashed on my head.
I colored my hair last night, too. I used that new Revlon Colorist stuff. It comes with a conditioner that’s tinted the same as the base color, so you get a “color boost” once a week for six weeks. It’s wicked cool. And the dye was nice, too. No ammonia smell and my hair turned the EXACT shade on the box. The never happens with Nice & Easy.
Anyhow, back to conditioners. The NutriGloss stuff from L’Oreal Vive Pro is super nice. The conditioner proved to be too “conditiony” for my hair, but I bet you’d love it. Shiny and silky soft.
I am so glad you got your antibiotic, because it sounds like, between a suckling Henry and a screaming Elizabeth, you really don’t need a raging infection to deal with as well.
And I am SO SORRY about the sleep thing. It’s one thing when a tiny newborn wakes up all night. Your body is sort of hardwired to be patient and up for it, even though you know you’ll feel it in the morning. But when a toddler is up all night? It is so not the same. You feel compassion, still, of course, but also kind of like screaming, “WHAT DO YOU WANT? WHAT WHAT WHAT?!”
Sam: Oh! I’d forgotten about 3 Minute Miracle! I used to use ALL Aussie stuff. I wonder why I stopped?
Erica: Getting the color shown on the box is like the HOLY GRAIL of home hair coloring. I’m going to have to try that kind.
Do you know, I have NEVER colored my hair. Not once. I need a hair cut and then I think I will ask for color recommendations that I can DIY. I’m too cheap to go with a professional.
Hopefully you will get some more sleep soon. We’ve been letting D fall asleep on the couch and then leaving her there to sleep as long as she wants too until she comes into bed with us. Great parenting, I know, but sleep is hard to come by these days.
Hope the incision is feeling tip top ASAP!
I want cookies, too. I bought chocolate chips today.
I started reading “Lamb” tonight. I LOVE IT!!!