Eli's First Haircut

Most of you know that my child was born with a head full of dark brown hair. I remember the day he was born hoping and praying that he would have hair. I don't know why it concerned me so much because I would have loved him just as much if he had been bald headed! For 8 months, we have brushed, combed, washed, styled, and parted his hair into all sorts of hairdos. His hair has become so much a part of his little personality that you will hardly ever find my child in a hat because it makes him look like a completely different baby. Just recently, I really started to notice that Eli was in need of a haircut. He has wavy hair, thanks to me, and it's not very easy to style. (Sorry, kid, you'll have to spend a few minutes in front of the mirror when you get older and actually care about what you look like.) We lovingly referred to his normal "do" as the "Donald Trump comb over" because that's exactly what it looked like. There simply wasn't any other way we could style his hair. If you put it in a Mohawk, it curled. If you tried to comb it straight down, it got into his eyes. A haircut was definitely a must have!

While we were visiting my parents, Eli and I went to Cloud 9 for his first haircut. I had already scheduled an appointment on our way to Shreveport the day before, so Saturday morning we met my mom at Cloud 9 for Eli's first encounter with scissors. Did I have any fears, you might ask? I'll ask you a question in return...do you know my child?! Have you ever read a post where I described him as a calm baby who loves nothing more than to sit in your lap and lounge? Of course, I was nervous! I knew that if his haircut came out looking even halfway decent, I would have TONS of respect for the stylist.

Fun Fact: Eli had his hair cut by the same girl that cut my hair when I was pregnant with Eli and donated it to Locks of Love back in April of 2008. I'm growing my hair out again, so I can donate it once more, but this really makes me want short hair again.


We arrived at Cloud 9 and took Eli's BEFORE picture with all his baby hair he's had since birth.

BEFORE

Crystal put a smock on me and then got a children's smock for Eli. She said the easiest thing for her would be for me to hold him in my lap while she cut his hair. Excuse me? Did you just say hold my child while you attempt to cut his hair? I told her we would definitely give it our best shot! There was no reason for my fears because Eli did so well. There was a gigantic mirror directly in front of us and he started at his reflection most of the time. Okay, so we're a little vain, but we can work on that! At least, his haircut turned out okay :)

Playing peek-a-boo with Ms. Crystal

Let the snipping begin!

Sitting like a big boy!

Getting some reassurance from Mommy

"You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you...."

Watching Ms. Crystal in the mirror

Still sitting like a big boy :)

I guess she took a little too much off the top.

Eli made Ms. Crystal really work for her money!
Here he is checking out the floor and yes, she kept right on cutting his hair!

Almost finished...trimming the back

Getting to use the big boy clippers
(I thought this would scare him to death, but it didn't!)

Admiring his new look :)

AFTER
Much more polished and put together, don't you think?

Eli and Ms. Crystal

He wanted to keep the tip for himself.

Giving Ms. Crystal her money

Eli's First Haircut Certificate with the locks of his hair
Sniff, sniff :'( My baby is growing up!!!

Road Trip: Part 1 "Trip to Grammy and Pop's"

Last Friday, Eli and I set out on our first trip together to visit my parents. Josh and his mom were kind of nervous about me going 4 hours away on my own with an 8 month old baby, but for some reason, I wasn't worried at all. I had already decided that I would go the Monroe way since it had more places along the highway I could stop if Eli got really upset. I also planned a little pit stop in Monroe to allow us to stretch our legs before the final 2 hours of the trip. I wasn't worried at all; in fact, I was pretty excited about our trip. The plan was to leave around 8:30 that morning, but typical me left about an hour late. I knew that Eli would be really tired, assuring me a peaceful trip to Monroe at least. Just like I predicted, he was sound asleep literally minutes after leaving Vidalia. We made it to Monroe for our first pit stop. I parked the car in the mall parking lot, got Eli's bottle out, and when I jumped in the back seat to feed him, this is what I found. (The gold thing in his mouth is one of my bangles that I gave him to help keep him focused during his bottle.) Look at his sweet angelic face! I love this boy so much!!!


About a year ago, I went to the eye doctor for the first time and found out that my vision is not quite as perfect as it used to be. I have this pair of glasses that I pretty much only wear when I drive (or when I remember that I have them). This was Eli's first time to see Mommy with glasses and it threw him for a loop. He didn't know what had happened to his Mommy.


We stayed in Monroe for almost 2 hours and accomplished quite a bit. We shopped at Old Navy, JCPenney, and a few other stores in the mall, both ate our lunch, shopped at Target, and then got back on the road again. Eli ate his baby food while we shopped in Target, so when we got on the road again, he went to sleep before we got on the interstate. I was so happy! He didn't wake up until we were about 30 minutes away from my parents' house and still didn't fuss or cry. He was a super traveler!!

When we got to the house, Uncle Caleb was just leaving for work, so that left just the two of us and lots of animals (dogs-Meg, Sophie, Annabelle, and Max; cats-Sunnye, Baby, A.J. and Thomas). Eli was in heaven!! I think he's definitely going to be an animal lover like his Mommy because anytime one of the animals would walk by him, he'd let out a loud, high-pitched squeal of delight. It was precious!

After his bottle and one of his classic 30 minute naps, Eli was ready to go swimming. Pop and Grammy have a pool and at first, I just let Eli dip his feet into the water, but that wasn't good enough for him. He kept straining so much to get in the pool completely that we finally just got our swimsuits on and went for a swim. We were walking out the door when my Uncle David and my cousin, Emily, showed up ready to swim as well. They came in for a couple of days to celebrate my grandmother's birthday and were staying with her (she lives behind my parents). We all jumped in the pool and Eli and Emily had a wonderful time swimming together. Eli even gave her a few kisses :) While we were swimming Grammy arrived home from work bearing wonderful gifts-coffee birthday cake and Johnny's pizza (possibly, the BEST pizza ever!). She changed clothes and came to see her little man. Eli was so happy to see her!


Eli ate his supper out by the pool. (Sidenote: You probably are thinking that I'm a horrible mother who isn't concerned at all about how her child looks because Eli's face is always dirty. Guilty, I know. But, my child hates to have his face cleaned, and we always bathe after supper, so I usually wait until then.) Then it was time for him to get his bath and get his jammies on for bedtime. He was going to have a very busy day the next day and needed his sleep.

Meg, one of the resident "dog"phins at Mom and Dad's house.

Grammy bought Eli 2 baseball hats and they really
make him look like a little boy.

Trying to figure out who Uncle David is

My Lil' Playa

'Sup man!

Sprinkler Fun

Last Thursday, we went over to Zue-Zue's house for dinner with Mammy and Uncle Clare. After we ate, Clare and Josh went outside to try and fix Sue's sprinkler system that wasn't working. Mammy grabbed Eli and they went outside to join in on the fun. My child obviously has that magical button that all little kids are born with that naturally attracts them to water because he LOVED playing in the sprinklers. Clare would pick him up to get him away from the water and Eli would crawl right back to it. He had a blast! Once again, this post has lots of pictures, but it's so hard to choose!!

Blurry, but I love his sweet smile.

Pure Joy!!

This one cracks me up :) This looks like a little kid
doing a fake smile because his Mommy wants to take a picture (again!).

Practicing his walking in the grass

Water Boy

Eli went swimming in his pool from Grammy and Pop again this week. He had so much fun, especially anytime Maggie got near him. Those are the pictures where you'll see a HUGE smile on his face. I took tons of pictures and they're all cute to me, so I posted them all! Warning!!! Picture Overload!! Just for the avid World of the Wilson's fans!!!