A hair cut and then some...

Okay, so I have been cutting my boy's hair since he needed one, the first one when he was 2 months old. MONTHS, not years!
Now, since his hair grows faster than grass after a week of rain, I have given him numerous haircuts. So many in fact that I stopped counting. He has had one professional hair cut when he was around 6 months old, but I have cut it on all the other occasions. I asked Jim yesterday...he stopped counting at 12, and Zander has had a few more after that.

The day before yesterday I noticed that his bangs were hanging in his eyes and I got out my "Mommy" scissors. Only I am authorized to use those and I use them exclusively for hair: Jim's, KK's, Zander's and my own bangs.
So Wednesday evening I was able to get his bangs and the hair on top of his head done. All I needed to do was trim the back and sides, by his ears.
Now, this whole hair cutting business has become exceedingly difficult due to Alexander's moving around, pulling his head one way with a jerking motion when I try to get it to go the other way. I have tried to do it while he is asleep, but to no avail: he starts rolling his head from side to side in his sleep.
Kaitlyn has helped me by distracting him, which works up until a certain moment, when he decides I messed with his hair long enough.
Last night I decided to finish by cuting the back and around his ears. I did not want to postpone it in case I would not get around to it for another week or so and have his neck hairs long enough again for a pony tail - so not "in" anymore. I got the back done quickly and then proceeded to finish up with the sides.
Since Jim was busy, Kaitlyn volunteered to distract him while he was sitting in the high chair. She was doing a wonderful job and neither one of us was prepared for Zander suddenly throwing his head forward. I felt the scissors make contact with his ear while I closed the blades...
It took Zander a full 4 seconds to realize something hurt. Then "the lip". That's when he started squealing like a little pig getting slaughtered and the blood started gushing out.
My hearing is not too good to begin with and is now completely shot. I know my son can be loud, but this topped it all. Even the synergys shots, which are very painful, do not elicit a reaction like this one.
Kaitlyn rushed to get me a tissue, which I held up to his ear to stop the bleeding. Naturally, with him screaming bloody murder the attempt was futile, since 95% of his blood was in his head to accomodate his need for oxygen. In the meantime Jim had come running and, after I told him the cut was tiny and we did not need to make a trip to the ER, had fled the scene.
With Zander howling while I am holding him in one arm and trying to stop the bleeding with the other, I am trying to get a hold of a bandaid (I have to replenish the supply in my purse again). They are too far up for Kaitlyn to reach and impossible for me to get down without hands. Finally Jim comes back and I ask (yell actually) to get me a @#$#@$ bandaid...okay, I did not SAY that in front of the kids, but boy was I thinking it! My husband manages to find the tiniest bandaid in the box - it's a family size box - barely enough to cover the top of a pin, and hands it to me. Naturally, the second I put the bandaid on it is soaked with blood. After some more asking (yelling again, since my son is waayyy not out of steam yet) I finally get the size I want and promptly stick it on his hair. Zander has actually calmed down a little and there I go ripping the bandaid off his hair, pulling a few out of his head for good measure. There we go again!
Finally, after what seems like an eternity, I get the bandaid in the right place and Zander calmed down. Needless to say I was done with hair cutting! I even blamed my husband for an instant, since I mentioned wanting to take Alexander to a hair dresser and he said he is not quite ready to do that. I bet NOW he is!
A tip on how to get blood completely out of clothes without discoloration: hydrogen peroxide. It's magic.
This morning, as I was feeding my oh so sweetly smiling, cooing baby I contemplated getting the scissors to get to that little pluck of hair I missed yesterday.
And then I remembered what happened...or actually I saw what happened. He still had dried blood all over his ear and the side of his head. When I gather enough courage I will tackle that project.
Sigh.
And next time: hair dresser it is, honey!

Snow!

Trying to hit daddy...

Finally KK can make a snow angel!

Everyone is enjoying the snow...until Zander touches it! So much for that!

Are you sure it's the same baby?

That was the question from the ENT when he saw Alexander last week.
He said: I did not hear him when I was coming down the hall!
I know what he is talking about. He used to make a lot of noise breathing, kind of like a constant wheezing. We had gotten used to it I guess.

We are ecstatic because for a while now Alexander has been breathing silently. Thank you, God! I don't mind waking up in the middle of the night to go check on him, putting my hand on his chest, listening intently for any sound from him. A sigh, a movement, a yawn puts my mind at ease and I can go back to bed. Sometimes, instead of going back to bed right away, I sit in his rocking chair for a while, rocking lightly and listening to my son breathing softly. Sometimes I don't have to strain to hear him. He is a party animal, my boy, and once in a while, if he slept too much during the day, he will have lengthy and loud conversations with his ducky or bear. These are pretty much one-sided conversations, but incredibly loud nonetheless. I used to be a heavy sleeper until I had children. Now the slightest cry wakes me up instantly and I am by their beds long before Jim even realizes one of his children is having a nightmare. Even if I still were a heavy sleeper, there is no way I would be able to sleep through Zander's "parties". So I lie in bed and listen to him telling a story to his ducky.
Sure, it's annoying.
Then again, I'll take waking up to his stories over hearing him struggle to breathe any day...or night!