Having a Princess is Hard Work

I love having one boy and one girl.  It's the best of both worlds, really.  We get to have a Momma's Boy and a Daddy's Girl.  But sometimes that Daddy's girl can be a lot of work for her Mommy. 


Sparkly Princess has hair much different than I did as a child.  Mine was stick straight and thick.  Luckily I had a Mommy who has her beauticians license, so it was always pulled up immaculately smooth.  Give yourself and instant face lift tight.  It took me until my early 20's, and many brushes thrown across the room, to give up trying to emulate her pony tail. 

It's a good thing I did, because I could never accomplish that on Princess' hair.  She got Daddy's hair.  Baby fine with lots of curl in the back, but more like loose wave in the front. 

To say it has been a challenge for me is an understatement.  I can pull her hair up in a ponytail, and five minutes later she looks like a disheveled street urchin once again.  Keeping those whisper fine curls in place is not easy.  She wants to try wearing it down?  Good luck.  Brush it and as soon as you blink, the tangles are back.  Yet with all her curl, the amount of product needed to keep her hair evenly curly is just way too much for a 7 year old to use every day. 

My sister and mother have been able to french braid for years.  I never managed to pick up that skill.  It was much more fun to have my hair braided than to learn how to do it myself.  They've both french braided Princess' hair for her in the past.  I love that it keeps her hair back from her beautiful face, and I especially love that it actually stays in place through pirouettes and wrestling matches with Daddy. 

So I've decided I finally need to learn how to french braid.  Like any good information junkie, I searched the web for the best tutorials I could find.  I came across some really amazing blogs about braiding little girls' hair, by mothers who can be considered nothing other than artists.  At one of these, we came across a tutorial on how to basket weave hair.  It looked way more complicated than french braiding.....and of course, Princess LOVED it.  She wanted me to do that to her hair.  She even voluntarily took a shower and washed her hair so it would be wet enough for me to weave it.  Such enthusiasm!  Mommy, however, was not so enthusiastic.  But I love my daughter.....I love my daughter......I love my daughter.......

Tiny elastics hunted down and sopping wet hair prepared, we went to the living room couch so that she could lie down somewhat princess-style to get her hair fixed.  (Princess-style is a phrase in our house that refers to having one's hair blow-dried by Mommy while lying down on a pillow, with your hair up over your head.  I have yet to convince Superman to do this for me......)  This time, it was leaning against the arm of the couch instead of on a pillow.  You can see what I mean in the tutorial.  Two failed attempts and an aching back later, this is what I managed to pull off:

Not exactly like the tutorial.  Elise's hair will never be that straight without a flat iron or chemical relaxers.  But she's happy.  Go upstairs, put on a tutu and ballet shoes, and twirl around happy.  I'd call that a success! :-D

For the tutorial I used, and a million other amazing hairstyles, check out The Story of a Princess and Her Hair

Pain Can Be a Powerful Motivator

Last night I slept through the night for the first time since...........I honestly don't remember the last time I slept through the night.  I am a notorious insomniac and light sleeper.  Good thing Superman could sleep soundly on a freight train.  On top of that, I'm usually woken up at least once or twice by some sort of pain.  It could be my allergies causing a sinus headache, the recurrent stomach pain that has managed to evade full explanation (despite some rather unpleasant diagnostic procedures I got to enjoy while we were in Manila.  Good times.), or my back or neck hurting from being propped up on enough pillows for the whole family to sleep on in an attempt to prevent the recurrent stomach pain.  I haven't slept flat in over two years.  I actually feel inverted when I try.

Lately, the stomach pain has been my night time visitor.  Two nights ago, I woke up about 5am with the 'knife' in my stomach hurting so sharply I just wanted to curl into a ball.  Prilosec, pepto, aloe vera juice.....none of my usual rescues were working.  It was miserable.  Probably second only to the migraines.  I'm pretty certain it was because I had indulged in some things I knew I shouldn't have - grains and I just do not get along. 

This time, however, the pain was useful.
 
I've been slowly trying to transition us to the primal lifestyle (I'm working on a post about what exactly that is, but for now you can visit this page if you're curious Primal Blueprint 101.)  We'd be there already except Mad Scientist is recovering from a tooth removal, and I didn't have time to fix a bunch of soft foods that were primal before hand.  Superman and I are the furthest along, but we'd both been sneaking in a few non-primal things here and there.  (I make a mean salsa, which is inextricably tied to tortilla chips in our minds, and those darn chocolate oreos hiding in the cupboard jumped out at me, right into my mouth...really....)  Yesterday, after the stomach pain, and the sleep-deprived headache that accompanied it, I was fed up. 

I had a little milk in a small amount of coffee to ward off caffeine withdrawal turning the headache into a migraine, and that was it.  All meat and veggies and fruits the rest of the day.  Every time I was tempted to grab something bad, I remembered the stomach pain, and I was able to deflect the oreos with not-quite-ninja-like ease.  I searched Earth Clinic for natural acid reflux/GERD remedies, many of which I had used previously in Manila.  Back to the oh-so-yummy DGL (a form of licorice) chewables, coconut oil dissolved in a cup of herbal tea, L-Glutamine and digestive enzyme tablets with each meal, and aloe vera juice before bed.  Still trying to get the apple cider vinegar down before each meal.  That's one big, tart step to climb.

I can't say that the stomach pain has miraculously disappeared, or the allergies, but I SLEPT!!  No 2, 3, 4, 5am trips to the medicine cabinet for decongestant or antacids.  This is huge for me. 

I am so NOT a morning person, but when I woke up, I actually had the energy to make my boys sausage and eggs for breakfast.  I loved watching the snow fall outside as Superman and Mad Scientist discussed the servers Superman would be working on today and other computer jargon that makes no sense to me over their warm breakfasts Mommy had made them.  (I really think Superman is going along with this primal thing because he foresees more breakfasts like this in his future, instead of a cold bowl of cereal!)

You couldn't pay me to wake up feeling like I did yesterday morning, but I'm grateful that now I have a specific motivator to call to mind when temptation or laziness strikes.  More than just the vague "I want to lose weight" or "I want to feel better," "I don't want to feel like the little creature from Aliens is trying to claw at my insides again" is quite the motivator.  Now to go try to suck down that apple cider vinegar.......

The Beginning

I've been thinking of starting a blog for over two years now. Up until today, the title was as far as I'd gotten. I kept thinking that I needed an angle, or a specific focus. Would it be a blog about homeschooling? Maybe our family life? Our spiritual journey as a family? Natural health? Gardening? Whatever topic of interest caught my fancy that day?

The problem is, I'm used to reading blogs by 'experts'. People who have their stuff figured out. Who have it together. I have an interest in many things, but I wouldn't consider myself an expert in any of them. My training as a biologist has left me with an almost compulsive need to research EVERYTHING. The list of information copied, pasted, and saved to my hard drive is so eclectic, it's almost embarrassing. How in the world could I ever find a single focus for a blog? And so I didn't.

Then I got to thinking about the title I'd chosen. Beautiful Chaotic. True to my research addiction claim, I looked up synonyms for the word "chaotic". These included disordered, disorganized, riotous, every which way, tumultuous, and my personal favorite, deranged. I realized that having one specific focus would be rather untrue to my title, and rather untrue to my life.

So this blog will contain all topics mentioned above, and whatever else strikes my fancy. It will be a chronicle of our homeschooling adventure; living a life of faith both as a family and as an individual; my search to find natural ways to deal with the migraines I've battled for 11 years now; our beginning attempts as a family to be healthy and fit; my desire to have a green thumb in a small yard; my near addiction to Sephora and all things make up; my sons ridiculous Lego building skills; my daughters love of all things girly and pretty; my husbands mad classical guitar skills; life with a 150 lb mastiff and a crotchety old mutt; or pretty much any of a number of things that make up the varied and amusing interests of my family. Hopefully sharing will allow me a means of accountability and focus, and perhaps amusement for those reading!