Flying by the seat(s) of our pants

I learned a great thing recently--if your kid has curly hair and you can keep the shampoo out of their eyes, (quite a feat) using regular shampoo will make things 100 % better in the frizz/knots department. I tried it last night and today Charlie's hair looked so much better! You know I've been having issues with using the Bed Head curling lotion/leave in conditioner my mother-in-law gave me for her hair. You didn't know that? Well maybe I didn't write about it because I'm ashamed I was using it for her. I don't even use Bed Head stuff for my own hair and I'm 30 years old. There's something wrong with spending more to fix your two year-old's hair than your own! I decided either I'm gonna start using it too or I'm gonna figure out a way to wean her hair from it. Here's the problem: it works like magic. It's hair-transforming. It takes a knotted mess and turns it into what I'm sure Rapunzel's hair looked like when she was two.

On that note, didn't you like the video of my girl? She's a hoot.

So I'm experimenting with different shampoos trying to take over the expensive stuff for myself to free Charlie from her devotion to expensive hair products. It's about principle and if my hair benefits from the nicer product so be it. I'm just saying we shouldn't let it go to waste.

I don't have much news really, just abiding by our schedule that I strangely missed last week during the potty training. I used to hate schedules what's wrong with me that suddenly I find myself needing one? Is it just because the days can get pretty long without one? I'm not talking about a rigid plan, just going somewhere with the intent to purchase/eat/get something. Getting out of the house is often my only plan. If that means taking Ty to school then coming home then there it is: a master plan. It gives me something to do. Something to aim for. Do I sound like a planner all of a sudden? Does this always happen once you have children? Anyone? Like for example I used to get irritated when Sean would ask me, "What's your plan for today?" I always felt like he was asking me to do an algebra problem or something. A plan? What's that? Did I have one? Was I supposed to be somewhere? What happened to flying by the seat of your pants?

him: "What's your plan for today?"

me: "What?"

him: "What are you planning for today, you know, what's on your agenda?"

me: "What do you mean? It's just today...no plans really."

him: "You don't have a plan?"

me: "Nope."

him: "How can you not have a plan?"

me: "Security!!" (pronounced SeKerrity)

Have y'all seen that YouTube video? If you don't know what I'm talking about just move on. If you do, is that not hilarious? Yes, yes, it is.

Anyway.

I used to get irritated. I'd tell him about it too. "Stop asking me that! I feel like I have to produce some interesting answer and I don't have one!" He would insist that he was simply asking because he always has a plan. The man always had a plan. Like flying by the seat of your pants never happened to him.

Until I happened to him.

He had some plans there for awhile when Ty was a baby and with each passing month he let them go. I'm so proud I corrupted him.

Like all things in life, bringing one child, no matter the age, into the equation = plans are out the window for the most part. Things get a little less planned and a little more interesting. Not always easier but you bet your life it'll never be boring. In my head I'll plan out what I think the day will be like and then imagine the worst case scenario. I'm not a pessimist really it's just that if you face your fears, (a diaper blowout, forgetting wipes, getting thrown up on while out without a backup outfit for yourself, everybody screaming at once in the car, etc,) then anything short of all of that seems like small potatoes. You want to know my secret for parenting? There it is, friends, feel free to write it down. Assume the worst and you'll always be pleasantly surprised.

Oh I kid.

The great thing about what I'm saying is that I can honestly tell you that I have experienced every one of those fears and we're all still here. We're dare-I-say-it thriving in the midst of it. Things come at us from different directions and we all throw tantrums. Mine are probably the worst out of all of us. But we have a gracious God who gives us what we need. If we ask for more patience, He might give us opportunities to wait so our patience will increase. If we ask for clarity He might close a door right in front of us to make it easy for us to choose our path. If we ask for grace He is already offering it before we finish our sentence. And He loves us.

The way I love Ty even though he pulled multiple hairs out of my head tonight while using my head as a stabilizer while I pulled his pajama bottoms up. The way I love Charlie even when she refuses to eat the apple I spent 7 minutes cutting up for her after she asked for "Appew, Appew." The way I love Joy even when she reverts back to her "I don't like the car so I'll just scream the whole way from Mimi's house to home" days.

Yeah, that's the kind of love He has for us. Only multiply it by a million.