I did cornrows for the first time today — just four (two on each side) half-way to the back and then braids tied off from the rest of her hair. It looks cute and despite being really sloppy and a bit crooked (not to mention lumpy) I’d say a pretty good first try. Especially considering that brother/father both kept coming into the room blathering on about this or that and making her snap her head around to look at them. And considering that I did them before I had coffee.
It looks like I’m going to be working away from home one day next week. I haven’t worn a bra for more than a few hours at a time in years. For one thing, back in the day when I might have worn a bra situation-wise, I never really needed one breasts-wise. Now bras are a necessity when I leave the house. But for NINE HOURS (including commute)? It might kill me.
My next entry is going to be Madison’s official Raggedy pictures from her first year on up. For those who don’t know (what with readership changes), this is why these Raggedy dolls have a place near and dear to my heart. When Noah was born and a few weeks old, I took a picture of him with them for my mom. Then I took one at three months, six months, nine months and then once a year every year on his birthday. We only have digital copies for him starting at seven because that’s when we got the camera but we have all of Madison’s (other than her two week old ones for some reason — I’m looking for them) so I was going to post them all next entry.
You know the drill — if you want the password, just ask. I only password protect them so that people can’t do a google search and swipe them.
I have two kids and a delightfully odd husband, Brett. My children are Noah (born to us in 1997) and Madison (born to her first mom, Pennie, in 2004 and brought to our family through a domestic, open adoption). They are my inspiration and also the reason I don't get more done around here.
I'm a writer and sometimes I get published, which is a nice thing. I write for joy, I write for money and when I'm very lucky, both things happen at the same time. My work appears in national publications including Yoga Journal, Disney's Family.com, Utne, Wondertime, Brain Child and Salon. Currently I am working on a book about my daughter's adoption and seeking representation for the proposal. I also own Smart Cookie Communications with my husband.
cherylc
April 27th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
I’m always amazed by women who don’t wear bras. I’m a large busted small person and I can barely stand to have my bra off during the time between putting my pajamas on and lying down in bed. I *slept* in a bra when I was breastfeeding. Otherwise it’s too hard on my back.
Seems to me that in the wild, this would provide me with an evolutionary disadvantage…
emily
April 27th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Ohhhhh…I thought only the cool kids got access to the pictures
I’d love to be able to see…I’ve been reading since the pre-Madison days.
cass
April 27th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Me too please. I’d love to see Madison (and the famous doll).
rabi
April 27th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
oh! I want to see the raggedy ann pictures, please! I always figure it is not my place to ask to look at other people’s kids, but I had quite the raggedy ann attachment when I was a little girl — I had the bigger-than-me doll, the normal-sized hand me down doll, and several careworn copies of the original hardcover books. my favorite was the camel with the wrinkly knees. actually my strongest memory of the giant raggedy ann doll is from one time when I was about five and I was getting a spanking (can’t remember what for). I was laid out over my mother’s knee and my nose was almost touching raggedy ann’s dress (pale green and white gingham). I spent that whole spanking looking reeeeallly hard into raggedy ann’s embroidered face so that I wouldn’t start to cry. it’s a kind of nice memory of her, strangely enough.
OmegaMom
April 27th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Dawn, could I have the password, too? I thought I had it, but couldn’t find it.
marie
April 27th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
I’m with the password requesting people. I’ve been reading your blog for a while and love it - I love your writing and I appreciate the writing shop-talk as well. Oh, and your kids are adorable. And I also loved Raggedy Ann when I was little. I grew up in Africa and she was one of the few dolls that made it over there with us. Raggedy Ann and some fake Cabbage Patch kids my aunt made…
Jennifer
April 27th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
May I have to password too? Pretty please? I thought I had it but the one I have doesn’t seem to work.
Margie
April 27th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Would love the password, too.
My daughter (age 16) loves to braid and has gotten pretty good at cornrows by practising on willing kids at the Boys and Girls Club where she works. When we went on vacation during her “spring break” last month, she got her hair cornrowed at the beauty school in North Charleston, SC, and wanted to keep them in until school started 5 days later. Alas, she got a headache while skiing the day after we got back (we live in Colorado), and took them out in hopes that maybe it was the tightly braided hair that was making her head hurt.
It takes practise to be a good braider (I can barely do a french braid on my own head), and I can sure relate to the difficulty of braiding the hair of a young, easily distractable girl. But it looks so pretty! My daughter and I love to get our hair braided in fancy styles when we go to the Renaissance Festival.
Margie/Third Mom
April 28th, 2007 at 1:41 am
Wow, two Margies.
I would love the password, too, Dawn, if that’s OK!
Amy
April 28th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
I’d love to have the password. I have a couple older passwords that don’t work any more. Thanks!
alice
April 30th, 2007 at 5:15 am
I, too, would love the password. I’d thought that you were saving pics for folks who knew you IRL, but if it’s open (even to folks who seldom comment, like me!) I’d really enjoy getting to see them.
Thanks again for such great writing!