New Picture!

Our amazing case worker "J" is in the Congo trying to smooth out the adoption process and get things moving along. Today she went to AFDECO and saw all of the kids. Here is the picture that she sent to us. I love that Merveille seems so comfortable in her arms.

Mommy and Nevaeh Spa Day!

I've been telling Damen that I want to take Nevaeh to get our nails done together. As much as she is a tomboy, she is a girly girl, and I knew that she would love it. For Mother's Day they surprised me with a gift certificate for Polka Dots (a spa for little girls.) We went today and we both had a ball. For those of you who live in Connecticut and have a little girl, this was a great place to go.



waiting for it all to begin...

our "champagne" drinks (ginger ale with a fizzy flavor tablet)...

getting her chocolate faical (smelled just like brownie batter)...

enjoying her "champagne"...

showing off our facials...

getting the mud wiped off (apparently it tickeled her)...

soaking her nails (she picked silver polish with gold and blue sparkles...
making sparkly lotion...

showing off her stars...

getting ready to go home after our exciting day...

All of her stuff that she got to take home -lotion, lip gloss, a purse, fairy dust, a change purse, and a penguin.

We had great day and I plan on doing this with her every few months. It was wonderful bonding time and she has had a smile on her face all afternoon. This was a great place to go. They really make it fun for little girls (and Mommy too!).

Blogger seems to be having some issues and kept freezing on me and it would not let me move the pictures around. Sorry that all of the pictures are in a big line and for any big empty spaces and for things that looks out of place. After an hour and a half I decided to post it like it is.

Nevaeh's Hair

I'm feeling a little proud of Nevah's hairstyle that I did today so I thought I would share it. I have always had trouble doing cornrows, so this was a pretty good accomplishment for me.

We do not live in a very diverse town, so we often get comments on both kids hairstyles when we are out and about such as at the grocery store, the park, Eli's school, etc. Eli's hair is about 1 inch long and very thick and kinky. He wears it in little twists all over his head. It takes about five minutes to style in the morning with hair lotion and a special brush called a Nudred and then he is set for the day. Nice and easy.

Nevaeh's hair is about halfway down her back when pulled straight and just above her shoulders when it is curly. She has very thin, fine, dry hair. Alot of curls, but not alot of hair. This makes it hard to style. The thicker and kinkier the hair, the longer the style will last. I am happy when Nevaeh's hairstyle lasts a week. This might sound strange to people that do not have AA children, but her hair cannot be washed everyday, or even every other day otherwise it gets too dried out. It normally gets washed about once a week. We do not use shampoo very often on her. I do what is called a co-wash (washing with conditioner only). Every morning I spritz her hair with a moisturizing spray or if the scalp seems drier than normal I spray with a water and oil mixture. This seems to work pretty well for us.

Anyway, today's style is two cornrows on the top of the head and sixteen boxbraids on the back of the head. This style took close to 2 hours (including a few 10 minute breaks). I probably could have fihished in about an hour and a half but I had some trouble with the cornrows and had to re-do them a couple of times. Most of the kids tv watching time is done on days when a long hairstyle is happening. She is pretty good about sitting as long as she gets to pick a movie (today was Harry Potter) and I give her a couple of small breaks. Obviously I cannot expect her to sit still like that everyday, so that is why the longer I can get a style to last the better.