Thursday, May 16, 2013

Hair and there: DIY headbands galore!

Since my baby girl was blessed with such a fabulous head of hair, I have been challenged to find cute ways to keep it under control and out of her pretty face! At only 10 months old, I have already cut her hair 3 times. Her bangs grow so dang fast, I have cut those twice (before realizing that if I keep cutting them, she will have bangs and I am not sure I want that yet)....and now we are pinning them. As for her mullet-turned-rattail; I recently gave up hope that it would ever find a way to blend in with the rest of her hair and finally trimmed that too. 
I was kind of sad to cut her precious baby hair, but I mean....really....it had to go!


But even with the absence of her unfortunate rat tail, I am afraid her need for hair management has only just begun. She has her Daddy's cowlick and I have been noticing lately that her hair is getting more of my signature 'wave' (aka....frizzy mess that I can't control without product and a lot of time and effort) when it's wet. 
A little gift from your parents to you. You're welcome. So all I can say is....T.G.F.P.
Thank Goodness for Pinterest. Have I mentioned how much I love Pinterest. You really can find anything on there....including what seems like an endless number of DIY tutorials for adorable headbands and hair pieces for little girls. And as long as Pinterest is around, I am sure Alexis will be able to find new and fabulous ways to embrace whatever hair challenges she's been dealt. Until then.....I get to make her pretty things to put in her hair. 
Here are a few of them on my sometimes patient and sometimes reluctant model. 
Overboard? Maybe. 
Cute? Definitely
The pink crocheted headband in photo #2 is my own design and it's super simple. See below for instructions. 
Here are the links to the tutorials for the black turban style headband the braided headband (in lower 3 photos). These literally take 3 minutes each, so it's easy to see why I made 1 in every colour and colour combination with the material I had sitting around. 

As for the two styles of floral headbands, check out my lovely friend Jill's blog for a fabulous tutorial that you can follow and make in any fabric combination you can think of! Thick or thin band in lace, jersey, tulle and more....each one gives the headband a different feel. The best part is that you probably have all the materials you need for this one lying around your house.....especially if you make use of this genius idea from Alisa Burke's blog. Look closely at the pink floral head band in photo #6 above. It's the waistband of an old pair of Alexis' pants that she grew out of! Turns out that the elastic waistband of your baby's pants just happens to be the same size of your baby's head!! 
Coincidence? I think not.  

As you can see the possibilities are endless when it comes to accessorizing your baby girl.....and I find it hard to stop myself.....so I probably won't. Up next; hair clips, barrettes and pony tail holders. Oh my!
♥ Lindsay 

Instructions for the crocheted bow headband: 
*disclaimer....I am by no means a professional pattern writer so hopefully this makes sense*
1. Using size 7 or 4.5mm hook chain until you can wrap it around the head of the desired wearer. This will be the band part. Remember it does have a bit of stretch to it so make sure it's not too loose to start out. Mine was about 60 chains for my 10 month old. 
2. single crochet in each chain across (60 sc). Turn and repeat. I only did 3 rows but you can keep going until you reach desired thickness.
3. For the bow, chain 10. (row 1) Then turn and sc 10 across (row 2). Repeat for next 4 rows and you should have 6 rows total. End product ressembles a rectangle. 
4. To make it look more rounded you can now single crochet in each of the 10 sc, then 6 sc up one side, 10 sc then 6 more sc up the other side (basically just sc around the whole rectangle)
5. Find the middle of your rectangle and wrap with yarn to gather it into a bow. Fasten.
6. Attach one end of your band to the back of the bow using a slip stitch. Then attach the other end in the same way and voila. You have an adorable bow headband. Hopefully.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Family time.

As you may have read in my last post, life has been crazy for us lately and we haven't had a ton of time to spend together as a family. We try and have dinner together every night, and although it takes a bit more flexibility and coordination some weeks than others, I must say we have been doing a pretty good job of sticking to it! In our old place, dinners would consist of kneeling at our coffee table while watching tv to unwind after our long days and these dinners usually didn't involve a lot of conversing. Now don't get me wrong....the hubby and I do talk to one another.....just not usually over dinner. I don't know about all of you, but I grew up with the family gathering around the table for dinner as much as possible. That being said, we were also a busy family and it wasn't always possible for all of us to be there, but if we were at home and dinner was being served we all ate together at the table. If Dad got home late from work, we ate later. If one of us had soccer or piano at 7, then we ate earlier and perhaps that night Dad would eat alone.....but for the most part, family dinners were the time to share the events of our days with each other and talk about plans the upcoming weekend etc. 

No tv. No music. No radio. Just uninterrupted family time. 

Looking back on it, I loved those times and that's what I want for Alexis. Now that she is eating real food and our new place has an actual separate dining room, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to reinstate family dinners. We put our phones away and talk about our day and laugh at the adorable things Alexis does while eating (silly uncoordinated babies are so entertaining). I picture when she's older and sharing what she did at school or how her <insert sport here> game went or..... even further down the line I expect girl drama and love problems will likely come up (if I am lucky enough that she will talk to us about those things...fingers crossed). It makes me tear up just thinking about it. She's growing up so fast. I mean.....I can't believe she's 10 months old and already got a mind of her own. I asked for a hug the other day and she shook her head no.....what?!? Denying me hugs already? Is she trying to break her poor momma's heart? Of course now she thinks it's funny and routinely wrestles her way out of my snuggling arms while shaking her head. Where did my cuddly baby go? My point is that when I was pregnant every parent I knew.....and even some strangers on the street come to think of it, took every opportunity to tell me to "enjoy every moment, because time will fly by faster than you can imagine once you have a kid". I would nod in agreement thinking I already knew what they meant, but I don't think I truly got it. Now I do.
It's not easy to get dinner ready with a baby that never stops moving (ever....even in her sleep!). Sometimes I get frustrated when hubby is later than anticipated and Alexis can no longer be distracted by books and cheerios, but then I think about how precious our time together is and how the routines we create now are the foundation for our family to grow on. If we put family first now, Alexis will learn to value family. 
Or at least I hope it's that easy. 
So we eat together. If it gets hard....we make it work. Family time is always worth fighting for. I hope Alexis grows to cherish these times together as much as I already do. 

♥ Lindsay