I'm in complete awe that my little princess is 1 year old today.

She's everything I could have dreamed of in a daughter. 

She's my answered prayer from God.

She's brave, yet timid.  She's sweet, yet sassy.

She perseveres and never gives up until she figures it out.

She has the sweetest giggle.

She's the missing puzzle piece to our family.

Happy 1st Birthday Sanai!

6 weeks old

1 YEAR OLD!



The HAIR Post

Sure, I read some books on African American hair care that our adoption agency sent but those books definitely don't prepare the average white girl for a black girls hair!  When we first met Sanai her hair was short and curly, so cute.  It looked really healthy and shiny.

I asked several Ethiopians what they did to their hair to make it look so good.  Their curls were perfectly in tack, no frizz and looked great.  I was told they just use regular mineral/baby oil on their hair.  When we first got home that is what I used on her hair until I noticed it started to look dry.  Although baby oil is what they use in Ethiopia I realized that they don't wash their hair as often and the climate is much different there than here which has a lot to do with hair.  Also, baby oil will clog the pores of the scalp which will not allow the hair to grown and be healthy.

Thus, I jumped into the complicated world of African American hair.  Never did I realize how in depth, complicated and time consuming hair care is...coming from a girl who really doesn't use hair product besides hair spray and texturing powder.  I do her hair and try to add moisture at night and in the morning so it will look nice.  I will also do it if we are going anywhere because I'm scared my sister in laws will physically harm me if I let Sanai come out of the house with her hair looking like a hot mess :)

I started out by using a product called Beautiful Textures Moisture Butter that I picked up at Sally's.  It smells AMAZING!  Besides water, the first several ingredients include fruit oil, olive oil and soybean oil.  After using this for several months it doesn't really hold her curls in place all day and doesn't seem to add a lot of moisture to her hair.  I still use it occasionally but I probably won't buy another tub.

I had read great reviews about Ms. Jessie's hair care line and was happy when I heard that it was available at Target.  It doesn't smell nearly as good as the Moisture Butter but it does seem to hold her curls in place better and it works through her hair better.  At $32 for an 8oz container it's a little expensive.  But you don't need much so it goes a long way.

I have also read a whole lot about coconut oil and how it's really more of a moisturizer because it's a butter when it's in it's solid form.  It's the most absorbent oil and is very good for skin and hair. Scoop some out in the palm of your hand and it melts completely.  I have been using this on her skin and hair each night before bed and her skin is very soft in the morning.  I got it at our local walmart and it was maybe around $6-$8.

By far the BEST website I have come across in learning about hair care is www.chocolatehairvanillacare.com.  This website really breaks it down for dummy's like me and I have learned that I was using OK products but not putting them on in the right order and not really using them for what they are intended for.  This website also recommended a great detangler/leave in conditioner that is Amaze-ziiiiing! 

Her hair gets knotted on the back of her head and occasionally on the sides and this stuff works like a charm.  After her bath I put this in her hair and leave it and am able to use a fine tooth comb to comb through her hair.  I also use their shampoo once a week to clean the product build up and/or food that might have accumulated in her hair (although I wipe her hair out with a damp washcloth every day).

Her hair has grown quite a bit since she's been home, although it's still much longer on the top than the back.  But we will get there!

I still have so much to learn about her hair and as she grows the texture will change but she's come a long way since we brought her home. She absolutely hated it when I did anything to her hair and would scream, cry and pull my hands down when I just put moisturizer in it.  I would have to put her in the high chair just to comb through it.  Now, she will continue to play while I mess with her hair or comb it.  I've had to learn patience and be proactive in learning about new products and what will work best for her hair.  I'm in search of a better moisturizing product...so stay tuned!

Talk about an awful weekend!  My friend Dawn and I went to Murfreesboro to run some errands.  We brought our girls with us to tag along and had such a fun day out.  When we got home I felt really worn out and not the best.  I ended up going to bed around 8:30pm.

I woke up around 4am because Sanai was crying.  I went into her room and she was running a very high fever!  I stripped her down to her diaper, gave her some Motrin and a cool bottle of juice.  Her temp was around 102.8.  She stayed awake for around an hour and fell back asleep until about 8am.

She felt a bit warm from playing about 11am so I took her to the kitchen to get more Motrin and sat down on the couch to give her a bottle and all the sudden she started having a seizure.  This was the first one we have experienced where we knew we'd be staying home and not rushing to the doctor or the ER.  (this is based on what the children's hospital told us to do)  We timed her seizure and it lasted about 3 minutes and she came out of it pretty easy.

We started alternating Tylenol and Motrin every 4 hours like we had been told before and gave her a cool bath and periodically applied wet wash rags to her back and head.  But around 5pm she had another seizure.  This lasted about the same time and she came out of that one pretty easily too.  We started thinking perhaps she had picked up a virus that made me feel so crummy.

It was around 9pm when she was shaking very badly, like she had the chills but she was very warm.  She ended up having another seizure and had a harder time coming out of it.  Tommy took her into a room temp shower with him and then about 15 minutes later she had another seizure and threw up everywhere.  We thought it was time to take her to the ER at that point since we couldn't seem to control her temp.

The doctors found she had an ear infection, so she got an antibiotic shot and we got home around 2am.  I was hoping for an uneventful night but at 4am she had another seizure!!  She woke up a little fussy but in fairly good spirits.  We were sitting in the living room about 12 noon when her 6th seizure hit.  That's when I had my "moment". I had really been trying to be strong but there's nothing worse than your child going through something that renders you helpless.  Especially because most of the time she screams out in fear right before she goes under!!

We headed to a previously scheduled doctors appt at 1:30pm.  We have an amazing family doctor who placed a call to the Pediatric Neurologist department at Vanderbilt.  They ended up calling me around 6:30pm with a prescription for an anti-seizure medicine that she can take for three days that will help stop her seizures until the antibiotics kick in for her ear.

Talk about a stressful weekend - but she's doing great today.  She's actually out on a short stroll with daddy right now to get some fresh air!

Over the past few weeks I have asked myself this question over and over.  Why do we even buy her toys?

This girl loves her some tupperware!!

I can't believe her little tail is 11 months old today!!

Don't let the cuteness fool you, she's very ORNERY and likes to "use her voice"...especially when she's out of puffs! ha ha



Yesterday was not only Micah's actual birthday, it was also Christmas in Ethiopia!!(more on that later)

Along with it being Christmas it was also the National Championship game and as many of you know we are big Alabama fans.  My husband played in the National Championship game for Alabama in 1992.  So he rubbed the win in at school today wearing his National Championship game ring and his helmet. 

We were all decked out for the game and although we tried to take a family picture it was nearly impossible to get everyone to sit in the same spot long enough to snap a photo.  So we'll have to settle for individual ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ROLL TIDE!!

This is the first year I've actually prepared ahead of time and planned Micah a big birthday party.  With his birthday being so close to Christmas (Jan 7th) I'm usually not thinking about things until it's too late because of the holidays.  With all the adjustments we've had this year and with Sanai's recent health issues I thought this would be a great time to show him how special he is.

He's very much into super hero's right now so I wanted to throw him a super hero birthday party.  I searched Pinterest for most of my ideas and I think it turned out great.  He told me he had a blast! The only bad part about the party was that it was FREEZING!  They turned the heater on about an hour before we got there but unfortunately it was only 45 degrees the whole time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Micah and Moore on the slide

 

 

They're wearing their coats because it was 45 degrees!!

 

 

 

 

Sanai got in on the fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy 4th Birthday, Bubba!!