Skin Care and Hair Supplies

I just shared this information with a friend on Facebook and decided that since I had taken the time to type it all up I should bore you all share it with all my blog readers!!!

Skin Care
I mix Cetaphil lotion with raw African shae butter to make a body butter. I mix it in my KitchenAid mixer and then put the mixture back into the Cetaphil lotion containers. I apply the lotion/body butter to her entire body (minus her face) once a day (and after her bath). I use extra virgin olive oil for her face. At bedtime, I wet her face and then put the olive oil on. We use Carmex on her lips once a day (twice during the winter). I also add Johnson's Shea & Cocoa Butter baby oil to her bath water to help her skin not dry out from the water.)

Hair Care/Supplies
I use Curly Q's Curlie Cutie Cleansing Cream for shampoo and I only shampoo her hair about every 3 or 4 weeks. I condition once a week with Curly Q's Coconut Dream Moisturizing Condition. I apply the conditioner, comb it through her hair with a hair pick, and then let it sit on her hair while she plays in the tub for 30-40 minutes. Then I rinse most of the conditioner out. I apply Kinky-Curly Knot Today leave-in conditioner to her hair as she is getting out of the water. I also comb the leave-in conditioner into her hair with the pick.

After she is all dried/lotioned and dressed from her bath, I put Shea Moisture Curl & Style Milk (hair lotion) on her hair. Sometimes I comb it in, other times I just work it in with my fingers.

When I "style" her hair (flat twists, ponies, etc.) I have still been trying to find something that I like that really helps to "hold" it. This last week I used Shea Moisture Curling Get Souffle and so far I love it!!! Her hair has stayed in the flat twists better than any other time!!!

When her hair is in flat twists I really don't have to do anything with it throughout the week. I will add some of the hair lotion to the ponies at the back every other day or so, and that is it (she does wear a sleep cap every night that helps her hair stay in place). If I do ponies, I have to take the ponies out every other dayish and wet the section of hair and apply some hair lotion to it.

If I keep her hair "free" then I have to spray a full spray bottle of water on it and then work the hair lotion throughout it. I will sometimes use the leave-in conditioner after a few days of free hair. We de-tangle every morning when her hair is "free". Lots of whining and fussing on those days. I like flat twists :-).

List of Products
Cetaphil lotion - WalMart or Amazon
Raw African Shea Butter - Amazon
Curly Q's Curlie Cutie Cleansing Cream - Online
Curly Q's Coconut Dream Moisturizing Condition - Online
Kinky-Curly Knot Today leave-in conditioner - Target
Shea Moisture Curl & Style Milk - Target
Shea Moisture Curling Gel Souffle - Target

FB Friday

July 20, 2013 ~
Nathan: "You have a lot of energy today, little girl. What do you think we should do with all that energy?"
Maya K: "Maybe after quiet time we should go outside and take all that energy running."
Nathan: "Good idea!!!"

July 24, 2013 ~ Maya K got another good report from the dentist :-).

July 26, 2013 ~ Maya K got to reacquaint herself with her Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Carter today!!!!

FB Friday

July 13, 2013 ~ We bought a spray attachment for our shower this week and today was the first time I got to use it on Maya K's hair. I am in serious LIKE with it!!! It made rinsing her hair sooooooo much easier than dumping water from the cup like I have been doing for the past 9 months!!!!!

July 15, 2013 ~ May I ignore my kitchen today? PLEASE?!?! Something happened in it yesterday that I don't want to see!!!

"Mommy, I run FASTER than Daddy for the first time. You know why? Because I have 3, 2, 5, 10 more bones than Daddy!!! That why I run faster!!!!!" ~ Maya K

July 16, 2013 ~ We're making sun-catchers today :-).

July 17, 2013 ~ Do you ever have one of "those" days??? Well, I'm having one today :-(.

Moment of genius ~ When the girls have the time and energy to argue, then they have the time and energy to run up and down the stairs!!!

I just almost cried. It's been a "make cookies so that I can eat the dough" kind of day and I thought I was out of sugar!!!! But I found the new bag tucked away in the corner of the cupboard!!!

July 18, 2013 ~ Do people eat reindeer meat? Maya K wants to know :-).

July 19, 2013 ~ Maya K is telling me all about jumping on her bed with her friend Arsema at the Transition Home. Thanks to Carrie for giving me the prompt for this story. Maya K made sure to tell me that Arsema was jumping on the beds with her and that she was not doing it by herself!!!!

Afro

I get to go out for a girls' night with some friends (& former co-workers) tonight!!!! I'm trying to decide if this means I SHOULD wash all the dirty dishes on my kitchen counter or if this means that I DON'T HAVE TO wash them because I'm "off duty" for the evening???? Any votes?!?!

Friday night in downtown Des Moines is a busy place!!! My proud moments of the night were finding a place to park AND finding my way out via the one way streets to get home. I did both of these things BY MYSELF!!!! (Anyone who truly knows me will know WHY these are proud moments!!!) It was a great night of catching up with friends!!!!

FB Friday

July 6, 2013 ~ It took an hour to take Maya K's beads and braids out. An HOUR!!!! At least they looked cute for the week.

"God, thank you the dinosaurs were killed so they cannot eat us, thank you that monsters are for pretend.....Jesus' name, Amen." (There were many more "thank yous" but these were two of the ones that had us struggling to not laugh during prayer time!!!!)

July 7, 2013 ~ You will all be glad to know that Maya K is "age appropriate" in her use and understanding of "knock knock" jokes :-).

July 8, 2013 ~ I'm taking another Heartland class today and tomorrow. I'm going to miss my little girl!!!!

One more day of class, writing a short paper, and then I am DONE with the credits I need to renew my teaching license!!!!

Hypothetically speaking, you should probably not try to take muffins out of the oven while holding a phone on your shoulder. Because, hypothetically speaking, you might accidentally pop your shoulder out of joint. But, again speaking hypothetically, it might be a good thing that you almost drop your phone INTO the oven!!! Because you might pop your shoulder back into joint when you jerk trying to catch the phone. OUCH!!!!

July 9, 2013 ~ I got to learn how to "juggle" with three scarves in class today :-). It might have been more fun if my shoulder didn't hurt, but I was actually pretty good at it, if I do say so myself!!!!

July 10, 2013 ~ Maya K's hair was a MESS after me being gone for two days (I was home in the evenings, but chose to not work on her hair with the time I had with her). I did it in puffs/ponies for the week and they need a little daily upkeep that I didn't do. We just got all her ponies sprayed down and moisturized again and they look sooooooo much better!!!!!

July 11, 2013 ~ It's a "clean out the fridge for lunch" kind of day.

Presenting "Indoor Skating with Paper Plates" ~ Starring my goofy-faced little girl!!!!

We got to go on a date tonight!! We ate at Applebee's (thanks to a gift card) and then went to Menard's to buy a ceiling fan and a shower spray attachment. Then, since we had a half hour before we had to go pick up Maya K, we went home to a quiet house. It was nice getting to spend some quiet time talking, just the two of us!!!

July 12, 2013 ~ Somehow I don't think Maya K has a future in the culinary arts. "Mommy, I put kiwi juice with the onions in the soup. It will taste YUMMY with the kiwi juice. The kiwi juice make the onion taste VERY good. Without the kiwi juice the soup and onion will be yucky. The kiwi juice make it good to eat."

Maya K's Storytelling

Maya K's Song and Dance

FB Friday

June 29, 2013 ~ "YOU gonna bead her hair?!?! You go girl!!! You 'ben YouTubin' it up!!!" This was the response of the lady at the ethnic hair store when I was checking out with beads and a beader :-).

We're an hour and a half into the braiding/beading process. I have learned that I need to make the braids tiny and then the beads go on easier. We are only about a fifth of the way done!!! I have a feeling that she is going to have braids and beads on the back half of her head and puffs on the top. Just sayin'.

I've spent four and a half hours on her hair. It's not done. Yet. I WILL finish it. Yes, I will.

We. Are. DONE.

June 30, 2013 ~ Happy Sunday!!!

July 1, 2013 ~ I weighed Maya K on our scale here at home this morning (so this is "unofficial") and it says that she has gained 8.5 pounds in addition to the 5 inches she has grown in the past 9 months!!! It hasn't been my imagination that she is getting heavier to carry around!!!

July 2, 2013 ~ Thanks to Maya K's braids, I now have a spray bottle of coconut oil and water sitting in my refrigerator.

Edible Peanut Butter Play Dough = FUN!!

I love reading. It's a therapy for me. I stopped taking the time to read when Maya K came home and I have missed it. It's time for me to MAKE the time to read again. So I am. I just finished a book that I started during quiet time yesterday. Life is happy.

"I don't think things...words....in my head. I just say all them out loud." ~ Maya K
Believe me, Honey, I know!!!!!

July 3, 2013 ~ Fireworks tonight!!!!!

I like fireworks. I LOVED getting to watch the fireworks with my DAUGHTER this year!! We had a great evening!!!!

July 5, 2013 ~ Yes, I do believe her American English is coming along nicely. "Mommy, I am STARVING!!"

Just 10 days and I will finally have my ring back!! It's been over a year since I was last able to wear it and I have missed it!!!

Maya K ASKED to take a nap today. So I let her. She was asleep in under 15 minutes!!!