Monday, February 28, 2011

After wash results

Right after the wash my husband said her hair felt softer and lighter. We put her to bed with wet hair, and in the morning it was pretty dry. I added Kinky Curly's Knot Today (which i love)for her detangler. Unfortunately our tangle tweezer is missing, had to use the detangling comb.

I then styled in Bantu knots. I used Darcy Botanical's twisting cream for hold. I like it, but i want to try the heavier stuff next time.




She was watching Phineas and Ferb so mama would style. Bantu knots are fairly quick so I left her in her high chair. Before we left for church I gave her a few sprays of Greg juice. Her hair feels pretty good now, still a little dry.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Lazy home bento

This is my Non- Bento. I had pulled out the Strawberry Shortcake bento for myself. But hubby was going to end up eating after I did. I gave him the bento box, i used the plate.

I had carrots, onigiri stuffed with turkey, turkey to wrap the onigiri and a bit of extra sharp cheese.
Hubby's strawberry shortcake bento (LOL) had onigiri, cheese and carrots.

Bento baby has jiggler, rice squares, cheese and carrots. This girl loves her onigiri.
These bentos are not properly packed. I made them to eat at home. I wasn't worried about the contents shifting or having enough to fill everyone up. A lazy at home bento!


Splash!


Sometimes we do a sensory activity with Bentobaby without realizing it. When we took Bentobaby to the park, hubby had her throwing rocks in the water. She thought this was awesome. (even managed to get a few in!) I thought about it later and throwing rocks is very sensory. There is the feel of the stones, (smooth, rough, bumpy etc) the splash of the water from the throw. Bentobaby did great. She did not like the wave that came from the rock landing in the water. That kind of frightened her. Being encouraged to throw things was very enjoyable to bentobaby.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Hair wash tonight

Today I took bento baby's hair braids out. She had one long corn roll across her forehead. (Happy Mom calls it 'Queen Style') Two smaller braids behind the long one, and some bantu knots in the back. Her hair actually feels pretty good right now. But there is some visible product build up. I would guess its from my using too much product. Either way its been a few weeks since her hair was washed, and tonight is the night.

Tonight's hair products

New to the line up is the RenPure Amazing Miracle Deep Penetrating Reconstructor. It was .99 cents at our local Walgreens. I thought we would give it a try.

Sensory play

I am blessed to have a good friend who's kids have sensory issues. I can't tell you how nice it is to have someone else who understands and I can talk to. My friend gave me a handful of what looked like tiny colored seeds. The seeds are called Orbeez.



Orbeez right after I put them in the water:


Orbeez about a half hour later (not full size yet)
My husband, daughter and myself all sat on the kitchen floor to play with the Orbeez. Bento baby would scoop up some Orbeez squeal 'yucky yucky yucky' laugh, and grab some more. It was really fun to play in the warm water with the squishy balls. On another day we drained the water and played with the Orbeez dry. It wasn't quite as fun as playing in the water with the Orbeez. They tended to roll all over the kitchen floor. They bounce and break into small pieces when too much pressure is applied to them.

Overall I think the Orbeez are fun. Its not something I would use regularly since they do not last very long. But they are fun to play with and as an occasional treat I would buy them again.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Dry Dry Dry

(be kind, i am just learning how to style her hair)


As I mentioned yesterday hair is a big obsession in our home right now. Bento Baby had short hair when she first came home. (17 months old) We used a line of products i found recommended on a website called Circle of friends. I used a leave in conditioner, spray detangler, and a once a week shampoo. Worked great. But now at 27 months she has quite a bit of hair. DRY hair. Her old routine and her old products no longer work. Which is a bummer because we just stocked up on several bottles!


I made two large purchases of new products. One to Darcy Botanical, and one to Curl Mart. I purchased several moisturizers. Darcy Botanicals' Shea butter moisturizing cream, coiling jelly, and twisting cream. I also bought Kinky curly's knot today, Carol's daughter hair milk, Greg Juice, and a spray leave in conditioner. I bought coconut oil online. (amazon $11.76 for 30 ounces. Used a $10 swagbucks card so 30 ounces cost just $1.76)


Our current routine is a rinse with water followed by an application of circle of friend leave in conditioner. After that we add Carol's Daughter's hair milk. Followed by a spritz of spray leave in conditioner. Her hair is still dry. The next morning i spray it (mix of leave in conditioner, spray detangler and water) and then add either Darcy Botanical's shea butter moisturizing cream ( I haven't seen any build up from the shea) or more hair milk. If her hair is loose i add the curling jelly (love it). Once done i spray her hair with Greg Juice. ITS STILL DRY. I added coconut oil this morning and it did feel a little better but not much. I'm so frustrated.


She sleeps on a satin pillow. Does not wear many hats or spend a huge amount of time in her car seat. I think her hair has gotten so bad it needs serious intervention. And more money. *sigh* Hopefully we'll figure out her product needs, our likes and dislikes and we won't be buying so much stuff.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Hair care: an area my family splurges.

My beautiful daughter is African American. My husband and I are Caucasian. When we knew we were bringing our daughter home i asked everyone I knew for help. No one could help us. Even though some of the people are AA themselves. We bought a child friendly shampoo and leave in conditioner. One a week we washed her hair. Everyday we rinsed it and added a leave in. Thankfully Bentobaby's hair was very short and this was sufficient. But it grew. And grew. All the sudden it needed to be styled. A friend of church suggested puffs. (3-5 puffs) At first her hair looked awful but i mastered that. We added jojoba oil about once a week. Bentobaby's hair still felt dry. We needed more help. Finally someone added a link to Happy Girl Hair . I can't tell you how happy I am to finally have information! This website has been a lifesaver.

In the past few weeks I've ordered from Darcy Botanicals. I've bought a box of products from CurlMart. I went to Sally beauty supply. I bought elastic bands, hair beads, clips, decorative clips, a satin pillow. I even ordered Bento baby a SILK sleep cap. I've literally spent hundreds of dollars. While using free from the drugstore shampoo and conditioner on myself, I'm liberally coating bentobaby's head with products that cost $12 a bottle. Seems like a contradiction doesn't it? To me it makes all the sense in the world. I can use free products and still have nice looking hair. Bentobaby can't. Her hair is very tightly coiled and very dry. She needs the fancy expensive products. She needs to wear braids to protect her hair. My hair can sleep on a flannel pillow and still be fine, bentobaby's can't. This is an area we need to splurge in. Thankfully we are frugal in other areas so we can buy bentobaby's items.

Do I spend willy nilly? Nope! I'm still looking for deals, using online coupon codes. My sally card gives us deals and coupons. I bought a ton of hair decorations in the Valentines day sale at 75% off. I'm still doing my best to find the lowest price. And i'm learning not to cringe when the lowest price for her product is $10. (verses $0 for mine)

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Bento Baby's playroom

That is MY beautiful baby girl. *love*
This is bento baby's playroom. Well honestly the whole house is her playroom. But this is her area. I wanted to make it cute but not overly decorated. I don't believe in buying small children new furniture. When I pay a lot for something I want to keep it nice. But I don't want to stress about the toddler's furniture. I want it to be used but well made. She can beat it up all she wants and I won't care.

Her table and chair set was $10
The Dora organizer was $15
The wheel barrow she rammed into the table several times $5
Wall Decals $14 (and they stink, constantly falling off the walls. They look great but don't work well)

Total $44

Add that to the other total of $27, and it comes to $71.





Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Hubby's dinner Bento

Woohoo a bento! Dh has cheesy rice, sauce, orange, cheese, carrots, a turkey mushroom burger, and broccoli.

I'm not making many bentos. Its too cold to eat at the park. And my 2 year old can't juggle a bento on her lap. But as the weather warms, and we spend more time at the park i can see a big increase in Bentos.