Hairy Situation

It's been seven weeks and the hair that grew in while I was pregnant hasn't fallen out, yet. I don't know what to do with thick hair. Advice? Ideas? Those of you who have had your hair change on you, what did you do to figure out how to style it?

Primary Helper

It's (just about) September, so it's time for the Sunbeams to start helping with Opening Exercises in Primary. Elena has been asked to give a scripture in Primary, next week (9/7), and a talk the week after (9/14). I could look up when the Primary Sacrament Meeting presentation is, for anyone who wants to come.

The Laws of Frustration

We have two car seats. We're about to have three children. There's currently enough room in the car for only two car seats. We can spend $200 to replace both our current car seats with narrower versions and buy a third, or we can spend $15,000 to buy a larger car and a third car seat. We're opting for the first. The second will need to happen eventually but can wait for a year or two.

Here's my dilemma. I don't want to move Elena up to a belt-positioning booster (no harness, just seat belt) yet. She's still ten pounds below where most car seats max out and boosters kick in. All the car seats that include harnesses, though, are at least three inches wider than the plain boosters and I'm not sure that I can fit two of them, plus an infant seat, into my car properly. Every combination of car seat I have tried, so far, will "fit" in the car (the doors will close) only if the LATCH belts are loosened so the outside car seats sit at a slightly off angle. Legally, Elena is tall enough that she is not required to use any car seat at all (don't worry, I wouldn't do that) but if I choose to use a car seat I am required to use it correctly (height, weight, installation).

I want advice. Even from you lurkers and occasionals (this means you, Jess). Do I (a) keep searching for car seats that will sit correctly inside the car? Or do I (b) get a much slimmer booster that I know will fit? I know I should choose A, but I'm running out of time to look, here.

Too Good?

I really need some input on this one, so if you read, comment please. This goes double for any of my brothers, because I know you go through the same stuff.

What do you do with a high you're not sure you want to last? As the weather has turned gloomy, my mood has gone up. In the last few days I've cleaned my kitchen; found things to do with Elena so we're not watching movies all day, every day; scrubbed all the dishes; vacuumed the stairs; tried two new bread recipes; and even refrained from my usual high-energy outlet of trying to buy everything I've ever wanted--difficult on a tight budget. This sounds great, but I know the pattern. Any day now I know I'm going to spiral downward into useless snapping and irritation. As it is, I only got two or three hours of sleep last night--I usually fall asleep when reading, but last night I was up until 5:30am--and I'm not at all tired. Do I try to short-circuit the mood and shoot for a minor low? Or do I just watch myself like a hawk and try to ease into a natural letdown? How do any of you handle this sort of thing?

Too Much Helping?

Elena's been a great helper, the last few days, and I've made a point of complimenting her for it. She's even started thinking ahead, helping before I ask--taking her cereal bowl to the sink after breakfast, bringing me wipes at diaper changes, and so much more. She's even started monitoring Joseph by cleaning up toys he shouldn't play with and telling me where he is when he decides to go exploring. She knows that he's not supposed to play with the DVD player, either. (He wants to see the movies, when we watch them, and the best way to get closer to the action is to pull up on the TV stand. That brings the DVD buttons right to chest height--perfect for poking and fiddling with.) So, today, Elena wanted to help Mommy by heading off disaster before it arrived. I sat there, absolutely shocked to see Elena pick up Joseph, carry him across the room then drop him on his rear. Joseph thought it was hilarious. I'm still not sure what to do with this turn of events.