Colorado native living in Texas. Pastors wife. Mama through foster care and adoption to two little ones. Lover of Jesus. Chocolate ice cream addict. I have a heart for foster care, adoption, infertility and sharing God's goodness through it all.
We threw a small party at our house a couple weeks after Malachi’s actual birthday. (March 27) It fell on Easter Sunday this year so we decided to do his party the weekend after then he got the flu so then we had to postpone it another weekend. It worked out perfectly! He had way too much fun!
The theme of course was PJ MASKS.
A friend of mine loaned me her bounce house, he had so much fun bouncing around.
Daddy of course bought the best gift. Squirt guns and a super soaker.
Then to end the party, Uncle Bill drove the ratrod over and Malachi got to take a ride in it. He LOVED it.
It was a great party and so fun to watch Malachi run around with his sister and cousins.
Okay, as promised here is the hair routine I do for both Malachi and the little lady. I wanted to shoot a video for this but kids were not working with me and I wouldn’t be able to keep Miss’s face out of it. So pictures will have to do. 🙂 Sorry!
I’ve had to adjust the routine a bit because this Texas winter air is drying their hair out BAD! Moisture is key to maintaining healthy biracial hair. Ive done lots of research and have asked others what they recommend.
So this is what I have learned:
The first step you need to do is figure out the type of hair your child has. Not all products work for all types of natural curly hair. What may work for one, might not work for another. Pinterest is a great way to figure this out. There are charts upon charts upon charts on there. Both mine have 3C type hair. Malachi has a mixture of 3B as well.
Once you figure the type, some charts, like this one gives you the perfect regimen for hair care. I also youtubed videos on “3c hair care” and got a lot of helpful tips. The right products are key, Shea Moisture products are amazing. I’ve also heard great things about Mixed Chicks and Cantu. I use Shea Moisture mainly but prefer to use Cantu (on the 3rd step) on Malachi’s hair.
The first thing I do is wet their hair lightly with a spray bottle with a drop of conditioner in it, adding some moisture at first. Run a brush through it to evenly distribute. This bristle brush works great because it is soft on their heads and doesn’t frizz it. You DO NOT want to brush their hair dry. That will damage it and cause frizzing.
Second I spray Shea Moisture Hold and Shine Moisture Mist. Run the brush through again to evenly distribute. This stuff is amazing. It adds moisture and gives it a nice shine and lasts through out the day.
Third I section their hair in to 4 sections and use Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie cream. I start at the roots and make my way up to the ends, making sure to moisturize each strand nicely. It doesn’t take much, this stuff goes a long way.
I continue to do this all the around their heads, running my fingers through, getting out any tangles along the way. Add any hair accessories if desired.
I do this twice a day, first thing in the morning and right before bed. Also invest in a silk sleeping cap or pillow case. Miss used to wake up with massive bed head and tangles galore. Since using the silk pillow case, it’s more tame and less tangled. I ordered mine on Amazon. You can get it Here. If I notice any drying thought out the day, I spray just a few sprays of the moisture mist, but normally I don’t need to.
Also I only wash their hair once a week, using Shea Moisture products again. I will do the same routine after washing (except spraying with water because hair is already wet) and I will take VERY little Vaseline and rub it on their scalp. It just adds a little moisture to their scalp after washing it.
I have seen a huge improvement in their hair holding moisture better and less frizzing.
Novemeber is National Adoption Awareness Month! I have a huge heart for adoption and foster care. It’s what we have been called to do in order to start our family. We have been greatly blessed by it.
For every day of the month of Novemeber I will be posting about adoption and/or foster care. It will be anything from facts to my thoughts to details of our story. I hope that this would be encouraging to those who are walking the journey of adoption/ foster care, bring awareness to those who aren’t and maybe encourage those who are on the fence of adopting.
If you haven’t already, please check out a summary of our story that I wrote for a blog not too long ago. (Story here)
You guys, I am loving short hair! Over the years I’ve realized I prefer shorter hair for myself. It’s much easier for me to style and I think it looks better on me. I had always been told that shorter hair is more work but it’s really not. It’s actually much easier for my hair type. I have very thick, wavy and coarse hair. When it gets long, it takes FOREVER to style and I hate just pulling it back. The longer my hair gets the thicker it gets and the more I “shed.” Doug is always finding my hair weaved in and out of the fabric of his clothes, he loves that by the way 😉 , just trying to leave a piece of me wherever he goes.
So my hair was starting to reach the length where it was getting harder to do so I really needed a cut. I was indecisive on what I wanted exactly so I brought several pictures to show my hairstylist and we talked through what I would like and not like and she totally nailed it.
Eventually I would love to do a pixie, but I’m slowly working my way up to that taking a little off at a time.
These are the pictures I brought to my hairstylist. I wanted something fun and easy but also didn’t say “mom hair” (yes I’m a mom, but you know I’m talking about)
Eventually, I want to do this picture below. So fun and cute! I’m almost there. 🙂
Today officially marks one year that Missy left our home unexpectedly. Yesterday and today I have been super emotional about it, like randomly crying while I was doing the laundry and this morning while I read a sweet text from someone who thought of me today. I was seriously nervous we were going to get another call that she would be leaving again. Yeah I know, a completely ridiculous, irrational thought. Still something that terrifies me every time I see our agency’s number pop up on my phone.
August 29, 2014 will always be a date that we will remember. I don’t want to discuss the details of the day last year partly because I physically cannot with out losing it and because her case is still open, I can’t discuss the details. However I do want to talk about the amazing support system we had and still do during this journey, and you totally need a great support system if you are going to do foster care.
You need people who will go above and beyond the typical “I’ll be praying” response. Yes those people are still oh so important. Prayer is so powerful, but you need those people who will walk deeper with you during hard times.
You need people who you can call up and cry on the phone to and who will cry with you. You need people who will no matter how far they have to travel, will drop everything they are doing and drive through the night to be with you. You need someone who even after weeks, months, a year has passed they are still walking with you offering encouragement, comfort and love.
You need Jesus. With out Him you cannot do this. With out knowing that He is in control and He knows the bigger picture, you would crumble. You need to know that He is right there beside you walking with you, holding you up, weeping with you. He is quietly telling you over and over “I got this, I got this.” “For I know the plans I have for you.” (Jeremiah 29:11) I can honestly say if it wasn’t for the strength I find in Jesus, we wouldn’t continue to do foster care. We would have packed up, moved to a foreign country and wallowed in our misery. I am honestly not 100% healed from all that occurred, I am constantly having to run to Jesus for strength and for truth and He is so faithful to provide.
Missy’s case is not over. She is not guaranteed to stay with us forever. But I know whatever comes our way we have an amazing support system from friends and family and most of all our Lord Jesus Christ.
yes hair and make up done in 10 minutes! It can be done!
I decided to time myself as I got ready this morning to see how long it actually takes me. I was super surprised that it didn’t take long at all. My goal is always to keep it short and simple. I need it with two toddlers. (Yikes I have two toddlers now.. *minor freak out*) I’ll share with you the steps I do and products I use that help simplify my daily routine. I know I’ve written a similar post to this but I wanted to get more in depth with it. Also I would eventually like to film a short tutorial on it when I am able to purchase a camera. (Few weeks hopefully! )
So here is my “scary zombie yikes don’t go near Kimberly” before picture.
And here is my “look out world here comes sassy Kimberly” after picture 😉 that was achieved in 10 minutes.
First step, switch to contacts. I don’t know about you, but I feel so much better when I am not wearing my glasses. I wear contacts 90% of the time so glasses are purely for night and morning hours. Switching to contacts first thing wakes me up more and almost gives me a boost of energy. Weird I know.
Step 2, wash my fash. Super easy and good way to brighten up your face and wake yourself up. Try washing with cooler water, it’s refreshing first thing in the morning.
Step 3, make up. I don’t use a lot of make up. I don’t like feeling heavily caked in make up and I like to be more natural looking. I start out with a tinted moisturizer. In the past I have used Olay fresh effects BB cream, currently I am trying out Mary Kay’s CC cream. I was asked by a friend who sells Mary Kay if I wouldn’t mind trying out this product because she knows I like to keep things simple. I like them both. I use this as my concealer. Its moisturizing my skin as well as giving me some coverage to hide blemishes. And it’s very light. Next I will add very little powder foundation. I use Mary Kay’s mineral powder foundation. Next I use either a bronzer (Mary Kay) or I put on a little blush (covergirl). For my eyes, I add a little eyeshadow and mascara. That’s it. Super quick and super easy. One thing I like about the CC cream is that I really don’t need to add anything else after that, maybe a little blush, but it has good enough coverage that it could be used all by itself. If you’d like to try that stuff, let me know and I can give you the name of my Mary Kay consultant.
Step 4, hair. Now before I added make up I sprayed my hair with dry shampoo. Soaks up all the greasiness in my hair and fluffs it up. Make sure you brush it out. You don’t want to leave it chalky/dusty in your hair. Then I’ll fix a curl here and there with a flat iron. Literally takes me 2 minutes.
Step 5, get dressed. Get out of those pjs and put a cute shirt on with jeans! That’s basically all I wear. I feel better when I am out of sweats and into jeans.
So that’s it. In just 10 minutes I was able to be ready for the day and felt put together. And like I said I will do a step by step tutorial in a few weeks to show you how I apply everything.
I have been asked several times what I use for Malachi and Miss’s hair, so I thought I’d share what our daily routine is. Now I am no expert in biracial hair care, I’ve asked around and have done research but I am still learning. Also what works for my kids hair may not work for yours and vice versa. I am always open to any more tips and advice on hair products that have worked for African American and biracial people. So please feel free to comment any tips if you have them!
I pretty much do the same routine for both kids because it works for their hair even though their curls and texture of hair are different. Malachi’s hair is very thick and coarse. His curls are completely different from Miss’s. We keep Malachi’s short for the most part because of how thick it is and he is a VERY sweaty boy.
Miss’s hair is fine, softer and more curly. I have noticed as she is getting old it’s getting a little more coarse so who knows what hair care will be like in a year for her!
Morning routine:
Every morning I spray their hair with a leave-in detangler. (Here) I let is sit in Miss’s hair for a little while I work on Malachi’s hair. She has way more tangles than him. I brush Malachi’s hair with a wide tooth comb and then rub in a moisturizing leave-in styling conditioner. (Here) that’s all I have to do for Malachi. Pretty low maintenance. 🙂
For Miss, after the detangler has sit for a few minutes, I comb through her hair with my fingers and comb. This takes about 5 minutes because she is squirmy and because she gets a ton of tangles in her hair. Once I get it smoothed out, I rub the same moisturizing leave-in conditioner I used on Malachi. I take sections of her hair, running my fingers through her hair and making sure each strand of hair is saturated in the conditioner. Then I will take the curling oil (Here) pour a tiny amount (it goes a long way!) on a cloth and rub it on pieces of her hair that need a little more moisture and are rebelling. 😉 then I’ll add a clip in bow or headband.
Bedtime:
Every night I spray their hair with water and brush out any dirt/sand they put in their hair during the day and I’ll rub the palmers coconut milk (Here) in their hair. Takes just a few minutes.
Bath time:
I try to bathe our kids every 2 days. Like I said early they are pretty sweaty kids and love playing outside and dirt under their finger nails grosses me out to the max! Even though I bathe them that frequently, I don’t wash their hair every time. Just once a week. Usually our Wednesday night routine. I am still experimenting with different shampoos so I haven’t landed on one permanently yet. Right now I use Shea moisture curl and shine shampoo (Here), a lot of people recommend the Mixed Chicks products, I’m going to try that next. On bath nights that their hair doesn’t get washed I just wipe it down with a damp cloth to get dirt out. Then continue on with our normal bedtime routine.
So that’s it! Now you can see why I’m not a fan of when people touch their hair and mess with it. I have to put effort into their hair. I was talking with a friend who has curly hair and her daughter as well and they have a “no touching hair” rule in their house because of the work it takes to style and care for curls. We have the same rule in our home. And yes they are kids and obviously don’t always follow that rule but it’s something I want them to get used to.
As they get older and hair gets longer and different hair styles are wanted then I’m sure our routine will change. I’ve already been looking up on how to do braids, cornrows and other hairstyles for biracial hair. I am really looking forward to learning and being able to do most of this stuff my self until I will need a professional to take over for me. Until then I’ll be pinteresting it up. 😉
Today marks one year since we started this journey with Miss. Really more than a year if you count when we heard about her in that meeting months before she was born and started praying for her safety and health in the womb.
Before she was placed in our home we actually knew of her being born. I had emailed our case worker to see if he had heard anything, knowing that her due date was approaching. He had, that morning, (aug 6th) Let me tell you, keeping that quiet was the hardest secret ever to keep!! I thought I was going to die for 2 days. We weren’t 100% sure if she was coming to us yet so we didn’t want to risk telling people and then saying just kidding.. We also did not know any information about her. We didn’t even know she was a girl, if she was healthy, her name, nothing. We just had to wait to hear from our agency and case worker as they got information.
The first time I heard what her name was, I kind of chuckled. It’s an usual name that I’ve never heard before and I knew it would have to be something different than the norm because of Malachi’s original spelling of his name. Now, after going through so much with her case, I LOVE LOVE LOVE her name. It gave me a hope to hold on to while she was gone. God spoke to me through her name. It’s something so precious and dear to me, which is why I don’t like calling her or when others call her Miss/Missy. Obviously I do it on social media for her protection and for following rules, but she doesn’t get called by those names at home. I anxiously await for the day I get to say her name to you guys. It’s a beautiful name. It suits her and her life so perfectly.
I’ve been looking back at pictures of this day last year and I can’t believe it’s the same baby. For one, her hair is stick straight as a newborn, now it’s out of control curls. The little blood vessel blemishes she has on her nose and between her eyes are slowly disappearing. Lord please let those stay forever! She will probably hate that as she gets older but I love them. And she was tiny.. Not now. Haha
I remember the first time seeing her and holding her and I just thought “oh my gosh I love her so much.” It’s a strange thing to be connected to and so in love with a child who is not your own and not even born yet, and not even knowing what’s going to happen to them, but God knew what He was doing in both mine and Doug’s heart. He was preparing us for a battle we never knew we would have to face soon. These first 3 weeks would be perfect and full of newborn bliss.
I have decided that I would change up my blogging topic a bit. I’m clearly not very good at the fashion only blogging world, so instead of just fashion I’d like to blog about a variety of topics. I will continue to blog on fashion but I’d like to be able to share more of our foster care journey, our infertility battle and many other topics that are on my heart. I strongly believe that God orchestrated everything in our life and I want to share His blessings and His grace with everyone. So what better way than to start off with a post about my baby girl!
Happy Birthday my sweet baby girl! I can’t believe she is already a year old. It feels like she went from a newborn to a one year old over night. And really she did for us. I am saddened by the fact that we missed a good chunk of her babyhood, but so grateful that we get to watch her grow and love on her again. Something that I honestly had given up on. I thought when August 6th rolled around, it wouldn’t be a day of celebrating, but a day of sadness. I was dreading it, but thanks be to God, she is home again and we get to celebrate her wonderful life. So today we celebrate you baby girl! We celebrate your life that truly is a miracle.
Here are some random facts:
She is walking.. Ahh my baby girl is already walking… Slow down time please! And she climbs. I caught her climbing up her dresser a couple weeks ago. No joke. She thinks she’s much older than she really is.
She LOVES food. Any food. All food. If it’s edible (or even if it’s not) she will eat it. If we won’t let her eat something it’s pretty much the end of the world for her. She can literally just have a bottle and a huge dinner and see one tiny crumb on the floor and if she doesn’t get it.. It ruins her day. She eats more than Malachi. I call her my “lil miss piggy” 🙂
Her hair is getting CRAaAZY! Tight tight ringlet curls. I love them.
She can say “mama” “dada” “mawkai” (Malachi) “pagee” (Apache, our dog) “uh oh” and “no”
She is in size 18 month clothes but can fit in some 2t stuff. Girls got thighs. 🙂
Now please enjoy the back of our precious girls head. 🙂
I was kid free this morning, so naturally I made a target trip. I did have to get some saltines and Gatorade for my sick hubby so really I had a reason to be there. Right? 🙂 Why is target so amazing? It has everything. I especially love their clothes. I know big surprise right? 😉 I decided to put together a few outfits from their women’s section just for the fun of it. I’d like to be able to do this once a week or two to help inspire you ladies. Its much easier to get items and outfits you like when you actually know where they came from. Pinterest is great to give you ideas but I always have a hard time finding the exact item to purchase or it’s very high end items that just isn’t affordable. I also plan to do this with other clothing stores, so if you have a favorite place to shop let me know and I’ll see what outfits I can put together with their items!
I LOVED this one! I’ve been searching for a denim vest (Here) and this was perfect. A denim vest can go with many different items and adds a more purposeful put together look. I couldn’t find a link for the snoopy “allergic to mornings” tank, but they do carry it in the store!
I decided to switch out the tank underneath for a striped one (Here) and loved it even more. I actually bought this outfit I loved it so much. Shh don’t tell Doug 😉 you should have a striped tee or tank in your wardrobe.
Here’s a full shot of the tank paired with denim shorts. Those shorts. (Here) So comfy and cute! I would have bought those too but I didn’t had enough spending money. Next time for sure.
Rompers are very instyle and a perfect addition to your summer wardrobe. Dress it up with some cute wedges and necklace or keep it casual with sandals. This one (Romper here) was a little out of my comfort zone but I kind of liked it. I wouldn’t do the all white with little kids and jam hands. Still in search for the perfect romper.
Here’s the same tank top with some super cute lounge shorts. (Here) I actually saw this look on another Instagram account I follow. She had it paired with a light weight cardigan. I like that the shorts have a tiny crochet flower detail. Pairing it with a light striped shirt adds a nice contrast.
So there you go! What stores do you shop at and would like to see some outfit ideas?
Beautiful Arrows 