Perfect Hair and Perfect Sleep

Lately, I've found that getting a full night of sleep is very similar to having a good hair day.

What does that mean?

Well, there are some mornings when I wake up, put my feet on the carpet for the first time that day and start going through my morning routine.

With sleep still in my eyes I stumble into the bathroom and hop into the shower. I wash my hair with shampoo and then put a bit of conditioner in it.

Once I am done with my shower, I blow dry my hair like always and 9 times out of 10 I will straighten it. There are times when I curl it, but I prefer my hair straight so most days it's a straightener kind of day.

I will then put on my make up, pick out the outfit for the day, get dressed and look in the mirror.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. Some days, very few days, I will look in the mirror and stop and think, "whoa".

And it will be because I'm having the best hair day ever.

As I'm looking in the mirror I will recount every last step I did that morning, down to the simplest details, trying to figure out what caused this normally mundane hair to turn out so beautifully.

You know what I'm talking about. An EXCEPTIONAL hair day is few and far between and must be treasured when it is here.

As I retrace my morning process in my head I will realize I did everything just as I normally did. No new steps, no new hair products. I will have no idea what happened to create this wonderful hair day.

I feel a bit disappointed but maintain hope that the next morning I can somehow recreate this EXCEPTIONAL hair.

So, the next morning, when I wake up and put my feet on the carpet for the day, I will try and remember every.single.thing. I did the day before to ensure a beautiful head of hair.

I will try and wash it the exact same length of time, I will try and put the exact same amount of conditioner in it that I put in it the day before. 1 tablespoon or two? I get very technical when trying to master the ingredients to a good hair day.

I even try and estimate how much time lapsed between me blow drying my hair and putting the straightener on it. Did my hair cool down completely. Did that create some sort of scientific formula that allowed my hair to lay oh so perfectly?

However despite my hardest efforts there is nothing I can do to repeat the perfect hair day. In fact some days, when I try my hardest to repeat all the steps to ensure a good hair day, it will end up being a horrible hair day.

Go figure.

So how does this relate to Eli sleeping?

Well there are some mornings, where I wake up around 6:30 or 7:00, feeling completely refreshed and then it hits me.

BABY BOY SLEPT ALL NIGHT.

It's just about the best feeling in the world.

When I wake up feeling all refreshed I picture myself as a Disney princess, gracefully waking up, stretching my arms above my head, with pristine makeup on my face and beautiful cascading hair down my back while birds chirp outside my window and I break out into song about what the day holds.

If you've lived on few hours of sleep for severals nights in a row you understand what I mean.

So in similar fashion to repeating my good hair day, I will try and recount every step I took to make Eli sleep an entire night.

What time did I last feed him?

Did I kiss him on his right cheek or left?

Did Luke lay him down in the crib or did I?

I want to follow every single step to ensure a full night's rest once again.

I need to perfect the best recipe for a good night's sleep.

That night when Eli's bedtime sneaks up on us I will try as best as I can do repeat the exact same steps as the night before.

I will do everything the same as the night before, down to the smallest details.

And then when he wakes up at 2:30, 3:30, 4:30 and so on, I consider the recipe a FLOP.

I'm currently still working on perfecting both recipes.

If I can somehow achieve a perfect hair day on the same night Eli sleeps all night I will consider it a personal victory.

Heck, I consider showering once a day a personal victory these days.