A Texas Ritual.

How many Redheads do you know?

Did you know?

Some redheaded facts, superstitions and stats:

• Red hair is a genetic mutation.
• Red hair is seen on the heads of only 4% of people. Most in the UK, Ireland, and Australia. 
• In the US only 2% of people have red hair.
• Redheads have a specific gene called the melanocortin 1 receptor {MCR1} found on the 16th chromosome. This single gene is responsible for red hair. This wasn't discovered until the late 1990's.
• Redheads sometimes require up to 20% more anesthesia, concluding that we are much harder to sedate.
• Redheads have always been though untrustworthy. Judas is depicted as a redhead displaying the first prejudice against red hair. 
• Bees are thought to sting redheads more than others. 
• In ancient Egypt red hair was seen so unlucky, red haired girls were burned alive. 
• In medieval Europe, the infamous witch-hunting manual, Malleus Maleficarum, instructed that red hair and green eyes were marks of a witch, as were freckles. 
• Redheads tend to bleed more, due to slightly different clotting factors, which again is a genetic factor. 
• In Denmark, it is a high honor to have a redheaded child. 
• The redheaded gene is recessive, so red hair can show up many generations later. It takes both parents carrying the gene to produce a redheaded child. 
• Red haired blue eyed combinations are said to be one of the rarest combinations. It is usually more common to see a redhead with brown or green eyes than with blue. 

An Ode to Minky.

An Oldie.

{New Years 1999}

I got to hang out with some great old friends last week, they were even so kind so bring along photos. Thanks, guys. Enjoy that gem. 

No Napping Zone.

You guys, things have been trying over here. 

I have been loving the time change, the kids get to stay up later meaning more time with dada during the week.. I am also not feeling that "crazy" hour before bedtime solo and it has almost seemed to disappear. Well, maybe not disappear but rather move to middle of the day. 

You see, Nixon has started fighting sleep. All forms of it - nap time, night night time - anything and everything and J has seemed to jump on board the crazy train because I can only get her to nap 30 minutes! This wouldn't be bad except

1. they aren't ready for 0 naps

2. they are crazy exhausted/miserable

3. I still enjoy/ love/ need nap time. 

So, I guess we will see how things go.. there have been horrible tantrums and lovie throwing and I am trying to figure out what will make everything easier on the kids {especially Nixon} 

That one time J met Cinderella.

Really, she did though. I mean, she wasn't impressed, but give it a year or two and I will bet she wishes she could meet her again. 

A little vacation.

A little vacation, in more than one sense. I needed a little vacation from the blog. I hopefully will start writing again, but not so often.. things have been so fun/crazy/busy around here so we will see how it goes. 

The hubs and I got to do our first night away from the kids a few weeks ago. We had a friends wedding at a nearby hotel and took advantage. We had so much fun and I actually wasn't curled up in the corner freaking out about being away from the kids. It was so much needed, and relaxing. I may have opened a beast up though because this upcoming weekend we are planning another night away, a littler further away in Austin for SXSW, and in July we are discussing taking our first "real trip" away. Baby steps. 

{a little selfie before the wedding}

{reunited, plus a few}