Lilly's Hair

This blog entry has been in the works for some time.  The day I created the blog, I knew that there would have to be an entry on Lilly's hair.  Today is the day!  Lilly's hair has been a topic of conversation since day one.  Usually, when babies are born, they look like a newborn; tiny little features complete with a tiny little bald head.  Sometimes babies have a thin layer of hair, which tends to fall out in the weeks following birth.  So, from the day of Lilly's birth, while she was unique in many ways, her hair set her apart from most other babies.  Nurses kept coming into our room saying that they were told they had to come and see this baby with all the hair.  She surprised everyone who walked into our hospital room to come and meet her; she definitely surprised us!  I have a feeling that this was just the first of many surprises that Lilly has in store for us.  Here she is on April 11, 2009:

Everywhere we went with Lilly, people had something to say.  At our first trip to Starbucks, when Lilly was 3 days old, a woman stopped us and told us it was all going to fall our and grow in blond.  That's what happened with her daughter.  Jim and I soon learned that everyone knew what was going to happen with Lilly's hair; everyone except us.  When we told people it wasn't falling out, they didn't believe us, or told us to give it time.  Not a single person told us she would keep all this hair; not a single person guessed correctly.  But, Lilly's hair never fell out; in fact, it just kept growing.  This is one of my favorite pictures illustrating Lilly's Elvis hair, taken at 1 week old:

Being born with so much hair comes with some difficult moments:

Lilly had to have a daily bath, which most newborns do not need.  Otherwise, her hair would get greasy, just like an adult's hair.  I think this is one of the reasons that Lilly doesn't mind having water poured over her head today--she's had to experience it almost every day for the past 18 months!

Lilly progressed from her little Elvis hairstyle, complete with sideburns, to a stylish pixie cut (according to my hair dresser), and then she soon had enough hair for a ponytail.  We didn't cut it when summer came since it was long enough to pull back.  Then, fall arrived and Jim and I decided that as much as we love Lilly's hair, we didn't want to be those creepy parents who never cut their children's hair...so Lilly got her first haircut!  Following is an attempt to capture the progression of all of Lilly's hairstyles leading up to the actual haircut.

1 month old

2 months old 

 3 months old

 4 months old

5 months old

 6 months old

 7 months old

 8 months old

 9 months old

 10 months old

 11 months old

 12 months old

 13 months old

 14 months old

 15 months old

 16 months

 17 months

When you watch the video, make sure you change the video quality to 480 (or whatever the highest quality is that the video allows to improve the picture quality).  I have to credit Jim with choosing the perfect song to accompany Lilly's haircut.

18 months