A First for Me

This may be a long post, so settle in for the ride.
We had a really great weekend...well after my fabulous Friday night. Early Saturday morning we woke up early and headed off to the softball fields. Chris played three games that day, and boy was it hot! But it was a lot of fun. Tyler was really good and Blake loved playing with his cousins Easton and Brayden. All three boys did well until the last game which was at noon; it was just too hot for them. Luckily there was some shade for them to play in. We also started pouring water on their feet to help cool them off. Blake loves water, so he of course loved this. He even liked it when I poured water on his head. That reminded me how I've been wanting to shave Blake's hair off. He is always SO hot, so I thought it would be cooler for him. Chris had already told me that we weren't going to do that. I wasn't sold on the idea either to tell you the truth. I just wasn't sure how my little Blake would look without hair. He has always had a lot of hair. Anyway, after the softball games we went home to rest. I kept telling Chris that we should shave his head. Now, I only did this because I knew Chris would keep denying my request. But to my surprise Chris said, "yeah, let's do it!" I was shocked and slowly went along with 'my request'. The next thing I knew, Chris was preparing Blake for his shave! He put a plastic bag over him and started shaving. I was sick. My stomach was instantly in knots. Especially when I saw that there was no attachment on the razor!! I just wanted to throw up! I thought, "what did we just do?!" Chris stayed calm even though, I think he was just as shocked as me. He kept saying it was only hair and it will grow back. Which is true. Well, it was all done...no more hair, and a completely different looking child! We took Blake to upstairs to look in the mirror and to shower. When Blake saw himself in the mirror he got the biggest grin on his face! At that moment I knew it was alright because Blake loved it! We kept asking him where all his hair went and he would just rub his head and smile. I was so glad that he liked it, but I was still not used to it. I got teary eyed while cleaning up all the hair. I felt like I lost part of my boy. To my surprise, its the exact opposite. I feel like I have seen a new part of Blake. He has been so much fun all weekend. His features just stand out now to me and I love that he loves it.
My point to this post is what came after we shaved his head. I never thought people's reaction to Blake's hair would affect me so much. I want my kids to know that it does not matter what they look like on the outside, it only matters whats in the inside. I don't want them to ever feel bad about themselves, and I surely don't want other to make them feel that way. I felt like some of the reactions I got from people were almost mean. It broke my heart for my little boy. How dare they act like that and make my little boy feel like he's inferior now and because he has a shaved head that he's not as cute. I just wanted to take Blake away from it all and tell him how much he was loved. Yesterday, I made sure to tell him that it doesn't matter what other people think of him and that we loved him. It didn't even phase Blake that I was talking to him, and I'm sure he didn't notice people's reactions like I did, but I still had to make sure he knew. It was the first time where I felt helpless as a Mom. I couldn't protect him and I hated it.

Here are some pictures of our newly shaved boy:

(this taken with a cell phone, so its not very good)

Now he's just like his uncle Ryan! What do you think Ryan?