Like mother, like daughter...

Katie has been begging for over a year to get her hair cut.  I really love her long hair, but was definitely willing to let her have a style that made maintenance a bit easier for her to handle on her own.  Daddy was harder to convince, but we finally did!  So over spring break, she got her first big cut!

I have to say I was a little nervous and started to tear up a little after that first cut.  Not because she was would have short hair but because she is clearly growing up faster than I'd prefer.

We took one last picture before we left the house.

We decided long before that we didn't want to waste her hair, we would need to cut at least 8 inches to donate to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.  I donated my hair to Pantene in 2012 and to Locks of Love in 2006.  Just like I did with myself, I obsessively measured Katie's hair over and over, trying to see how short it was going to be.  Katie certainly didn't care and would have been happy with a super short bob if we'd have agreed.

Right before the first cut, we asked if she was ready and she definitely was!

Her new cut seriously looked cuter than I ever could have imagined!  It really fit her spunky little personality, but it did make her look so much older!  :sob!:

As if the new hair style wasn't enough to tug at my heart strings, we had promised this little princess she could get her ears pierced after her 6th bday.  To be perfectly honest, we didn't really think she'd go through with it.

We didn't want to get them done in the mall with a little plastic gun by a quickly trained teenager.  In Kansas, piercers in piercing and tattoo shops cannot pierce children under 15 even with parents permission.  We were excited to find out that in Oklahoma, all you need is the child's birth certificate and the parent's ID.  We had planned a trip to the Oklahoma Aquarium anyway.  Perfect!

I spent the next few days explaining to Katie exactly how they would pierce her ears....one at a time, with a needle.  To my surprise, it didn't phase her.   Just like the haircut, I'm pretty sure I was twice as nervous as she was.

There were a few tears after the first ear, no tears after the second ear and she was all smiles by the time we got out to the van.

Man, I feel like may baby is gone but such a fun, outgoing, gorgeous little girl has taken her place.  My heart is bursting.