bloogs blowing by

I like myself just how I am, I think

So, I have some extra time to myself this week while Tae is spending some time with her dad.

Today's plan: haircut!

I haven't gotten my hair cut in over six months. My last hairdresser said something about "oriental babies" being so cute, so instead of saying anything, I'm just never going there again.

This time, I went to a Korean hairdresser. I liked her because she was more business than chatty. But, once I opened my mouth and asked about wedding hair, it was all over.

Instead of giving me a regular blow dry, she made my hair all pretty and curly - "Today's your wedding day!" she proudly exclaimed. So, today, for the first time ever, I have boing-boing curls. And I almost like them.

On the flip side, I am miffed that the makeup artist that works at the salon made comments about my skin. She told me, "you have an acne problem."

Great. I could feel her looking at my brows, my forehead. Eh. She asked if I was going to wear contacts when I got married, and I told her that, no, I don't wear contacts. She was shocked. Now, why in the world would I trust someone like that to do my makeup for my wedding?

It just confirms all the negative things that I think of when I think of beauty products and beauty salons. I believe that I can be beautiful without getting my eyebrows done, without contacts and with my acne. Why do I need to have curly hair to be beautiful? Who ever said that my straight black hair isn't beautiful?

I'm torn. I'm enjoying the boing-boing curls for tonight, even though it just doesn't feel like me. But it makes me want to rebel and not so anything crazy and fancy with my make-up and hair for the wedding. Because I'm not that fancy (I'll admit, I am sometimes crazy) in real life.

But, I'll admit it. I'm totally enjoying flipping my curls, just for tonight.

Monday Movies

Monday Movies

Uploaded by eliaday.

I'm not sure what inspired this.... but it's giving us some laughs today!!

Monday Movies

Monday Movies



Uploaded by eliaday. - Videos of family and friends from around the world.

immortalizing Tae's strangeness

Tae told me to write this down so I will remember this story when she has kids.

Tae's first time eating a ring.

Once upon a time, Tae was taking a bath. All of a sudden, she put my ring in her mouth!! I asked her why she was eating my ring. She just laughed and laughed and then stuck my whole finger in her mouth. She is very strange! I don't want her to swallow my ring!

The end.

5 things I'll blog about some day

But for now, I'll be happier going to bed earlier. =)

1. Why and how our house has become princess friendly.
2. How our adjustment to the new apartment and family structure has been going.
3. Updates on our wedding planning, what this process is like, round 2.
4. How our meals are/aren't evolving to become more balanced.
5. Ten things I still wish I had more time and energy for.

Halloween is over. Bring on Santa.

We had a fun balmy Halloween.  I was a little nervous because our day was kinda crazy - a birthday party in the morning, and then trick-or-treating.

We had some costume issues during the day.  After I had made Tae's Halloween costume myself, we went through a couple of costume changes throughout the day.

Before the birthday party, I threw together a make-shift cowgirl costume.  And suddenly, Tae wanted to be a cowgirl!!  We both had on denim and striped shirts and boots (though hers were rainboots), and off to the birthday party we went.  I threw in her ballerina costume (less voluminous and easier to bowl in than the Cinderella costume) in my bag, because I had a hunch that the other girls at the party would be in fancier costumes than a cowgirl.  And, of course, I was right.  Within 15 minutes, Tae had changed in to her ballerina costume.

Before going out trick or treating, we had some wardrobe issues.  But, by 5:30pm, we were out the door, ready to meet up with some neighborhood friends.

It never dawned on me that wearing a looong ball gown was not a good idea for trick or treating.  There were so many leaves and stairs and everything that poor Tae was having trouble walking.  I ended up being like her maid-servant (rather appropriate), waking two steps behind her holding up her dress.  Eh.

Luckily, we weren't out for too long, and Tae was with a friend, and we had fun.  Halfway through though, she did tell me that she wished she had a short dress like her friend. 

All in all, it was a fun night.  We came home with a pretty decent loot bag for a 5 year old.  A local toy store is doing a pretty smart promotion - if you donate candy back to the store (they're donating the candy to the USO), they'll give you a 25% coupon.  There's no way we would have actually finished all that candy anyway. =)

 

Art from today

I'm not quite sure who these girls are supposed to be.  But I feel like this is a big step in how she draws people... and I can't help but notice the black hair. =)

Check up

Friday was Tae's 5 year check up.  (I still can't quite believe that she's 5.  Gulp.)

Tae was acting really silly for mostof the check up, including while the doctor was asking her questions, and she kept yelling "Spinach!!"  Spinach!!" when the doctor was talking about eating healthy foods.  Incidentally, Tae only nibbles at spinach, if that.

She weighs in at a grand ole 33.5 pounds, and is 41.5 inches tall.  this puts her in the 7th and 9th percentiles respectively, which is a reasonable change from last year's 3rd and 7th.  Apparently she grew about 5 inches last year?  Craziness.

The other highlight of the visit was that Tae peed in a cup for the first time.  She thought it was very strange, and was giggling the whole time.  Haha.  Lucky me, I got to hold the cup for her. 

I had promised Tae that after her physical we would go to the zoo.  She was asking about it, because the last time we went, one of the gorillas freaked out and rushed the glass window we were standing in front of.  The night we were there was a free zoo night, and it was crowded.

This time, it was an overcast, cold day, so the zoo was, uh, not crowded at all.  Our local zoo is a nice small, manageable size.  We saw some animals.  We saw the gorillas being friendly and not freaking out.  We saw a lioin roar so loud that it freaked Tae out.  We saw flamingos, and tapirs, and a condor. 

We saw some not so excited things too, like a dead fish that Tae spoted in a fish tank.  It was floating upside down, and Tae told me that it looked sick.  She asked if its mommy would be sad.  She told me that it wasn't dead because its eyes were wide open. 

Like most dead things we see (roadkill mainly), Tae is fascinated, and I usually am trying to hold down my lunch.

It was a fun day.

Monday Movies

Monday Movies



Uploaded by eliaday. - Family events, birthdays and parenting videos.

Five

Somehow, my baby is turning five today.  She makes me laugh because she tells me about how she remembers being inside my belly, how everything was red.  (She saw an exhibit at the science museum.)

She's five, and she asks me funny things like, "Why is it taking so long for me to become a big sister?"  She still wakes up in the middle of the night, and screams MOMMY! at the top of her lungs - because, as she says, our rooms are so far apart now.

She's taken to calling me "Momma" this week, because some of her friends call their mothers Momma.

She can be very thoughtful, and polite.  She can be very caring towards people she knows.  She likes to try to be helpful, especially in the kitchen (when she wants to).  She can be very demanding, and wants so go everywhere I do.

She surprises me sometimes with her ability to articulate herself.  Even sometimes in the midst of a tantrum, she'll just scream, "I can't calm down!  I'm tired!"  She tells me that she's worried, or that she's happy about things, or that she misses things.  I worry about finding the right balance for her where she can be a kid, but also deal with a full-time working mother.  Sometimes, I think I need her, to help me take care of me.

And now, she's five.  I don't know how her baby years just past in the blink of an eye.  Some of it is a big haze in my mind.  For most of it I have photos to remind me of all the little things that she used to do.

But, I realize now why I love watching her at night - because when she sleeps, her face looks the same to me as that very first day I ever met her.  Five years ago.