every day life

So, last week I wrote about my sadly significant hair loss since child birth. It seems that I am not the only one with this problem…Andy is fine but Kiko is loosing her hair along with me! She did not have much hair in the first place (I guess lot of white babies don’t, as oppose to Asian babies, who are born with a full head of hair!). She has lost hair such that her hair now makes a big M shape. The bald space on her head is getting more and more pronounced. I’m not sure if it’s because her head is growing, or she if is shedding like me. Anyone know?

You might be wondering why Kiko is dressed like a snowman in the pictures even though it’s a hot and humid August here in Japan. We had a surprisingly chilly few days last week. So I dressed her up in a cute jumper with tights, matching cardigan and hat. I bought these at a thrift store while I was in Philly last year. Back then I bought these thinking I was having a boy. I love being a mom of a baby girl, it is so much fun to dress her up like a doll :p

We started feeding Kiko rice porridge this week. We serve it to her once a day before her milk. I am feeding her about two table spoons of this mush. She takes it, but gives me this face as if to say “why are you feeding me such a terrible thing?!” Her facial expression is priceless!

I’m continually amazed by her growth. Something beyond her ability to do one day, becomes something she can easily do the next day. For example, she has an elephant mobile above her crib. She used to yell at the elephants getting frustrated because she couldn’t touch them and make them move like Andy and I are able to do for her. But overnight she became able to grab the elephants, rip them off the mobile ( the elephant heads are connected to a plastic pole with velcro tape), sing to them, then squeeze and lick them.

As of this week, she has really started enjoying her toys. Of all the toys, her favorite toy is a plastic bag though! I guess she likes the sound it makes when she crumples it.

As I write this I can remember just a few short months ago when I first brought Kiko home. A week or so after birth, I was driving and burst into tears. That day, Andy sent me out to the post office to ship some packages. While driving, I was listening to Usher’s “U Got it Bad” and all of a sudden I started to ball, the feeling was just so overwhelming…I can’t really describe it. I thought to myself, “I am caring for such a small, precious thing” I was (and continue to be) super worried because my mind filled with “what if” questions. What if I’m doing this wrong? What if something happens while Kiko is sleeping? What if she has SIDS and dies all of a sudden?

But as of the 17th of this month, four months have passed and I feel great everyday and have not balled uncontrollably since then. When I see “The Fatness” in the morning  feel that all is well. Of course I am always thinking whether I’m doing certain things right, but I guess that is is just part of motherhood. I’m really enjoying being a mom and can’t wait to bring even more “fatnesses” into the house!

When it comes to skin care, I believe that less is more. I feel as though nothing you put on the skin from the outside can change your skin dramatically. I had a terrible acne when I was in high school, and I tried every acne-cure product on the market. I went to a treatment facilities and visited dermatologists… neither did anything. As I got older and my hormones calmed down, my pimples disappeared.

But, I still do use fun skin care products.  Mostly because I like the smell. I picked up these new products during my Korea trip at the Busan airport. They were cheap, but feel great on my skin 🙂

* two tubes on the left : Etude House “Sleeping Pack”  – you apply it on clean skin before bedtime, and leave it on over night. Then rinse it off in the morning for moisturized and refreshed skin.

* On the right: HANSKIN Oat Meal a+1 Foam Cleanser and toner

I also started using Josie Maran daily sun protection, gifted from my dear friend Kaitlyn. I love the smell, and it is all natural with SPF40.