New haircut for a new stage in life!

Just had a new hair cut last Friday and I'm feeling so happy with my new hair now ;)))

I had long hair for about 12 years after I left secondary school. I have kept it straight all those years and gave it a perm for the first time in 2006 because I kept getting comments from clients that I was looking too young. A perm instantly added 5 more years to my looks, which was quite helpful at that time.My hair was most beautiful; straight smooth, long and silky during my wedding in 2009 because I put in so much effort by going to regular hair treatments in the saloon. 2010 was the bad hair year. Soon after my wedding I did more things to my hair and it took a toll and went completely damaged, especially after SJ & I went to Phuket in August 2010. It got worse after my hairstylist suggested I permed it again (after my Phuket trip!) to give it more volume which was a super bad idea! I'd never get his advice to perm or colour again.

Finally cut my hair after trying and trying for 6 months to revive my beautiful locks. I was spending so much money going to the saloon to get treatments but my hair just couldn't absorb any moisture. It was like dry grass :(( So, I had this hair cut; removing all the curls and colours in June 2011. I was super happy!

Picture taken on 17th June 2011

It was the best decision that I've got for my hair for the past 2 years. I felt so light, I spent so much lesser time to care for my hair; shampoo, conditioning and blow-drying. It was wonderful. The last time I had short hair was in school.. I was looking so much younger. 

Then, this short hair thing got quite addictive and I went back to have a shorter but more matured cut the very next month!

Picture taken on 26th July 2011

I was very tempted to have a super short hair cut but was afraid that I might not look good in it. I have a round shaped face and I was afraid that I would look chubby. I have told SJ that I will cut my hair super short when there is a life changing event happening; the next stage in our relationship, that is when we're going to have a baby! We were sort of like planning to have a baby in that year.

A few months later, we found out the good news but did not share it with our friends yet. I was so excited that I have decided to cut my hair super short! This hair cut was after much discussion with my hairstylist; that is to continue to keep it long or have it really short for confinement period.

Picture taken on 1st December 2011

My hairstylist thinks that it's better to have really short hair during the confinement period because in the Chinese belief, the new mother is usually not allowed to wash her hair to prevent rheumatism. The hairstylist's theory was shorter hair will produce less oil, which would not clog the hair pores so much and this will prevent lesser hair fall and balding. I agreed with him and I was so thankful to have my hair short during my first trimester. It was so much easier to manage with the nausea and giddiness in the first trimester. I could wash my hair in less than 3 minutes and I didn't even have to conditioned and blow dry it. It was fantastic. 

Maintaining and making sure my hair was in place was the last thing on my priority list in my first trimester. I was more concerned making sure I was feeling ok and trying not to vomit. Having short hair is also so much easier to travel. I used to travel with many many bottles consist of conditioners, serum, hair mask, hair tonic and the hair dryer because I had such thick long hair that I needed a strong powerful hair dryer or I would take literally forever to dry my hair. With my new short hair now, I just needed a small bottle of shampoo and a comb!

But recently, I have been growing so much, putting so much weight on my face, I think this super short hair is not suitable as it doesn't hide my chubby cheeks. My mom suggested that I should have longer hair so that I would look more balance and more feminine. That's what I told my hairstylist and he suggested a bob; short behind with long fringe. That what I had last Friday! ;)

Picture taken on 18th March 2012. 

Here's a picture taken with a friend's 3 months baby, little Ethan. He is such a handsome boy!

My plan is to try to keep my hair as long as possible for the next 3-4 months, trying to achieve the 2nd picture length in this post and I shall make a decision in July on whether to have it long or have it super duper short before baby comes along. I guess from this post, my friends who are reading probably are surprised that I have put so much thoughts on my hair because this is quite a long post on HAIR! Haha! It's Tuesday! HAPPY TUESDAY! 

There are reasons why Mothers have to be pregnant for 9 months...

I'm at week 23, or about 5 months plus pregnant now. I'm not exactly sure how many months I am in and it's easier to keep track on the weeks. SJ thinks in the pregnancy world, it takes 4.5 weeks to make a month because the pregnancy period is 9 months or 40 weeks. So, 23 weeks divided by 4.5 weeks equals to 5.1 months.

I am 

pregnant :)

SJ noticed that I'm becoming more 'motherly' nowadays.. slowly developing motherly senses to prepare for baby's arrival. One most obvious change is that I'm more of a light sleeper now. I am much easily woken up nowadays compared to pre-pregnancy. I used to sleep like a log, seriously, SJ could be using the hair dryer only about 2 feet away from me and I could still sleep soundly without knowing that he was blow-drying his hair. I could sleep with the lights on or off, whether someone is moving in and out of my bedroom before I got pregnant. I did not even stir! I was used to not 'hearing' my alarm when it rings and that annoys SJ a real lot because he had to wake up to turn off my alarm and wake me up telling me that my alarm just went off. I am not sure whether I was a deep sleeper or I was just sleep-deprived because I used to stay up till very late and had super early mornings compared to now as I am having enough sleep nowadays.

SJ is definitely a much light sleeper than me. He would usually complain that my phone makes way too much noise and he was amazed that I could sleep through it because I would be so crazy and put lots and lots (seriously a lot, up to 20 or more) of reminders, alarms and notifications for things to do and appointments starting as early as 7am EVERY DAY. That really drove SJ so mad that I had to silent my phone over the weekends. I didn't have this problem or even noticed that it was a problem (because I slept through them) as we were not staying together initially but have to compromise since he got back to work in KL. 

Things are different now because I would be easily woken up; when SJ turns on/off a switch, when he leaves the bed, when the bedroom door is open/closed. I could wake up with the slightest noise. I could even tell he was going to work by the smell of SJ's shaving balm or perfume in the early morning. Now, SJ cannot leaves the room or make any movements without me knowing! I'm not sure if that's a good change for him :P

SJ thinks that I'm more of a light sleeper nowadays because I'm going to be a mother soon. This is to prepare when baby wakes up in the middle of the night and I won't sleep through the baby's cries. If I sleep through it, I think I'll be such a horrible mother! Many of my friends also commented that I'm looking more motherly now, a nicer way to say that I'm looking more 'aunty' ;) When I was at the reception of a restaurant to put my name in the waiting list for dim sum lunch today, that front desk person put down 'Mrs Amy' instead of 'Ms'. She wrote 'Ms' first but dashed it across and put 'Mrs' instead. Haha. Maybe that is to indicate to her other colleagues that should they be looking for Amy, look for a more 'aunty' Amy and not a hot sexy Amy :S 

There are reasons that on why human mothers go through 9 months before the baby comes along. It will be so difficult for a woman to accept a new baby in mentally, emotionally and physically if a baby appears in a MONTH! 9 months is good for the body to adapt and make changes to welcome the baby into this world. I am also slowly preparing myself for the natural birth during this pregnancy period. I agree with the statement that every mother has a special instinct for their kid that is formed when the baby comes into this world. A mother knows the baby's needs from the baby's cries and no other person knows the baby as well as the own mother. I think this goes on even after the baby becomes an adult. It's such a amazing bond that can never be explained. 

Two mothers told me over lunch today that motherhood is such an amazing fulfilling experience even though it was super duper difficult at first, with all the interrupted sleeps etc. And I'm looking forward to it! But with very high expectations that it's going to be VERY VERY DIFFICULT for the first few months :P

Week 23! Daddy could feel baby's kicks! :)))))

I'm into week 23 now. How time flies! The weeks just passed by so quickly. Today (Friday, 16th March) is SUPER SPECIAL because SJ could feel baby's kicks/movements! :)))

Found this picture and thought it was quite funny. Baby doing taekwando in the tummy ;)

I think this is what going to happen in the 3rd trimester when baby has no much space in my tummy and I'll then feel his constant movements. I usually feel baby's movements after meals, that is after lunch and dinner or when I am sitting in a quiet room. I could also feel baby's movement when I am stuck in the traffic jams, which is quite frequent because I'm working in the jam-packed KL city. 

When I started to feel baby's movements in week 18, I've told SJ about it and he put his hand on my tummy trying to feel baby's kicks but he could not feel a thing. Sometimes I would go 'Ooo, baby's kicking now' but I could see from his face that he couldn't understand what was it like even though I pointed to him the spot that baby was kicking. I tried to describe to him that it was like a poke from the inside, a soft poke/push on my tummy from the inside, which I would then demonstrate by poking his arm. He would usually say ok but I knew that he doesn't really understand and I thought it's really too bad that I could not share these new fantastic sensations with him.

But today he felt baby's kicks!!! :)) We were watching 'So you think you can dance' on tv after dinner. I was sitting on the couch and I could feel baby's kicking quite strongly. Maybe baby wanted to dance too! I could see that my bump moved a little when baby kicked and I was pretty sure if someone placed their hands on my bump, they could feel it too. I told SJ to place his hand on the spot where baby just kicked; usually baby would kick 2 to 3 times on the same spot and SJ felt it!!! There was a delighted smile on his face :)))) It's such a fulfilling discovery!

Well, we been trying to feel more baby kicks tonight since that moment. Baby probably wondered why were there so much pressure (by hands) placed on the tummy area which probably had reduce his personal space! SJ told baby not to kick mommy too hard later because he is afraid that it might hurt mommy. That was really so sweet of him ;) 

As for now, I really don't mind feeling baby kicks all the time. Sometimes when I got so busy running around with work and forgot that I'm pregnant since I'm feeling ok most of the time nowadays, I would stop everything for a minute or two and feel baby's movement in my tummy and that feeling is definitely one of the best feelings in the world ;) That's definitely one of the happiest moments that tells me that everything is going great and nothing is worth worrying or stressed about. Baby kicks never fail to bring relief and a smile to my face ;) It's priceless!