Saturday, April 18, 2009
A Day at the Fountain...and other updates.
The area we live in has a lot of outdoor mall areas very close by that go on for probably a good mile or so. I enjoy walking through them because it's all pedestrian and it's outdoors so it doesn't give me the issues that regular malls do. We happened to travel mostly through the mall areas on the way home from the park last week and found this music responding water fountain just a block from our apartment. Natalie naturally wanted to go into the fountain so I let her.
She had a blast but got very wet. I had also used that day to play around with a new hairstyle as I'm trying to find something to do for a hair style for her pictures (her three year pictures STILL have not been done!). This is one style I tried out that I liked a lot. I have a couple of other ones I have tried too that I may consider. One of the things I LOVE about South Korea is that there are these stands ALL over the place (stores too) with all these different kinds of hair ribbons and bows, things that aren't so easily accessible in the US unless you happen to find yourself on Etsy. I have become VERY addicted to ribbons and bows now and some of the hair styles I've done make it easy to put the hair pieces in where they'll actually STAY. Not only have I been play around with braids and ponytails, I'm also trying to figure out French braiding, both under and overhanded. Overhanded I think I've mastered but I need to get a little more used to underhanded braiding before I try a French braid. It was NOT easy, that's for sure. I had to basically sit Natalie down in front of the TV for a good hour/hour and a half with a spray bottle and braid her hair, then braid it again, and again before I got it down. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of of the French braiding I did, I'll have to do that next time. They turned out okay but I really want to get the underhanded braiding down, that looks SO cool. Still, I'll probably do something fairly simple for her pictures, I don't want to do something that's too overwhelming just yet.
Her hair has gotten very long though and I just love it. When it's wet, it's just about all the way down to her waist. It shortens as it dries and curls up a little. Once pictures are done though, I am planning to take her in for a hair trim. Her hair is still pretty uneven and since she's never had a REAL haircut yet, I think the time is coming for her to get one. I'm probably going to wait though until her bangs have grown long enough to get them done too, so probably around the beginning of June. This gives her hair a little more time to grow too and then she'll have the summer to grow it back out. I hate even cutting a little bit of her hair but I really thinks she needs it cut at least a little bit. It's starting to get a little scraggly at the ends.
Anyway, here's a close up of the one she wore at the fountain last week:
For the bows, at the time, I just had those Goody plastic barrettes. I have since picked up a few actual bows and I do have a set that I plan to use for Natalie's pictures that goes with her dress.This was from last week. Here, I took out the braids, and put them into ponytails instead and put the bows in front of the pony tails.
So far, my plan is to use either the braids above or this style for her pictures. This next one isn't really much of a hair style but I thought it was cute anyway.
John had also recently gotten his hair cut. It took several hours but we did finally find a hair place that didn't cost too much and it wasn't too far from our apartment either. The really nice thing is that they give you free refreshments too and they have internet access. That's probably where we'll take Natalie to get her hair done (and probably mine as well when it comes time to do that). My only problem is that they really do not cut John's hair as short as I would like it to be cut and I still think I should invest in my own pair of clippers and do it myself! lol
These last two pictures are from today. This one I came up with myself though I'm sure it's not an original and I've probably may have even seen it on one of the hair blogs I frequent (links on my other blog though I'll probably put them here too). The only problem I have with this one (like the French braid one) is that there really is no place to put bows. Though this would work well with really cute butterfly clips.
It took a little work because I had to wet down part of the hair, and then the parting and putting the hair pieces in took a little time too. I think the hardest part though is just getting Natalie to hold still while I put all the ponytails in. Still, it turned out really well and I can't wait to play around with it a little bit.Well, in other news, the move here to South Korea has been an adjustment to all and Natalie is no exception. She's having a hard time adjusting to not really having a bedroom to sleep in the most and the results of that has been that she is next to impossible to get to bed unless we ALL go to bed. *sigh* This is NOT making it easy for John and I to have a little adult time. Then again, lack of adult time might not be such a bad thing if we're not really trying to get pregnant right now. Still, she does eventually settle down and go to sleep and at the very least, when she gets to sleep, she sleeps a long time, usually 9-10 hours at least. Another huge adjustment has been that since moving here, Natalie has been trying to increase her nursing. I think if she could, she would be latched on all day. However, having nursed her this long, I'm starting to get burned out. I had never thought I would go this far with nursing, two years even seemed like huge goal and the fact that we've made it to past three is just mind-blowing sometimes. The idea of weaning her has definitely crossed my mind but at the same time, I know she's still adjusting to the last six months of changes. I think it's something that we're just going to have to wait and see about for at least another couple of months. To be honest, I don't think I would have so many problems with it if she wasn't so demanding and aggressive about it. When she wants to nurse, she REALLY wants to nurse and she wants to nurse NOW! I really do think a lot of it is boredom or a desire to be close to me and she feels that that is the only way that will happen. I don't know. I'm sure she still finds a lot of security in it and I'm very hesitant to take that way. Just have to go at it day by day and see what happens.
Potty learning, at least, has not suffered too much. She was really close to night training and I think she probably could stay dry in just panties most nights but she does tend to have an accident here and there. Still, I think I may soon stop stuffing the pocket diapers and give that a try for overnights. That way, if she does pee in them, she has a little bit of a buffer and she won't get the bed or herself all wet. Hard to say though. I wish training pants weren't so ridiculously expensive but I refuse to pay $20 for a pair of underpants JUST because they can be stuffed. Absurd!
John has definitely been adjusting to an older and therefore more difficult Natalie. I think he has finally figured out that I was NOT exaggerating the issues I was having with her. She can be VERY outspoken, at times VERY defiant, and unfortunately, not always truthful. She is, however, VERY articulate. She's able to tell us what she wants and how she feels and sometimes even why (for reasons other than "because I said so!" or "because I want to!"). Today, she told us she was mad because Daddy won't always let her do the things she wants to do. She very plainly spoke of her frustration with that and her frustration with not always being able to do something she wants to be able to do because she doesn't have the skills to yet. And it really pointed out to me that being a three year old has to be really hard sometimes. There's a lot she can do but at the same time, a lot she can't yet do. Sometimes, she talks about things she wants to do when she's bigger because she knows she can't do it now. I hope she's not in too big of a hurry to grow up. We're sure not in a hurry to see her grow up.
| posted by Janeen at 12:53 AM
