Monday, November 29, 2010

Am I a New Yorker Yet?

Love Birds at the Empire State building in '08 (see #2)
Last week I watched Nate Berkus' show for the first time (on recommendation of my mom) and saw the blogger from Six in the City sharing her children's rooms. I had come across Michelle's blog before but forgot to bookmark her site so I was glad to find it again. 

She and her family of 6 moved from Colorado to NYC and she chronicles their lives on her blog. (You can read about her Nate experience here.) 

Anyway, I was going through her old posts and saw she posted an unsourced list titled "You Know You're a New Yorker If . . ." and I wanted to share it with our readers (I've highlighted the ones that apply to me):


You know you're a New Yorker if....

1. You say "The City" and expect everyone to know that this means Manhattan.

2. You have never been to the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building.

3. $50 worth of groceries fit in one paper bag.

4. You can get into a four hour argument about how to get from Columbus Circle to Battery Park at 3:30 on the Friday before a long weekend, but can't find Wisconsin on a map.

5. The subway map makes sense to you.

6. You think the subway should never be called anything prissy, like the Metro.

7. You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language makes you bilingual.

8. You've considered smacking someone just for saying "The Big Apple."

9. Your door has more than two locks.

10. The most frequently used part of your car is the horn.

11. You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.

12. You call an 8' x 10' plot of patchy grass a yard.

13. You consider Westchester "Upstate."

14. You live/work in a building with a larger population than some American towns.

15. You walk faster than some people run.

16. You see nothing odd about the speed of an auctioneer's speaking.

17. You're paying $1,500 for a studio the size of a walk-in closet and you think it's a "steal."

18. You've been to New Jersey twice and got lost both times.

19. You pay more each month to insure your car than most people in the US pay in rent.

20. You haven't seen more than twelve stars in the night sky since you went away to camp as a kid.

21. You go to dinner at 9pm and head out to the clubs when most Americans are heading to bed.

22. Your closet is filled with black clothes.

23. When foreigners ask directions, you are nice to them. When other New Yorkers ask directions, you ignore them.

24. You pay $5 without blinking for a beer that cost the bar 28 cents.

25. You take fashion seriously.

26. When you pass a celebrity on the street, you don't go to pieces.

27. You have 27 different menus next to your telephone.

28. Going to Brooklyn is considered a "road trip."

29. America west of the Hudson is still theoretical to you.

30. You've stopped thinking about how many hands touched the subway pole.

31. You're suspicious of strangers who are actually nice to you.

32. You haven't cooked a meal since helping Mom last Thanksgiving.

33. You take a taxi to get to your health club to exercise.

34. Your idea of "personal space" is no one actually breathing on you.

35. You have a minimum of five "worst cab ride ever" stories.

36. You don't hear sirens anymore.

37. You've mentally blocked out all thoughts of the city's air quality and what it's doing to your lungs.

38. You run when you see a flashing "Do Not Walk" sign at the intersection

39. You're in the background of a tourists' photo.

40. You use the rats in the subway tracks to tell you when the train's approaching the station

41. You move up one block to steal the cab from the person waiting for it below you

42. Your doorman is Russian, your grocer is Korean, your deli man is Israeli, your building super is Italian, your laundry guy is Chinese, your favorite bartender is Irish, your favorite diner owner is Greek, the watch seller on your corner is Senegalese, your last cabbie was Pakistani, your newsstand guy is Indian and your favorite falafel guy is Egyptian.
 


Sunday, November 28, 2010

Nia's First Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful and busy Thanksgiving this year! Nia did pretty well with meeting her family for the first time - I don't count the previous times since at 3 1/2 months she is much more socially aware now.

This was her fashion statement for the day (actually taken at the end of the day):


This was taken after 12a.m. after spending about an hour in toll traffic for the GW bridge. She had a meltdown after this picture and went to sleep!

My parents and younger brother and sister got into town from D.C. on Wednesday night, and Nia was excited to finally meet her Aunt Lauren:




Lauren had been with my mom at the hospital when I was in labor but unfortunately they had both missed meeting Nia for the first time by a few hours due to their flight time.

Now out of all my siblings Lauren and I bear the strongest resemblance and my mom had said Nia might get confused thinking she was me and sure enough she did! It was kinda funny actually. Nia would follow Lauren around with her eyes looking at her when she was fussy when others were holding her. I could tell she was expecting Lauren to rescue her thinking it was me!

Thursday we went to Queens to be with Uka's family first before joining his brother and girlfriend's family in NJ, where my parents were too.

Here are is a pic of our little family with Uka's aunt who hosted Thanksgiving at her house:


Nia really enjoyed all the attention. It helped that she had ate before we got in the car and took a nap. Here she is on the way to Queens holding onto her monkey puppet:




Here's me, my parents and siblings with Nia in NJ:


I thought Nia looked so adorable with my mom in this pic, although she is quite serious:




On Friday night my parents stayed at our place while Uka, me and my siblings went to see Harry Potter. I had only seen the first two films in the theater and the rest either on-demand and DVD. I have to say I'm not a Harry Potter fan and could have passed on this one, but it was fun to be out with my family sans baby.

When we got back home I could hear Nia crying as soon as we stepped off the elevator. When she saw me and Uka come through the door she was so happy! I picked her up and she stopped crying immediately. Uka held her and after a couple little fussy sounds and a pouty lip she smiled at him too. 

Since then she slept over 12 hours including 7 hours overnight - the most EVER! Even when she was a newborn she didn't sleep 12 hours in a 24 hour period although forums and baby books said she would. I guess she was just so overwhelmed by the Thanksgiving festivities that she needed to recuperate.

Now I'm excited to plan Nia's first Christmas. That will be another post . . .


Friday, November 26, 2010

Santa Baby . . .

Please . . . .

Embossed metallic leather flats with chain, Talbots

Women's Tank Francaise Stainless Steel Watch, Cartier

MacBook Air 13", Apple

Thank you!


Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thanksgivings Past

Thanksgiving is my favorite EATING holiday, and although I am NOT cooking this year (thank God!) I'm sharing a quick run-down of the past five Thanksgivings:


2005: in Stockholm; a side trip
2005 - I went to Finland to visit Uka for Thanksgiving; I brought a suitcase full of packaged food and was stopped a couple times through security and customs but everything made it in one piece!


2006 - I cooked for Uka in Boston; he was coaching at Northeastern University that year


Me and my siblings in NYC
2007 - My family came to stay with me in my first apartment in NYC and we catered in from Whole Foods; it was delish!


2008 - Uka and I were in Baltimore with his sister, brother, brother's kids and girlfriend

Uka and my dad being silly
2009 - We went to Columbus to be with my family

Happy Thanksgiving

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

A Woman After My Own Heart

I'm so behind in catching up on my magazine reading and was finally reading the November issue of InStyle and came across the Thanksgiving story on Christina Hendricks, from Mad Men.


My eyes lit up when I read one of her recommendations for "go-to cooking resources:"

The Best Recipe by the editors of Cooks Illustrated Magazine - "They tell you everything from how to boil an egg to how to make the best Bolognese. I love how they explain the science behind what's happening."

I love the science part too! 

(Yes, I'm a nerd)


Tuesday, November 23, 2010

More Natural Hair Thoughts

I came across a great You Tube channel called Girls Love Your Curls via Afro Puffs and Pontytails which shows styling options for little girls with natural hair. It's a wealth of information which I've bookmarked so I can return to it as Nia grows up.

The founder of the channel is from Ghana and has two adorable little girls:
Photo courtesy of Afro Puffs and Ponytails
She expressed exactly what I want for my hair relationship with Nia; the highlighted part expresses exactly what I was trying to get at in my previous posts (here and here): 

I believe helping my daughters to love and embrace their hair starts with me and how I respond to it. If a child feels their hair is a burden to their parent or caretaker, they will eventually internalize negative feelings about it. That’s why it is so important to make sure you are enjoying the process of maintaining their hair too. My aim is for them to develop positive associations. I try to make hair sessions as enjoyable and comfortable as possible. When I am doing a protective style, that takes a while, they get to watch a favorite movie. I make sure they have healthy snacks and drinks to hand. I also like to get them involved. We shop for cute hair accessories together that they can’t wait to put on! They really enjoy discussing what styles we should try next. When I’ve finished a style I let them help pick out their own hair accessories from our little collection.  

I really like this concept of creating a hair ritual with Nia and making it a special bonding time for the both of us.

For those of you with little girls, what is your hair relationship like? Fun or frustration?


Monday, November 22, 2010

My Obsession With "What Would You Do?"


So my new favorite show is ABC's "What Would You Do?" that comes on Friday nights. It puts street people in awkward, staged situations then plants hidden cameras to see how they react. I guess deep down I like it because it reminds me of my college course Social Psychology, which was my favorite course in my major. 

This past Friday's episode really hit home with me as it had a shopping bully who was a calorie counter. This bully, an actor, would go up to an overweight fellow actor and her daughter, also overweight, in the grocery story and analyze and berate her shopping cart choices claiming it was child abuse. 

You can watch the clip here.

Now this hit home with me because I witness all kinds of shopping cart atrocities here in Harlem and in the Bronx where I pass BJ's when going to Target and Babies R' Us. There are so many overweight people buying processed foods and often they have children with them who are sometimes overweight too. Uka and I always lament over how sad it is to see all the poor food choices. 

I've watched Food Inc. and I understand about the misconceptions on eating healthy and long-term vs. short-term goals, but I honestly believe most people are out just to save money and get the most calories for that money. 

I have to admit there are times when I really want to speak out to the person in front of me whose 3 year old is drinking a baby bottle with soda in it while they unload a cart of white bread, orange drink, potato chips, ramen noodles, processed lunch meat and Hostess snacks. "Where are the fruits and vegetables?," I want to ask, but obviously I know it's not my business, but actually it kinda is cause tax dollars go to treat the many with ailments that are a result of these poor food and other poor lifestyle choices. 

So what can I do?

I dunno, just lead by example maybe? Perhaps in the same way I'm observing other people they're observing my family. We're trim, healthy and make wise food choices (although yes, we do treat ourselves to sweet snacks sometimes!), AND we're on a very tight budget sticking to only what's on sale each week. I hope they're taking a peek at my cart too!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Bathtime

Sundays and Wednesdays are Nia's bath days. I know they always say give baths at night as part of a baby's bedtime routine, but I prefer morning baths. Perhaps when Nia turns 4 months and we start sleep training we'll switch to nighttime baths.

I keep a washcloth on her tummy to keep her warm



Saturday, November 20, 2010

Cookie Exchange: Chai Shortbread

The other day I was reading on one of the forums I follow and they were discussing recommendations for cookie exchange recipes. With my own cookie exchange party coming up I remembered one of my favorite holiday cookie recipes: chai shortbread, from Cooking Light.

I've made these before and given them as holiday presents. I wrapped them in bags and ties from the Container Store; their holiday packaging is the best!


Courtesy of Cooking Light


Although the recipe says it makes 3 dozen it's more like 1 1/2:

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2  cups  all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
  • 1/8  teaspoon  salt
  • 1/8  teaspoon  ground cardamom
  • 1/8  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
  • Dash of ground cloves
  • Dash of freshly ground black pepper
  • 3/4  cup  powdered sugar
  • 10  tablespoon  butter, softened
  • 1  tablespoon  ice water

Preparation

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through pepper), stirring well with a whisk. Place sugar and butter in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until combined (mixture will appear crumbly). Sprinkle dough with 1 tablespoon ice water; toss with a fork. Divide dough in half. Shape dough into 2 (6-inch-long) logs; wrap each log in plastic wrap. Chill 1 hour or until very firm.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Unwrap dough logs. Carefully cut each log into 18 slices using a serrated knife. Place dough circles 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes. Cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove cookies from pans; cool completely on wire racks.

Enjoy! 

Friday, November 19, 2010

Poopy Face

While making this cute face snuggled in a blanket on my shoulder . . .


Nia was busy constructing this in her diaper (it was SO loud!!!):



Thanks to Zout all the stains came out! (I really didn't intend for that to rhyme)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Our Cloth Diapers Have Arrived!

our stash

Our Bum Genius 4.0 diapers we ordered from Cotton Babies arrived today! Just a refresher that we ordered 12 diapers through the buy five get one free sale. Total cost was $173.80. They require 5-7 washings before use so I got started right away. Although Cotton Babies had free shipping they were slower than Diapers.com but oh well! Nia doesn't have many disposables left so I'm gonna be up late doing washings tonight. 


laundry mound
Now the instructions says to dry in between each washing, but the covers have to be line dried. That will take forever to line dry 5-7 times so I'm just gonna wash those after the liners are dried in the dryer. I wish this part was more clear in the instructions, but we'll see what happens. We have a Kids Care cycle that's extra hot so I'm using that for the diapers.

anatomy of a single diaper
It was nice that it came with two small packets of Bum Genius detergent. We have free and clear and Dreft, but I know you have to be super careful about what you use to wash cloth diapers. I'll have more about that later . . .

For now it's me and our washing machine tonight . . .


Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Morning Glory Muffins

Today I visited with a college friend who just had an adorable baby girl three weeks ago, and I brought over morning glory muffins. I had seen the recipe in my all-time favorite America's Test Kitchen's Family Cookbook and always wanted to try it and I finally did. They turned out great!



There's so many ingredients in these muffins and honestly, I was concerned that the flavors would be overpowering, but they were delicious! The batter seemed to overfill the tins (I used muffin tin liners), but they weren't too high and didn't spread too much. I think they make a perfect breakfast as they're so hearty.

The recipe is below and the only things I changed were just shredding the carrots in the food processor instead of grating and using Craisins instead of raisins (I despise raisins!):

Morning Glory Muffins by America's Test Kitchen


2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 medium carrots, peeled and grated (2 cups)
1 8-oz can crushed pineapple, drained and pressed dry with paper towels
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup raisins (or Craisins)
1 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped coarse (I used pecans)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin (or use paper liners).

Whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the sugar, eggs, melted butter and vanilla together until smooth. Gently fold the sugar mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined. Fold in the carrots, pineapple, coconut, raisins, and walnuts until just combined.

Using a greased 1/3 cup measure, portion the batter into each muffin cup. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking (Oops! I didn't rotate but they turned out fine).

Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then flip out onto a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Yes, We're Cloth Diapering

It seems like cloth diapers are all the rage now. When I was a baby my parents used them, but they were the standard white diapers with pins and plastic covers. You'd have to swish them in the toilet and they were quite messy.

Now things are much more simpler (and cuter!). Here are some of the brands we considered:


Fuzzi Bunz



gDiapers 






Bum Genius

I'm a fan of a few other bloggers' posts on CDing:

Young House Love - this is the one that really broke it down and got us very much interested especially the cost comparison

BabyMakinMachine - she was a bit of a skeptic at first but is now very much committed to CDing (her little girl looks so cute in the diapers too!)

We settled on Bum Genius' 4.0 after reading countless reviews and scouring the Internet for discounts. Like Young House Love, we ordered twelve cloth diapers. We found a sale on Bum Genius' website for buy five get one free. We originally wanted to order them a couple months ago from Diapers.com, but they were out of stock. At the time they had a coupon code for 10% and they have free shipping. When they were re-stocked there was no longer a discount for Bum Genius and although their fine print said they didn't take BOGO coupons I wrote anyway to see if they would honor it, but it took them a while to get back to me so in the interim I called the manufacturer directly who pointed me to Cotton Babies, and we ordered them there (also free shipping). 

Diapers.com was going to apply the discount by sending me 10 diapers for the price of 8 whereas Cotton Babies sent me 12 for the price of 10, which is what I preferred anyway. I'll still be on the lookout for discounts on from Diapers.com as they have many first-time customer offers.

Thinking ahead we decided to get gender neutral colors (again like Young House Love!), but I did get one each of Sweet and Noodle, which I think should still be fine if our next baby is a boy. For the rest I got two of the following: Grasshopper, Twighlight, Butternut and four White.

Here is the full color palette:



Here are the features of Bum Genius' 4.0:


The main reason we're cloth diapers is COST! We need to save $! Sure there's the green reason too, but I can't believe how much disposables cost. It's crazy! I'll consider cloth wipes too, but for now we still have a ton of disposables although I do have some cloth wipes on hand should we decide to make the change.

Also, unlike most New York City dwellers, we have a washer and dryer in our apartment. It's a Bosch HE so we're not concerned about the electricity bill (the landlord pays the water bill). If we had to go to the laundromat I think it would definitely be more challenging and we wouldn't want to send the diapers out either with a diaper service as that would defeat the point of saving money.

Although Nia hasn't had diaper rash yet, I know cloth is better for her skin so I'm hoping now we can avoid diaper rash altogether.

We also have Kushies inserts on hand which I've read on Amazon make #2s a lot easier to dispose of although breastmilk poo is perfectly fine to just throw in the wash, and we have the hanging wet bag which we use as the diaper pail with her disposables for now, as well as take along wet bags for her diaper bag.

I'll be posting updates on how we do as we transition to cloth.

Wish us luck! 


Friday, November 12, 2010

Life With Nia: Three Months Old

  • Baby's Weight: Nia's next appointment isn't until November 30 so I'm going to guess she's about 15lbs
  • Baby's Height: Not sure, maybe 24"
  • What size of clothing does baby wear? She's comfortably in 3-6 months now; her feet are so long though so I have some 6-9 months right on hand, but definitely need to go shopping! We have some giftcards and discount coupons so thinking of going out this weekend.
  • Any milestones baby reached during the month:  
      • Nia can definitely get from point A to point B on her tummy; it's kinda scary actually, and I saw her almost go over the edge of the bed once!
      • She can scream - LOUD! She's definitely finding her voice, and we see it in her face when she realizes she's reached "optimal sound"
      • As seen in the video above, she's giggling so much now; it's fun to make her laugh.
      • She's definitely teething; we saw the beginnings of it when she was only 4 weeks old with the amount of spit she generated and now she's constantly chewing on her hands, my shoulders - ANYTHING!
      • I'm now carrying Nia in her Moby facing me and she loves it! She falls asleep while watching me do chores while wearing her.
  • Special outings baby had during the month: Nia goes along with me to my Saturday mom's church group; she really likes the ceiling fan at the leader's house - it's so cute to see her look up at it! She also went along with me and Uka to our friends Maria and Greg's Halloween party; she was a good sport!
  • What are your thoughts about the past month? I can't believe how much Nia's personality has come out! Uka and I get sad seeing how fast she's growing. I feel like she's more curious now too - I like carrying her around showing her different things. She really looks interested!
  • What was baby's routine? Same as the last update: Nia's sleeping consistently overnight in her co-sleeper from about midnight until 5a.m. She's taking shorter, more frequent naps during the day. She's happiest around 6-9a.m. which she thinks is playtime! I put her in bed between us at that time and she babbles and coos. Her hands keep her entertained most of the time.
  • Reflect about the highlights of the month: Wearing her facing me in her Moby is the best! I relish in everything about her from her toes to her fingers. Just seeing changes in how big her nail beds are getting amazes me and to see her fat rolls makes me smile =)
  • Did any big changes occur, such as baby started daycare, stopped nursing, slept through the night, etc... No
  • What are baby's favorites - toy, food, person, etc... Our friend Maria brought over a monkey puppet (nicknamed "Monkey Beast" from a horror movie we watched at Maria's for Halloween!) and Nia LOVES it! She laughs and talks to it. I'll have to do a video of her interacting with it.

My Natural Hair Experience is OVER . . . For Now (Pt. 2)

Here I am making a funny face at work in 2007, the year I moved to NYC

I was quickly diagnosed with lupus during my first dermatologist appointment when I moved to New York. I was vaguely familiar with lupus as my aunt had passed away from it in her 40s after being diagnosed in her 20s. Hers was systemic and I found out mine was discoid - meaning it affected my skin and scalp. I had a biopsy which confirmed it and was monitored over time to make sure it wasn't escalating. It turned out I'm very borderline but have to be sure to wear sunscreen and limit my sun exposure. Overall, I had 3 patches of hair that had fallen out and started to notice my hair was significantly thinner.

I don't believe lupus was the only cause, but frequenting the Dominican salons slowly deteriorated my hair. Paz Hair Salon was the one I frequented the most as it was close to my apartment. I found it after seeing a bank teller with beautiful hair and I asked her which salon she went to and although she couldn't remember the exact name of the salon she gave me the cross streets and that was the one I thought it was.

So why would I keep going back if I knew they were damaging?

It was a cost and efficiency issue. I had saved a list of high-end African-American salons and had tried many such as StylesHairstyling by Jospeh, Indra and Melange Salon at the Peninsula hotel. Many of these were written up in Essence but when I tried them I found I would have to wait for long periods of time for my scheduled appointment or would be left to marinate under a hair dryer while the stylist would work in other customers. Also, these salons were charging over $100 for a touch-up, wash, trim and deep condition. Melange, which came highly recommended from a friend, charged $200!

At last I thought I had found hope in the upscale, Dominican salon Elia. I had started going to this salon in 2007, but really began going there regularly in 2009. They were very professional, did the roller set styling but actually cared for my hair. It was at Elia where I ended up with this style and color that I loved:


But unfortunately things took a turn for the worse when I went to see the usual stylist but she wasn't available. They put me with a woman I had never seen before who overprocessed my hair. When I called her out on it she had a nasty attitude in return and berated me for having color and a relaxer. I explained that it was done under the guidance of the owner of Elia and I had not experienced any problems.

I complained to the owner who gave me a complimentary deep condition on my next appointment but after that they were constantly trying to up-sell me on expensive treatments such as keratin as the only "fix" for my hair. I knew from my healthy hair days in Boston that expensive treatments weren't needed so I stopped going there.

By the fall of 2009 this is what my hair looked like:




Compare that to exactly two years prior:




My hair had become dry, brittle and thin.

It was not too soon after that I found out I was pregnant. By March 2010 when I knew I was having a girl I decided that it would be my last relaxer. I made this decision after seeing Good Hair and seeing the discussion on Oprah.

When I told my family I was going natural I was met with:

"Are you sure about that?"

"Will Uka like it?"

"You know you have a difficult texture; your mom had such a hard time with your hair!"

So much negativity!

When I went home for my baby shower in June I went to Synergi, a wonderful salon in Columbus, Ohio that specializes in transitioning from relaxed to natural hair. Many of the women who frequent the salon move from kinky to straight hair with ease. For $35 I got this fabulous style (trim, wash, deep condition and style):




From there I maintained my transitioning style of braidouts:


There was definitely a competition going between the relaxed and natural hair, but I still didn't want to do a drastic big chop.

For my 30th birthday, I went to Khamit Kinks, which is a pricey but well known natural hair salon. The detangled, washed, conditioned and styled my hair into flat twists:

They commended me on my transitioning so far and recommended that I not cut my hair as I had just had a baby and it was more maintenance than longer hair. We also talked about braids at some point.

Well a couple weeks later I was washing my hair (I wash it in the sink as I can easily do my deep conditioning treatments under my hair dryer close by), and Nia started having a meltdown. It got later in the evening and I was exhausted and wasn't able to finish my hair. I put a scarf on it and went to bed.

That was not good.

When I woke up in the morning it had dredded up, and I had to do this: 



Although Uka helped me, he was not happy. I went to Harlem Mane the following day and ended up with this style; the stylist didn't get it completely even, but it was a start:


However, I didn't want to be committed to straightening it constantly as it was time consuming. Also, I didn't want to do a cropped style. No offense to those with cropped styles, but Uka and I both agreed it wasn't a good idea for me to be going around looking like a man.

I had been looking at pictures of myself too and missing my long, healthy hair and my sister had recently broken down from transitioning to natural and decided to get a relaxer. Her hair looked so good!

Finally, last weekend Uka had an honest conversation with me about my hair. He wanted me to pick a style and stick with it. He sent me out the door, and I joined my sister who happened to be a few blocks away at Sisters, a popular neighborhood salon, and I got a relaxer.

I honestly believe had I found a salon like Synergi in NYC I would've stuck with transitioning to natural. They had excellent customer service, techniques and prices. 

So where do I go from here?

I plan to baby my hair, drink lots of water, take my prenatals as well as biotin and silica which I used to do in Boston, exercise and speak up immediately when I believe my hair is being over-processed. I will be documenting my progress here.

Also, I find Prissy Mommy's blog posts about healthy hair very helpful. You can read them here and here.


And what do I tell Nia?

That she is beautiful just how God made her! And when she is old enough I will share my hair journey with her.

I hope a time will come that I can go natural and stick with it.