Happy 99th Birthday to R. O. C.

Mo has a picture book of a parade with the cheering crowds.

It's one of her favorites.

The National Day Parade was a great opportunity to actually experience it although it's not that patriotic anymore.

I don't even remember the last time I saw the parade.

The parade marched from 中正紀念堂 to 國父紀念館 and we stood at the end of 仁愛路.

I was so excited when Mo shouted "It's coming! It's coming!" on my shoulders.

Mo waved to everyone and touched whatever she could reach.

The poor Flora Expo mascot was hit in the face because it was scared when Mo used all her strength putting out her hand trying to get a handshake.

Unfortunately Mo was tired already at the end and we missed the firework show that night.

We then had hotpot in 吾愛吾家 and walked to 阪急 before going home.

Mo is looking forward to National Day next year as much as I am.

100 YEARS~ It must be great!

UNIQLO Mania

People from Taiwan have big queue taxis.

Where ever the big queue is, where ever the crowd is.

There was once streets were full because everyone was getting in line to buy Pastel de Nata.

This time, it's UNIQLO.

I had never heard of UNIQLO before actually.

As UNIQLO topped news headlines everyday, even a styleless woman like me could not ignore its existence.

Apparently UNIQLO is one of the top 5 clothing companies in the world with ZARA and H&M.

It was crazy.

There were almost 10000 people waiting to shop in the first UNIQLO store in Taiwan daily.

How could I resist the big queue in front of the store?

Even my lab partners took turns to go shopping for the first day opening.

I joined the group on the second day as No. 5640 that day and It took me one hour to get into the store.

Yes, I am from Taiwan and I do know the store will be there permanently.

The cloth was basic and quite comfortable with reasonable prize.

I bought something for Jeff and my fat brother too.

When will ZARA and TOP SHOP come to Taiwan then?

Mo's First Haircut

Mo was a total baldy.

All she had in past 3 years was a tiny bit of angel hair, thin and soft.

Since she was bald, I never thought about giving her a haircut although people always told me I had to remove the old one first and then the new one would come out.

At last, it was long enough for her to complain about.

I changed my "Brand New Style for 30th Birthday" plan so we could have the haircut together in this store with cats walking around.

The idea that there were cats in the store interested Mo a lot.

Unlike other children, she really enjoyed the styling process.

Mo almost cried because she didn't get the wash step like adults (thanks for the cats which distracted her attention).

Now we are getting closer to my dream mother-daughter style!

Baby Ni Ni and Baby Mo

Baby Ni Ni is in the House!

2-Minute-Old Baby Mo

2-Minute-Old Baby Mo and Dad

2-Hour-Old Baby Mo

2-Day-Old Baby Mo

I am trying to record everything since Mo was born and it is quite a big challenge.

After all, it has been 3 years.

Visiting one of my best friends and her new baby in the hospital reminded me a lot.

Now I can finally recall something.

Mo was so excited about the arrival of her new friend Ni Ni and she made all kind of plans for them to play together.

But somehow Mo backed off the day before.

No matter what I said, she just didn't want to go to the hospital with me.

I couldn't understand if Mo was just shy or she detected any threat.

I remember the contractions happened in the early morning when I was sleeping.

It was like a bad dysmenorrhea just enough to keep me awake at the beginning.

I asked Jeff to come home because there was something falling out with blood in the afternoon.

However the nurses sent me home from the hospital and told me to wait for stronger contractions.

That's great.

Jeff was very happy about the extra day off and he brought Uncle back home parting all night long.

I had a sandwich I made for myself the whole day alone with my pain.

"My husband" didn't even bother to check on me once.

I couldn't bear it anymore so we arrived the hospital again at midnight.

As usual, I, the pregnant woman few hours before giving birth to her baby, had to stand there finish all the paper work while the husband was sitting there having his drinks and there were like 20 forms to fill by the way.

The nature has its own delicate mechanisms so women would have more then one child.

I don't really remember anything from next few hours.

I know there were a snoring pig and a lot of painful screams.

But it's just not clear enough for me to describe it.

I was in the delivery room for about an hour and Mo, weighted 3285g, was born at 5:22 AM 7 Dec 2007 via doctor's sucking and nurse's pushing.

Mo looked a bit confused but didn't cry very much.

The nurses had a good laugh at me because "my husband" completely forgot about me.

Yes, I knew.

"My husband" was never aware of my existence, OK?

I didn't have tears and words as I imagined.

All I did were just looking down at the little purple corn-headed alien with total peace in my mind and gently introducing myself.

My life was simplified as satisfying Mo's needs and admiring Mo's cuteness from then.

Sleeping over 2 hours became a dream to me.

But that's another story.

Progress Report 7/8/9

Who is that fat woman!?

I make the perfect example for human indolence.

Three months of self-control resulted in my unchanged weight.

It even went over few times.

At this point, I decide to have what I eat on record and restore the weekly exercise.

Obviously the project has to be executed by force as this is about 15kg of meat...

Present Weight:67

Ideal Weight:52.5