Mama no dey always fine but her pikin still love am

For my non-Nigerian readers, the literal translation of the topic above is "Mummy doesn't always look beautiful but her child still loves her".

The Nigerian "pidgin English" adage that I coined this from should be familiar to many, "Monkey no fine but him Mama like am" which means that though a monkey is not handsome its Mummy still loves him. It just means that Mothers love their children no matter how they look.

I don't feel ugly, but I don't feel as beautiful as a magazine cover girl everyday! I guess the same goes for most people. I am one of those girls that love to dress up. I know I'm wonderfully and beautifully made but I feel ever more beautiful when I've spent some hours deciding on and choosing an outfit, then spent about 45 minutes more making up in front of a few different mirrors (the more the mirrors, the more visual perspectives of yourself), sprayed at least 2 different perfumes ( its always good to hear, "hmmm...I love your perfume. It smells rare, what is it?") and spent a little bit more time turning this way and that in front of the mirror till I'm satisfied.

Since I'm on leave and I don't go out that often, if there's somewhere to go and we 're rushing out, I still feel satisfied to spend the entire trip making up in the car! (there are also a couple of mirrors there), though sometimes I won't feel as 'beautiful' as I feel when I've spent about 3 hours at home doing the 'beauty' routine.

Being at home for the most part of my 7-day week has meant that my 'beauty' routine has been relegated to the back bench until we're going somewhere. Well, when I first started staying at home, I was pumped about being a temporary housewife so I used to try to do myself up before Kachi got home from work...did u ever read those books about how to look great at home when your hubby gets home because he's been working with gorgeous ladies at work all day? I read them.
I got compliments the first couple of days, but the frequency died down and after he probably got more interested in other things like Obama and the Credit Crunch than complimenting my make-up and pair of jeans, I became less pumped about dressing up everyday.

What is funny to me though is that some mornings I catch a reflection of myself in the mirror and I'm like, "Jeez, was that me?" but when I get to Izabelle's room, I'm a bit taken aback at the enthusiasm with which she welcomes me!
I'm not sure why I started thinking, "hmmm, she loves me even though I don't look like Jennifer Aniston right now". I'm not saying Jennifer is the most beautiful woman in the world, but when they do her photo shoots, she does look pretty good. Anyway, so when I'm on that train of thought, I remember that there are a couple of other people that love me irrespective of how I look. - God, Kachi, Mom&Dad and hopefully, my siblings. Oh and my TRUE friends. lol

That said, there are few times that my looks have attracted a laugh from my little Izabelle. Would you believe that? I knew you would doubt me so I'll attach a picture below.

Can you see the cheeky little girl laughing at my hair style? I couldn't believe it myself, so I called Kachi and told him. lol
If you're wondering how I got that hideous hair style, here's what happened.
I took out my twisted braids, which I had on for about 3 months. The only care I gave the braids was a spray of pink oil now and then and a couple of washes I think (don't worry too much about that though). When the braids came out, my hair was in real dreadlocks. I was worried because I knew I had to comb the hair lock by lock!
Well......my fast brain remembered a Sunsilk advert, where a Jamaican boy who had dreadlocks came into a shop and bought a shampoo that was suggested by the shop girl only to come back the next day demanding for his money back because his hair was now straight and wavy (I am laughing at myself now). Anyway, I did believe that shampooing and conditioning the hair would untangle my dreadlocks just like the Jamaican boy's hair. Boy, was I WRONG! I should have known better, but I'd never tried this before, and then there was that advert, so...........u know the rest.
My hair became a twisted mess of the ugliest dreadlocks you have ever seen and I toyed with the idea of cutting the whole thing off. It took me about 4 days of hard work to comb the hair out and because the combed part kept getting in the way of the dread-locked part, I had to tie them up at the front as seen in the Pic. This cracked Izabelle up big time.

After I got my hair back to shape, I proceeded to get some fake dreadlocks which looked cool. Well, I've now taken them out and I was horribly shocked when I approached my mirror because some part of my hair has gone with the dread. I actually look like I'm balding from my temple. I know it will grow back but i wonder if I'll get some more laughs from my little cheeky girl.
No matter how bald I get ( and i pray I don't get balder than this), I know she still lurvessssssssssss mummy. Maybe because I am positively correlated with food and sweet escape from dirty nappies, or because I sing the Susan Boyle style of classical music to her ( i wonder what our neighbors think), or maybe its just because I'm her mummy and she doesn't know if I look good or not just yet. I know that things may change when she's a teenager, she'll still love me alright but she might say the kinds of things I said to my mom...stuff like, " Mom, that dress makes you look short and I'm not going out with you if you don't change it".
Till then, I'm happy to soak up all this unconditional love from her and from everyone that gives it.
woooooooooot wooooooooooot.