Extreme Makeover-Anna edition

You need to understand something about me.

I am not afraid of changing my hair color. My mom let me start coloring my hair before she let me get my ears pierced. She changed hair color like you're supposed to change your oil (and still does), so my siblings and I did the same.

That said, one color I had never tried was blonde. I'd done blonde streaks, blonde highlights, but never all-out blonde. For the past several years, I've stayed with pretty much the same brown color because of military regulations. Then I was pregnant and couldn't do much. Since then, I guess I've been waiting until the right moment.

That moment came a few weeks ago when I was visiting family in Tulsa and had the chance to get my hair done by Gail. Gail has been doing my mom's hair since before I was born. She did my hair for all my formals in high school and college and was the first person ever to show me how to straighten it.

When she asked me what I wanted done, I said "I want it short and blonde."

I showed her this picture as inspiration for the cut:

My brother, Tim, says I look like Natalie Portman, so in my dreams, I do.

I started out like this:

Four hours later, I went home looking like this:

Now, obviously, she wasn't done. But my previous color was being very stubborn to come out, and my scalp had so many burns on it from the bleach so we had to take a break. Never fear, I went back the next day and finished:

This was the longest I have ever or will ever spend getting my hair done. It took eight hours total and my hair and scalp were shot. But, I like it. I love the cut and I'm getting used to the color. I don't know how long I'll keep it blonde, but I'm glad I could try it out. I think Gail did a fantastic job with it!

Here's what it looks like curly (in its natural state):

(bonus image of cute husband and baby are free this week)

I also got a new tattoo, courtesy of same brother:

Check out Tim's tattoo shop, Southtown Tats

In case you're new to my blog, my daughter's name, Ayla, means oak tree in Hebrew. So this little oak tree has an Aleph (Hebrew letter A) for branches and a little red Yud (there's no J in Hebrew, so this is the letter most often translated into J for English). It's red because Ayla's birth stone is garnet and it symbolizes a little Jewel (her middle name), though people can think it's a bird, an apple, a butterfly or whatever, because what's a jewel doing in a tree? It's on the inside of my right ankle. 

I love it and think it was worth every bit of the pain. Actually compared to pre-epidural, pitocin-induced labor and having my scalp on fire for 8 hours, I barely could consider it pain at all!

(PS. John loves both changes. He pretty much just loves me and is happy when I'm happy!)

(PPS. Coincidentally, Natalie Portman just named her baby boy Aleph. Hmmm...)

Status Update

When I first joined the Air Force almost 10 years ago, I would half-seriously tell people it was for the $7 babies. My best childhood friend had been in the Air Force and, as part of her son's baby album, had a copy of the $7 check she wrote to the base hospital for the food she ate during her labor and delivery stay. At the time I was young, single and still planning to have eight kids, and I thought $7 was a great deal! (I think they don't even charge for the food anymore.)

Now, with a baby on the way at last, I must hang up the dream of only paying $7 for his/her birth.

I got an email yesterday notifying me that my request to be transferred from the Active Reserve to the Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR) was approved and effective Nov 1.

What this means is that I'm the most minimally (oxymoron?) attached to the Air Force as possible. I don't have any requirements (to drill, keep records updated, fitness, training, etc...), and most importantly, I am almost non-deployable. I say almost because they would have to non-voluntarily deploy a lot of people before getting to the IRR, which might happen, but probably won't.

I have mixed feelings about this change, but I know it's the best thing for our family right now. I have loved being in the Air Force, both as an active duty member and a Reservist. I have had amazing opportunities and worked with some of the best people in the world. My job in the Reserves is one of the best you can get. I've been an Individual Mobilized Augmentee (IMA), which means I wasn't assigned to a Reserve unit (one weekend a month/ two weeks a year), but to an active duty office with the same amount of requirements (35 days a year). My main job was to augment the active duty force by filling in a specific position when the active duty person wasn't able to be there, due to leave, training or deployments. So, I was much like a substitute teacher. This is what I did at Andrews Air Force Base, as well as augmenting the unit for special events such as the annual airshow.

Another perk of the job was the free agent aspect. If a unit had a special mission requirement, like a special event, they would put out a request for IMAs to come fill in. These temporary job opportunities popped up all over the world, and though I only took advantage of a few in the DC area, I enjoyed the possibilities available to me. This is how I got to work on the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee and help write an award package for Air Force Public Affairs to submit to the Public Relations Society of America (which we won, by the way!).

So, I've loved the flexibility and variety of being an IMA. I've loved to be a representative for Citizen Airmen, showing the active duty folks what Reservists can bring to the fight. I've loved to be a spokesperson for the Air Force, showing the American public what their amazing troops are doing.

I think this is part of the reason I'm not ready to resign my commission outright, cut the cord and be done with it all. For all the "costs" associated with military service, I've just had too much fun and have too much pride in what it means to totally quit. So, I'm just partially quitting. I'll still have one pinky toe in the door in case I ever need or want to return to a participating Reserve or even active duty status.

But for now, my status must change. I'm preparing for a new long-term (lifetime) assignment as Mommy, and for at least the first year, I don't want Captain or Airman to interfere with that. I totally admire the working moms and dads who handle both roles with success, but this is the right thing for my family for right now.

So, even though we'll pay a tad bit more than $7 for our baby, and even though I'll miss putting on my uniform and offering crisp salutes and service to my country, I'll turn the page with gratitude and excitement to see what is in the next chapter.