Thursday, June 28

ivy hideaway



honestly, sometimes i would like to do as the princess does. crawl under the ivy and just sit there for a bit. where no one can find me unless they look very closely. life is so busy that i don't quite remember how to sit still and do nothing. it seems to be a skill that you lose if not practised regularly. yes, i would like to have a wall dense with ivy. i would bring a good but easy novel, a cup of tea and a lot of chocolate.

Tuesday, June 26

fun finished facts



so far, i reviewed fifty-three different products from twenty-three different brands. top brand is lush with twelve reviews, followed by biotherm and weleda, each with five reviews. to be continued!

Sunday, June 24

finished~10



some mixed reviews this time...

~ inecto pure coconut smoothing hair serum ~ i love this brand because i love all things coconut. but to me, this did not smell like coconut at all. it made my hair shiny, but rather greasy too. not a winner.
~ weleda breastfeeding oil ~ i bought this when i was pregnant, but once my boobs had actually taken up their function of little food machines, it didn't feel right to put stuff on them. this oil smells lovely though, so i used it as a rich body oil instead.
~ dr. van der hoog peach face mask ~ hooray, apparently i found the time for a face mask again! it wasn't a very special one though...
~ lush enchanted eye cream ~ here is that recurring lush-problem again: the texture is much too watery. i wouldn't buy this again i'm afraid.
~ rituals hammam body mud ~ it looks like mud but it feels very fresh and clean and makes for a festive shower.
~ rituals hammam olive secret shower paste ~ my favourite out of this bunch of products. a very smooth texture and a wonderful scent. i would like an enormous tube of this please.

Tuesday, June 19

sheep in my bed



what you won't do for your child.
things like sleeping with his cuddly animals in your arms after they come out of the washing machine, so that he can sleep at day care with the scents of home and mother.
and that is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
what a wonderful thing this love is.

Sunday, June 17

glossybox



so i know that i paid for it myself, but when this was delivered it felt like a gift!

Thursday, June 14

sorting it out



for the first time in my life, after a reprimand from my mum, i am sorting my laundry. i used to throw all colours and textures happily together into the welcoming mouth of the washing machine. bad, bad housekeeping. (according to my mum, i was the only one on planet earth who abused her laundry like this.) i do feel quite accomplished now. (oh, and i also started ironing, albeit only very, very irregularly.)

Saturday, June 9

183 days



little imp is six months old today. six months old already... i can hardly believe it.
i have managed to breastfeed him for all of those first six months. i have been able to meet the advice of the world health organisation (actually, they encourage breastfeeding your child up until the age of two!) through a lot of hard work and perseverance. and i have to say i am proud of that. but most of all, i have loved it. 
where i live, 75% of all new mothers breastfeed their babies right after they are born. by the time these babies are six months old, the number has dropped to 18%. i understand it. especially for working mothers, breastfeeding is an incredibly hard thing to do. still, i so hope i will be able to feed little imp in this most wonderful of ways for a long time to come.

Sunday, June 3

days of haste~2



of course i have been thinking some more about this combination of child and work. a whole lot more. pretty much every day.
for me, it feels good to work. even if i dislike the rushing and haste that it often goes hand in hand with, it does make me happy on balance. for little imp, however, it would be better if i stayed at home with him. especially now that he is still such a tiny imp. but then again, i am not necessarily a happier mother if i stay at home with him.
so what is best for him? and what is best for me? i am under no illusion of finding the definitive answer any time soon. for now, it means we carry on as we did. i am a working mother. some days i love it, some days i hate it.

Friday, June 1

between the lines



i challenged myself to write a few lines in my diary every day during the month of may. just some notes about the things that mattered that day. must be feasible for someone who has already filled the pages of fifteen diaries in her life so far. i succeeded twenty-four out of thirty-one days. it encouraged me to think about all the good and the not so good stuff that happens in just twenty-four hours. i recommend it. i might even continue doing it.