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last week, we were on holiday in the same beautiful place where we were two years ago. i was already long cured of the conception that holiday with small children means extra lazy time: instead, it actually means harder work. but it was lovely nonetheless. i did get some time to think things over. the way we choose to raise our children is a very time-intensive one. especially for me as the breastfeeding, bedsharing mother of a young baby plus a toddler who is discovering the world while fighting his own little demons. add to that a quite demanding job and there really is not much time left for anything else except keeping the house more or less clean and making sure there is some kind of dinner on the table every evening. in an ideal world, i would stop working for a few years, honestly. but there is no such thing as an ideal world, is there? so i have to make choices to make things work. there is simply not enough time in most of my days to do all the things i have to do. so my dear blog is going to have to be on hold once again. and once again, i will hopefully be back when the time is right. ♥
this is my little basket with everyday make up. it used to be full of stuff i never actually used and i was always rummaging through it like crazy in the morning to find what i needed. i took everything that i don't use out and now i'm left with only the things that i really do use every single day (plus a cute pair of tweezers): bb cream, a concealer, a brow brush, eye shadow, mascara, eye pencil, blush, tinted lip balm and a brush. i can't help it - futile things like these make me very happy.
little bee and me are trying out cloth diapers. so far, i see almost only advantages. we are reducing waste, there are no nasty materials close to her skin and we have an utterly cute baby bum. yes, there's a little more laundry, but the piles were already huge so there's not that much of a difference.
yes, i managed to scrape together a new bunch of small empties. my favourites:
~ biotherm aquasource nuit high density hydrating jelly ~ i can't help but keep loving the scent and texture of biotherm products. so fresh and luxurious.
~ biotherm lait solaire melting milk with citrus fragrance spf 30 ~ i kept this one in my bag throughout the previous autumn, which has resulted in the scent of it now reminding me instantly of the feeling of those months. i love how smells can do that so powerfully.
~ rituals ginkgo's secret ginseng & ginkgo biloba extra rich hand balm ~ another very luxurious texture and lovely scent.
so as i mentioned before, i am working towards a more natural skin care routine. this, for example, is what i use for my face in the evenings: coconut oil to remove make up (this works really well), followed by an organic skin toner and pure argan oil. it's an extremely simple routine that works great for my skin. now i don't think i will ever go completely natural, simply because i can't resist certain mainstream products and they simply make me happy. but all in all, this is the best way to go. the more i look into it, the more i realise that.
little leg warmers are ideal for babies who are carried in slings or wraps a lot. i found the cutest ones online for not so cute prices, so the solution was easy: make them myself. these were very easy to make and they took me no time at all.
ok, just one more book about attachment parenting. but i promise this will be the last one. (and please ignore the sugar sweet cover: you know the truth does not look like a new mother with perfect hair and make up and holding the most contented baby ever...)
our society doesn't tell parents that the most important gift that they can give their children is not a good education, elaborate educational toys, or summer camps, but time - regular, substantial chunks of it - spent together doing things that are emotionally and developmentally meaningful for the child.
dr. stanley greenspan, as quoted in: attached at the heart ~ barbara nicholson and lysa parker
and in case you are wondering: this is what the closet of little bee looks like. (the poor thing has a storage box on wheels that is underneath our bed functioning as a closet, since she doesn't have a room of her own.) she owns even less clothes than little imp, yet still actually too many in my opinion. but it turns out to be quite impossible to discourage people from buying tiny girls' clothes. and i admit it is incredible fun to choose outfits for her from this box.
one of the simple lessons that i learned from simplicity parenting: make sure that the closet of your child only contains clothes that fit him and that he actually wears. it does make things easier. so this is what little imp is left with: two small piles of onesies (one with long sleeves and one with short sleeves), a few shirts with short sleeves and a box with socks on one shelf. and then a pile of long trousers, a few short trousers and a pile of shirts and sweaters with long sleeves. the closet, that looks a bit gloomy in this picture but is actually quite cute, is a few generations old. it stood in my bedroom when i was a child and it stood in my parents' living room when they first moved in together. i love the fact that it inhabits the bedroom of my son now.
i have talked before about my love for wrapping presents. what to do when someone asks for money instead of a birthday present? this is how i turned the gift into a cute package. nicer to give and more fun to receive.
