First month with the baby

This year was very scarce in terms of blogging, but there was a motivation: the nine months of pregnancy, two new jobs and since one month, the baby boy that gave us a lot of work and to-do-list and many sleepless nights. But watching him growing up and becoming a new little person every day gives me strength and happiness that sometimes can be even stronger than my love for words.

Anyway, now that a certain routine is set up - meaning a lot of practice in terms of waking up fast in the night and finishing everything - the preparation of milk and diapers changing - in just a matter of minutes, there is also time for reflection and a lot of writing. Although busy, I was able to keep reading and kept a certain list of topics I want to cover in the next days, if the baby will agree.

A couple of advices

As for now, my first lessons learned of the first month as a baby boy mother:

- Once the baby is born, forget about everything you used to do before: sleep especially and going out. Even when you have a supportive partner or husband on your side, doing things together is much better than hoping than the other part will do it while you are away enjoying some special private time. All your hobbies and little secret pleasures do not make time at all and this is the way to be. The baby is the most important part of your lives now.

Ask an expert

- You never know enough about how to deal with the baby problems and checking with the specialists - doctors and midwife - as well as with experienced relatives and friends is very important for your peace of mind and well being of your child. From the reasons the baby is crying till how to make bath, there are thousands of reasons to ask support and help. Do not hesitate to do it! Getting books and reading online about baby development, preferably together with your partner or husband is also very important! The best is to keep reading about the current stage of development and do not get too much deep into the children life. Wait and see and keep the notes and the information for later. Your time is limited and you need to have the mind fresh for the new challenges. 

In our case, one of the problems we had to deal witlh wasl how to correctly bind the diapers, after we realized a couple of times in a row that the boy was wet - and very unhappy about this! We kept practising and practising and now we are finally able to make it even with the eyes closed...

Be together!

- After the woman gives birth there are a lot of changes and transformations taking place -as it was not enough what happens during the nine months of pregnancy! - and coping with the challenges of the new baby may not be easy. As long as you are not alone and your partner supports you and the baby, you can get along better and try to get adjusted to the new life. Expect some fights and misunderstandings and hard hours but as long as you keep talking and there is love and understanding everything will go smoothly. Once in a while, leave the other part some space and time and try to spend at least 30 minutes differently. You will get very refreshed and ready for the new challenges. 

As for the sleep deprivation, a chronical symptom for the new parents, the best is to try to sleep when the baby is sleeping. 

Simple is (always better)

- I left the hospital with a lot of packages of wet napkins and creams and other cosmetics. I used them intensively in the first weeks till I suddenly realized some red skin spots and irritation in the sensitive parts of the body. The cause? The Pampers napkins that had some alcohol and other substances harmful for the new born skin. What about some warm water and usual napkins to clean him? With this recipe plus some plant based cream his skin got better and the guily napkins are now used for cleaning the dust from the furniture. 

For the evening massage, we use a pharmacy formula of almond oil very helpful for the skin regeneration in the first weeks of life. In the case of the laundry, we found some bio-, non-perfumed ingredients. 

Bath is very important

- In the hospital, they told me to do the bath maybe a bit later in the month but common sense and practise of people with experience adviced me to do something else. The hard part is to know how to do it and for that you need someone to show it to you! Otherwise, besides the obvious cleanliness reasons, a bath before the sleep helps the baby to have a longer night and to relax.

Never too early to start with habits

- As we, adults, the babies need an organise life. Try to set up rituals in the evening - bath for instance - always at the same time - between 19.00 and 20.00 is the best before the baby can have a long sleep till midnight at least. Also, in the morning, spend at least 20 minutes with some basic face cleaning and changing to daily outfits. You may think the baby is too small to realize this, but it is part of a daily routine that you will respect if from now on. 

Also, it is important to make the difference between day and night, by creating the dark ambiance in the room. A small lamp kept open during the night and avoiding the switch on the big light is also part of the first weeks ritual. 

Always in contact with the baby

At this stage in life, when the baby does not see and hear good, the touching is the only way to create a special contact with the baby. Either if you touch his face during eating or you have some private moments before sleep or, as in my case, use any opportunity to touch and kiss as much as possible. 

A mistake to avoid though is to end up staying with the baby in the arms every time he is sleeping. The remedy to this was to bring the car chair in the room you are staying and keep the discrete company to the baby, but without turning into a slave. As much as the kid needs your love and attention it also needs to be independent and this is the lesson to keep in mind as early as possible. 

This is all for now. As the kid entered the month 2 of life, we are already prepared for new lessons and a new blog post in a couple of weeks. 

End of the summer choices by Occitaine en Provence

Source: Occitaine website

Officially, the summer it is about to end and it seems that I already feel a bit nostalgic about the things I wanted to do and haven't during the sunny day. But with the high holidays only a couple of days away and many things that I want to share from the past silent blogging days, plus some other events I am very excited to share here, I hope to not have too much time for being overwhelmed by unhappy thoughts. 

Holidays are the best time to make presents, including for yourself, isn't it? 

The last week, I had some extra time and visited the closest Occitaine en Provence shop and could hardly leave. I am usually very much in love with their hand creams and instantly felt in love with their Arlesienne hand cream, with instant results on my delicate hands. Another plus is that it does not have a hard smell either. Talking about Arlesienne, a word that sends to the idea of a strong, independent and yet coquetisch woman from the South of France, all the products from the collection do have saffron - besides rose - as part of the ingredients, a very interesting combination in perfumes that tends to give a note of distinguished elegance to the products. The variations of perfumes are exquisite, very delicate and with a unique flowerly touch. 

Another products to follow, buy and test soon are the unisexl Spa in your home, that although may have some very strong smell that reminds me not very pleasantly about the Tiger Balm from my childhood do produce strong detox effects and may be even more efficient than the strong green tea I am constantly using part of my daily routine. 

In all cases, the prices are, as usual, a bit above the average but fully worth it.

Colouring books for adults. Why not?

I must confess, again, that I am not a creative person. Better said, I am not the artistic kind of personality, ready to make an outstading work of art out of nothing. I prefer to concentrate all my creativity and energies for my various writing projects. However, once in a while, I need to go out of my simple world and encourage myself to go beyond my limits. I do have a lot of crafts projects ongoing, I am into jewellery making and decorations as well as illustrations.

Nothing compares, though, with my first and big love for colouring books. As a kid, I enjoyed the quiet moments when with my box of pencils and the black shapes in the front of my, I was trying to find out the best combinations for filling up the design and giving life to the page. Many of my colouring books were inspired by various historical and cultural events, my favourite having to do with some old style fashion design.

I do not remember exactly when I gave up this rewarding hobby, but very often I kept fresh in mind the full feeling of freedom experienced during those moments. And also the pleasure of hours later starting, I was admiring how my page was changing. It taught me patience and the sense of colour as well as the capacity to retire for a good time and put my thoughts in order. All these habits helped me later in life when I had to do with various challenging professional and personal situations.

Especially in the last year, I started to hear more and more often about adults having as hobby colouring books. Due to my strict education, according to which, you do certain things as a kid and never after as an adult, I regarded those story skeptical but without too much criticism though. After all, everyone is free to do what she/he considers the right thing to do with her/his time. However, in the last year, the frequency of news - even the New Yorker considered it as a topic worth to dedicate a couple of good thousand of words -, plus a certain decision I took to try at least once the week to do something creative for my soul, determined me to just go to the next Idee shop and buy one of those colouring books for adults. I also purchased some nice colouring pencils and without thinking twice, I started to silently colour the white surfaces, just the way I used to do any years back. The difference is that now, my life got more complicated and I have to think about much more things than years ago. I also noticed how I can organise my writing life better, being able to almost write full posts in my mind and instantly put online after my colouring task is done!

The plan is to have a book done every two months. I already dream about my nexgt book, also from Idee, totally dedicated to travel. The older I get the more free I feel to be exactly what I want to be and to do exactly what I want to do. Good things, I mean. Some of them will be for sure announced soon on this blog...

A visit at the third shop of Zara Home Berlin

Zara Home opened recently its third shop in Berlin, on Ku'damm 203-205, corner with Knesebeckstrasse, after the closing of the eccentric fur shop Pelz Lösche. It covers an area of around 600 sqm, and is deserved by a relatively customer friendly personnel. What I don't necessarily appreciate in many shops is that moment when the vendors are setting up their products during the high-hours of the day, either bothering the clients with their movements or because too busy to answer different questions. 

The shop is separated into different sections: kitchen decorations, kitcheware, bathroom, bedroom, children. The prices are moderate to high, but don't desperate, it is the season of sales and for sure you might find something affordable soon. Besides the shop on Ku'damm, Zara Home has another affiliates in the Mall of Berlin and the Boulevard Berlin, in Steglitz.

As I am very much into natural colours and inspiration, I fell in love with the various table covers and napkins with pastel butterflies and flowers. 

There are also a lot of models of candels that can decorate and provide intimate natural light to any space. They vary in size and shapes, including as a huge elephant. Many mirrors seems to have a clear Oriental, especially Indian, inspiration. Out of many models, I am in favour of the silver framing, elegant and special.

As usual, pillows are a difficult choice to make and being creative involves also mixing various materials, such feathers added to soft cashmere. De gustibus...

When not too into eclecticism, the simple, spartan brownish colours can be a good choice for any season, residence, budget and tastes.

The predominant pastels are kept further on also in the case of bathroom products, which looks like an inspired choice because is an invitation to silence and quietness. 

Some products can be a real hit and become a shopping obsession, as in the case of this goose shaped vase with silver endings that reminds me of noble times and rich tables. 

For the children room, the predominant note is seriosity, offering the usual items you want to find in a child's room, but without too much room for creativity or even naivity.

 After all, why not keep being classical...?

The space for creativity is left, it seems, for the decorations of plates, with an unique funny collection of fashionista cats. Even someone seriously allergic to cats can appreciate it!

 The rest of glassware is not spectacular, either with simple classical shapes and discrete decorations,

...or with some strong colours that are not necessarily the style and colour that I may enjoy to look at during a lunch.

Some living room and lobby vases and decorations also did not pass my special good taste test. Too much non-authentic glittering may end up into kitch.

Hopefully, there were enough flowers and predominantly white imprints that are making a great difference in terms of taste, bringing a slice of countryside in your home and at your table. Very important to have them especially during the long winter. 

For the end, this perfumed box, with various good looking products caught my attention for their stylish presentation and the promise of wellness. 

Foodie reading: Anya von Bremzen, Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking

It was a long time since I've read an interesting food memoir and blame me - not the scarcity of publications - for this situation. Luckily, my reading return was in full style, as Anya Bremzen's Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking resonated greatly with my own although peculiar, culinary experiences. 

Living in a totalitarian regime means that food and history and political evolutions are always going together. The modest opening of the regime may mean a dramatic change on the menu, as more ingredients become available thanks to the Party's gratitude, for instance. Being born in such a system gives you a certain ability to seize the right moment and eventually, improve the recipe. Thus, it is hard to say how much history and how much food you can find in this well-writen memoir. Biographical details and cooking skills are going together and the result is an extensive journey through the Soviet life - and kitchens. From tsarist Russia to Putin's nouveau riche, Anya von Bremzen covers with a journalistic attention all the details. You can feel the longing and imagine the smells going out of the kitchen in this Proustian Russian translation - and adaptation. 

Although enjoyed the story telling from the first part, the travel and writing part dedicated to the discovery of various regional cuisines of what used to be once Soviet Union was very appealing for me.

Fortunately, the book also has a couple of recipes at the end and I am curious to try some of them too - Cornbread for Khrushchev, anyone ?

Fishing for creative ideas in London

Travel is on the top of my interests from an early age, but part of my nomadic experiences is also to observe and learn some new crafts and about new interior design simple decorations. As the last week I visited London for a day, I accidentally discovered some cute things that could not leave without taking a picture of.

First is that nice candles support, either as an elephant (photo above) or as cute fish. Made of metal and painted in different colours, with a special candle support inside you can use them in the garden, to hang out on a tree, for a romantic dinner outside or for a special mysterious late night party or only for decorations. You can also hang it in the balcony. The metal structure is safe so you don't have to worry if the candles are burning after you are sleeping. They look simple and can suit including children parties or almost any kind of special events.

I am very much in love with letters and frequently I also work for fun some as birthday collage suprises for children. Those silver ones are simple, big, and very chic. It shows that you can do so many things with letters and just a simple material, all you need is to look for something special and put your creativity at work.

Pattern design: suggestions from masters

Trying to get the best of my Pesach chol hamoed free time, while keeping up with my motto of learning something new every day I tried to day to use the opportunity offered by skillshare to learn for free about surface design and creating patterns. The video classes by Jenna Frye are very easy, illustrative and very useful. The program yo need for the practice is Illustrator, from the Adobe Family. The course is rather an introduction into the topic, with some good examples to practice but if really interested in improving the knowledge, more skills and practice is needed.

As for now, I decided to move on and improve my visual knowledge about the topic, and did some research about some of the masters of patterns used as examples during the class. 

Cath Kidston

Cath Kidson brings into your home, at your table or on your body the charm of the British countryside. Her website offers regularly various discounts and the diversity of her motifs, built around a smooth base of mild colours brings peace to the eyes. Her products can be also ordered online and delivered in specific countries all over the world, including outside Europe.

Joel Dewberry

Joel Dewberry is another example of praising simplicity and classical beauty. His elegant collections cover clothes, interior design, upholstery, wallpapers. 

Flower: Eucalyptus Bazaar

Johannes Itten

We are entering the hall of art, as Itten is an expressionist painter, close to the Bauhaus movement, which developed an elaborated theory of colours. 

M.C.Escher

One of my favourite artists by far, Escher is the master of creating special effects through repetition. He combines architectural elements, with stylish fragments of nature and the inspiration of the Italian art and architecture.

Convexe and concave