It's a funny thing with a second baby: somehow it's not difficult at all to fall in love once again with another child, to be in awe of her amazing smiles, the cute sounds that she makes and in particular of the fun and sweet interaction between her and her big sister. Yet on the other hand with the more difficult 'second times' somehow it seems to be tempting to think: 'hey, haven't we already been through this? Do we really have to go there again?'

Right now Julie is teething, and somehow I had forgotten what drama that can be, especially during the nights. Between about two and five months Julie has been sleeping through the night fairly well, which was very pleasant for all of us, and I guess I've been thinking 'oh, we're already there' too easily... Because now I remember again that with Rosa the second part of her first year was far much more intensive (sleepwise in particular) than the first part. All these stages they go through... it can change all the time.

So yes, that means taking a deep breath and 'going there again'... With the loveliest second baby one can imagine, lucky for us! ;)

It's something all the modern knitting books say: don't ever knit for your man, because it'll only cause trouble. He'll feel like a silly kid having to wear that horrible scarf that his wife (/grandma) made for him, and you'll regret having put all the effort in it without receiving any appreciation. It's trouble... Just don't do it.

So I started making Helmut a scarf for his birthday & father's day combined (yeah well, it's quite a big gift, isn't it?). Because I didn't have enough time to do all the knitting 'in hiding', I decided to just do the knitting at night sitting next to Helmut on the sofa, hoping that he wouldn't see the difference between this scarf and the ones that I had been working on previously. Though Helmut usually never is that attentive when it comes to my crafts (that is: he doesn't really see the difference between all my projects, but besides that he's supportive enough), to my surprise this time he already got suspicious after like three nights of knitting: 'Are you still working on that same scarf...? Or is this something new?'

And since I'm a terrible liar, I just told him that he'd be the lucky one having to wear a horrible scarf all the time in order not to lose my love... Not sure how the scarf is going to turn out yet, but we sure already had quite a lot of fun about it ;).

(and now I'm working on three unfinished scarves at the same time... Lucky I can only knit scarves so far, because I'd soon have hundreds of unfinished projects if I really could knit I guess!)

There are two things that people always seem to think of me that are untrue. Well, I'm sure there are more things, but these are two that I know of ;).

1) 'How smart that you have a webshop and work from home, you must be able to do so much work while your kids play around you and during naps.'

Well, untrue.

2) 'Oh, your kids must be so lucky, having such a creative mom. I bet you are doing such fun and creative crafts together all the time.'

Untrue again, I'm afraid. I'm not going to deny that there's a certain creative side to me, but I could only wish that I were the kind of mom who creates the funniest masks out of some scraps of paper and yarn, the niftiest robots out of some old tins or the most versatile playhouses out of some big cardboard boxes. I love seeing that kind of creativity, but I guess I'm not very good at it. Something with a lack of handy skills and an even bigger lack of spatial ability I suppose.

So we usually do some very average crafting here. Lots of drawing on the chalkboard wall, some cutting and pasting, playing with clay and paint, baking cookies...

There's still a lot for me to learn when crafting with Rosa. I tend to be way too result-driven: like when we bake cookies I expect Rosa to make cookies instead of eating all the dough ;). And when we paint, I often worry more about the paint that's ending up all over the place than that I enjoy that enthusiastic happy face with paint all over it. I wish I could always be the mom that enjoys all the mud and the sand and the stains that come with kids having lots of fun, but apparently I haven't reached that point yet... Yeah, lots of things to learn as a mom!

Lately Rosa has been showing an increasing interest in drawing, painting and other creative stuff, so that's plenty of learning opportunities for me to become that laid back crafty mom... I'm already studying  fiercely on the idea of creating a full-scale Eiffel tower out of toilet paper rolls ;).

I've added some new things to the shop, and also I put a lot of older items in the sale section. We're about to move house within a month or two (we bought a house, so maybe now this will finally turn into something like a home decoration blog again! ;)), so I hope by then we can travel light. I hope to add a lot of items from my stock to the sale section these next few weeks, so keep checking here or there every so often!

A while ago I fell in love with these beautiful colorblock blankets, a design from the Purl bee blog. Admiring these blankets definitely influenced me to give knitting a try: such a simple design, but with good wool and beautiful color combinations (and a large dedication of time!) it really becomes something special.

I haven't started making a blanket yet, but I started knitting a new rainbow colorblock scarf that is influenced by these blankets, a very big and cosy one in beautiful wool.

I've been working on it for about a week now, and I think I'm at one third or so, so still a lot to go! But I really enjoy the hours of late night knitting, it feels almost meditative. It's kind of weird: whenever people hear about my newfound love for knitting they start laughing, like it's something totally crazy (or at least very boring) to do. I'm sure they wouldn't act as surprised if I told them I was taking classes in mindfulness, staring at the orange that I was peeling for like an hour ;).

Funny isn't it that different crafts have like a different 'status': a beautiful colorblock image on canvas could be considered art, but if you'd knit a similar colorblock image it's just knitting, an old lady's thing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to suggest here that my knitting is art ;). Just wondering why a lot of people react so strongly when they hear that you'r knitting... Of course it must have something to do with this 'knitting is for housewives' image, that probably doesn't add to a craft's status. I'm sure feminist scientific theory has something to say about it! 

Of course I immediately started on this new scarf when my beautiful new wool arrived, leaving the first messy practice scarf a bit neglected. But once I have time in abundance again (oh, tell me when! ;)) of course I'm going to finish that one too...

I'm not even that old, but I have one photo album of, like, the first two or three years of my life. With the amount of pictures I take of my children I could often fill an album every week... Yes, it has a lot to do with the possibilities of digital photography, and of course it has a lot to do with my love for taking pictures. Sometimes I wonder what it'll be like when my children grow up, to look back at a youth so well documented. Will my kids be happy with this huge archive of thousands of pictures? Or would just one book about the first few years of their lives, with a picture or two of each highlight, be more than enough for them?

The silly thing is that I'm terrible at documenting those highlights: the birthdays, the holidays, the special trips... I always forget to take pictures or to bring my camera at all. Before I had kids I used to bring my camera on a lot of trips, but now I'm already happy when I manage to take both kids and all their stuff with me, let alone that heavy camera ;). 

Daily life inside the house on the other hand ends up being highly -I guess overly- documented, so I guess when my children look back at all these pictures later it seems like we never left the house... Well there's some truth to that, but we in fact do manage to leave the house every so often ;).

It has already come this far that at least once a day Rosa sits down on the sofa, asks me to put Julie next to her and then orders: 'Mama, take a picture!' Well, if she ever dares to complain about that huge archive of 'sitting-on-the-sofa'-pics that she has to work through when she's older, I can blame it all on her!

I was looking for a new kind of pastime. Something creative, something just for me, something that could offer me a quick and simple hideaway from the non-stop mothering. But well... also something that I could combine with a baby that does all her naps till about 9 in the evening in the baby carrier. Yes, again... I like my bed but somehow my babies don't ;).

So knitting it is: freestyle, for the time being all-mistakes-are-allowed knitting. No thoughts, no patterns, just a lot of colors and every so often a change of thread. So nice!

Though I don't really expect I'll become any good at knitting, I can't help but already be quite fanatical. I use any stolen moments to work on my freestyle patch that is slowly but surely growing into a scarf, I've already ordered some better yarn than this simple cheap stuff and mostly I dream about being able to make all the gorgeous children's patterns that I've been collecting (though currently reading them still feels like reading Chinese).

Knitting while carrying a baby of almost eight kilograms by the way isn't such a good idea, ergonomically spoken, but when it's so fun to do it's hard to stop. So this is how I walk around the house these days... 

I always find it fascinating to read about these 'real big artists' and their lifestyle. You know, the Picasso kind of (usually male) artist, who is a creative genius that lives for his -Uppercase- Art in a ruthless and totally uncompromising way. Usually there are some children and several (ex-)partners around, but the artist doesn't really have the time and interest to look after them properly because hey, l'art pour l'art. Which often results in brilliant art, but also in complicated personal relationships, and children who deeply admire their father's (or mother's) genius, but also: 'they were never really there'.

I guess we all sometimes wonder what it would be like to live the life of a creative genius, defined by art and continuous inspiration. Since I have children it's often particularly the part of having (lots of) children while also living this uncompromising artistic lifestyle that fascinates me. Is the desire to create art so much larger and more important than the wish to care for your children and give them the attention they need? Writing it down like this it seems like a rhetoric question: who would have children these days and say openly that his (creative) career and personal goals and interests are much more important than taking care of their children's upbringing and happiness? I guess no one would, because obviously it sounds -and is, if you ask me- quite wrong. So we all happily say that one doesn't have to exclude the other, and just call it life's rush hour.

Yet the uncompromising lifestyle certainly has it's attractivity, or maybe a lifestyle that's just slightly less compromising than mine sometimes seems these days ;-). Also when you're not a creative genius but just someone who tries to get some work done, wouldn't it be great sometimes to just keep doing what you do, all day and night if you wish, without worrying about kids and daycare and their sleeping and crying and picking them up at the right time and cooking and breastfeeding and pumping every three hours and them being sick and not sleeping and... just all of that. The caring and the interruption, the constant caring and interruption. Wouldn't it be nice to just don't care at all and let other people take care of it, while you just keep making art? I'm not the super-holy-ever-self-sacrificing-with-a-smile mom, who jumps on her bike happily when she's called to the daycare centre for the second time a week because her baby refuses the bottle or refuses to sleep. I'm jumping on my bike feeling a bit frustrated, because I was enjoying what I was doing, and because it is important that I get some work done. But at the same time nothing feels more important than making sure my kids are happy and at ease, and when my upset baby is put in my arms and instantly relaxes that's all that matters, as corny as it sounds, but it is.

Ah well, as the Family first artist that I obviously am these days I can sometimes dream a bit about just finishing something without being interrupted all the time. But even with interruptions eventually things get done. Like this large set that took me quite a few weeks and lots of small steps to complete, but well... it's done!

When speaking to people from Japan, they often tell me how much they love European art & design, and that they want to buy and have 'everything European'. I always find that remarkable to hear, because I feel exactly the same way for Japanese art and design. I always feel so inspired when I see the work of Japanese illustrators, and when I found the work of the super talented Mizuki Goto my heart really jumped. You know, in such a 'I-want-to-have-this-all, please-tell-me-there's-a-webshop!' way. Unfortunately I haven't found one though...

The good news is that Mizuki Goto's amazing work can be viewed extensively on her website's gallery, it's quite a treat! And hopefully I can soon find a way to order at least a print or so...

My sister Olga always brings the best things for Rosa and Julie. Yesterday she not only brought Julie a gorgeous crochet Mina dress, but more important she brings the amazing skill with her of always making my girls feel so happy and at ease. Rosa runs through the house yelling with excitement as soon as she sees her aunt Olga, and she lets her do things that I as her mother am not even allowed to mention, such as putting these lovely little pigtails in her hair...

Isn't it bizarre to all of a sudden be the mother of a big girl with pigtails? She was still a wee baby the last time I blinked my eyes!

Never thought I'd needed a cheese tray plate, but now I think I do ;). These glorious ones are by mbartstudios and can be purchased through their etsy shop.

Though it's still with a small hiccup every now and then, my baby has started going to daycare these past few weeks, and that means that the shop is fully open again. Most custom order items are available for ordering again, like the name plates, name tiles, the love plates and everything from the folklore & fun series.

Having a break like this maternity leave that I had always makes room for lots of new plans and ideas, and I can't wait to really start working on some of those new ideas for the shop. I really hope I'll be able to accomplish at least a few of them in the near future!

Lately I've often felt that this blog has become too much of a mommy blog -'look how adorable my babies are!'- and that it's time to start focusing more on the things I make and on art, craft and design again. But then, well... I mean look at how adorable my baby is! ;)

The handknit pinafore and hat are made by Knitsiebitsie.

As you can see, our little 'photo moments' always happen spontaneously, without a plan. That's why there's always someone with pajamas, a just-out-of-bed hairdo or totally unmatching socks in the picture ;). Ah well, they are quite an accurate representation of actual daily life this way!

The other week a large order from Etsy shop KnitsieBitsie arrived: shop owner Jessica made Julie some lovely wool clothes. They were meant for next Autumn/Winter, but the little giant girl already fit into one of the rainbow striped cardigans... I've been longing for Spring for months, but seeing my girl in such a sweet Winter outfit almost makes me reconsider ;).

A few months before Julie was born -when I still had a lot of time and energy on my hands! ;)- I started working on a new series of tiles. There was no plan, goal or idea, it was just a bit of playing around with shapes and colors in between my regular work.

Somehow it became a little series that I finally based the design of Julie's birth announcement card on. I originally thought I'd put these in the shop, but ever since Julie was born I find myself hesitating: aren't these Julie's birth tiles now? And just like that our house is slowly but surely becoming a big warehouse... ;) (I always have about a hundred reasons for keeping every little thing, especially when it's related to Rosa and Julie. Though I must say so far I have been throwing away most of the completely nondescript little 'artworks' -like three randomly put lines on a piece of paper- that Rosa has been bringing home from daycare...)

One of my favorite Dutch brands for knitwear is Bieq. Julie has two Bieq cardigans, a hat and a pair of knit pants, and they really are among the clothes that she wears most. These Bieq clothes are very well (hand)made, super beautiful and really comfortable, so though they are not cheap I guess especially the cardigans are worth investing in. Julie is now already wearing one (the cardigan above) in a size 6-12 months with rolled up sleeves, so you can really wear these for a longer period of time.

I'm not on facebook so I hardly ever see anything that's happening there, but I make an exception by regularly checking the Bieq facebook page because it's always filled with lovely knit inspiration from all over the world, and of course with the most delicious images of all the Bieq knitwear. Everything (though stock seems quite limited right now) can be bought in their online shop.

During the first three months of her life Julie has basically lived in this little pink cardigan and one or two others, but finally she sort of burst out of it so we really had to move on to the next size. Which was really one of those hard 'bye bye baby' moments by the way...

When people heard that I was pregnant with another girl, they often told me: 'how nice, now you can use Rosa's wardrobe and stuff once again!' Well, part of me said yes to that thought (Rosa has lots of lovely clothes that she's grown out, wouldn't it be nice to see them worn again?), but the truth is that my taste is constantly changing and evolving, and I just happen to like many things and many styles, so I also thought that a new girl would be a nice chance to try some new baby girl styles. I mean, I know now that kids already start to develop their own preferences real early, so this would be my probably last chance to really dress a kid according to my ideas for a short while! ;)

During my pregnancy I somehow developed a huge love for wool and knitwear, something that Rosa hasn't worn much as a baby. Rosa always wore lots of bold and colorful Scandinavian and retro print clothes, but somehow this time I fell for soft and simple knits and slightly more classic basics. So during my pregnancy with Julie I bought lots of beautiful basics and knitwear at Petit Bateau (I never thought I'd become a Petit Bateau fan but somehow I did) and a lot of wool clothes, sweet handknit sweaters and cardigans and stuff like that. I kept telling myself that this changing taste probably meant that I'd have a very different baby this time: maybe my love for slim fit and elegant little Petit Bateau outfits somehow predicted that I'd get a very slim, quiet and elegant little baby this time? ;)

Well, at first my prediction seemed sort of correct: Julie was quite tiny and fragile at birth, and she couldn't hold her temperature during the first week or two. So hurray for all the wool and warm knitted cardigans, and of course for all the tiny Petit Bateau onesies (even the smallest sizes were too big for her!). But then the Big Growth began, and within just some weeks Julie caught up with her heavy-at-birth big sister and became a real heavy-weight herself. So despite all my blabla forecasts about her becoming this elegant little Petit Bateau baby, at almost four months she's already outgrown her French 6-month-old onesies ;).

But I still love classic sweet basics for Julie, and particularly knitwear, so now I desperately want to learn how to knit... Which is probably quite a hopeless plan, because I have no time for it at all, and I also have very little patience for crafts that require a lot of effort for a relatively small result, but I want it anyway! Lately I've been collecting lots of great knitting ideas and examples, so I'm planning to show you some of my favorites.

Because in the end I'm rather realistic about my chances of becoming a professional knitter within a few weeks from now, I've decided on something smarter: I've commissioned other people to knit the things that I can't make yet! On etsy lots of great shops that offer beautiful knitwear can be found, and lots of them also work on custom orders. The images in this blog post are examples of (wool) clothes that are being made by Hungarian etsy shop LolkaWear. I ordered two pairs of knit dungarees and two dresses from this shop, and the results are really beautiful! I also ordered bought knit clothes at a few other etsy shops, I will show some more soon!

It's hard not to feel this constant hurry chasing me these days. Julie started at daycare for the first time today, but instead of contemplating that a bit -Baby! Growing! End of an era...- I have a to-do-list this long that it makes me scared, excited and exhausted at the same time. Ah well, let's start with this little blog post to ignore that list just a wee bit longer... ;)

I've been looking at this poster a lot these days, it says 'Why all the hurry, do you know when your work is done?'. Each time I felt stressed about all the work that was piling up while I was 'just mothering', I looked at the poster and realized that these to-do-lists only exist in your head. Well, though the 'not-yet-done' part of the list also shows in your house a bit! ;)

So... good luck to me, let's get started!

Is it just me hoping so or do they really already have this special bond together? Julie seems to be interested in everything Rosa does, and she forgives her all her roughness. She even already endured a short session of Rosa doing some 'hop paardje hop' horseriding (sitting and jumping on her belly!) without the smallest protest...