Run wild my child

Run wild my child

We love to prepare a picknick basket and go out in the woods. Driving to the woods we are hearing all the “where are we going”-’s and “are we there yet”-’s and ” I don’t want to go to the wood”-’s of the world. Yes, our kids are like all the other kids in the world. But once we are there all of that is forgotten and off they go. Climbing trees collecting treasures and building castles.

We hike for a bit. Find a nice place to lay down a plaid and our stuff as a “home-base”. Chilling and eating and playing around in the shade of the trees. We spot dears, hear the songs the birds are singing to us, the wind blowing through the trees and our wildling cubs howling to the beat of the forest.

Little feet are making a wonderful crunchy sound as they touch the layered floor of the forest. Every step feels different, little sticks, rocks, bones, grass, and mosses are all hiding under a think mixed layer of old crispy and fresh soft fallen leaves. Making every step an exciting surprise. Walking on barefoot shoes is making our exploration feel natural to the touch and safe against rough undergrounds and sharp objects at the same time.

All things we normally tend to worry about seeming small and insignificant. No to-do lists, bills to pay, work to do, places to be. Because this is all that matters, this is all we need. Each other and nature. This feels like freedom. Pure happiness.

We are rich when we leave to go home. Our bounty: A scraped knee, two feathers, seven stones, four leaves, improved tree climbing skills, twelve-spotted dears, hundred stories, and five fully charged inspiration batteries.

On our way back home our little Quinn falls asleep in the car, Haley is quietly looking out the window and Miley asking us ” this was fun! When can we go back!?”

As soon as possible my little wildling.

Love,
Jolanda, Michiel
Miley, Haley & Quinn

    We love Wildling shoes

     

     Wildling shoes geared our whole family up with their barefoot shoes and we are loving it! 

    The wonderful feeling of running and climbing barefoot through the forest while being safe against rough undergrounds and sharp objects is amazing! 

    Walking around barefoot or with barefoot schoe, wair doesn’t just feel great. It’s actually really healthy too! The reason why is very well explained here:
    1- In Duch by Linde Logtenberg on her Instagram here!
    2- or in this video by Teck Insider

    We want to thank our partner Wildling shoes  for supporting us and making it possible for us to keep producing our video’s, vlogs and blogs. It’s because of these kind partnerships we get to do what we love most:
    Being creative and sharing our stories and Images!

    Run wild my child

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    Shoot us mom!

    Never let children pose… let them be themselves!

    From the moment Miley was born until she was 4,5 years old we had a big photo studio. She grew up surrounded by camera’s, lights, makeup, fashion, and set styling… She occasionally watched the models getting ready and saw me shooting them in our photo studio. She saw them “pose” naturally and make subtle changes in their pose with fluid movements. changing expressions, taking directions from me and all of that without looking forced or unnatural. And she loved it.

    As it comes to photo shooting kids, I like them to be interactive. give them something to do, something to engage with, something to play with. Anything but posing! I don’t like kids posing, because most kids (Really, I mean 99%) look forced and unnatural. That kind of photo’s with kids smiling those fake (almost creepy) smiles makes my hairs stand up. Not cool. Just fake.

    So whenever I’m shooting kids (my one or any kids for that matter)… I let them play.
    I have a strict NO POSING rule.

    But… Tiny baby girls turn in to big baby girls! And then that day came, the day when Miley (8yrs) Came up to me dressed a bit much over the top and  Asked me “Mom? Can you shoot me? I’ve made everything ready!”
    I looked over and there was my living room turned in to a complete styled set. With 3 different concepts, she wanted to work on!  I was like “What the….!?!? uuuh… Ok!? I guess?”

    So we could proceed in peace. After every Klik, Miley made a tiny adjustment in pose, expression or looking direction. I didn’t have to give her any directions. She was totally in control.  Like she understood exactly what it was she wanted to reflect, express and what story she wanted to tell. I felt a warm proud glow in my heart for her. What a great way to express yourself.  There goes my “NO posing rule” for her… She has got this down.

     

    Turned out she had a school project where they had to take their favorite piece of clothing, make a photo of it, and write a little poem about it. She wanted to create a photo she had pictured in her mind. (Creative little creature) So who am I to refuse such a brilliant initiative from my 8-year-old.

    I grabbed my camera gear and as she stepped in front of the camera. Wow! She is actually doing a really good job posing! Not one Photo where she looked unnatural or overly posed. I guess she intensively studied the professional models in our studio! My little baby copy-cat. Loving this…

    After a few minutes, her little baby sisters decided they wanted attention too, and started to jump on top of Miley… So I had to promise them that I would shoot them too tf they waited their turn. And If they would go and play a bit more I would call them and take their picture.


    As for her sisters… The rule still stands. No posing! PLAY! Once I called them for their turn to shoot, I gave them something to keep busy! Singing a song,  playing peekaboo, giving them a ukelele or a watering can to play with. And as usual, that way I had a fun and playful shoot with my two babies. And my no posing strategy still worked out worked perfectly fine with them! Scroll all the way down to see the rest of all the photo’s we took!


    How do you take pictures of your kids? I’m thinking of making a series of DIY video’s in photography toppics like “kids photography” .
    Would you think that’s something you would like to see? Anny requests on specivic photography toppics!?


    Love,

      Jolanda, Michiel,
    Miley Haley & Quinn

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    Shoot us mom!

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    VLOG: June 2018 – sunshine and blackberries

    Month VLOG june 2018 – Get ready for another monthly overview of 2018

    This throwback monthly overview we look back at a month filled with sunshine and day’s in the garden. 

    We are changing our vlog-concept for 2019.
    So there will be a monthly overview for every month of 2018 but for 2019 we are doing it a bit diverently. I will tell you all about it at the end of this vlog!

     

    Check a month in the live of our family and be sure to subscribe to be updated on all new uploaded video’s!

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    VLOG: June 2018 – sunshine and blackberries

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    Getting my first tattoo

    Yes!!! Finally! I Did it!

     

    At first, it was a rather simple idea… a thin straight line from my elbow to my wrist within the middle the letters that spelled the name of my one and only baby girl. ____Miley____
    But. I was still breastfeeding. And everyone strongly advised against it back then. (this was 7 years ago) Fair enough I thought So after 3 years of breastfeeding It became clear there would be another baby sooner or later. Might as well wait a bit and make it a line with two names.

    Patience.

    My second baby girl was born and I remember doodling on every piece of paper their names in one long connected line.  ____Miley____&___Haley____  Trying to get the shape and caligraphy just right.

    Like practicing an autograph, The line had to have the perfect flow and casual hand-drawn feel to it, styled and still be straight and readable. Not too curly not to dull, but just interesting enough. And certainly not some standard existing Font. Besides that, I still had to wait. Because…still breastfeeding.

    Haley became 1,5 and I started searching for the right Tatoo artist. I was prepared to travel If I’d found one further away. As long as the artist could make clean thin lines and I felt “right” about the person behind the needle. As I would wair his or her “mark” for the rest of my days, I was making sure It would be a positive experience.

    And then I became pregnant with baby nr.3 The most beautiful little-unexpected surprise of our lives.  And by now, you must know, I had been waiting for 5 years to get this thing on my arm…  So back to the drawing board to add one more name.  ___Miley___Haley___Quinn___   Sometimes I even took a pen and drew it on my arm and took a selfie to see how it would look! Now I’m typing this I realize that this may sound a bit obsessed. Well, maybe I was.

    When Quinn was still a newborn we were in a nearby town when we passed by this awesome looking tattoo shop. It wasn’t like any tattoo shop I’d ever seen. It was light, fresh, with a gorgeous mandala-logo on the window. Inside there were plants and beautiful artwork. The whole shop looked welcoming, soft, friendly and creative. So we walked in and we met Manon from Le Nou Tattoo. Her artwork is just amazingly full of feminine shapes and figures, detailed mandalas, Botanics, and subtle shades and razor-sharp fine lines Check out her Instagram here.  She was so friendly, relaxed with a calm confidence that just made me trust her instantly! But Quinn was still a Tiny baby. So I waited just a bit longer.

    “The line had to have the perfect flow and casual hand-drawn feel to it.”

    When Quinn got one-year-old I became impatient. A few years back my eldest daughter still breastfed occasionally until she was 5 years old. That would mean that it would take another whole four years before I could have my ultimate “mommy Tattoo”.

     

    Breastfeeding and getting a Tattoo?

    But why isn’t it a good Idea to get a Tattoo while breastfeeding? Mainly, If your tattoo would get infected you maybe would need Antibiotics that don’t go well together with breastfeeding. Some say there is a slightly bigger chance of infection because of a lower immune system and a bit thinner blood. But let’s be honest, I think those last two reasons have as much to do with delivering a baby and recovering from that than breastfeeding. I guess having a tattoo within the first 9 months after having a baby/pregnancy maybe isn’t a good idea either. Anyway, This is What the breastfeeding experts at La Leche League had to say about it. 

     

    “I’m Hearing myself say “Michiel, I really think you have to hold my hand””

    “Shurley the pain is going to get so much worse. But it wasn’t…

    “this is it!?” I asked.”

    “I suddenly became really nervous!
    There was something I didn’t think of beforehand…
    Would this hurt much!?”

    The time is now

    After 1,5 years of breastfeeding my babies aren’t that dependent on breastfeeding anymore, Its just a nice bonus for all the antibodies and such. But if I would have to skip one week for what reason so ever. She would survive just fine! Besides that, I wasn’t going to let a Tiny little tattoo get infected. A good licensed tattoo shop,  healthy lifestyle, Hygiene and common sense are your friends.

    So I decided it was time. I sure as hell wasn’t going to wait until I am 38 to do this thing!
    It already had waited for ages (7 years). And then last Oktober Michiel and my Mom surprised me for my 34th birthday with a booked appointment at “Le Nou“. The earliest date available was February the 7th. Wich says something about how good she is I guess.

     

    February 7th, 2019

    Happy as can be, with my hand-drawn line design perfected over the past 7 years. (being a bit of a neurotic perfectionist about it, but it was done.)  I’d never been more ready for this than for anything in my life!  Even a pregnancy takes less freaking time than it takes me to get a tiny little tattoo! I mean really!?

    Only until the very last moment when a sat down and with the sight of the surprisingly friendly looking tattoo machine I suddenly became really nervous! There was something I didn’t think of beforehand…  Would this hurt much!? I had been so busy thinking of the design, artist, timing… and now only seconds to go and my heard was pounding like crazy. I’m Hearing myself say “Michiel, I really think you have to hold my hand”

     

    The sound of the buzzing needle and 3..2..1… 

    I remember thinking the first 10 seconds, this isn’t IT yet, It can’t be. Shurley the pain is going to get so much worse. But it wasn’t… “this is it!?” I asked.  “Yes, that’s it! Its actually get easier as I move towards your wrist!” WOW, What a relief! Feels a bit like sharp scratching. This didn’t hurt at all! It took no more than 20 minutes and than it was all done. Not a drop of blood or wound fluid had spilled. It looked sharp and dry. Even the redness wasn’t so bad. And I never was happier with a birthday gift!

    Now 2 days later I still find myself looking at it and being so completely content with it. So happy I had to wait because now I have all 3 names in it. If I hadn’t had to wait until my breastfeeding days where over I would probably have done just the first name and later two separate tattoos with every new baby name. What I like about this one now is that what I thought would be just a cool design turned out to be a timeline. One continuous line, their names all connected. It’s perfect! Everything came together and I’m loving it!

    LOVE it!

    Thanks, Michiel for making the reservation and tanks mom for sponsoring half of it for my B-day, and last but not least thanks to Manon from LeNou Tattoo for doing an awesome job!

    And to my three baby girls, Miley, Haley & Quinn, I love you forever, just like this tattoo.
    Want to see the end result!? scroll down to see the rest of the photo series.

    Love,  Jolanda

     

    Bohemian roomtour – Urban Jungle

    Eclectic Urban Jungle

    Take a look in our Bohemian styled home. We have created an urban jungle filled with beautiful plants, macrame, flower wreaths, vintage finds, artwork and carefully selected and styled toy corner for our kids.

    You can find our previous roomtour here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STmpvcOPoDg

    We hope you like it! If you do, please make sure to let us know in the comments and subscribe to our channel!
    enjoy!

    Love,
      Jolanda, Michiel,
    Miley Haley & Quinn

    Music in this video is by:
    Meydän – https://soundcloud.com/meydansound/

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    Bohemian roomtour – Urban Jungle

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