Our Mindful Babycare routine +WIN a Babycare Sheepskin

Our Mindful Babycare routine +WIN a Babycare Sheepskin.

Clean, feed, sleep repeat
Clean, feed, sleep repeat
Clean, feed, sleep repeat

Day in, day out you get in this automated rhythm of taking care of your babe. And it’s basically the same every single time. Being a parent of a baby is hard. Especially that first year using. So going on survival mode and the whole taking care routine on autopilot
But sometimes the “autopilot mode” becomes the “normal”. A habit of just getting the job done and get it over with.

And then your baby starts acting out around those care rituals… Twisting and turning, trying to help you change the diaper grabbing all the dirty bits getting poop everywhere. Grabbing your face with their hands or kicking you with their feet for attention or maybe even try and turn to get away from you.

But put yourself in their place. Someone grabbing you and starts clothing you, changing and washing you while completely ignoring you as a person. No eye contact. Nothing. They are just getting it over with. Sorry, no one home. Not mom or dad. Autopilot has taken over.

Once in a while, I noticed it happened to us again. We’ve been overwhelmed and exhausted for a period, so we’ve slipped into this survival mode. And never came out. Usually, it hit me when my baby wasn’t working with me but making it impossible to get the job done. Acting out in all sorts of ways. Literally, shake me up and making me snap out of it.

Instead of shouting to my baby “keep still” or “stop that NOW” I would realize what was happening.
I am making her do this! It’s on me!
So the solution was always simple, and always the same:

1-make eye contact.
2-talk to them and include them in what you are doing.
3-sing to them.
4-tickle them.
5-cuddle them.
6-lots of kisses and attention.
7-take your time

And we’ve all been there.
Multiple times. This survival/autopilot mode is actually pretty handy for night changes or moments when you have trouble coping because your baby has been sick and keeping you awake or you are not feeling well or whatever. But after the crisis moments.. Get back in the moment and enjoy the precious one on one time with your little one.

MAKE EYE CONTACT, TALK TO YOUR BABY. TAKE YOUR TIME.

The Vachtenspecialist.nl send us a Babycare sheepskin for our little Quinn to chill on while we give her all the attention in the world.

So tell me… Do you catch yourself sometimes being an apathetic exhausted on-auto-mode operating parent sometimes?
How do you notice you’re out of it and how do you get yourself back in the moment?

 

Blog by: Jolanda Marti
Photography: Jolanda Marti & Michiel Fook

WIN a babycare sheepskin For mothersday!

Research has shown that babies who sleep on a sheepskin are less likely to have asthma.

In addition, sheepskins are not only for the cold winter months, they also have a cooling effect in the summer. Moisture is absorbed by the fur and air between the hairs acts as a natural air conditioner. In winter you stay pleasantly warm and in the summer nice and cool.

Another advantage of these coats is that they can be washed out. And the size is ideal for the crib or baby pen!

If you want to have the chance to win a Babycare sheepskin all you have to do is:

  • Follow: @wildandboho on Instagram
  • Follow: @vachtenspecialist on Instagram
  • Tag someone who would love to have one two in this in the comments of this Instagram post:

The winner will be revealed the 5th of Mei in my Instagram stories 

 

Our Mindful Babycare routine +WIN a Babycare Sheepskin

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Living with Syndrome of Raynaud

Afraid of what might happen

 

Coping Syndrome of Raynaud and tips on preventing an episode.

Whenever the temperatures get low. I will start wrapping myself in.
Whenever I step into a place that has air conditioning on, I shrink in.

Whenever there is a brisk breeze… I cover my ears.
Whenever I feel overwhelmed and tired, I wrap myself in a blanket to keep warm.

Afraid of what might happen. Afraid of my fingers, my toes, my ears, and my face turning in to numb white-yellow paralyzed lumps. Losing all fine-motor skills and not being able to move those areas of my body. The area’s around the temporarily affected body parts feel cramped. And it hurts. When I return into space with a stable temperature and something warm to start up my blood flow again the color and life starts to flow back into my feet again.

“I remember when I was a small child I would try and hide in the classroom”

I practically never talk about this to anyone. because it’s not a big deal to me. For me, it’s the most normal thing in the world. I remember when I was a small child I would try and hide in the classroom, trying to skip play-time in the schoolyard. I preferred to stay inside in winter time. I preferred to not go through the whole process of another episode again and again.

The only other person who had the same reaction to the cold is one of my best friends. And she told me she had googled it and that it might be Syndrome of Raynaud.
I thought, Nah, what are the odds of us both having this same thing. I probably just get cold easily and am “being a pussy about it” (such a Dutch way of thinking). So I never dug into it.

Years later I talked to my yoga teacher Ingvild at Yogaways about it. The topic came up because I tend to get really cold feet and lose all feeling and sense in my toes during yoga (which is something you do barefoot) Especially while doing yoga outside and it’s not a shimmering 25°C outside (or there is a cold breeze). She told me it sounded like Syndrome of Raynaud.

“But I realized this was a thing to be reckoned with. Ignoring it could turn out devastating.”

Ok. This was the second time someone pointed this out to me, so I thought it was time for some research. WOW! The pictures of white and yellow fingers and toes I found online were spot on what I was experiencing. The pictures of the black and blue limbs scared me a bit. I never let it go that far! Like, What the hell, the white stage was painful enough, and I always got my blood flow back before something like that could ever happen. But I realized this was a thing to be reckoned with. Ignoring it could turn out devastating.

Overall there is no real cure. But there are some things I do that will prevent me from having another big attack on my limbs.

 

Advice for dealing with Syndrome of Raynaud

 

  1. – Hot/cold – Training the veins and gaining flexibility there is making the attacks less heavy and makes recovery after an attack faster.
    Taking hot/cold showers, or going to the sauna is a well-controlled way to train the fine fains in your limbs.
    .
  2. – Protect yourself! – If it’s temperature and the thing that triggers an attack: Protect your hands, feet and face/ears before going into situations where you just KNOW you could have another episode.
    I also notice that whenever I’m tired or emotional or overwhelmed it tends to happen! So finding rest and nesting on the couch or the bed with a blanket when needed is key! And when an episode is triggered as an emotional or after a scare, It’s important to retrieve yourself. Get your heartbeat and adrenaline levels down. Drink some tea, move and warm up the affected areas gently. And try to distract yourself by reading, watching Netflix or talk to someone.
    .
  3. – Health! – Having a good healthy body will help you battle this, and will make the outbursts less extreme and less frequent. In short… It’s a veins problem. So obviously your overall health has a big influence on it. These things seem obvious (to me) but I’m going to sum them up anyway:
    -Do not smoke (This one is very important)
    -Eat plenty of deep green veggies
    -Move your body! Run, climb, swim, do yoga, fitness, whatever you like! As long as you get off that couch!
    -Get enough sleep
    -And be mindful! Do whatever you need to take your stress levels down!

 

I really hope that this might help some of you that may have these symptoms and maybe never realized what it was. And for everyone else: This is a thing, It’s not a huge thing, its not life-threatening, but it is something I have to live with. If you ever see me suddenly walk away when its cold, or stepping inside the hallway of school while everyone is standing outside in the cold, or waiting in the car instead of stepping out, I’m not being impolite, selfish or a pussy… I’m preventing an attack on my limbs. 😉 Not all conditions are visible.

Do you know anyone that feels pain or gets paralyzed limbs with a sudden change of temperatures or cold?

Blog by: Jolanda Marti
Photography: Michiel Fook

Wikipedia on Raynaud syndrome

Raynaud syndrome, also known as Raynaud’s phenomenon, is a medical condition in which spasm of arteries cause episodes of reduced blood flow.

Typically, the fingers, and less commonly the toes, are involved. Rarely, the nose, ears, or lips are affected. The episodes result in the affected part turning white and then blue.  Often, numbness or pain occurs. As blood flow returns, the area turns red and burns.

The episodes typically last minutes, but can last several hours. Read more…

Yoga and Syndrome of Raynaud

One of the things I recently started doing is wearing these barefoot shoes while doing yoga whenever  the temperature is too cold. Wildling shoes geared our whole family up with their barefoot shoes and gave me these for my yoga practice!


Just perfect for preventing getting cold feet during my yoga practice and still give be the next best thing after real bare-foot yoga. Because of the freedom my feet and toes have in these shoes, I am able to protect myself from the cold and still feel like being barefoot. The top of the shoe is smooth which allows me to glide, while the thin and flexible sole gives me a lot of grip on the ground and prevents me from slipping! It works better than I ever could have hoped for! So grateful for this solution!

So for everyone doing yoga on rough terrain or who get cold feet and maybe get cramps or has Syndrome of Raynaud like me!? These Barefoot shoes are a really good solution!

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Living with Syndrome of Raynaud

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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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VIDEO – Getting My MOM Tatoo

Baby name MOMMY Tattoo

I got my first tattoo a while back and I wrote a BLOGPOST about it!
Now I’ve also made a video of my experience. Check it out and don’t forget to subscribe on my YT channel!

So in this video, you will see me getting my first tattoo! 7 Years ago I came up with the idea of putting all my baby’s names on my forearm in one long stretched line. I’m not someone who gets a tattoo in an impulse, and Maybe we would get more kids in the future, and I wanted to include all of my baby’s names in it… I spend a long time designing a tattoo that was minimalistic and had exactly the look that I had in mind. Like practicing an autograph, The name tattoo design had to have the perfect flow and casual hand-drawn feel to it. 

So now 7 years later with 3 kids in total, I have my mom tattoo with all the names of my kids! It only took 20 minutes and didn’t hurt at all!
—-Miley—Haley—Quinn—  Just Perfect!
And The end result is exactly how I hoped it would be!

I really really love my first tattoo! Happy as can be, with my hand-drawn tattoo line design perfected over the past 7 years. Perfectly put on my arm by Manon from Le Nou Tattoo. 

So once more:  Thanks, Michiel for making the reservation and tanks mom for sponsoring half of it for my B-day! To my three baby girls, Miley, Haley & Quinn, I love you forever, just like this tattoo will be on my arm! 

Would you ever get a dad/  mommy tattoo, name tattoo or do you already have one!? What do you think of mine!? Let me know what you think in the comment section of the video here or on Youtube!

 

Love,
  Jolanda, Michiel,
Miley Haley & Quinn

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

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VIDEO – Getting My MOM Tatoo

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Going to Amsterdam

Let’s go to Amsterdam!

We will go and have a drink at the docs. (at Pllek) I will hold you close until you will feel secure enough to explore a bit.

I will drink my tea, with some honey and we will sit by the fire…
And then you will run through the cafe like you own the place.
Of course, it will be totally exhausting running after you the whole time. but I don’t mind.

Then I will wrap you up high and warm up against me and we will take the ferry to the central station.
We are feeling tiny and light, passing people by left and right through the rushing crowds trying to board the fairy. And well be watching the water and buildings pass as we cuddle all the way there.

Ah Amsterdam
So many intriguing people, all different shapes and sizes, all going different places, living different lives.

We will wander around a bit, maybe do some window shopping, and we will be all alone while being surrounded by so many others. Standing still, watching everyone rushes through their daily routine.

So glad to have you so close to me in my arms.
This is the city, my love. Is’nt it magical!?

Love,
  Jolanda, Michiel,
Miley Haley & Quinn

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

Babywrap is from: We are Wovens – Boots are from: H&M – 
Blue fauxfur coat from:  Zara – Big floppy hat from: H&M –  Orange vest: Pull and bear – Flower dress: Pull and bear

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Going to Amsterdam

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