The busiest weekend at Engaged

We made it. I haven't been writing over here as much as I have been wanting to because the last couple of weeks have been hectic, with the preparations for the wedding fair,  with birthdays of friends and our everyday walks, with normal life that doesn't stop, cooking, doing the laundry, reading... and yeah, trying to get some rest as well.

As our first time at a wedding fair we were quite nervous and excited. We didn't know what to expect, we wanted to show that we are professional, and we were looking forward to meeting other people in the industry, as well as potential customers.

It was really, really a good experience (we did end up collapsed in bed on Sunday, and on Saturday as well, baking batch after batch of the lemon-raspberry and chocolate fudge cake bites that we offered in our stand). We met lots of other like-minded small companies with great ideas, wedding planners, stylists, bloggers and couples.

We made a few naive, rooky mistakes that luckily we were able to save at the last moment. The instructions for the fair clearly stated NOT to hang anything from the walls. Then, I got assigned an island stand in the middle of the fair, in front of the main entrance, and we thought:  "well, that solves the issue, if there is no wall behind us, no need to worry about that".

 Well, when we arrived on Saturday morning for the big setup we realized a). that we were right in front of a black, tall pole, part of the structure of the building and b). that everyone had set up all kinds of backdrops made, for example, of ribbons, old doors, lace curtains, cork boards, wooden stairs...

Luckily for us, that day we were meeting one of the boy's best friends, who happens to be a very creative engineer and is also very much into design and we were able to came up with a simple but pretty ( I think) solution.

I am really happy we participated and I hope it will give us exposure and hopefully some of the couples will decide to have their wedding cake  made by us.

 

Engaged Wedding fair

 This coming Sunday (October 26) I will be participating at Engaged Event, a very uniquely catered wedding fair in The Netherlands.

It is the first time I participate in such a big event and I am happy and excited, preparing everything, testing, collecting trinkets for our stand and painting cakes. The baking will start later this week.

If you are getting married in Holland, or if you know anyone who is, or if you are into decoration / design / baking / event organizing, I think you will love it and shouldn't miss it.

The fair will take place at from 10.00 – 18.00 at  Lijm en Cultuur, in Delft [Rotterdamseweg 272, 2628 AT Delft ( here's a map)]

You will find more information here .

Baking again

 In the last couple of months I got some orders for my hand-painted cakes. I was so happy to be working in the kitchen, focusing on getting a project done the best possible way.

Since baby Y. was born I made some cakes and cupcakes for birthdays, as a thank you present to the nurses and medical staff at the NICU and for home, but I hadn't really got back to baking for other people.

It feels so good, though it takes my organization skills to a whole other level: I have to use every single moment wisely and take advantage of nap times. Lately, though, baby Y. has been awake more and it is nice to have her in the kitchen with me observing what I do. Maybe one day she will grow to love baking too.

I had a few days last month where I was feeling exhausted, scattered and all over the place because there is so much to be done and even though I am running and doing things the whole day I never finish projects. I guess just doing one thing at a time is key, while letting go some things, particularly the pressure to do it all. If A or B or C does not get done, it's OK. It is also OK to rest, to take walks, to make time for reading and for fun things, to sit in the couch staring at space.

How do you manage time? Are you organized or chaotic? Do you have specific assigned times to do things just for you?

To Paris with the baby

A week ago, we were running around the house, packing last minute things, washing the diapers one last time before we left and getting ready to take baby girl to Paris for the first time. My best friend from my time at the University of Geneva was here to see a professor (she might move back to Europe!) and we hadn't seen each other for 8 years. I was so happy and excited, specially because we discovered Paris together for the first time 14 years ago. That time we took the train and arrived in Paris without a place to sleep because a 'friend' who was supposed to host us cancelled on us at the very last minute. Luckily we found a youth hostel as soon as we arrived and we did not actually end up sleeping under a bridge.

  It was amazing, Yu loved going on long walks all over the place and stopping at cafés for hot chocolate and french fries (she tried her first!). We went to the Jardin de Plantes, the second most ancient zoo in the world, which opened its doors in 1793. We also walked along the Seine, as has to be done, saw the Pantheon, the Luxembourg gardens, La place des Vosges, La Bastille, the beautiful green mosque. Paris is child-friendly in that there are a lot of parks and activities that can be done with kids, but when it comes to public transportation it gets tricky with huge strollers, because only the biggest metro stations like Gare du Nord, Gare de Lyon, Louvre, Bastille or Austerlitz are equipped with elevators. Sometimes the doors to access the platforms are so narrow that we had to take a wheel off the stroller to be able to enter. But this was not a general problem for us because we tend to walk a lot, and we only used the metro system 2 or 3 times, at the end of the day when we were really tired and just wanted to get home fast.

We stayed at the Ibis Daumesnil Porte Doree and I think it is going to be our go-to hotel whenever we go back to the city of lights. It was practical, simple, clean and not too expensive (with a long-weekend deal we were able to find). It is located right in front of a Metro station and if you are a walker like us, you will reach the center before you know it, going through characteristic neighborhoods and markets. The hotel provided a baby cot, that Yu used as a play box. Does your baby sleep in "Pack 'n Play" type of cribs? She wouldn't, we're not sure if it was because of the temperature or because she was too close to the floor, but she ended up sleeping between us, sneaky baby. We were afraid she wasn't going to sleep on her crib when we came back, but luckily she is back in her room, no problems.

Another pro-tip: we took  our beloved Babycook steamer-mixer and it was the best decision ever. We got some fruit and vegetables when we passed markets or small fruit shops (so many! and so much variety... we could get peaches, which we haven't been able to get in Holland for the last 3 weeks) and we made her food and packed it in glass jars early in the morning, before breakfast.

Now, getting to Paris was not as easy as we thought it would be. Yu has been on car trips many times before, and it had never been a problem. We've taken her to Amsterdam, to Utrecht, to the Keukenhof, to Hilversum (45 min. car rides) and while we were in Mexico we went to places like Puebla, Tepoztlan, Cuernavaca and Mexico city (all 3.5 to 4 hour drives each way). At the very beginning she used to sleep in the car-seat, it was magic. She was a newborn and then a small baby. When we were in Mexico she was around 5 months, and during the summer we still went on day trips here and there or to visit friends. Well, this time it was fussy town all the way. She just would not stop crying and nothing we would do would make her settle down.

 On Friday we decided to leave at 14:30 p.m. soi-disant (supposedly) to avoid traffic. Well, we ended up getting traffic at the south of the country, all the way to Belgium. The kid was having a meltdown and hating her baby seat. We had to make a stop in Antwerp to kill time until the traffic more or less stopped. So we walked to the center through a very hip neighborhood, where we managed to find an Argentinian bar (Bar Buenos Aires, at Koepoortbrug 3) where they had the most delicous empanadas. We tried Spinach and Ricotta and Meat and they were really good. They also had real meringue alfajores, Mark's favorite.

We took the opportunity to find some sales and restock Yu's wardrobe on onesies and a couple of other items for the next size up. We love Petit Bateau and Du pareil au même, the last one being always so happy and colourful.

Do you have any tips for taking car rides with babies? Is she crying because it's uncomfortable or because she is outgrowing it (though it is supposed to last until she's 15 kg...  she has yet to double her weight for that).

Efteling: land of magic and fairy tales

 Last weekend was amazing! My mother in law has a very important birthday coming up and we have been celebrating the whole weekend, starting by a delicious Thai dinner on Saturday night (where baby Y. socialized and then proceeded to fall asleep in dad's lap) and following up on Sunday by a surprise visit to De Efteling, what used to be the largest amusement park of Europe (now it's second to Euro Disney).

The place is amazing. It is themed around fantasy, myths, legends, fairy tales, fables and folklore. Right up my alley.

"De Efteling is one of the oldest theme parks in the world, located in the town of Kaatsheuvel, in the municipality of Loon op Zand.  Since its opening in 1952, Efteling has evolved from a nature park with a playground and a Fairy Tale Forest into a full-sized theme park.  It is twice as large as the original Disneyland park in California and predates it by three years."

 Yu was allowed to go on her first-ever amusement-park ride, the "Dreamflight", where you  float and glide through a dream world full of castles, elves, fairies, trolls, woodland spirits, fauns and King Oberon. It was amazing. She is mesmerized by light and lamps, we were a bit afraid that she would get scared and freak out, but she was calm and happy. It was so nice to see her enjoy. I wonder what kind of memories this will create in her! 

The Sproojkjesbos must be my favorite part of the park. As you walk through the woods you encounter creatures (an ent!) (a dragon!) (Rapunzel!) (The little mermaid!) and places that bring classic Fairy tales from Hans Christian Andersen, The Grimm brothers and Perrault among others come to life. You will find Hansel and Gretel's House, the red Dancing shoes, the house of the 7 goats... 

Definitely a place to visit for young and old alike (there are more than a few rollercoasters, water rides... ). A magic place for sure!

 

The ridiculous dance of nap time

 Babies change all the time, it's a known fact. We have gone through a couple of phases where Y. has modified her behaviour,  with us trying to adapt fast to her new ways and needs. We thought we had it all figured out in such a way that there was some sort of a flexible routine to our days together. 

There was a time when making her sleep was as easy as rocking her to a couple of Natalia Lafourcade songs while dancing with her and that was that.  There was the very beginning when she would eat and sleep, then wake up, eat and sleep. There were those two glorious months when she slept through the night (only to stop after we came back from Mexico and decide that waking up to feed is fun! Aren't parents supposed to survive on very little sleep?)

A couple of months ago we started using a baby sleeping bag, and we invented a routine that consisted in darkening her room, putting her in the bag, getting her lovey, her pacifier and a musical light-show and she would "understand" that it was sleepy time, calm down, and fall asleep (many times with the help of us rocking her at the very end)  At night, after nursing, she gets a nappy change, a bath and her pijama. Then she goes on the rocking chair with dad. All of this was working.


There was a time when I would put her in the stroller and we would enjoy long walks around the city, to the center, to parks, to the beach, to meet friends... The movement would make her sleep and she would nap beautifully.

Lately, it's a fight between her and me. I want to ensure there is some kind of (flexible, open) routine to her day, some cycles that get repeated: sleep, nappy, food, play... But, she refuses to sleep with all her might and nothing that used to work seems to work anymore. Our city hikes have turned into a crazy act where I walk really fast while swinging the stroller to the sides while she spits the pacifier away and complains that she wants to see the world. It got to a ridiculous point last Sunday, when we all went for a walk to get groceries. She wouldn't sleep and I wouldn't calm down until she would. I was almost running, seeing how she was tired and almost reaching the point where she sleeps, but wouldn't get there. Mark is a more go-with-the-flow and let-her-be kind of guy, so he was annoyed at my trying to force her to sleep when she clearly didn't want to. Also, because he knows it is driving me crazy, making the half an hour before she does fall asleep a period where I am very close to losing my mind. His philosophy is, if she wants to be awake, just let her.

I am sad that this is happening because I used to enjoy our long walks so, so much.

For the last couple of days the only way she'll sleep is if I put her in the kangaroo and walk around. But she is already almost 7.5 kg and that is just not doable if I want to also carry other stuff besides her. The idea of carrying her and a backpack makes me sweat just from thinking of it .

I found this article the other day and couldn't help but laugh:

"Think of it this way, babies are constantly changing, so anything you do today can all go out the window tomorrow.  Some people think of this as a negative: “You better be careful when he starts teething because you’ll lose all of that sleep training progress.” Whereas, I think we should think of it as a positive: “Who gives a crap if she sleeps in the swing all night? Next week she may have it totally figured out because she isn’t going to be 22 at college sleeping in her Rock n’ Sway.”

Do what works now and pat yourself on the back for knowing what that is. Mine was strapping him to my chest and bouncing on an exercise ball while humming during the day and co-sleeping at night. My friend’s baby would only go to sleep if the Gypsy Kings were playing while she drove her around the block. My other friend’s baby would only sleep in his rocker in the downstairs shower stall because the echo seemed to soothe him. Sure, you always want to move in the direction of the goal – whether it be a Pampers ad* or just sleeping without a soother – but don’t sweat it in the meantime and if you don’t push the peanut today, well tomorrow’s a new day, another night and possibly a totally different kid."

When do babies stop needing to nap? When can we play all day without having to play this game that's driving both of us crazy? (Not dad, no, he is such a patient guy that this does not affect him).

*Speaking of Pampers ads, have you seen this Japanese one? I really don't consider myself emotional and it got me all teary eyed.