Breastfeeding clothes I love

I breastfed my first daughter but our start was so hectic and chaotic with her premature birth that I did not even have my breastfeeding bras ready when she was born. I started using triangle bikini tops and slowly I got used to breastfeeding in public by wearing a tank top and whatever blouse I wanted to wear on top. I did the same tank top trick with regular dresses by wearing shorts underneath. It never even occurred to me to stop and look for specific clothes for breastfeeding eventhough I breastfed her for almost 2 years (the last months  mostly at night).

This time around a very close friend told me -when I was about 36 weeks pregnant- she had a bag full of pregnancy summer dresses and breastfeeding tops she could give me. It was like a whole world of magic opened up in that plastic bag.

 Turns out you can breastfeed discreetly and pretty  much hassle-free with cute and properly designed clothes (that basically have a small opening for the breast and nothing else, so people can barely even notice you are breastfeeding). With this information and knowing I would be breastfeeding for a while I decided to research and invest in some blouses (and a dress or two) and it has totally been worth it. I thought I would share my finds

I really like the selection from ASOS nursing. It is not crazy expensive and they have some pretty fun and modern models, particularly for tops and t-shirts.

 Seraphine also has a nursing selection. They are pretty pricey, but the clothes have very good design, high quality and last a long time. For me it has been worth it and my absolutely favorite top (this coral blouse that I want to get to everyone as soon as they have a baby) is made by them, I am just slightly sad that the blue and white print they used to have it in is sold out.

 I got a red and white striped pregnancy/nursing summer dress (that turned out to be too short for me, but I am tall) and a white and navy dress that I used for Lai's baptism and I will be reusing for a wedding later this year.

BOOB design has a more casual and sporty vibe. I got a sky blue sweatshirt, it has a very soft flannel inside at the chest level. It is perfect for travel and comfy days at home. They also have sweaters and dresses that I still want to try!

Another brand that I like is Milker nursing, I really like their dresses, maybe I will be getting another one soon. I have not tried Latched mama but I also like their clothes and they seem to be properly made. Last but not least I have 2 or 3 basic nursing tops from H&M, the classic navy striped ones. They are ok, I have been wearing them a lot for everyday use.

Brussels: my favorite shops

We've been going to Brussels for day trips almost every year for the last 4 or 5 years. It is the perfect destination for a short day outside of The Netherlands and the instant feeling that you are on a holiday at a different country. From walking the city over and over again we have a few spots that we keep coming back to as well as some others that are new finds. So I thought I'd make a list of my favorite little shops in Brussels:

- Let's start with the most important thing, namely, chocolate! We found the quaintest little shop, with boxes reminiscent of the time of Marie Antoinette. The chocolate is still made in an artisanal way. You will find them right in front of Manneken Pis. It's called "Mary". My favorite is their dark chocolate infused in Earl Grey Tea, I think it's called a Windsor. (28b Rue du Lombard, 1000 Brussels)

-Another favorite is "The Grasshoper". This is a dream of a toyshop. It is a two-story beautiful building and you can find every type of toy for all ages: puzzles, play kitchens, wooden toys, scientific toys and so much more. They also have a small section on clothes, disguises and cutlery / water bottles / lunchboxes. (Grasmarkt 39-43, 1000 Brussels)

- My personal heaven though is "Le Wolf", a children-bookshop with a café and cultural center. It is the cutest place ever, you can even have tea at little red riding hood's kitchen. They have a jukebox or children illustrated stories . It is a little house, perfect for children, where an off voice narrates the story. I wrote a whole post on them in Serendipity  (a new space where I write in Spanish about children's books). You will find them right around the Grand Place 18/20 rue de la Violette, 1000 Brussels.

- Then, my most recent find: "Mofelito Paperito"a shop entirely dedicated to paper goods, cards and stationery, with a couple of books as well. They had cards, cardstock, papers, pencils. We got a fill-in calendar made of recycled poster material and I am still dreaming of an illustrated edition of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales that I saw and didn't get. (Spoormakersstraat - Rue des Eperonniers 19, 1000 Brussels)

-Last but not least, "Aux merveilleux de Fred". A merveilleux is basically a giant sandwich made of meringue, filled with whipped cream and topped in chocolate or other toppings (like crushed cherries, pistacchio nuts, etc). We first encountered a merveilleux in Lille, they are the boy's favorite. Now at least they make them in small bite sizes. (Grasmarkt Straat 7, 1000 Brussel, België)

-We also love to go to the shopping mall City 2 (Nieuwstraat 123, 1000 Brussel). They used to have a Mothercare, the only one in the continent,  but I am not quite sure it is still there. If so, you will find everything related to babies at good prices and great quality. There is also a FNAC. We always go and wander inside for fun, so many books, gadgets, a place where you can still listen to music. In the shopping streets around there are other shops I love Du pareil au même and Kickers.

Are there any shops that you like to visit when you travel?

Try-day Friday

Don't mind the mess in the back. I am really bad at selfies. Also, the skirt needs ironing.

 A few days ago I received an email from Ashby from Dia&Co challenging me to find confidence through fashion and inviting me to join their series Try-day Friday, the idea being to step out of the box to try new styles; new outfits, things that you own and never wear.

Lately I have been in a bit of a rut, fashion wise. I am such a cliché. I literally wake up have my coffee, shower and run, run, run. By the time the girls are asleep I am so ready to crash as well (and I often do). I have never been someone to spend hours and hours in front of the mirror, but now I do it even less.  Between the cold weather and the time it takes to actually take clothes out of the closet  I am always wearing jeans, a warm fleece sweatshirt and tennis shoes or boots. All the time. So I thought this would be a fun thing to do.

We recently took a long-weekend trip to Lisbon and I was happy to find tights in bright crazy colors (pink, yellow, green!) as opposed to the gray, brown, black, and if you are lucky, red, that you can find here in The Netherlands. My Bolivan best friend, the historian who now lives in Barcelona inherited me this brown tulip skirt with pockets that is not something I would have chosen myself. Out of ignorance, I guess. It is high-waisted. I think my fashion soul stayed in the 90's because I always tend to pick clothes that fit at the hips. I decided to wear it with my new tights, a colorful silicone teething necklace I got from my dear and bright friend Hayley and some colorful sneakers I once found at an airport. Then, inspired by the lovely Kirsty I painted my nails bright pink and added glitter to make it festive. What have you been wearing lately?

Royal Style

 This post is going to be silly, so beware. I like to pretend I am really smart and intellectual and do not care about things like fashion (too much).

 I live in a uniform of corduroys or jeans, patterned shirts and sweaters in bright colors. I mismatch everything because when I get dressed in the morning my eyes are still closed. I color clash in a non-deliberate way.

I do enjoy glossy magazines and gossip particularly when waiting at airports and I have to confess I am quite the fan of Taylor Swift and Lily Allen (other celebrities I wish I could be friends with are Emma Stone, Jessica Alba, Mandy Moore and Anna Kendrick).

  

Anyhow, that is how I found out that, on occasion, I have dressed like my favorite royals, Kate Middleton and Charlotte Casiraghi. 

 Last June we baptized baby Y and after watching too many chapters of Suits I decided to be adventurous and wear a pencil skirt for the first time in my life. It was a very light minty green and covered in lace. I wore it with a white top and my wedding shoes, which I had sworn I would re-wear. Well, Charlotte of Monaco baptized her son on the same weekend as we did (!) and when I saw the photos I couldn't believe we chose quite the similar outfit. 

Last summer, my mom-outfit of jeans and a striped gray and blue t-shirt was something Kate Middleton chose as well.

So I guess I am not as fashion-ignorant as I sometimes think I am.

It was a good summer... enjoying the warm summer warmth by the lake, and a baby on the bewb.

#January Joy: Flamingo piñata

 Here we are again, for a second installment of the 'make-something-with-your-hands-#JanuaryJoy-challenge' I bring you this flamingo piñata that we made -you guessed it- for Y's birthday party!

We roughly based ourselves on this tutorial from Studio DIY . The first step of course was stealing a couple of big-enough boxes from the cardboard containers. (You should have seen me climbing on the container and almost slipping off it while the boy watched from the car). Next I free-handed the flamingo body on the cardboard and cut it. We used 9 cm. wide cardboard stripes for the sides, and two long pieces for the legs. Using brown adhesive tape (the kind that you use for packaging) we taped the flamingo body to its sides and finally, also the legs. Next, we covered the whole thing in salmon-coloured fringe strips made of crepe paper (save some black and white crepe paper for the face). I would have preferred to use silk paper, but I wasn't able to find it. We used simple white glue to stick the crepe paper strips to the piñata, eventhough the traditional way of making it would have required to make the structure stronger by sticking layers and layers of squares of newspaper with homemade wheat-paste (engrudo), letting the layers dry in between. Basically, papier-mâché. But with the Dutch winter such a thing would never have been ready on time.

Finally I used some transparent paper (a napkin again) to copy the form of the flamingo-face and then used it as a template to paint it using watercolors and a black marker. I cut the face on both sides, stuck it in place (with glue again) and voilà, all set. Except not.

The interesting part came one day before the party when we started filling our lovely piñata with candy. We had simply attached some strong string to the top so that we would be able to hang it. As soon as the weight of the candy pulled down, we knew it was going to let-go, cue the drama. Luckily the husband came to the rescue and saved the day by inserting some metal-wire (a twisted cloth-hanger) through the neck and head of the flamingo to give it some support.

#January Joy: Make something with your hands: Flamingo goodie bags

 When preparing baby girl's flamingo party, I found a couple of projects that I decided to make, the first one of which are these flamingo goodie bags. I am not sure if this is a thing everywhere in the world, but in Mexico it is quite traditional to give the kids a little candy-filled bag at the end of the party, as a thank you (and I think also as a consolation prize for those kids that did not manage to get enough sweets at the piñata).

You will need: paper bags, pink cardstock, glue, scissors, pencil, a black marker. 

The original tutorial includes a printable file with the template for the flamingo bodies and heads, but the paper bags I found in Holland were not the same size as American ones, so I started by drawing the pattern on a white napkin (it is translucent enough). Then I cut my napkin and made a template on a white sheet of paper, which I then used to trace and cut the flamingo bodies on the pink cardstock .
On a separate sheet of paper I drew the flamingo-faces and arranged them in such a way that I could make photocopies of my sheet and then cut them out and paste them over the pink cardstock flamingo bodies. Once everything was cut, the last step was to paste the flamingo-bodies on to the paper bags, and later the faces on the flamingo-bodies.

We filled the bags with candy and an age-appropriate simple little toy (found at the Flying Tiger) and labelled them with the names of each kid. I hope Yu's little guests enjoyed the treats.

I spent one or two afternoons at the beginning of Janury making these, and though a little-bit time consuming, I absolutely loved the result!

Oh and I absolutely
want the tote bag
that inspired
these little favor bags!

#January Joy: Plan a Project: Birthday Party!!

 I can't believe it has been (almost) a year since our magical daughter surprised us 6 weeks earlier than expected. I am still overjoyed and in awe at the miracle that is having her with us, watching her grow and develop, become her own person, let us know what she likes, what she dislikes and the random things that make her extremely happy (the latest one is a set of blue balls on a string).

I might have spent a considerable amount of time the last couple of weeks perusing pinterest for flamingo-themed birthday parties. I almost died of cuteness when I saw the disguise above. I wish I was crafty enough to make it, but we all know I am not even able to put the sewing machine on. And there is also the matter of time to consider. With what time would I attempt to do something like that?
Time is for eating and for sleeping. And maybe for reading, cleaning up, taking a shower and going out for walks.

After an extensive search we found the perfect location for her party, the menu is set and we have been crafting a couple of things, thanks to the extra efficiency provided by having 2 parents at home who can work in parallel or in series while also doing all the everyday things that have to be done. I can't wait to show you more and hope we will all survive. (The husband has already told me this is NOT a production. I have to stop).

Inspiration photos found on: House of Sweet Bakery,   Cupcakes take the cake, Cake Central, Oh Happy Day,  The crazy life of a crafty girl , The little big company, Nordstrom and Babble.

Post edit : I wish I would have found these invitations back in January (by Paperless post), they are so pretty! 

#January Joy

It is January again (for a few days now) and we are back to our everyday routine. I am so sad the holidays are over, it really was nice to be with the boy the whole day.

As other years, the always inspiring Rebecca of Florence Finds has started #January Joy with a list of challenges! At the end of this post you'll find the list of prompt, in case you would like to join (and share on twitter, instagram or your blog using the hashtag #januaryjoy).This time there are 13 challenges of which you can pick those that suit you best and there is no specific order you have to follow, so just mix and match them as you wish, it is about starting the year with energy, happiness and a dose of fresh air.

I am busy trying a new recipe today, and will be sharing it hopefully very, very soon!

No-sew Twink & Rainbow Brite costumes

Rainbow Brite was always one of my favorite cartoons growing up. I probably still have a doll somewhere at home. I used to love it when I was 5. So when I saw this Twink (Rainbow Brite's white little fluffy helper) costume tutorial, I knew I had to give it a try. It is just, so cute. This is the reason people have babies!

Via PinkSuedeShoes Twink costume tutorial

 Unfortunately the instructions were not as easy as I thought... the "easy" tutorial asked for an actual pattern and a a sewing machine! Really? I was not able to make curtains, and I certainly do not have  the time or concentration to figure out how to sew right now.  But, the post did inspire me to find a way to make this happen.

One of the presents baby Y. received from one of our dear friends is a fluffy, hooded, white vest. I thought it would do the trick, so I tried. Next was getting rainbow- babylegs. I searched all over, but most companies would not ship them to Europe and I didn't find them anywhere in the Netherlands. I didn't give up, though, and I finally found a shop that would send them to us (and provided great customer-service too!).

Next I got some colourful foam sheets and pipecleaners and I was all set. I just made the blue belt, pocket, rainbow and stars for the antennae from the foam, and I attached everything together with double-sided tape and safety-pins.

Of course I wanted to be Rainbow-Brite as well, so I went on and fulfilled a life-long dream of getting bright orange hair and wore a blue-dress. I could have looked for rainbow leg-warmers for my arms and legs, and maybe with some red sneakers or even moon-boots it'd have  looked a lot better, but here we are. A super cute costume with material that I had laying around the house: scissors, tape, cardboard, a red onesie, red socks, a blue dress, and the white vest.

This might be my favorite Halloween (though admitedly not very scary) disguise ever. Did you dress-up this Halloween?

Tiempo de Amigo Invisible Gastronómico

 This post will be mostly in Spanish, with a short translation at the end. If you like snail mail, food, cooking and worldwide post going back and forth, this might interest you.
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Como todos los años, llega Septiembre, y con él, el regreso a clases (eso, para los que van a clases, que envidia me dan. Nunca pensé que diría eso, aunque, a quien pretendo engañar, siempre me gustó estudiar). Y, con Septiembre, llega también, el periodo de inscripciones al AIG, o Amigo Invisible Gastrónomico, que ya es tradición en nuestra casa. Si lo recuerdan, participé el año pasado, y también hace dos años.

Se trata de un intercambio prenavideño en el que se te asigna un (blog) amigo secreto, al cual le debes enviar 3 regalos, al menos uno hecho por tí, que tengan algo que ver con la gastronomía, las tradiciones locales del lugar en el que vives y lo que más te nazca compartir. Para inscribirse hay que llenar este formulario antes del 30 de Septiembre a las 23:00 (GMT + 1).

Yo estoy super emocionada de participar, está abierto mundialmente y siempre me hace mucha ilusión enviar y recibir correo! Los requisitos de participación son los siguientes: 

1. Necesitas tener un blog de cocina, de gastronomía, de "estilo de vida" o de cualquier tema relacionado con este mundillo donde al menos haya una entrada mensual de media que muestre una receta (Si el blog no es sólo de recetas). Se entiende que en verano podéis haber estado de vacaciones.  
2. El blog debe haber abierto hace como mínimo 6 meses con al menos 1-2 entradas mensuales si sólo tiene seis meses de vida.  Eso quiere decir que se aceptarán sólo los blogs abiertos antes del 30 de marzo. 

El AIG constará de (al menos) tres regalos, con un gasto mínimo de 20 euros (quien pueda y quiera más, es libre!)

1.    Algo hecho por nosotros mismos:  galletas, mermelada, conservas, una agenda, un libro de recetas DIY, algo típico de nuestra localidad... o lo que buenamente se os ocurra a los que tenéis ideas DIY! Recordad que tiene que ser gastronómico

2.    Un regalo propiamente dicho:  puede ser un libro o utensilio de cocina, algo que sepas que es difícil de encontrar donde vive la persona a la que regalas... cualquier cosilla le hará ilusión seguro.

3.    Y por último: algo más personal que tiene o no nada que ver con la cocina pero que salga de vosotros. Puede ser una postal, una tarjeta navideña, una carta presentándote y desvelando tu identidad y deseándole unas felices fiestas.....

Os animo a participar, entre más seamos, más divertida la cadena! 

Y ahora, esto va para mi AIG, como se darán cuenta al chismosear por el blog, me encanta cocinar y viajar. En Enero nació nuestra muy esperada hija, la más nueva integrante de nuestra familia.  Adoro hornear: pasteles, pan y galletas, sobretodo. Descubrir nuevos platillos del mundo es algo que nos encanta, cuando viajamos solemos visitar mercados y supermercados y tratar de probar las "delicatessen" y especialidades locales. También me encanta leer, caminar, los animales, la naturaleza, la literatura, la medicina, la fotografía, la pintura, la fantasía,.... 

Diseño creado por Freepik y adaptado por Delia Carballo.

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Now for the short English summary, every year, come September, a worldwide snail mail exchange is organized, the "Gastronomic Invisible Friend". To participate, you simply have to fill in this form  before September 30 (23:00, GMT + 1). Another blog will be assigned to you, to whom you will have to send 3 gifts, one of which has to be made by you, another one has to be something to do with gastronomy: homemade jam, a local treat, a cookbook, and thirdly something more personal, here you can go creative. The only requisite is that your blog has to  have been open for at least 6 months and that you should occasionally post recipes or food-related entries.