I’ve been thinking lately how in saying ‘yes’ to one thing, we are by implication also saying ‘no’ to other things. And while there is a big part of me that wants to keep blogging because I love it, there are just too many other things in my life that need my ‘yes’ more right now.

A part of me would like to just let this blog be something I do when I find the time, but I’ve realized that doesn’t really work for me. The truth is that I am always thinking of blog posts to write and rarely have a shortage of ideas and all those unwritten blog posts are piling up in my head…but it takes me a while to write each blog post and that’s time that I need to be doing other things right now.

As much as I will miss blogging itself, I will miss being part of the blogging community even more. Thank you, each of you who has ever read one of my posts and especially those of you who have followed over time. You have been so encouraging, inspiring and generous and I’ve really come to consider some of you as friends.

I hope I’ll be blogging again in the future, but I have no idea when that will be. I do know that if that happens, I’ll start a new blog. I will leave Dutch.British.Love up so the archives aren’t going anywhere. I’ve enjoyed having this little place on the internet so much.

If you want to keep following along with what I’m doing, I’m on Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.

Thanks for letting me share bits and pieces of my life with you.

All the best!

A little while ago, I was contacted by notonthehighstreet.com and asked if I wanted to do a product/website review for a product of my choice. I checked out the site and spent more time than I intended browsing their huge selection of products. Since I liked it so much, I figured it might be of interest to you guys as well.

The website is based in England and they offer international shipping on most items. They have an enormous selection of high-quality, unique products that are sold through the site by small businesses. Basically, it’s like shopping in little boutiques from the comfort of your home. All sellers are selected based on the quality of the items they offer.

I had been thinking that it would be really nice to get a new purse, so that’s what I went looking for. I found that the website was easy to navigate, which made finding what I was looking for a fun process. It was hard to make a choice though, because there were a lot of cute bags!

I find that as a mom, since I now carry a baby in his car seat plus a diaper bag with me, I really wanted a small purse. In some ways, it might make sense to up-size to a bigger bag as a mom, but down-sizing was the way to go for me. I needed something that wouldn’t tempt me to carry a ton of extra stuff I don’t need with me (as I am wont to do).

So this cute blue leather purse got my attention. It’s perfect for my phone, some cash and a few cards. I love the bright pop of color it adds to my outfit and I’ve gotten so many compliments on it already.

It has a really fun batik lining. Details like a pretty lining make such a difference to me.

Since we all like cute stuff, I thought I’d share some of the other things I came across while browsing that I liked:

1. Rabbit and toadstool night light.
2. Rainbow chevron baby blanket.
3. Moroccon Poufs.
4. ‘Love’ pillowcase set.
5. Lightbulb vase.
6. Animal print lambswool scarf
7. Piet Hein Eek Dutch Scrapwood Wallpaper.
8. Dip-dyed tunic.

One last thing I will add is that shipping was very fast, it only took a few days from the day it was ordered to get to me in Canada.

Ps. Just to be abundantly clear: The product reviewed here was a gift from Not on the Highstreet, all opinions are my own.

I don’t really remember how it started. I think it was Ben who started saying it, but at the moment it is one of my favorite things to say to Aiden: “I see you.” It makes him smile big. At four months, he looks up at us intently and expectantly. Even when he’s playing, I notice that he looks at me regularly and when I turn to him to give him my full attention, he looks so delighted. When we go grocery shopping together, he’s in his car seat on top of the grocery cart and stares at me. When I lean over and tell him: “I see you,” he smiles. I want him to know that I see him. I want him to always feel seen around me.

Roomology – Where we look at different elements of an interior. Analyze along with me and practice really looking at the room in the photo. Learning to pinpoint the elements in a photo that speak to you will make it possible to re-create the mood you’re after in your own home. Every room is saying something, it speaks a visual language. Let’s take a look at what it’s saying and how it is saying it…What I choose to highlight might be different from what you see, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

This spot looks so inviting to me. It looks pretty casual, like you can relax and be yourself in it, but looks well-curated at the same time. When I saw this photo it struck me how personal it looks, yet the overall idea is very simple and would be fairly easy to recreate on a budget with IKEA and thrifted pieces.

The furniture: A bookcase, dining table and chairs.

I like that the bookcase and dining chairs are white and a pop of color is added with the table. While it has a different vibe, the IKEA Expedit Expedit shelving unit could work for a white bookcase in a similar set-up, don’t you think?

With some thrifted chairs and table with a coat of paint, it would be easy to recreate this idea if you like it.

Colors: White, light coral, teal, pink, gold.

The white wall, bookcase and dining chair provide a calm backdrop to the color provided by the dining room table (coral), books (multi-colored), artwork (teal, black and white, pink and more) and accessories (gold, blue and more).

I like how the artwork on the top shelves are similar colors grouped together. I also like how the rose on what looks like a plate attached to the front of the bookcase is a similar coral/pink to the color of the dining room table. And the hit of hot pink added by the ‘LOVE’ print is subtle but adds a fresh accent to the color palette of the room.

Accessories: Books, basket, artwork (photo, drawing, print, paintings), glass globes, plate, brass animals ( I love that rhinosaurus).

The books add color and I think of them as a form of accessory. Other accessories include those discussed above. The glass globes add a bit of depth, color and shine. I absolutely love brass objects myself and seeing this collection dotted throughout the bookcase makes me want to run out and hunt for some in thrift stores.

What do you think about this room?

You are four months old today.

In the last month, you’ve moved out of your co-sleeper in our bed into your bassinet. You have started being more and more vocal. You have earned the new nickname Mr. Dribbles, because you’ve started drooling like it’s going out of style.

You are growing, little boy. That may be a given, it’s what babies do after all, but as your parents, we watch your growth with a sense of wonder. You are able to sit up and stand for longer and longer periods of time. We still have to pull you up, but you carry most of your own weight.

You used to hate tummy time, but now that you’re stronger, you hold your head up high and seem to enjoy the challenge for a while before you get frustrated. Your focused and excited facial expressions are the best.

You love variety. You enjoy sitting in my lap for a bit, but then you want to move on to other things. You still enjoy your play mat quite a bit. You like sitting in my lap while I read to you. You’ve started recognizing the books I read the most often and you’ve started talking to them while I’m reading to you. It’s so much fun to do this together.

We’ve been going on more walks since the weather is warmer and you happily sit in your carrier or in your stroller, taking in the world around you.

One of my favourite things right now, is that you’ve started putting your hands on our shoulders while we carry you. We love your little baby hugs.

We love you, little boy, with a passion.

Your mama

So, anyway, to be given this award was all the better because Caitlyn inspires me all the time. She currently lives in Japan with her husband, where they teach English, and lives a much more adventurous live than I could imagine. They are about to embark on a new adventure – moving home to Michigan. I’m excited to see what that will be like for them and can’t wait to follow along on her blog! She blogs at Little Snail.

The award comes with some rules:
1. Display the award image on your blog page. 2. Link back to the person who nominated you. 3. State seven facts about yourself. 4. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award. 5. Notify your bloggers of their nomination and link to them.

So, here we go ~

7 Things About Me

1. One of my favourite snacks is raw almonds.

2. I love both coffee and tea, but I drink about 5 cups of tea to 1 cup of coffee. My favourite tea is chai and I am a little obsessed with Celestial Seasonings’ Bengal Spice, which I see as an herbal chai. However, life doesn’t feel quite right to me if I don’t start most of my mornings with a cup of regular Tetley’s.

3. I am not one to talk about my faith a lot, but if you asked me, I’d tell you that it is the most important thing in my life. In case you are wondering, I am a saved-by-grace, baptized, Bible-reading Christian.

4. I like music, but if you ask me what kind I draw a big blank. I have a horrible memory for bands or artist’s names, song titles or anything music related really, except for occasionally getting a single line from a song stuck in my head for hours on end. I do like to sing and I sing in the shower.

5. Because I am skinny, some people assume I don’t eat much. Those who know me, know that this is not true – I do love to cook and eat and I think about food more than I’d care to admit. ;) I rarely turn down food that is offered to me because I am usually hungry.

6. I often feel like I’m not really good at anything and only a little bit good at a few things. Sometimes this bothers me, at other times it doesn’t.

7. I think that if at the end of my life I can look back and say that I’ve loved God, I’ve loved the people around me and I have been loved, I will say that I’ve lived a good life.

Here are 15 blogs (in no particular order) that I personally enjoy and am inspired by – not in the least because they are written by kind, genuine, creative, lovely women.

1. Cre8tive Designs
2. La Griccia
3. Chrystina Noel
4. Elembee Etc.
5. Leela Fish
6. Mrs. Bachelor Girl
7. The Blooming Hydrangea
8. Smiles From Mel
9. A Wholesome Little Life
10. Estellelle
11. Loverly She
12. Courtney Lane
13. Love and Adventures (a private blog)
14. Kylee Noelle
15. Little Teas

Once I learned to use the internet, I also loved looking up websites and it quickly became a way to draw some inspiration. I looked up websites of my favorite brands (Ben & Jerry’s ice cream!), Christian authors that inspired me, and movie websites to find out background info on the latest movie I’d seen. Even then I had this thought in the back of my head that it would be cool to one day have my own website that people could visit for some inspiration or encouragement, just like I found in the websites I visited.

Every once in a while I have the urge to create a self-portrait with the Photo Booth app on my laptop.
Dorky but true. This is one that I took when I first started blogging.

I’ve never written a post on blogging itself, but there’s a first time for everything. I have not been blogging consistently for a while and I have to say that I’ve missed it. My blogging journey started three years ago, after taking an on-line class called Unravelling by Susannah Conway. I missed being creative in my daily life and was looking for a way to introduce that into my life again while connecting with others with similar interests. I also thought it would be a nice way to give my family back home a glimpse into my life that they wouldn’t normally have.

Here are a couple of my latest Photo Booth photos. I don’t have that many photos of Aiden and I
together so I decided to take some wile I was thinking about it.

Looking back, I can see how blogging has affected my life. I have met some cool, genuine, kind, generous, creative people through blogging. And blogging itself has inspired me and pushed me to create in my life and create a life that fits who I am better than the way I lived before it. Truthfully, I am happier than when I started blogging – and it’s not just blogging that has led to that but it’s been an important part of the whole.

Blogging has also given me a chance fulfill that old dream of creating a little place on the internet where I hope those who visit find a little bit of inspiration and maybe at times encouragement.

And here is one taken just now for good measure. ;)

So, after doing some reflecting on all this, I’ve decided that this blog is here to stay. I may not find the time to keep it up as well as I’d like (this has been bothering me), but I’ll do my best to keep it up nonetheless.

Thanks for listening. :)

Dear Aiden,

You are three months old today.

It’s hard to believe it’s been three months already, time has gone fast. At the same time, it seems like a lifetime. Life has felt so rich and deep and new and I can’t imagine life without you anymore, not at all.

You have gone from having a hard time focusing with your newborn eyes to taking in the world at every chance you get. You’ve gotten so much more independent, going from needing to be held all the time to happily spending time by yourself on your play mat, swatting at your frog toy and grabbing its legs.

You love being pulled up by your hands so you can practice holding your head up, and practice sitting and standing. It will be a little while before you can do these things on your own (especially the last two), but you love to try. You love it when daddy plays “running baby” and “dancing baby” with you and you often squeal when you get tickled. You love being carried in a carrier. You love bath time.

You are all smiles when you wake up and see me or your daddy, even in the middle of the night. It makes getting up to change your diaper at night a lot more fun than I ever thought it would be. I’ve never tried drugs in my life, but I imagine that getting high might feel something like the way I feel when you smile at me – my brain lights up like a Christmas tree and nothing else in the world seems to matter. And I want more of it…all the time.

You look more and more like a little boy to us but you really are so tiny and helpless still. I love seeing the little person that you are, to get to watch you grow and to get to take care of you in the process.

You are so loved, little man, may you always, always know that.

Your mama

Same with the room – it’s one of the first things I started thinking about but in the end we decided that Aiden will be sleeping in our bedroom for the first year. So he doesn’t really need a room of his own just yet. It would be nice to have the room set up in the next couple of months, though, so we can use it as a playroom.

I really liked the idea of keeping it simple. Not only because we weren’t finding out the gender, but also because kids’ stuff is so colorful that there will be enough color going on in the room when there are toys etc.

Here’s a little moodboard of some of the items we have already and what we’re planning:

Clockwise from the top:

• The crib – ours is a slightly different model, but it’s similar.
• Lampshade – love the floating paper bag design, from IKEA (although I can’t find it on their website anymore).
• We don’t have anything for a window treatment yet, but like the idea of something like this blue batik. I love the batik motif and since it’s a technique which is traditionally Indonesian, it is also a nod to my Indonesian heritage (my dad was born there to Dutch-Indonesian parents).
• I bought this floor lamp from IKEA. Love it.
• Got this pillow at IKEA too.
• And another IKEA find was this sheepskin. I was going to buy a fake one, since it’s so much cheaper ($13 versus $40), but ended up finding a real one in the ‘as is’ section for $20 with only minor damage at the back. Love how soft it is and the natural color variation, mine is half gray and half white – so perfect!
• I bought a wooden rocking chair for $15 on Kijiji that I’m planning to paint (probably white). I put the sheepskin on it and the pillow on top of that. It’s a very cozy and comfy (I was actually surprised how comfortable!) spot for breastfeeding and a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a glider.
• Also from IKEA is this fabric (I think it’s sold out now, because I can’t find it on either the Canadian or US website anymore). I was planning on making a crib skirt with it, but I love it so much, I’m thinking I should do something with it that I can use for even longer than a crib skirt…kinda wish I’d bought enough for a window treatment. Anyway, I’ll figure something out….
• We are using a dresser topped with a changing mat as a change table and I’d love to paint a Union Jack design like this on in gray and white on it. Image from Reckless Glamour.

Painting the room is all we’ve done so far and the color of the room is Grayish by Sherwin-Williams. It’s a really nice light gray.

A few thoughts on setting up your own nursery:

• If you use a dresser as a change table like we did, try to find one with a height of one or two inches below your elbows. It’s the most comfortable for your back. Ours is a little lower and while I don’t really mind it, I notice the difference when I use a change table that is the proper height.
• Use dimmers on your lights or give yourself several lighting options (like using a floor or table lamp with low wattage bulb or wall sconces). I find that getting into a rocking chair in a low-lit room (with the overhead light turned off and just bedside lights on) can help Aiden go from fussy to asleep very quickly when he’s overtired.
• Look beyond children’s stores or departments! As always, I’m a big fan of mixing it up and while it may be convenient to get everything at a baby store or the baby department of a store, I say resist the temptation and bring in some items that you love but may not have ‘baby’ written all over them…it will look so much more interesting.

Here are a few examples of rooms that I think illustrate the last point beautifully and look interesting and playful:

Room by Emily Henderson.

Such a great dresser and love the lamp and artwork.

In the same room, another wall features one of my all time favorite wallpapers. I’ve seen images of it used in hallways with family pictures, also a great idea!

Room by Lauren Liess.

The dark walls may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I personally think it works here. What I really love is the canopy, though, and designer Lauren Liess made it herself by using canvas drop cloth and a stencil.

Room by Karly Hand.

I love the playful mix of items in here and that gorgeous rug. Of course, I am a fan of the gray walls too!

If you want more nursery inspiration, you can also check out my Pinterest board.

At this point, 2013 is well on its way…but I still feel like I’m trying to catch my breath after becoming a mom. It’s so good, but somehow I feel like I can’t put words to everything that’s going on inside me.

I’ve been thinking about my word for 2013. Last year, my word was ‘Step Up’ (technically two words, but one intention). It turned out to fit my year really well…in my post about it, what I wrote is that I wanted to be more true to myself even if that meant being different.

When I got pregnant, one thing I knew right away was that I wanted midwives rather than an OB-GYN. But beyond this, I was fuzzy on what I wanted. I sort of thought I might give birth at home, but was not entirely sure. I quickly realized, though, that I wanted, needed, to put thought into how I wanted to do this – not just giving birth but everything surrounding it, including emotionally preparing for having a baby in our lives.

It turned out that the right things for us included a home birth, cloth diapering and co-sleeping. But it was a long journey for me to get to that point. I was constantly researching things and weighing them in my mind and my heart. I prayed like I hadn’t prayed in a long time. I knew this baby was going to come no matter what but I needed to feel right about the choices I was making along the way. This was my way of stepping up.

And now Aiden is here and I feel changed in ways I can’t articulate. I am so glad I took the time to prepare myself even though I missed being creative. Many people manage to be creative while having babies or going through other big changes, but I needed to be quiet and turn inward.

For this year, the word that is calling to me is ‘character’. I’m a few episodes into season 2 of Downton Abbey and I love the character of Anna. If you haven’t watched Downton Abbey (You should! It’s so good!), Anna is one of the servants and I love her because she is patient, calm, humble, steadfast, loyal and kind without being a pushover and she loves with her whole heart. I want to be like her. It’s not that I feel that I don’t have character, but I want it to be my focus for this year. Years back, I decided that I wanted to ‘be a good person to be around’. I want to be someone who can be relied on to be patient, kind, loyal and loving and I hope that’s what I am. I look forward to making this a more central focus in this upcoming year.

One of the most important things to me is love. Not just a lovey feeling, but love as a verb. I love that often quoted verse from the Bible that describes it this way:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (I Cor. 13:4-7)

Did you choose a word or have any goals for 2013?