HAPPY Bandits
  • Home
  • About Bandits
  • Contact
  • Shop

Self-reflection

2/4/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture

With a baby coming Oh so soon, has come the urge to reflect on myself, my needs, my wishes. Wishes for the birth, wishes for our life as a family of four, wishes for my life as a mom and a woman.
It is so easy to let the whirl of modern life keep us from contemplating our deepest needs, from listening to our bodies, from caring for our own-self before caring for everyone else's around. Self-reflection allows us to scan our behaviors and adjust to our needs.
The urge to care for myself came a few weeks ago. The truth is I knew it was building for much longer but I kept shutting it down because I kept telling myself I had way more important to do than hold still for a moment and breath. I knew I was wrong. Isn't it interesting how much pressure we can put on ourselves, so much that we forget about the essential : self-care. 
I know why I tried to push my limits a little further everyday. It's partly because of my little tattoo business/collaboration I started last Summer and the fear of failing. I had so many ideas to expand and didn't want to let go of any. I will share more thoughts on that in a near future.  
The point being that I made the decision about 10 days ago to bring the focus on what is going to happen to my body and to our life in a very near future. Something I won't be able to put on hold when the time comes : pushing a baby out of my body (hopefully through my vagina..!) and into the world.
The second time around comes with more awareness than ever on what is actually going to happen {though you can't predict it all - you know it will be intense, raw, precious, painful, amazing, overwhelming, challenging, wild, beautiful, in no particular order} and I know that focusing on my body and mind should be my absolute priorities right now. 
​
I am not the most organized person in the world, I tend to daydream a lot, my wild empathy tends to play with my emotions and discipline is much needed in my everyday life. 
To-do list aren't my thing. I tried quite a few times. But they do help bring the focus back when I start feeling like I'm loosing it. Writing things down will help me prioritize. I know I will lose track of it soon after tackling the first few tasks but at least I'll have one or two things done before getting back into my "zone".
Now to-do lists tend to look a lot like : taxes-insurance-milk-postoffice-vaccum-emails-toiletpaper-bills...not the sexiest list to look at. 
In order to balance this everyday reality, I thought I'd make a happy-self-care-list so that I don't forget about my own-self in the tumultuous slash overwhelming every-minute work it takes in order to end the day with a home somewhat clean and appealing, work done, diner ready, happy baby, not-too-neglected-hubby, full fridge, laundry washed and folded, empty sink....I should definitely stop typing and get to work. NOW! 

Okay so here's what I need in order to feel happy, fulfilled, energized, loving (& lovable!), sexy (easy : get a baby out of my body and find a bikini that fits!) and keep  s a n e  : 

- First to my mind : Alone time. Because I am a loner. I function well alone. I find inspiration alone, when my mind isn't cluttered by other human sounds. I need alone time. I look forward to it and embrace it when I have it. And on that note I want to say that alone does not mean lonely. 

- Time to read. It could be a book (I am a book worm) but realistically, I haven't been able to figure a way to make a lot of time to dive into an intense book lately. In these months and years of early childhood parenting, a magazine is most likely to be found in my bag. Luckily there are some great magazines out there (currently loving the Lunch Lady, Click Magazine, 6 Mois, Flux Hawaii...). 
The only time of the day I am able to read a book without losing the thread and having to read the same sentence over and over again is when everyone else is sleeping. I started reading "Peaceful Parent. Happy siblings" by Dr Laura Markham. I look forward to it every night before bed. It is packed with info/tips to help build a peaceful relationship between your children (and yourself along the way). While it isn't an exciting fiction kinda book, I am loving it and recommend it warmly. 

- A BEER with a friend. I haven't had any taste for wine since giving birth to Manech (so much for a french gal) but a fresh beer (dark is my preference) and a good chitchat with a happy friend in the early evening is always a time I look forward to. Also I hope to be able to breastfeed this baby at least as long as I did with Manech (a little over 2 years), it's good to keep in mind that breastfeeding does not mean no more social life!

- Surfing / Muay Thai boxing / Windsurfing / Kettle Belling ... sport. I. need.

- Positivity. Meaning not letting room for negative parasites in my close surroundings. While it's okay to complain some days, because we are humans dealing with emotions such as anxiety, fear, love, I want positivity to win my days and loving people to fill my life. 

-Meditation (with meditation comes breathing) : is a practice I am looking to implement in my life on a much more regular basis. I would love to wake up in the morning before anyone else in the house and allow myself to start the day with a few minutes of meditation (a few minutes = set realistic goals!). If not in the early morning, then any time of the day will be just as good. Just. Do. It. 

These are all pretty simple habits that help me keep sane and happy and fun. Nothing's too complicated (I'll admit that it does help living in Hawaii for surfing). The only real challenge is to remember to make time for at least one of these throughout my day (without overdoing the over-easy beer thing).
Any tips you want to share that helps you keep sane some days? Because I do want to hear!
​

0 Comments

The practical baby list

1/23/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture

Yes, I am doing this! Just like about every blogging and expecting mom out there, I am sharing a baby list! I needed to sit down for a moment anyway and figure out what we do need before this new baby comes...in just a few weeks now! woooo. Beginning of March really is around the corner when you are running after a 2 year old, trying to catch up with a bizillion projects you have started and secretly entertaining the idea of new projects (I do believe I still have time to make this little baby a lovely handcrafted-by-mom-blanket-quilt like I did for Manech..I even have the fabric!).
Meanwhile and because a friend recently asked me if there was anything we needed, I am trying to bring some focus on what really is going to happen in a few weeks and what needs to be done (I do wish a facial and a massage came up on top of my list!). 
The good thing with having a second baby is that you've learned from your first one. Right? In our case and because we made our bold slash unpredicted move off island and abroad when Manech was just 6 weeks young (I talked about it here and here), we were forced to realize how little babies do actually need.
We lived out of our 3 suitcases for over a year with our newborn baby, while trying to figure out where on earth (literally) we were going to settle and what on earth we were going to do [answer to this turned out to be a pretty easy one : BE HAPPY along with get a job]. We had to let go of most of our belongings along the way and it did feel pretty darn good. 
This time around we do have a home, even if it's a rather small one : it's a large studio with no separate bedrooms (holding on to our savings and dreaming of buying a piece of land some days) and I am so thankful that we don't have to think about moving anytime soon. It's small but cosy and we love it. I am actually pretty excited about the sleeping solution we came up with but this will have to wait for another blog post to be written and some photos to be taken. 
Anyways. There are a few baby essentials we were able to hold on to while navigating the craziness of our lives such as baby-carriers (we have this one and this one and even this one as Manech hated the first one when he was a baby but now loves it...go figure, lucky some were given to us). We still have swaddles and sleeping bags (a blanket on a tiny baby does scare me and nights can get a bit chilly around here), a baby car-seat and its stroller (this needs some investigation as our car-seat looked pretty moldy last time I looked at it...but hubby assures me it will be fine..hmmm let me be slightly doubtful on this!). And we certainly do have enough baby clothes left over from Manech. I even found some brand new onesies in a box and since we didn't want to know if we were having a boy or a girl the first time around either, everything is unisex (and I am hugging myself). The only clothes I might allow myself to buy before birth are from my friend Lisa. She makes the perfect and cutest tank tops and leggings for little ones, all unisex which you can look up on her Instagram at misschiefhawaii  .
Oh and diapers? We are packed with clothes diapers, hoping this baby will {too} decide on no more diapers by the age of two  sharp...one can dream.
I was also happy to get our safety first sleeper back, those are perfect for co-sleeping with a tiny tiny human (I do have an eye on these DockATot for later...but the price!).
We have even been given a rocking chair for the long hours spent breast-feeding but we are going to give it away (anyone?) as we don't have enough space for it right now. Instead I will be using a Plum and Bow Boo pillow purchased on sale a few month ago (not the knitted version though) which I will be able to drag around with me.

So really, what's pictured above is what is needed. I'll admit the Tripp trapp chair is not an absolute necessity but we have been eyeing it for a little while now for Manech (blush-blush) and his current baby high chair is getting tight.
We have used the Baby Bjorn bouncer SO MUCH that we would really love one this time again (we had lo leave ours behind at some point). It came absolutely everywhere with us..even on a sailing boat deep down in the Marquesas islands where Manech turned 6 month! I love that there are no electronics whatsoever and it folds flat in a wink and it's all washable and it's adjustable and...love it! 
The Life Factory bottles and Storage : the best bottles out there to me. We don't like plastic. Period. One large and a couple small ones is basically all we need. The only time one was broken was about 3 weeks ago and we can blame it all on hubby for letting it burn in the pan...I guess a plastic bottle would have been even worse (like setting the entire house on fire!).
Bathtub = needed! We only have a shower, which is totally fine but a baby bathtub does make washing much easier.
Last but not least : A manual Breast pomp = So I can have my Guinness ! Duh. Essential! I breastfed Manech for 2 years (which was yesterday) and I intend to do the same again. But I ain't no saint and a beer will keep me sain.  

That's our needed list. I might come up with a wish list of non-practical-non-needed-but-so-darn-cute-things. I might. But it takes forever to put those together and really our limited space does not call for much more. 
0 Comments

A  rainy Day 

8/8/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Aina = Land, Earth

On a rainy day we like to go for an adventure. We want Manech to welcome the rain with a smile, we want him to know that rain = life. When we wake up to a rainy day here, I often find him running naked outside on the deck trying to catch rain drops. I beam when I hear his laughter and leave him naked outside as long as he wants to be there (it's still warm even on a rainy day around here!).
Embracing the day we get to live.
0 Comments

under control kinda

7/22/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Here's to balance the previous post in which some people could think I am bragging about our boy being almost all potty trained. Well here's our teeth cleaning situation and if it wasn't for the cost of dental work here in the US I might have given up already. It was all great and easy a few months ago, our son was then the most admirable boy in the universe. That was then, and now...Scary how wonderful habits can take a nightmare-ish turn from a week to another. 

Non-parents-yet : please don't judge!
Parents : I know this will resonate with some of you and hopefully bring a smile. 
Child-assistance : I do love my boy and treat him well, just trying to be a good mom and learning as I go! 

0 Comments

a tree story

4/22/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
I took this series of photo a couple of weeks ago, as we were hiking the Makawao Forest, a majestic forest ten minutes away from home. For most people, Hawaii is synonymous of beautiful white sandy beaches, waterfalls, coconut trees and hippies. Some are passionate about its volcanoes and silver sword plants. Fewer know about its magical Eucalyptus and Pines forests. And I'll have to admit that for many years, I was much more of an ocean girl than a tree person. I'd spend my afternoons surfing and windsurfing, the ocean was the happiest place for me to be.
Then I became pregnant with Manech. Fast forward the nauseous first few months, all in a sudden I seemed to have a calling for the forest. I did go swimming in the ocean almost every day but I started to crave the forest, the trees, the smell of wet dirt. If you're pregnant during the summer, it's the place you'll want to go to cool your body down. But for me it wasn't only about my body wanting a refresher. I could feel it was deeper, something, or someone for that matter, was growing in me. I had the urge to surround myself with trees. I had to walk. walk and walk. A couple days before going into labor we went to the forest again and Gurvan had a hard time keeping up with me. I was walking like my life depended on it and I told him the little one really really wanted to walk. I could swear it wasn't me. People would smile at me and at my big belly about to deliver a new soul to the world. I remember before getting back into our car to drive home, we sat down and Gurvan opened some coconuts we had brought with us. I did not want to leave the forest.
Manech was born 3 days later. We didn't know whether we were going to welcome a girl or a boy. We kinda had names. Did not think about a second name though. All I knew was that I did not want him to have to carry the weight of some ancestor's name. And Gurvan came up with Kamani. The Hawaiian name of a tree known as the Tamanu in Tahiti. The people of French Polynesia use the nut of the tree to make oil, it's quite a rock star amongst trees in the South Pacific but it seems to have been a bit forgotten in the Hawaiian culture. However we had not really talked about second names, Manech was here and his dad came up spontaneously with that name. It sounded nice to me, I liked that it was a tree and not a person and so we wrote it down on the birth papers.
By eight and a half month Manech was a walking baby. One year and a half later, his dad had gone from being a captain on board large tanker boats to becoming an arborist, climbing and trimming trees. I still get cravings for forest walks. At the end of our walk a couple weeks ago, Manech stopped by a smaller tree, looked at it and gave it the sweetest hug. Then he stepped back, looked at it again (we couldn't move, too afraid to disturb the connection), laid his ear against the trunk and stayed there for a moment. Came back to us with a large smile. It left us speechless. And Happy.
I do believe Children are the guardians of our Soul.

I knew I had a photo. A few days before birth. In the forest. With a coco.
Picture
2 Comments

Self-Portraits

4/15/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
No need to say shooting photos has become one of our ritual when Manech and I have some solo time together. He sees me grab the camera and the excitement kicks right in. Not that he is going to pose or anything but he knows he'll get to play with it too and press the button and see an image appear on the screen. He knows heavy laughter is around the corner. I love to capture him on stills as we are just cruising around the house having the best mom & son time (I'm a mom!), coloring the bedroom's floor, looking at lizards (his first word), 'cause yes, we've got quite a few of them living inside our bedroom. I don't want him to pose, I want to capture an action, an expression, that come from his own little-self. It doesn't mean I won't ever have him play with a pop corn cup and a red pepper. But for once on Saturday, while the rain was excessively watering the garden, I thought I would try to include myself in the game since I tend to complain I don't have much photos of him and me (...leave the camera alone for someone else to grab it, I know). So here I am, mostly in the shape of a dslr camera but it's me and I love how some of these turned out. Like that first one where he was coming at me very determined to grab the camera and I took the shot right when his hand was in front of the lens, never thought it would come out with that cool hand-effect.
Practice Practice Practice and leave enough room for magic to happen. Always.
2 Comments

The Pop corn series

4/10/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Looking at this photo the first thought would be 'cute boy trying to catch a flying red pepper'. Not at all, the cute boy was stealing the pop corn cup right when I wanted to take a shot and he'd go running in the house hoping I'd chase him, roaring like a wild tiger. Of course I obliged and we had the best laugh, doing it over and over. Man I love these precious moments.
0 Comments

ride with pride

4/8/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Too cool, too cute. Way to go, kiddos!
I wish I knew the photographers to give credits. If you recognize one of your photo please let me know! 
0 Comments

Egg Dye

4/5/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
It seems like the internet has been laying thousands of eggs all in a sudden. It's everywhere you look and I feel so special posting about egg dye today! I'll do it with a wink and a smile and that should make me very, very Special. 
I'll admit I didn't have the energy today to set myself at doing the Easter-dying-egg-thing. And I'm sure Manech isn't even bummed about it. Sure enough it would have been a happy mess with him and I like the idea of him being happy + messy. Instead we went for a beautiful walk in a forest near by. But then there are all these cool ideas out there of creatively and beautifully dyed eggs and I couldn't help but save some of these in my "do it" folder for next year. Unless I grab a few eggs in the morning tomorrow and play with them before going egg hunting since it's still Saturday night on our side of the world. I might. I actually think I will. 
From left to right: MarthaStewart do it yourself egg, Lisa Congdon Egg's Art (I love! her),Kaley Ann, unknown, MamaMommyMom, elhadadepapel Loom Rubber bands eggs, Fresh eggs daily!

I thought I'd post an update on this as I did hard boil 4 eggs in the morning, picked up a few sharpy & paint pens and did a bit of doodling (definitely inspired by Lisa Congdon's eggs above). I'm game for next year!

Picture
0 Comments

talking about food

2/28/2015

0 Comments

 
This happened yesterday. I went a bit crazy on caking-cool word right..?. And while I am taking these few shots, a fourth pie is baking in the oven..17 eggs total. Who cares? Right. But I'm trying to improve my photos skills so any occasion is a good occasion to grab my camera. D i s c i p l i n e. And I'm thinking to myself do I want to share food photos here? Not really but I'm doing it. Just because. For the record I baked 2 cakes for my friends kiddo's bday today (YAY Max!), but then I thought it would be torture for my man to come home from a long day working and not be allowed to have any so I threw in a few extra eggs & raspberries. I know, I would totally marry myself too. With a wink & a smile xx happy week-end!
(food photos aren't so easy for me.)
Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments
<<Previous
    Picture

    Facts About Me

    I was born French - read : sorry if my writing isn't perfect, yet! -but I do LOVE Peanut Butter and happen to live in beautiful  H A W A I I. W E L C O M E
    ​

    INSTAGRAM @happybandits
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    52 Project
    Artsy BANDITS
    GIFed BANDITS
    Happy Bandits
    Jungle Bandits
    Meaningful BANDITS
    Mini BANDITS
    Salty BANDITS
    Videos

All Rights Reserved  © Happy-bandits / Benedicte lechrist
Site Designed by Happy-Bandits / Benedicte Lechrist