A Little Rebel And A Fresh Nerd

Keeping these two occupied when big sis is doing her own thing is sometimes harder than it should be. To be honest, the whole stretch of having to be everywhere at once as a mother of three gets to me every now and then.

No. That's actually not correct. It's not the 'having to be everywhere at once', but the constant guilty conscience that somebody always gets dragged along without being asked to. Am I the only one who has these moments? Take our Thursdays as an example. Ashley has her English and ballet class back to back. Both classes are so close together that I have exactly 15 minutes to drive all over town from point A to point B. During rush hour, of course. Anything else would be too boring.

So there's literally no time for the littles to try and act up. You want to go to the playground in the first 45 minutes of English class? Sorry, no, because the playground is too far and I know two things: 1) the five minutes of actual playtime they would get there would result in at least one epic meltdown and 2) ain't nobody got time for that. Ok, so no playground. What about ice cream or cake or the like? Of course! Let's do that, so that the first thing you can tell your sister when she's back from English class is how amazing the ice cream/cake was and that she can't have some, because we have to use our warp speed to get to ballet. Cue yet another meltdown I don't need. So no sugar coated pit stops. I guess that's why our dentist loves us.

Which leaves us with, well, pretty much nothing to do. Nothing but those little games you play with your kids when being on the road. The ones we don't like, because they're cool for five seconds and then turn into pure boredom. Or maybe it's really me, failing at entertaining the brood. Thank God they never really complain about any of this. So I guess I shouldn't even worry my pretty little head about it. But since I have to be everywhere all the time, I certainly want it all, all the time...a mother just can't help herself now can she?

How do you balance it all? Or don't you really bother and just take things one at a time?

Grace wears: Jacket from Zara, Shirt from H&M (boys department), 'Fresh' Tee from Little Urban Apparel, Skirt from Moi, Leggings from H&M, Shoes from H&M, Specs from Primark
Romeo wears: Jacket from Zara, 'Le Petit Rebelle' Longsleeve from Little Urban Apparel, Baggies from Moi, Shoes from Nike, Shades from Milk & Soda, Camo Hat from Milk & Soda

Double Trouble

It's probably not easy being this fierce. Not that I would know anything about that. The fierceness skipped a generation. Poor me. I've always wondered how they manage to be the way they are and how my clumsy and sometimes nerdy self hasn't yet messed that coolness up. Not that I intend to, of course, but we all know that some things just happen.
It's probably wrong to envy your own children and I should go and seek for some kind of help, but I can't help myself. While they do have their shy moments (mostly towards people who are...well...questionable), the selfconfidence all three of them display 95% of the time is just breathtaking. I want that for myself. And I want it to be as natural as it is for them. Effortless and real.
A woman at one of their modeling gigs once told me how impressed she was by Ashley's coolness and that it didn't seem to be "trained" or an act. That actually made me a little queasy. Why would anybody try and turn their kids into something they're not? Yes, being selfconfident will enable them to open a lot of doors in life more easily. But that's about it. Nobody gets anywhere by just being fierce. It's not a guarantee for anything. Unless you are Beyoncé, of course. But she's an exception to...hm...everything.

Grace is wearing: Coat from H&M, Tee from River Island, Leggings from H&M, Sneakers from Crime London, Sunnies from Milk & Soda
Romeo is wearing: Biker Jaket from River Island, Tee from Passive Juice Motel, Jeans from H&M, Sneakers from Crime London, Aviators from H&M

Quality Time With Ms A

I grew up as an only child, so I have no idea what it means to share your parents with another sibling. Now, as a mother of three, I know what it means to try and devide my attention evenly among my kids and the guilty concience that comes along with failing at it.This is why I cherish moments like these. While the littles were busy with their English class, Ashley and I had 45 minutes of uninterrupted 'big girls' time. It may not be enough to really catch up on everything that's going on in her life, but that doesn't even matter. The important thing is that it's just the two of us.

To see her excitement when it's all about her is priceless. And boy can this girl talk! I think my mother would disagree, but she doesn't get that from me. Not that I don't like to chat, I'm a woman after all, but it's different with her. It seems like she has about 34 different ideas/stories/comments in mind that she wants to get out all at once, which tends to be a bit confusing at times. While telling me about the trip to the water reservoir the other day and the 200+ stairs she had to climb to the top (Kudos to her. Personally, I would've started to look for an elevator after 30 stairs.) the Eiffel Tower somehow managed to force itself into her memory. So in the end she actually climbed all the way to the top of the Eiffel Tower and was so surprised to see that it doubles as a tourist attraction and well...a water reservoir. That was news to me, too, actually.

Ashley's Outfit: Tee by c/o Knox And Lola | Shorts by Zara Kids (SS13 collection) | Sneakers by Nike

I'm already looking forward to hearing about her little adventures next week. I really hope it's something about outer space, though. I'm having a bit of a sci-fi phase right now...