Where is the snow?

Canada is known for it's snowy winter, Christmas with snow and cold weather. It's December 15th, it's dark, it's raining and this is as much snow we got so far this year (the photos were taken last weekend on a nice sunny day).

Don't get me wrong, I am not sad about it. I'm actually not a big fan of snow and cold days. Yes, I hope we will get a beautiful snowy Christmas day but my love for snow end on December 26th. I often dream of moving away, living a simple life by the beach, taking care of my babies and enjoying life another way.

Are you a winter person?

Nothing like my Billie's laugh

I know every parent feels the same as me, there is nothing more beautiful, rewarding and addictive than your kid's laugh. Their laugh comes from the heart, they are real and they put the biggest smile on their cute faces. 

One of my biggest hope in this life is to see my daughter laugh and smile forever. She deserve the best and happiness. 

Saint Lucia Day

Happy Lucia to my swedish friends and family!

Today in Sweden and other scandinavian countries, it's Lucia Day. This special day is part of the Christmas celebration. 

Each year on December 13th, Saint Lucia is celebrated with candlelight and traditional candle-lit processions. Lucia herself was Christian and died for her faith. The December 13th holiday honors her. 

Usually, the oldest girl in the family portrays Saint Lucia by putting on a white robe and a crown full of candles. She serves her parents Lucia buns (very very good) and mulled wine (glögg).

(photo from Modern Kiddo)

(photo from here)

(photo from here)

In Scandinavian history, the night of Saint Lucia was known to be the longest night of the year (winter solstice) which was changed when the Gregorian calendar was reformed. 

During a dark winter in Scandinavia, the idea of light overcoming darkness and sunlight has been welcomed by the locals for hundreds of years. The celebrations and processions on Saint Lucia day are illuminated by thousands of candles.

I've been in Stockholm a few times now on Lucia day and it is beautiful. You walk around the city seeing candles everywhere in the parks or in front of houses and local businesses. It feels very magical. 

Tired

Today I feel very exhausted and can't wait to get some time off. We are soon leaving for Sweden  to celebrate Christmas with Jonas' family. It will be nice to not think about work for a while and spend all my days with Billie.

Today, I would actually spend my day in bed with Jonas and Billie, hiding under the cover, drinking warm hot chocolate and watching movies.

Do you have days like this were you just feel lazy and being cosy at home?

Scandinavian sheep skin

Billie's first gift from her Farmor (paternal grand-mother in swedish) was a sheep skin. Scandinavian sheeps are grey and have the softest curls. 

Billie grew up sleeping on this sheep skin. She had it when she was coming to work with me, sleeping on the floor on it. She still sleeps on it every night in her crib. It's also the best to keep her warm in the stroller. The sheep skin is perfect because it keeps the baby cool when its very hot outside but also keeps her warm on winter days. It also looks so nice everywhere we put it in the house. It's a tradition in Jonas' family. They all grew up sleeping on one of these. I wish one day Billie will put her baby to sleep on this same sheep skin she got from her Farmor. 

This H&M dress

I shop like everyone else out there at H&M, Gap and Zara. Actually, most of Billie's clothes come from these shops. The prices are goods and to be honest, they know what they are doing fashion wise. Zara offers quality, classic styles and fun colors. Gap always have the coolest black and white items or fun accessories. H&M offers the best prices and very fun cuts and fits. Like this perfect stripes dress I found this last summer. 

I first bought a 1 1/2-2 years old and went back to buy the 2-4years old size. So we have it in double! It just fits Billie perfectly plus as she grows, it makes a fun top. It was cheap and I washed them a few times now and they still looks perfect. I love when I score good fashion items for Billie at decent prices. This one is one of them!

Ipad

Hi! My name is Billie and I'm addicted to my Ipad.

Yes. It's true. Billie is only 17 months and we have to hide the Ipad when we are at home because that's the only thing she play with otherwise. It's a sad reality.

It all started last July. Billie was sick everytime we were driving in the car. I got the tip to make her focus on something, like a video. So we decided to get an Ipad. It worked like magic! She hasn't been sick since, unless we don't use the Ipad. But then, she loved it so much that she started playing with it at home and getting so good to go get her own application. She is so confortable on it, it looks like she was born with it! The problem is that she could be playing on it for hours! It's incredible! So we have to manage the time she spent on the Ipad and hide it when we want her to play with her real toys. She even say "Ipad" when she get hurt and cries! Maybe we spoiled her too much. Who knows? But now we deal with this perfectly. She is never or almost never on the Ipad at home. She can only use it in the car. Otherwise, when we go to the restaurant, she is allowed to have it and sometimes on weekend we let her play with our Iphone or Ipad.

Do you have the same problem with your Ipad or Iphone?

Favorite website- THE GLOW

These days, I'm all about THE GLOW. This beautiful website is just so inspiring for me who is a mom that love interior design, architecture, fashion, toys and kids! THE GLOW was co-founded in January 2011 by Violet Gaynor who does the editing and the photograph Kelly Stuart.

It's a very simple blog/website. The background is white with a black font. I have something for simplicity especially when the focus is on photos. It's easier to keep your eyes on the beautiful images you are looking at.

They recently did a photoshoot with Christiane Lemieux, founder and creative director of DWELLSTUDIO. I'm in total love with her house! It's Jonas and I style for sure.

But I think one of my favorite photoshoot is with Ramya Giangola, founder of GOGOLUXE and her daughter Chiara. It's very genuine and fell for the dress that Ramya is wearing and Chiara's bedroom. It's all just so dreamy! 

Which photoshoot is your favorite?

Wishlist- Bobo Choses dress and tights

I recently discover POPPY'S CLOSET while searching for this amazing dress and tights from BOBO CHOSES. I'm so happy they carry BOBO CHOSES and they have the best selection of other brands Billie and I like. Plus, they are shipping from the USA so it's a bit cheaper for us canadians.

(photo from POPPY'S CLOSET)

(photo from POPPY'S CLOSET)

So this dress and tights are on Billie's wishlist. She sadly doesn't need anything at the moment. Should I get it anyway? It would be a perfect dress for day care! 

NEW IN- Wheely Bug Cow

I know, it's not Christmas yet but I couldnt resist this little Wheely Cow. It's so cute and fun!

It comes in two differents sizes. I sadly found this out after we got ours.

The SMALL size is made for the 18 months and older and the LARGE one is for the 36 months and older. I bought the large one by mistake but decided to keep it. Billie is growing so fast and thought she would enjoy it for a longer period of time. I have to say, she doesn't play with it so much right now as it's too big for her but she still push it around the house. I love the wood detail on it and the very simple design. Fits our home decoration but it's still a fun toy for our Billie. The Wheely Bug is offer as a cow, lady bug, mouse, tiger and few mores. A nice Christmas gift no?

Bath Time

How is bath time with your little one? Here it's pretty easy to get Billie in the bath. She loves playing with her water toys and she could stay in there for hours. The only big problem is when it comes to wash her hair and her ears. First, she refuses to put the back of her head in the water so we have to use the most hard core way to rinse her hair- we poor water from a plastic box over her head. Of course she hates it. She gets water in her eyes plus even if I tell her I am about to do it, it always feels like the biggest suprises for her. I feel like a horrible mother doing this to her. 

Then the ears... Well, maybe this part is my fault. When she was a baby, I was always cleaning her ears. I'm obsess with clean ears. That's one of my thing. I can't help but making sure her ears are clean... Well, i'm paying now because we can't even touch her ears without her saying a big NO and pushing the towel away. Poor Billie... But I guess and hope all these things will be forgotten when she gets older. I'm also thinking of subscribing to swimming lessons with her so she would stop being scare of putting her head in the water during bath time. Any experience with that?

Photoshoot at Nick Lafontaine's studio

Billie recently played the super model for UNICORN's online shop. We did a photoshoot at NICK LAFONTAINE's studio to shoot TAMÉ's leggings. It was a very fun and suprising experience. She got so shy in front of the camera but we managed to get few good shots.

All she wanted was to run into my arms. She also kept on sticking her tongue out because she was shy! It was still very cute and she managed like a pro. Not sure she loved the photo shoot session but I'm happy she got to experiment it. I think it was also one of the first time I got to see her shy in front of people. It was just the beginning because she now acts the same when I leave her at day care. It only last 1 or 2 minutes but it cracks me up!  She is definitely more aware of herself and others now.  

ELLE QUÉBEC

For those of you who found out about my blog through ELLE QUEBEC, I owe you all an apology! Well, I have not posted anything on this blog since maybe 3-4 months (the interview was made at the beginning of August). Not that I dont want to blog anymore but I got very busy at work (UNICORN) and also, Billie grew up and its harder and harder to find time to write and take nice photos.

(photo by Nick Lafontaine)

Though, I received few emails about me not blogging anymore and to be honest, it motivated me to start again. I'll try to keep you posted about our clothing discoveries, Billie's exciting growing adventures and our life in general, on a more regular basis.

If you feel like following us everyday, you can easily find us on INSTAGRAM under the name @amethellen. 

Our imaginary boutique

If Billie and I would start a boutique right now, here's the brand we would sell in it:

BOBO CHOSE

I've talked to you about my love for Bobo Chose in another post. The love is still there and wish so bad I could simply go to the corner kids clothing store to buy their fun collections. 

SOFT GALLERY

I finally bought Billie's first piece from this amazing danish brand! I think it would be the perfect collection for the small fashionistas that would shop in our store. Can't wait to receive those leggings. I see tones of amazing fall outfits with them!

MINI RODINI

I bought a lot of Mini Rodini's clothes online and at their actual store in Stockholm. This swedish brand offer good quality and very comfortable clothes. They are about small details that make every pieces so unique. 

ATSUYO ET AKIKO
If I would start my own kids clothing brand, I would like it to be Atsuyo et Akiko. Seriously, the marketing, the visual and all their products is just so appealing to me. I wish I owned everything they sell and that I could take beautiful photos like theirs. Everything around it is soft, peaceful, cute but still fun and edgy. What a beautiful brand to sell in our boutique.

KABOOGIE
I've told you about these amazing black leather boots Billie have from KABOOGIE. I love them and they are so useful and not that expensive. I am thinking of ordering a new pair as the other ones are getting too small for her. They were so easy to mix match with everything!

SWEDISH HASBEENS
What else can I say about the Swedish Hasbens except that I love them. They are still my favorites even after all these years. They have this little something that makes you want to own a pair. No? Fun with socks for Fall, pretty with nail polish for Summer. I can't wait for Billie to be old enough to own a pair.

NATIVE

I hate Crocs shoes. Never liked them, never will. But, Billie's new day care is asking her to wear something like them so I got the brilliant idea to order her some NATIVE shoes. First of all, this is a canadian brand (yahooo!!) and second, they give any outfit a very cool look (see below). So, for a very practical reason, Billie and I would sell this brand but also because we love them! 

 (Photos from PLANET AWESOME KID)

FRESHLY PICKED

I recently ordered these gold baby moccasin for Billie. I think they would fit perfectly with every outfit. They are handmade, comfortable, unisex and available in different colors. I think shoes are one of the most important item in an outfit. They have to be fresh, clean and fun. We would for sure be successful with these shoes in our boutique!

As for the decor, don't get me started! I have tones of ideas of how this boutique would look like! But this I keep as a secret, who knows, it may happens some day!