Shop day with her

Few weeks ago, Satchi asked to join me at our studio/shop. It wasn't the most efficient working day for me... but it was sweet to have her presence. 

 

Simply...

One of the big thing we have been working towards as a family is to simply our everyday schedule... including our girls' schedule. It means more time at home for unplanned, candid doing/being to happen and less time trying to get to places constantly being rushed...

The other day we had one of those long afternoon with nothing planned. Between walk through the garden and dinner prep..., orange juice making happened.

Satchi has been taking a lot of proactive role in doing things at home lately... but I couldn't believe how much she got into the task of making orange juice out of fresh oranges. It was amazing to watch her so focused on doing one thing.

I am thrilled and thankful that some of the changes we are making both physically and emotionally are starting to shift the dynamic of our everyday. One step at a time.

Recognizing ideal... and letting go of what comes with it.

So this past week had a bit of up and down for me. Coco has been shaking off her cold while she was getting through (yet) another round of teething. This time from her top teeth. She was pretty unhappy during the week... and I still had to leave her at home when it was time for me to go to work. 

I have really hard time justifying myself leaving home when girls are not quite 100% in shape. Somehow I feel terrible as a parent and disappointed of myself... no matter how well other things in life is going. 

Then I felt relieved when I stumbled upon the latest blog post on Zen Habits... about reducing stress when we are very busy. Especially the second point about "See your ideas and let go of control"... and how fear of not meeting our ideal is the real cause of our stress. I realized that I had this built up expectation... the ideal about the perfect mother figure for our girls... that I am "the" person for them when they need the ultimate comfort. And when I couldn't comfort Coco when she was teething, I totally beat myself up and wondered (and told myself) that I couldn't help her because I was not with her all the time... 

Maybe it's true that I couldn't help Coco when she was uncomfortable because I am away while at work... or maybe teething is just teething and it's hard to feel comfortable for any babies when it happens. There is no definite answer about it but I felt better when I acknowledged that I was making myself more stressed out than I needed to because I was worried about not being the amazing mom I imagined to be. So instead of losing my sleep over about something I couldn't change (like my needs and desires to work for Baum-kuchen, her teething condition and her cold...), I just focused on having great time with both girls when I was with them. 

The mindset shift definitely made things feel different... and better. 

I think ideal is good. It's what drives me to become a better person... but sometimes... I need to remind myself that what matter is NOT about always "meeting the ideal" and an inevitable gap between ideal and reality. It's more about understanding that I have an ideal picture and saying that what I actually have in our hand is just as awesome:) 

Napkin Sketchbook in making

Few weeks ago, Our Napkin Sketchbook got an honor of being featured on notcot.org. Since then we quickly sold out of what was had left in our inventory and have been busy making a new batch. Making things takes time for us... between day-to-day order fulfillment, accounting, shop upkeep.... (and of course... the family).

I am happy that they are in production. Slowly but surely. They are going back and fourth between Frido and I... being processed through different stages of making... one sketchbook at a time! We are crossing our fingers that we will be able to share them with everyone interested in a week or so!

Stay tuned:)

Meanwhile, please send me an email if you are interested in being on the waiting list! (wakako@baum-kuchen.net)

Future collaboration with 1.61 Soft Goods!

There are some interesting collaboration on the horizon for Baum-kuchen! One of them is 1.61 Soft Goods x Baum-kuchen collection. Frido and I had our very first meeting last week with Diana and Wes of 1.61 and it was a very productive one!

I love it when we can speak the same language:)

We will be featuring some of their Baum-kuchen exclusive items soon at our shop... They will be VERY functional and I know some of the items we will be carrying will be very useful for Traveler's Notebook lovers (including ourselves).

Stay tuned for more updates!

Keep focused, stay flexible... and be open minded...

We are at a really interesting intersection of the business... the unique and truly blessing kind. Our Baum-kuchen slowly growing with its own life...  Frido and I are brainstorming on how to move forward in the most sustainable and authentic way... but for now... I am pouring all my energy to continue fulfilling all the orders in the timely manner  (which to me is one of the most important tasks in our shop part of the brand) during my dedicated shop hours... while holding my stake on keeping some of the day/time dedicated for our girls.

Yesterday I almost asked our babysitter to come in because I definitely felt like I could use some time in the studio to fulfill/ship. But I sticked to our original plan - it's one day of the week that I had an entire day with both of our girls. And the day turned out to be so rich.

Family... and business...

I have been aware of a series of very conscious decisions we have been making lately and I am sure that there will always be more questions in the future that will lead to more decisions.

Keep focused, stay flexible... and be open minded.

9 months of adventure!

It has been a quite busy few weeks... but I am happy that I have squeezed some time (and energy) tonight to share our 9 month milestone with Coco!

She is currently fighting her baby cold so I couldn't be Japanese enough to pull out a camera today but here is what sums up our life right now (a photo from a few weeks ago).

These two...

Their personalities can not be more different... but they SURE love each other.

Coco is now definitely moving!!! She has her unique way of (sort of) crawling and she gets to where she wants/needs to be by herself. She is probably most excited to crawl towards Shep... She loves him. And a family of Indian elephants mobile in the girls' room. They sure bring smile to her cheeky face every single time!

If I could, I would love to just cuddle with her all day... :)