Today was spent at Francis and Tracy’s place for a little Lucy, Orla and Luna playdate and for the big people to re-connect. Francis and Tracy made us some fabulous sandwiches, banana bread and homemade apple tart made on a whim by Francis himself. We brought Peter’s yummy rosemary parmesan baked polenta chips and a couscous salad. Food with lots of chatting and laughter makes for a perfect weekend, again.

After lunch while the kids played and the two big boys chatted in the living room, Tracy and I had some time to talk mom to mom. It’s rare for two moms to be able to sit down and have a nice conversation without kids climbing all over us. Tracy and I both come from the creative industries so it was nice to be able to talk to a mom who understands the need to not loose your creative self-identity. I think it’s always a challenge to find the right balance of motherhood and rediscovering yourself again. While there are many challenges, there’s also lots of  opportunities to chart out personal passions and steer life in new directions. While there will always be decisions to make and paths to find, I believe we have the power to shape our dreams and nurture a family at the same time.

I feel like this past year, I’ve had the time to re-discover who I am again as a creative person. Even with limited alone time, I feel the most creative I have ever been in years and ideas are bouncing out of my head. I’ve learned to really stay focused and to continually remember all the things I want to achieve and to only work on things that bring me closer to what I want to accomplish in my life. With all the choices that I am constantly faced with daily, I always have to stop and ask myself this question, “will doing this bring me closer to my goals and aspirations in life?” If the answer is no, then I turn around and simply don’t do it. If the answer is yes, then I jump right on it.

Though things will continue to change while Luna grows and our family grows with her, I feel it’s important to staying focused on self-defining what matters in life. There’s no simple solution but the answers become a little easier when you’re surrounded by good friends and supportive households. The big people are growing up as much as the little people. As they should.

My afternoon was spent with Chloe and her little Avenir. It’s so nice to have these simple mommy’s day where stories are shared about life, home, family, food…  as we sip coffee and nibble on snacks and Chloe’s yummy grilled cheese basil sandwich.

Chloe lives in a beautiful two bedroom apartment in Downtown with her husband Julian. They have done a great job incorporating Avenir’s toys and play space within their home. It’s always nice to see people live the way they’ve always lived but made minor adjustments to blend baby necessities into their space and not making their home look like the toy section of a department store. I think that’s always a challenge that people have – how do you blend in your baby’s play space and still keep your home look like it belongs to the family and not solely to the baby.

In Chloe’s case, Avenir’s toys are all stuffed in this awesome apple pattern bag in the living room. It’s a simple idea and totally works. I’m always thinking of different ways to store Luna’s toys and I think this is brilliant. For a ‘small’ play space, she’s got this sheep skin rug in the living room where Avenir and Luna spent most of their time playing. It’s funny how they kind of just stayed within that area. Throws were also stacked neatly on a vintage chair on the corner of the room for anyone to use.

It’s a comfortable space to be in where Chloe and Julian still have their space to be adults but yet Avenir has his own space to play and grow.