24 Feb Monday morning Quote ~ focus ~ on what is important
Good morning. A nice change to the grey skies, it is a sunny morning as I type this. I hope you all have a great week!
Last week I had the deadline for the design of our book Veggiekidz, I had 5 shoots planned and Thamar my new stagiair was starting. I had it all organized so well in advance. The deadline for the design was Februari 5th, just before my trip to Curacao. It got postponed and that did not help me. I had to do stuff for the book during my trip and when I got back I had all these shoots planned AND a deadline.
At one point you just have to accept that life takes it own turns and you just have to deal with it as it comes. I felt so sorry for Noor, since I had to work the whole weekend and also on some of the days we normally spent together. The days that she has my full attention and not has to share it with my computer or my phone…because I still have some work to do.
At one point during that week she said to me in the morning: “Mamma niet werken, mamma met Noor” (Mummy no working, Mummy with Noor) I felt so bad. Such a failure as a mother. I love my job, but not on moments like this.
On Friday I had a portrait shoot of Wimke Tolsma all the way up north, in Friesland. Her boyfriend Wopke gave it to her as a present (how sweet is that!). My mother in law came to babysit and I noticed Noor was already suspicious of her coming. She new it meant that I would leave. Last time she came I went to Curacao for a week…
Noor was relieved and really happy when I got back in the afternoon. It was painful that she said: “Mamma niet werken” (she actually said it twice that week). But, it did help me focus again on what is truly important, and that is my daughter and my family. I spent the whole afternoon playing with her (and not try to finish some work while she was watching a movie on the ipad).
This weekend I only worked a couple of hours in the evenings while Noor was a sleep. During the day we spent lots of quality time together. On Saturday morning I had a shoot of a beautiful tiny baby, I photographed his big brother and mother 3 years ago.
Noor went with Rob to the “kinderboerderij” afterwards we had lunch in The Dutch co. a real nice brasserie in the pijp. I played with her with lego, we read books, we cooked. On Sunday we went on a nice walk and played football. Had a coffee in Bilder & De Clerq with the best Lemon “polenta” pie ever. In the afternoon we went to my sisters and nieces birthdays and saw lots of friends and family, it was really “gezellig” as we call it in Dutch.
I guess having a deadline and being a mom sometimes isn’t the best combination. But a little focus on what is really important will help 😉
Have a great Monday! xoxo Eef
