This week I’m soooo excited to bring you a special interview with Adele Enersen, of the charming blog Mila’s Daydreams. A week or so ago, Dottie sent me a link to Adele’s site and I was smitten! I think you’ll agree that Adele and her husband came up with an utterly original idea to document baby Mila’s first year. Adele graciously agreed to chat with us over a virtual cup of tea—all the way from Helsinki, Finland!
“While my baby is taking her nap, I try to imagine her dream and capture it….” Such a lovely notion. Before we get to the interview, let’s take a look at beautiful baby Mila! I think you’ll agree that this photo series is just about the cutest thing ever.
Surfer Girl:
Her Super Pinkiness:
Nirvana:
A Space Odyssey 2010:
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman’s Baby:
Candyland:
A Little Ray of Sunshine:
ALIX: Hallo Adele! Thank you so much for chatting with us. OK, tell me….who is this beautiful baby?? We love her! Can you tell us how old Miss Mila is and is she your only child?
ADELE: Thank you! Mila Mau Natalie was born in May 2010, and she is now 2 months old. As you can guess, she is our first and only child. (At least for now!) She is a very happy and smiling baby who loves to eat and sleep and doesn’t cry much. Now that she has started cooing, she has actually taught US to speak. She has already taught me and the daddy how to say: “Guu” and “Hayyyy” so well. Haha!
ALIX: Hee. She sounds adorable. We know Mila is the star of the show, but I think everyone would love to know a little more about the amazing woman behind the scenes! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
ADELE: I’m 32 years old and I’m married to a most wonderful husband ever. I used to work as a copywriter at an ad agency, but right now I’m on my maternity leave—for at least couple of years. I feel that I want to be with my precious little family now, especially when Mila is so little. My husband is also a creative person, he’s a composer and his studio is in our home, so we get to be together every day. He’s very involved and a great father! Actually, he’s the first man that I could even think having babies with.
Meet the beautiful ADELE….the Woman Behind the Magical Photos:
ALIX: OK, you must tell me HOW did this amazing photo series come about?? And how often to do you take photos?
ADELE: I think all new parents go crazy with baby photos of their first child—maybe we are just a little bit crazier! I often found myself staring at the sleeping baby instead of sleeping myself. We wanted to capture our memories in photos but we found that we had a lot of pics where she sleeps. One day Mila fell asleep on the floor and my husband placed his conductor’s baton in her hand. She looked just like little fencer! So I got the idea from my hubby. The next day when she fell asleep, I built a little forest set with pillows and blankets over our living room rug and gently carried her to the middle of it. I quickly snapped some photos. Unlike you might think, she is not constantly sleeping on a floor! haha. I take pictures a few times per week, never more than one in a day, but I try to make at least one photo every week.
ALIX: Each photo is such a fun “moment.” How do you decide what the theme is going to be? I love how you use every day objects to create the scenes—do you use things around your home or do you buy props for each photo?
ADELE: Usually I get ideas from her clothes. While I’m dressing her in the morning, I start to create a scene in my mind. I use things from our home: rugs, blankets, curtains, scarves and even my clothes. I want to keep this photo hobby light and easy, so I don’t see myself buying things for this. It’s more fun to discover old stuff again, like you can see an elephant in your cardigan if you want.
ALIX: I really think this is one of the sweetest and most special ideas I’ve ever seen! Can I ask you, do the photos take a while to set up? Being a new mommy can keep you so busy, how do you find the time?
ADELE: Ideas can be cooking up the back of my head for a few days and in the meanwhile I do all that stuff like every mother does … lot’s of tiny laundry, cooking meals for the family, cleaning our house etc. When I’m about to execute idea, I’m ready, so it takes only a few minutes. Sometimes an idea just happens right away. Also, I have a lot of time to stare at our living room carpet while nursing my baby on the sofa surrounded by blankets and pillows.
ALIX: I think I already know the answer to this one, but how has motherhood been so far??
ADELE: SO LOVELY. The time of my life! I would say the only negative thing about this kind of love is fear, fear of losing. I’m so afraid of all the stupid things “what might happen” that I never been before. They are irrational fears like “oh my god, what if she falls out of an open window!!” when she is actually nowhere near the window. But really it is a special time. We truly live in love.
ALIX: Amazing. Thank you so much for spending this time with us Adele! (Or as Mila would say, “Guuu….Hayyyy!”) We can’t wait to see what you come up with next!
