2022 / Issue 11

COVER MOM

Annelien Coorevits
Annelien styled by: acbyanneliencoorevits.com
Location: Centre Ville Gent

COVER MOM INTERVIEW

Annelien: "I'm quite a lion wehn it comes to my kids."

01. Hello dear Annelien, please introduce yourself.

I am Annelien Coorevits, 35y old. 2 children, Elena and Luís Deschacht. In 2007 I became Miss Belgium, after I hosted some tv shows. I worked in the fashion business and 2 years ago I started my own clothing brand “AC by Annelien Coorevits”.

02. You have now two beautiful children, boy and a girl. Would you like to have more kids in the future?

Unfortunately, I divorced some years ago so I don’t think I will have children anymore. I feel very blessed to have 2 perfectly healthy children, and let’s be honest, 2 is already a lot of work.

03. Tell us more about your clothing collection. How to it all started?

I believe that women are powerful, but sometimes they don´t trust in what they are able to do and waste their time doing things based on what other people do or say. I think about myself, and I use this power to encourage other women to find their own way. I like to introduce a touch of European style in my outfits, without losing my Brazilian essence. This is for me very important, and I trust it is a good way to show women, how they can be themselves whatever they do or wherever they go.

04. It’s 2022, Most of us are happy to be able to go on vacation again. Are you traveling? Favourite destination?

I am taking the kids to Portugal. It’s the first time. We are very excited. It’s only one week because the spring/ summer 23 collection sale starts the beginning of July till the end of August. Summer means work for me, but I try to make it up to them by going away for a weekend sometimes.

05. What’s the craziest thing you did and wish your kids will never do it.

We were raised quite strict so very crazy things weren’t for us. I have 2 sisters and 1 brother but the girls were “good”. My brother made up for the rest of us.

06. When can we see you on tv again? Can you tell us the name of the program and more?

I participated in “Across the ocean”. In October I think it will be on tv. We crossed the Atlantic on a sailing boat. Very out of my comfort zone but I would do it again next week if I could. I was the cook on board, that was the most difficult job, but when you have the ocean, the silence and most of all, no cell phone, it’s pure joy (at least for me).

07. We would love to know more about your children. Can you describe them to us?

Elena is 11, and she’s the “spicy” one. She has character. She knows what she wants and has the confidence to go for it. I guess, like every mom, I am proud. I see a lot of myself in her and I’m so glad that she has a lot of fire in her. She’s very creative so who knows, maybe she can follow in my footsteps.

Luís is 7 and more sensitive. When he was a baby, I literally couldn’t go outside without him clamping on my leg. After a few years that got better. He plays football with the same “clan” as in school and I think he found his way. Mother-son relations are very intense, I want to protect him from everything, and maybe I should let go a little bit more. When he says out of nowhere in the middle of the day “mommy, you are the best and I love you so much” well… then there is just nothing else around me anymore.

I’m quite a “lion” when it comes to my kids, I can’t stand it if anyone should harm them, then there is something inside of me that explodes…

08. Are you the same type of mother as your own mom or completely different?

I’m different but I use the same phrases “always speak in two words” or “thank you who?” when they don’t say thank you mom. I try to give them more than the basic etiquette and respect towards others. For me, everything begins with that. There is nothing as bad as a small child with absolutely no manners.

On the other side I let them play and let them get dirty as much as they want. Sometimes (almost every morning) we dance around the table and then we have to copy each other’s moves. Some craziness is what my mom also did.

09. What do you like the most about being a mother and did motherhood change you?

As I said, I’m never without worries anymore. My job is to help and to protect them where I can. I didn’t realise that in the beginning. But when you become a mother there are so many things that change. They are the centre of my world, and if possible with my work, I try to be with them as much as I can.

10. How was your experience with the glam mom team on the glam mom shooting day?

We really enjoyed our day. Elena was looking forward to the shoot, and for me it was great to have taken professional pictures with them. It’s a souvenir for the rest of our lives. Makeup and hair were “spot on” and also the photographer did it very well. Just in time, not too long, no images that weren’t necessary.
Glam Mom can call me any time!

MOM TO BE

Suzie Q

I try to find words that don’t sound very cliché to tell you my story, I guess I’ll just get started with it. 90’s baby born in Armenia & raised in Belgium. After my father passing away when I was only 6 months old, my mother was left alone with just a baby and a lot of grief. But the strong woman she is, she did not give up. She made sure we had a future with nothing to worry about. Selling her apartment, she then decided to take everything she had and move to Germany. On her way to Germany, she met some people who convinced her to come with them to Belgium. This one decision has defined our whole life. I can’t even begin to imagine how I could miss everything in my current life right now if she had stuck with her original plan.

Settled in Belgium, my mother then met my stepfather. Now more than 25 years later, my stepfather officially adopted me, making me his legal daughter and gave me the honour of carrying his last name. I can’t even tell you how grateful I am that I still got to have such an amazing father figure in my life. He motivated me to do well at school, taught me the right standards and values of life and shaped me into the person I am today. Of course, all of this made it possible for me to meet the man of my life, Douwe, the future father of our first child. When Covid finally allowed it, we got married in September 2021. We had the most magical day, made our vows in the most beautiful church in Ghent, had our reception and party at the most idyllic location and we were just so lucky with the weather. We were overfilled with joy to be celebrating this day with our family and friends and to top it off we went to Barbados on our Honeymoon. As a result of this fruitful honeymoon, we are expecting our first child on August 2, 2022.

Sometimes we still can’t believe there is a little human baby growing inside me but as her baby kicks become more frequent, the reality starts to come in. Every week we learn so much more about her growth and how she evolves. We find it truly fascinating to go through this whole process together. I must say my husband really makes sure that I am as comfortable as possible throughout this whole pregnancy. Sometimes I still don’t believe how I deserve to have such a good husband as him, he is the most patient man on the planet and he deals with the random hormones very well, God bless his pure soul.

Now at X weeks pregnancy I am so happy to experience the magic of being pregnant. In the beginning I got very sick, felt so nauseous and exhausted all the time, but all that luckily faded away at around 12 weeks. Of course, there are still a few pregnancy ailments, but they don’t outweigh the indescribable feeling of what we are experiencing now.

What struck me the most is how this pregnancy has changed me as a person. The people pleaser I used to be slips away from me, constantly thinking what others think of me, putting other people their needs before mine, etc… all that made room for the opposite: I don’t force myself anymore into situations I am no longer comfortable in, I dare to say “no” more. This way I can put my family and myself first. Now I truly understand the strength of mothers and how protective they are of their family.

Going through this “mommy-to-be” time I realize now more than ever how grateful I am for what my mother has went through to give me the best out of life. The woman is an absolute superhero and deserves a statue.

I hope I will be able to give back the same as my parents did for me, but with the help of the lovely family we have, I am very sure of it.

Love, Suzie Q

MUA: Duchess Allure, Waregem
Photography: Amandine Grulois Phototherapy, Ghent

MOUNA'S STORY

Part 11

As a young girl, I grew up without a father. It was always my mom, little sister and me. We lived in a village on the same street as my aunt and godmother. All single mothers with their children. Mother’s Day was always a big celebration with gifts and surprises. Father’s Day, on the other hand, had a completely different atmosphere. I remember very well how confrontational it was at school when the theme of “Father’s Day” came up in art class. Because then we had to make a craft for our father. Since you have a different teacher every year, I had to relive the confrontation year after year. At that time, I was not the only one whose parents were divorced but I was the only child whose father was not present at all. Because this was not common in the village where we came from it was often difficult for the teachers to handle this pedagogically. Because what should you let a small child make for a father who is not there? How can you make sure that the child does not feel excluded? How do you explain to the classmates that a child from the class does something different for Father’s Day? And who is the child making the craft for? I imagine this was not the most ideal situation for any party.

How they resolved this at school I can’t remember but I do remember the feeling. A feeling of insecurity and shame. Every year again. Now that I bring up this topic of conversation again it strikes me that this still touches me. No child should have to go through something like that. Unfortunately, that is the reality.

When I gave birth to my son and split up with his father this was one of the things I was so scared of. That my son would grow up without a father in the picture. In the end, this didn’t turn out so bad. Partly because I stressed so strongly that a child needs both parents. The role of a father in a family is unique. As a young girl without a father figure, I did not know the love a father gives to a daughter. Dancing on daddy’s feet, romping in the garden, … This made my mom also very sad. I remember her saying ‘the only thing you want and I can’t give you is your father’. Now that I am a mother myself, I realize how hard this is. How confrontational and powerless my mom had felt. Because however you turn it, you wish the best for your child. You can buy a lot but an absent parent you can’t buy or replace.  How do you tell a child that her or his father just didn’t want to be in their life? My mom might have felt very short-changed. Because in the end, my mom did know where our dad was, he just intentionally wanted nothing to do with us.

I am glad that I was able to offer my son a little bit more. It certainly wasn’t an ideal scenario because I ended up raising my son 90% of the time alone. But his father is “present,” without elaborating too much on this. It is not easy to raise a child alone. There is so much involved. Yet I am so proud of myself that my son has become who he is. A young man with ambition, good manners, intelligence and passion.

MOM OF THE MONTH

Zenya

In February 2020, my husband, and I decided it was time for kids. At that time we had been together for 3.5 years, married for 1.5 years and we had just bought our first house together (with baby room). My husband always says it was like you woke up and thought I must have a child now and my desire to have children was indeed very big and I thought the timing was perfect now. What we didn’t know is that a month later our whole world would change because of covid-19. Now that didn’t seem like a problem to us, we now had a lot of time to “make a baby”. After 10 months of trying and many tears further, we went to look for help. Turned out to be a blockage in my fallopian tubes. This was quickly remedied with minor surgery and a month later in December 2020 I was pregnant. Unfortunately, this ended in a miscarriage. Due to this incident, I had completely given up hope and we scheduled an appointment with the fertility doctor. Since I was no longer working on getting pregnant because my full focus was on the appointment, I almost missed that I did not get my period in January 2021. On January 25, 2021, we took another test and we were pregnant again. We were so happy but very careful. I hardly dared to share my joy until we got a positive NIPT test back which showed that everything was going well with the baby. I was pretty nauseous and tired from the start but otherwise I felt fantastic. Yet I often said that I couldn’t take it anymore, that it was hard. I felt something was wrong in my body. I felt very alone at that moment. Nobody understood what I was going through, and I got comments like ‘being pregnant is not a disease’ or when friends came to our home ‘have a drink yourself because the hostess feels too good to get up’. I was deeply saddened by these words and felt very misunderstood. I was therefore the first in our group of friends and in the family to be pregnant. My husband wanted to cheer me up and arranged for us to go on a babymoon. We went to Ibiza, and I finally felt really proud of my pregnant belly. Our little one also moved regularly, and I felt a lot better. But then disaster struck.

At the end of June, we found out that my mom had breast cancer. This was a huge shock to me. It seemed like my world was collapsing. Cancer such a scary word. The following weekend my husband entered a 25-hour race at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. So, it seemed like a good idea to my dad and me to take Mom along to clear her mind. At that moment she was waiting for her results of which cancer she had, how big it was, how treatable. In good spirits we went out and for a moment it seemed that Mama could change her mind. But then it happened. I was standing at the top of the grandstand watching the race start when I felt a stabbing pain. I could compare it to menstrual pain. At first, I thought maybe I should sit down for a while, but the pain got worse and worse. I felt I had to lie down and tried with my last strength to step towards my husband’s mobile home. I’m not one to panic easily so I thought maybe I walked a bit too much, so I lay down for a while. My husband, my mom and my dad took turns sitting with me. Until it came into my head. Zenya, it’s not just about you, maybe there’s something wrong with the baby. So, I had to take action and called my midwife. She told me to keep calm and if it wasn’t better after an hour that I had to go to the hospital. I thought to myself, how can I go to the hospital now, I can barely walk and I am sitting here on the other side of the country. After an hour of puffing and sweating, the pain seemed to ease a bit. Stupid that I was, I wanted to go and watch the race that was going on and I sat down on a seat in the pitlane to watch the screens. Normally I would stay with my husband for the weekend and sleep there, but in the evening I decided to drive back home with my parents.
If the day hadn’t gone bad enough, we were hit on the highways by a drunk driver who drove off the mirror of Dad’s car. Because of that shock, 10 minutes after the accident my pain started to come back and I decided to go with to my parents’ house and stay there for the night. I did not dare to be alone and thought I am probably very tired from a long and stressful day. Maybe it’s best to go to sleep. I was in terrible pain all night, but I didn’t dare wake my parents. My mother was very tired from her illness and I wanted to let her relax for a while. Until I really couldn’t stand it anymore at 5 o’clock. I called my mother because I couldn’t get out of bed and told her that I really had to go to the hospital. When I arrived at the hospital the pains in my stomach turned out to be contractions. I also had a shortened cervix. The baby wanted to come at 28 weeks. As a result, I was immediately admitted to the hospital and I was given contraction inhibitors. If these inhibitors wouldn’t work, they would have to get the baby. It may sound strange now, but I wasn’t panicking at all. The doctors had told me that everything would be fine, that the baby was strong and that I had to keep calm. Strangely enough, I did and the contractions subsided. Apparently, all this situation had to come from me stressing out about the news of my mother’s cancer. Subconsciously it was too much stress on my body and on the baby. After 4 days in the hospital, the doctor decided to stop the inhibitors. Less than a few hours after the last dose my contractions started again and the nurse gave me medication that, just like the Baxter I had, would inhibit the contractions. Fortunately, I responded well to the medication and was allowed to go home after 6 days in the hospital. I did have to take my medication until 36 weeks of pregnancy and I had to lie flat until then.

My husband and I have a business together so I thought I’d lie on the couch for an hour and then I can go back to work at my desk for half an hour. As long as I take it easy. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the moment I got up, I had such an excruciating pain in my womb. Sitting in a chair by yourself was unbearable. In the end I reached 36 weeks and I was allowed to stop taking my contractions inhibitors and I was allowed to move again. I was super happy but found the idea of going out very scary. The pressure on my uterus still hadn’t gone away. Nevertheless, it was strongly recommended to start walking so that the baby could get ready for the birth. I didn’t feel good about it and felt very nervous in my body. Until the next baby check. It turned out that my blood pressure was way too high, that was the reason I felt so nervous. I had preeclampsia that made my blood pressure dangerously high and my body swelled up completely. The baby itself was still on the skinny side, so in consultation with the doctor we decided to continue the pregnancy so that our baby would weigh at least 3 kilos at birth. I felt sicker and sicker day by day and I had to visit the doctor every 3 days. After 2 hellish weeks she finally weighed 3 kilos and we decided to get the baby at 38 weeks. My body was so tired and sick. My face, my hands and my feet were completely filled with fluid and you could barely even see my ankles.

Our little miracle was born on September 22, 2021. I really liked the birth itself. The introduction took a long time to really get going, but the active delivery itself went very smoothly and almost painless. I had forgotten everything when I saw that sweet little girl. And what an incredible amount of hair she had. The most beautiful gift on earth. Now everything would get better. My mom was in her treatment process but now she had a granddaughter who could give her happiness and perseverance. My pink cloud was soon punctured by the difficult nights, but I continued to persevere for our baby. She was now the most important thing in my life.

However, the setbacks did not stop, one month after I gave birth, my grandfather died and 4 days later my dog. My dog, my first child. My dog that had actually more or less made me a mom. My dog was cremated on Thursday and my grandfather was buried on Friday. It was so inhumane. At my grandfather’s funeral I no longer knew what I was crying for. For my grandfather, for my dog, for my mom, for my difficult pregnancy. Doctors were afraid of postpartum depression. I was so affected that my breastfeeding almost stopped. I urgently had to pick myself up again. I had to be there for my child and so I did. After all these setbacks, after a period that should have been the best of my life. Now 8 months later I am still having a hard time processing all these things. I think about it more often now than when I was in it. My mom is now cancer free, my baby is doing well and I love my husband very much who helped me through all these setbacks. Without my daughter I would never have been so strong to get through this. Many people ask me now do you want a 2nd child? Are you not afraid to go through it again? And I have to say as weird as it sounds, I want to be pregnant again. Feeling a little baby in my belly again because it’s the most beautiful feeling I’ve ever had. How strong a woman’s body is, it still amazes me every day. And now after 8 months I am closing my pregnancy with the last breastfeeding my body has to offer. Now that magical but most difficult moment of my life is over and I have received the most beautiful gift in the world. Our daughter.

Pictures by: Heidi Breugelmans – Picture With Attitude

MAMA'S FOOD SERVICE

Summer Woke - Beef and Broccoli

It’s summer, it’s hot and kids are running around with an empty stomach. Hurry up mom’s and dad’s. Make sure there is food on the table but… don’t forget, if its not yummy in the tummy we got a problem.
How to avoid that ? Just follow my easy and super fast recipe.
You are welcome !

Servings= 4servings
Prep time= 15minutes
Cooking time= 15minutes
Calories= 331kcal

Here is what you need !

Ingredients
  • 1/3 cup oyster sauce
  • 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
  • 1/3 cup sherry
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 3/4 pound beef flank steak, sliced into 1/8-inch thick cuts
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, more if needed
  • 1 thin slice of fresh ginger root
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
  • 1 pound broccoli, sliced into florets
Directions : How to cook

…and like we say in China, hǎo wèikǒu!

ALL ABOUT CHILDREN'S DAY

Kamila's Story

Let’s embrace the inner child within ourselves. Every person deserves a good life! An untroubled child becomes a happy adult. A happy adult has more chances to become a wise parent. Childhood is a crucial stage of our life. It defines our characters, habits, routines, preferences and tastes. Traumatic experiences initiate strong reactions that persist long, in some cases, the entire life. Also bullying can lead to various problems in later years. Always react and say stop when you notice any kind of unwanted, aggressive behaviour against a child. Are you perfect?

But who has a perfect life? Really? Is it the perfection we chase? Simply impossible… Let’s be happy with what we have and what we’ve achieved. Try to have more fun, accept yourself and if there are things that really bother you, work on them. It is up to us!

It is up to us, moms and dads to learn our children to deal with their problems. To be supportive and show them there’s always a way out.

Speaking of children, 1st of June is International Children’s Day. This day should be entirely dedicated to children all over the world. Their welfare, their happiness, their dreams… Children’s Day is so important, it helps us embrace the inner child within ourselves. We can for example eat candy floss without anybody looking weird at us. Go on the jumping castle, have a glitter tattoo and other fun stuff. Everything can, because that day when we’re celebrating with our kids, these pleasures are granted to us, parents as well. International Children’s Day at Polish School EduGandawa

With the Polish School EduGandawa we’ve organised 3 events for the kids. With students from 3 to 17 years old we had to consider sufficient options for all age categories we have at our school.  There was a rope park, climbing adventure in the nearby amusement park for our teenagers, the real thrill-seekers. Second option was the school fete with many attractions aimed at our toddlers and younger kids. The third variant was a weekend trip to Ardennes, Belgian mountains. Quite complicated to organize a triple Children’s Day, luckily we could rely on many helping hands and we did it! I truly hope everybody liked it.

My own children, two beautiful daughters (Runya 12 years and Nastazja 5 years) had a fine time. The older one went to the rope park with her friends and the smaller daughter joined me on the trip to Ardennes. Dirty, tired but so amused and entertained we came back from the weekend yesterday. They say a dirty kid is a happy kid. So true, don’t you think?

With love and regards!

Follow me on Instagram
@kamila__janiszewska – my personal account
@edugandawa – Polish School EduGandawa 
—
Pozdrawiam ciepło * Vriendelijke groeten,
Kamila Janiszewska

FATHER'S DAY

The Lawyer Mom: Dagmara's Story

“David: To the world, you are a dad. To our family, you are the world.”

Hello my fellow mommas!

It’s almost Father’s Day, so let’s talk about my husband David, who is really a great dad. It’s true when they say that when your husband becomes a father, your love for him grows exponentially. I never knew that I would love my husband more than I did when we got married, but then we had our first baby together, and my heart absolutely exploded with love and gratitude for this incredible man.

A Father, A Husband, A Man.

I appreciate everything in my life. Gratitude is one of the best habits you can practice, something I have learned over the last couple of years. So, I put my husband on a pedestal whenever I feel thankful to him.

When there is an increase in love, there is an increase in energy and happiness in our home. My husband puts me on a pedestal too though. I am a very good mom in his eyes.

After my very hectic day at work, I run the house and look after our two beautiful children pretty much all on my own. Most of the time my husband does the cooking but I’m a devoted full-time mother, which my husband deeply appreciates.

I agree that all parents should be responsible and step up to the role of parents when they choose to have children. A child is affected by his parents’ choices, attitude and behaviour. So, let’s praise everyone who is simply trying to be a good parent. Let’s praise all the mothers because although the struggle is real, motherhood brings about an inner strength. Let’s praise the fathers who do everything they can to be there for their families and normalise good fatherhood.

I always knew my husband would be a good father because of his ability to love me so strongly. So I knew that he would translate this love to our children. He is a protector and a provider.

My mom was a single mother for most of my life. So I’ve effectively never had a dad, since my biological father has always lived in another country and never had much interest in getting to know me, so I’m really happy and proud that my husband is totally different and really cares to be a good dad.

As it’s nearly Father’s Day I already have a plan to celebrate it. Nothing says “You’re special” quite like breakfast in bed, so I plan to start the day with that. As our children are still pretty young, I cannot plan a fishing trip, something he would really love. I know he will also be happy to spend some quality time with us, the people he loves most, so I planned to spend the day exploring the wild open plains of Safaripark Beekse Bergen. Like a journey to Africa, in this spectacular park we’ll see some of the world’s most magnificent animals at close range and in naturalized enclosures. Hopefully we’ll see some roaming groups of rhinos, gazelles, giraffes, and other species ranging freely through savannah-like expanses.

I hope we’ll all enjoy the Father’s Day. As this day is the perfect day to make a dad feel extra happy.

I wish all the amazing dads out there a Happy Father’s Day.

Until next time my sweet mommas!

Xoxo
Dagmara

Follow me on Instagram
@dagisakura – my mom’s journey
@advocaat.dd – my professional account

HE IS A NARCISSIST!

Selina's Story

Hi guys!

We’re back again. Last article I told you guys I started at the gym and I would keep you posted! I am still going! I am truly amazed by myself and so proud. A lot has changed in these few weeks. The pedicure who was active in my salon quitted over here. There is already someone new active in our salon and we have a few new services for our clients, so we are really excited about this.

The only thing I am worried about now is summer vacation. My kids are about to start their two months break from school, as you know I am a single mom. So I need to be a mom and a dad at the same time. As a business mom is that a very big challenge. It is not always rainbows and sunshine, I struggle a lot with stress and I need 48 hours in a day. My kids like to discover everything in the house, nothing is safe anymore. I am thinking about getting a nanny for a few months so I can focus on my job and my kids also have a good time while I am working.

What about their dad? That’s one difficult story. He is a narcissist, someone who always tries to control you in every possible way. Someone who does not see you as a person but as an object. Who brings you down to a point you lose yourself completely and you don’t even love yourself no more. Mental and physical abuse is also very common if you live with a narcissist. You don’t see it when you first meet because they can put up a show like no other. They are mostly so charming and make you believe the world will be perfect with them… Actually, it is the opposite! A narcissist has no empathy and they will use anyone and anything to get what they want.

I broke up with him after he assaulted me. That was the final stroke for me, this was not the life I wanted for me and my kids. We deserve much better! Still… It is their biological father and it is not so easy to keep kids away from their biological parent, at least not in Belgium. So next to running my fully booked salon, I am constantly busy with this situation and my kids. I need to protect them in every possible way and i feel so powerless sometimes. The only thing I can do at the moment is give them as much love as possible, show them the strongest version of me, even though I am so exhausted by everything that is going on in my life. I need to go to the police with every little thing that happens to build up a file against him and prove to court that he is no good for them. Meanwhile I need to expose my kids to his toxic behaviour, they are so young and already heard and saw too much.

I could write a book about everything I experienced with him. Maybe I should do that? As you can read, we all have our problems. It is how we deal with them that counts. We all have good and bad days, but it is important to keep in mind that even after hurricanes there will always come sunshine!

See you in our next article where I will tell you more about my new colleague!

Lots of love
Selina