A blogger Ausra Paukstyte and a professional photographer Laura Vanseviciene have spent almost a year traveling Lithuania and documenting the everyday life of mothers.
What started of as a mission to answer the famous question "So what do you do now that you're a stay-at-home mom?" became a much deeper reflection of generation Y motherhood. The topics range from the first pregnancy and birth stories through all the first times to puberty and grandchildren. All interviews have now been put together into a book.
More info: mamyste.lt
- Today is my due date. - Anxious? - Yeah. Cause I only fit into two things: this onesie and Batman sweats.
- This is my first child. - This is my fourth.
The scariest part was at the hospital. They said I should be happy, cause they’re using medication and not intervention. They use the term “You’ll give birth”. You can’t really wrap your head around giving birth when the fetus isn’t even 12 weeks old. You’re simply not ready! They left me alone in the room after giving the medication. I asked if someone will come when it starts and the nurse pointed at this bowl and said: “Just use this”. I freaked out!
I kind of thought I'd have a longer break between the kids.
Pole dancing is a sport.
It took me around 8 months to get over that supermommy syndrome. It's pretty common for postpartrum period to try too hard, to care what others think of you as a mother, to doubt if you can do it. But getting rid of that stress is such a relief. I don't mind that my son is covered in dirt. I know he's happy to play with the sand. But I had to learn this.
We moved into our friends house for a couple of months just to finish our own house. That was half a year ago.
I went to the bank two weeks after she was born. It was my first time out. The nice lady started offering me some additional services I surely didn't need but I kept asking for details just so I could talk about something else rather than a baby. It felt refreshing.
When your child is ill you forget everything. He can scream, he can run around, he can disagree. As long as he gets better.
We had these plans what our son would be like. He would sleep in his own bed, would not interrupt, would be tidy and eat everything. Yeah, right. And it's not like we didn't try at all.
We took time, money and illnesses into consideration and decided I stay at home with them. It's like our private kindergarten here.
Motherhood is dualism for me. When I'm at work, I feel like I should be back home. When I'm at home I feel like I could be doing something significant, writing, creating.
21 year old is at work, 14 year old is at summer camp and I just picked up my 7 year old from a month long stay at grandparents. So it's not that often I get all my boys around one table but they're constantly on my mind.
The biggest reward a mother can get from the child is when you become friends. It's when they grow up the relationship flourishes. Oh my, I might start crying here...
A book titled MAMYSTĖ (slang for "motherhood" in Lithuanian) was released in November, 2016.