We invited Geelong based photographer Michelle McKay into our home to capture our newborn bubble with sweet little Daisy. We’re slowly adjusting to our family of four, newborn demands, and big toddler emotions, not quite sure where the time has gone… feels like a blur of nappies and coffee…

This week Goldie turned six months old and it only feels like yesterday we brought her home from the hospital. I remember people saying to me time flies…. and I can say from experience it goes quicker than that! Our experience so far into parenthood has been really nice despite being locked down for most of it. I think we’ll look back at that time just the four of us (including Edwina our pup) as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bond as a really tight little unit. In this blog post Al and I share our top five things we’ve learnt as new parents.

The cot was the final piece of furniture we wanted to make for Goldie’s Nursery - we were sure that she would arrive before it was finished… just as I saw the final pieces come together the contractions started. The next day I laboured at home while Al sealed the cot and we we had it set up in her nursery just in time for her arrival.

Al and I always knew we wanted to build our own nursery furniture, there’s something so special about creating family heirlooms that we can pass on through our children. Our Nursery has been a long time in the making with plenty of planning, designing, prepping and making but gosh all of the hard work was worth it once we saw out little Goldie girl in her cot!

Our birth definitely didn’t go the way I expected it would but I do feel the way I wanted to. I wanted a birth where I felt supported, in control of my decisions and empowered as a woman. Goldie’s birth was the most transformative moment of my life, I have never felt so in-tune with my own body and connected to Al.

We invited Geelong based photographer Michelle McKay into our home when Goldie was 10 days old. Michelle followed us around the house, casually capturing moments of our new morning routine. Michelle was a dream to work with and it’s safe to say that we will treasure these beautiful memories for a lifetime.

I ticked over to the third trimester on my 30th birthday - a sign of the times. By the third trimester I felt well and truly pregnant, it’s true what they say… you grow and then you grow some more. You don’t think you could possibly get any bigger, and then you do!

The Lon Retreat is a luxury hotel and spa located in Point Lonsdale on the Bellarine Peninsula in Victoria. What a perfect place to spend our ‘Babymoon’ AKA the last holiday just the two of us we’ll have in a while.

I recall so many friends saying to me - “Just you wait the second trimester is really great, you’ll love it!” i’d just nod my head and think yea sure, I just peed my pants this morning while vomiting.

I spent the first 13 weeks of this pregnancy unbelievably anxious and I avoided socialising. I didn’t recognise myself, I felt guilty for not being happy and was jealous of the early ignorant bliss of my first pregnancy.

The one thing that I found really helped during my first trimester was drinking a smoothie in the morning before getting out of bed which I continued to do into my second trimester. I highly recommend giving this recipe a go if you’re finding is hard to get out of bed.

We decided to share our miscarriage experience for anyone who curious about what the process looked like for us behind closed doors.