I still can’t believe I’m a Mom, some days. It’s such a surreal thing to now be able to celebrate Mother’s Day for myself. 

It is my greatest joy, my greatest honour and I feel grateful every day that I am a Mother. It is the hardest thing I have ever done and I will never sugar coat things. Nothing could have prepared me, but that is part of the beauty of Motherhood. I feel like I am constantly learning, up-skilling and trying to figure things out. Just as I figure one thing out; it changes. It is exhausting and exciting, all at the same time.

My husband, Sox and I often talk about how grateful we are to be parents and what a privilege it is. We are sensitive to the reality that it isn’t possible for some, and as such, we often remind ourselves of this when we are exhausted and frustrated… it happens.

When I thought about my hypothetical kids, I used to think: it would be nice to have a boy, since I come from a family dominantly of girls. When I found out I was pregnant and hypothetical changed into reality, I suddenly felt quite undecided about what I’d like. Of course, every good parents says that you don’t really mind as long it’s healthy, and that is 100% true, but you’re also human and you wonder what you’re carrying. Now that hypothetical wasn’t so hypothetical, I suddenly thought that I wouldn’t really know what to do with a boy, since I’m such a girly girl. At our 12 week scan, we just couldn’t see what we were having and our Gynae said: If you had to hold a gun against my head, I’d say 55% chance girl. Well, the odds were still too close to 50/50… but just being told “girl” made us start imagining. I landed up in hospital with a bit of a scare 2 weeks later and when we checked to see that the baby was OK, we were relieved to find out that Baby G was healthy and happy, plus we were able to see exactly what it was: 100% BOY!

I remember feeling so excited, a little overwhelmed and to be honest, a few hours later when I was at home resting, I burst into tears. I felt a little disappointed that it wasn’t a girl, only because we had imagined that “person.” Admittedly as soon as I got that emotion out, it was over and the excitement for a baby boy became overwhelming.

Today, I couldn’t imagine NOT being a boy Mom! It is incredible. I truly believe you get exactly what you’re supposed to.

George is the light of my life. He is always smiling and happy and people often comment about it. He is very chilled and I think it’s because both Sox and I are too. Don’t get me wrong, he is BUSY! He can be a little Tasmanian Devil, but he’s also my strong observer.

I did a shoot with Tegan the other day, and thought I’d grab a few shots with Georgie in his “Happy First Mother’s Day, Mommy” onesie. Yes, I had it made. I’m a dork like that!

I absolutely LOVE how these photos came out!

So what I do for my first Mother’s Day? Well, it started on Saturday afternoon, I went for bubbles and pedicures with my Mama Tribe. I made some wonderful friends, Alex, Chelsea and Amanda at my Antenatal Group and Tammy, through Mommy & Me. Funny enough, Tam and I were actually in High School together in different years, in Johannesburg and our babies are born on the same day. I genuinely do not know what I would do without these girls. Our babies are all within a few days of each other and the support has been priceless. It was the first time we were meeting without our babies and we were like kids ourselves. I had to apologise to the beauty therapist who was touching my feet, since I hadn’t had a pedicure in over 4 months. Eek. Times and priorities have definitely changed. We sat back, drank champagne and sunk into the foot massages. It was bliss. Look at the grins on our faces:

On Sunday morning, George woke me up at 05:15. No Mother’s Day lie-in for me. He had a massive present for me in his nappy. The teething poos are the worst! After changing him, I put him back in his cot and went back to bed. I could hear him playing on the monitor. An hour later, he called me again and 15 minutes later I had another massive gift in his nappy. 2 “gifts” all before 7am. Happy Mother’s Day to me! Haha!

Between 08h30 – 09h30, I went to the New Somerset Government hospital with the non-profit organisation, Embrace. They have an initiative that supports Mother’s, where anyone can donate 1-hour of their day on 13 May and spend it with a new mom at their local government hospital’s maternity ward. To spend it with a mom that might feel scared, alone, isolated…. to just be there in unity and support. To celebrate a new mom and give her a little bit of your Mother’s Day. I shared my personal story here.

It was pretty amazing to see how many Mom’s were there – about 40 of the 110 beds were occupied. 4 of the Mom’s had given birth to twins. I forgot how teeny tiny newborns are. Oh my goodness! We handed out roses, cupcakes and other little gifts. It was really special to be able to spread some love and support to the new Mom’s on Mother’s Day. I thought it was the perfect way to start my first Mother’s Day too.

The rest of the day, we chilled and went for lunch at The Greek Club – I had wine and prawns (YUM) and then chilled and played for the rest of the day!