You have quite a large amount of versatile and impressive talents, can you tell us about yourself in 25 words or less?

I live for family, good food, nature, travel and vino. The simple things!

What do you think if one of the most valuable things motherhood has taught you? 

Unconditional love, patience, the importance of a good sense of humour and letting go of trying to make things “perfect.” But the thing I didn’t expect is that I would gain a greater sense of value for myself and womankind in general. Going through pregnancy, labour and motherhood has given me a huge appreciation for the extraordinary things our bodies can do, and for our immense emotional capacity and selflessness. It’s strange because I feel more tired than ever, my boobs are different sizes from breast feeding, and I know my body will never be the same again but I’m genuinely ok with that. For some reason, I now feel much more secure and strong within. I’m in awe of the innate wisdom and intuition that comes from motherhood and the collective power of the sisterhood. There’s a certain realness and rawness to getting pooed on, not showering alone, leaking boobs, and wearing your babies vomit with dignity that’s both humbling and hilarious!

Since becoming a parent, what philosophy do you find yourself feeling more strongly about?

Feeding our kids good, quality food. I’ve always been passionate about this but I’ve become so much more connected to it since moving to Byron Bay and I’m quite conscious about giving Archie strong food foundations and teaching him not just the value, but the enjoyment that delicious, real food. The other one is “parenting with perspective”, a term coined by my gorgeous friend Louise from Lunch Lady magazine. I think it’s important to look outside the bubble, have an open mind, a sense of humour and ditch the judgement. There’s no “right way”, I think we’re all making it up as we go along so as long as everyone is happy and content it really doesn’t matter if they’re co-sleeping (or not), how long they feed for or what school they go to. Each to their own!

What’s the best piece of parenting advice you have received? 

To let go of any expectations. Sometimes I think that there’s more stress that comes from something not going “to plan” than the actual situation itself. I was getting acupuncture throughout my pregnancy and the best advice she gave me was to let go of any preconceptions or plans of what labour might be like, to surrender and go with the flow. I’ve taken this approach towards motherhood too. What works for someone else may not work for you and you’re not failure if you’re baby doesn’t sleep through the night or fit into a certain routine. Every baby is unique so find a rhythm that works for you. And expect the unexpected!

What's the one thing you swore you would never do as a parent but have found yourself doing?

Clogging by instagram feed with baby spam and the uncontrollable urge to show people photos of Archie!

Can you share your go-to recipe for Archie?

It keeps changing as he gets older but in the beginning I started with grounding foods like pureed pumpkin with coconut oil and egg yolk, or sweet potato and carrot with ghee. He absolutely loves porridge (and so do we) so that’s our go-to breakfast every morning. I just cook the oats with a pinch of cinnamon and cubed apple or pear. Once it’s cooked after a few minutes, I leave it to steam for a few more minutes so it softens. I then add a spoon of almond butter and give it a quick blitz. It’s so delicious I have to make a double batch to stop myself from eating his!

@darrenthreeblueducks

What does a perfect day consist of in the glorious town and surrounds of Byron Bay?

Our morning ritual is a coffee and crossword at one of the local cafes. Tuesdays are our favourite day as it’s the farmer’s market in New Brighton so we do it there with a delicious breakfast from the guys at the Nomadic Kitchen while Archie scoffs blueberries and plays with the other babies on the grass. It’s a bit of a social gathering too with our friends like Amanda and Andrew from Church Farm there every week too. One of my favourite things is discovering what exotic fruit John Picone will have as he always introduces me to something I’ve never heard of. The beauty of the shapes and colours of Cooper’s shoot tomatoes never gets old nor does the freshness and taste of the all incredible produce there. It’s such an inspiration for cooking so I’ll whip up a cake and some lunch when we get home while Archie sleeps, and then we’ll head to one of our favourite beaches for a little picnic and swim when he wakes up. A visit to one of the local nurseries is always a treat as we love gardening and growing edibles and herbs. I’m renovating the house at the moment so I have a bit of an obsession with indoor plants too. We like to end the day with a walk on the beach and a glass of Jilly wine from Jared at Clunes once the baby is asleep. So a perfect day for us is pretty simple: good local food, nature, time in the garden and the three of us together. That’s all we want really and Byron is the perfect place for it. (Disclaimer: you did say “the perfect day”…most days involve 90% poo, wee, feeding and cleaning!)

And lastly, what’s on top of your Love Mae wishlist? 

So many things! I’m finally making Archie’s nursery (he’s almost one!) so I’ve got my eye on the whale decal to put above his cot. We’ve been watching the whales from our local beach a lot over the last few months so now he’ll be able to do it from bed too.

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Love... Mae xx