Last week I sat down with the lovely Zoe Young for a chat about my journey to motherhood for her United in Motherhood series.

Trying to keep our conversation to 15 minutes was tricky – there’s so much to talk about – and for days afterwards you remember things you were going to say, but timing, or the direction of the conversation in the moment made you forget. Along with sharing our chat here today, I also wanted to add those things to this post, more than anything so that in years to come when Love Bug reads this blog she knows what else was in my head and heart.

On my hopes and fears for Love Bug
I hope she always knows she is loved. I hope she continues being the kind, caring, inclusive, fun, inquisitive person she is now. I hope she never knows loneliness. I hope she follows her dreams and is kind to herself. I hope she always has a tribe – particularly a tribe of strong, supportive women friends. I hope she knows I’ll be with her, in her heart and cheering her on no matter the distance between us.

I wish my fears were simple ones, but I’m really worried about the climate emergency and the future of our planet. I’m doing all I can, and try to surround myself with climate optimists, but we really need to do a lot more, and demand it of business and governments, to be able to leave our children and future generations a livable planet.

On our bond and routine
Our bond is something else. I try to be vulnerable, honest and present with her. If I mess up, I apologise. I’m real and raw with her. We are a team and she knows I’m her number one fan, and always will be.

I get into bed with her every night and talk with her. Some nights we talk about silly things before we do our sleep routine: our gratitude practice, sometimes a song about rainbows {there are a few on rotation} and the little saying we say before sleep every night; but some nights our conversations get serious. I’m hoping as she gets into her pre-teen years and beyond, that this practice will help her understand I am always there for her to talk about anything she needs – and that I’ll always have her back.

This is my absolute favourite part of our daily routine and something I’ve done since she was a tiny baby {although then I just used to tell her how loved she is and hold her while she drifted off to sleep}.