Tell us a bit about yourself?

My name is Tessa, I have a wonderful husband Josh and almost 2 year old daughter, Aria. I am passionate about education, travel, community and self inquiry. 

What were you doing before babies/children?
I am a teacher and worked in Canberra schools for about 10 years before moving to London in 2016 with my now husband. 

In London, I focused on my own personal development journey then founded a travel company that focused on small group trips throughout Europe. I’m passionate about community and self awareness so it evolved into a beautiful mix of all the things I love. London opened my eyes to the world of possibilities and entrepreneurship. During this period, the universe aligned me with incredible people, coaches and opportunities that helped strengthen my intuition, business skills and life perspectives. I continued studying, focusing on trauma, mindfulness and mental health units at university and got my yoga teacher and life coach qualifications.

With COVID the challenges it presented, we decided to move back to Australia in 2021 with the intention to be back with family and have a baby. 

How did you come to be a mum?

It was a natural progression for us and I feel very lucky that we fell pregnant within the first month or two of tracking my cycle and ovulation. 

What has your feeding journey been like?

I’m still breastfeeding my 2 year old! I say that because I’m really proud of our journey that has absolutely come with challenges. I have vasospasm which was extremely painful to feed until I was diagnosed and started taking magnesium and breast feeding tablets. My daughter had 2 breast refusals/feeding strikes which I think were the most challenging few days because she never took to a bottle. My deepest fears arose around not being able to support and feed my baby. 

When my daughter turned 1, her latch changed, leaving me with some pretty painful lacerations and I’m so grateful to have found Anne Enders from @evolve_midwifery to support me through that and enable my feeding journey to continue. 

What has sleep been like in your house?

What is sleep? My daughter slept well until 4 months then we had wakes every 2 or so hours until things got a bit better around 10 months when she started walking. I did so much research around sleep, then did what I felt was intuitively right (very grateful for my self awareness journey) which is to comfort my baby when she needed me, no matter what time it was. We ended up co-sleeping for a bit but now she has a floor bed, I think she just hated the cot! She comes into our bed most nights in the early hours and I love that! 

The hardest bits…

It was sleep deprivation! But now, finding the balance between work and my daughter. I don’t want to miss anything! I consciously try really hard to be present when I’m with her but also try to juice every spare second I have to focus on my business and work. 

The best bits…

Seeing her develop into an independent, assertive and capable human! I’m passionate about Education and child development so we raise our daughter following a mix of Montessori, play based and gentle parenting philosophies. 

How do you make time for yourself?

I attend weekly crystal bowl sound baths with Eli from @canberrayogaspace. This has helped me stay connected to myself and my intuition whilst also allowing me to rest. 

I also like to travel… a lot! We have visited 7 countries with my daughter and countless interstate trips. This fuels my soul and tops up my quality family time bucket! 

What’s next for you and your family?

At the end of 2023, I co-founded @tinyteachcbr which is play based Education classes for 0-3 year olds. I will continue to work on this as well as working at university, tutoring Education students. I’m currently developing a health and wellbeing course for UC which is a really exciting project. 

We have no current plans to expand our family but some more holidays are on the cards! 

If you could talk to your pre baby/kid self, what advice would you give?

You can get all the baby items and think you’re prepared but no one can prepare you for the emotional shift that comes from giving birth. Having a baby brings up unresolved or subconscious feelings and emotions. To be in the best place possible, prepare your mindset and mindful practices to help navigate these.