Theresa and her gang is the type of family you aspire to be. They made such a lovely home in LA for their sweet little boy Sid. They’re a playful bunch who love to snuggle, create art, cook and get a little dirty outside. Their spirits are free and filled with love. It truly was such an honor to be a a fly on the wall for the day with Sid and Theresa. I am so excited to share part of Theresa’s Motherhood story with you all! Below is a section of my interview with Theresa….the photos from our day are below that! Enjoy and happy Friday folks! 🙂
What were some of your favorite memories as a child?
Playing “Murder in the Dark” with all of our family friends kids while the parents would be chatting in the other room.
Dancing around to Queens greatest hits in the dark on a Saturday night, when I look back now I’m pretty sure that my dad just wanted to relax and listen without a bunch of kids running around. But now my kid knows most of their songs so I think he’s pretty proud of that.
I have vivid memories of sitting on the pier at the local reserve when fireworks were being held for a yearly festival, sitting on my parents laps while they covered my ears. Going to the miniature train exhibit at the same festival, I love everything miniature and now 30 years later its started to inspire a lot of my new work.
What makes your mother your role model?
She always instilled a large respect for intuition in me. She let me develop trusting my own gut. I’m pretty sure I have pissed her off a few too many times, not from anything malicious just in regards to my choices that I’ve owned. She has displayed a huge amount of unconditional love, profound examples of forgiveness come to mind, sometimes I don’t think I could even manage that, it’s what I should probably be striving for haha.
When was the moment that you decided that you wanted to become a mother?
It was one of those things that I’ve just always known, I never really wanted to get married, my Barbie dolls never had weddings but they always had families. I also grew up with a very fertile extended Irish family so it’s kind of just “what you do”.
The moment you found out you were pregnant- what were your feelings?
I was talking to my mum on Skype the night before and she had asked me if I knew if anyone was pregnant as she had an itch on her stomach (She’s rarely wrong, I have prophetic dreams and she has an itchy tummy, go figure haha) I took a test early the next morning and the test came up positive within about 3 seconds…
The good – Understanding that the physical limits I believed of my body just do not exist. My body is a crazy powerful unit! I’ve always been hugely interested in the ins and outs of the human body even going so far to completing a degree in it! But despite knowing what was going on/ is going on I’m still surprised everyday by how awesome it is.
The bad- Probably the mental shift in my identity, I have always been quite independent and now I’m somebodies mother. For a while it felt like I had melted away and just became a shell for the baby I was carrying, suddenly every conversation became about the baby. The celebrity status of being pregnant was completely lost on me. I received comments from every man and his dog, looking back now I kind of understand the excitement surrounding the miracle of life but at the time I think I was internally screaming “what about me?”. After he was born it was much of the same but with everything about babies it is all just temporary. With him gaining his own identity I’m regaining mine back too.
What is it about your child/children that you want to remember at this very moment?
I want to remember how much of a natural artist and scientist he is. Everything is “wow” I love that I get to watch that. He can do anything, he hasn’t encountered any negativity, he doesn’t know self-doubt and I think that’s so empowering.
What do you guys miss about being just the two of you?
I miss being selfish, I miss traveling on a whim, I miss not having an extra persons wellbeing and needs being prioritized. I miss being more spontaneous; I feel my energy and creativity is stretched in many ways with daily tasks, this is gradually coming back into our lives but now we get to share it with someone else and that’s pretty awesome.
What do you love now with the 3 of you?
In the early days I used to love our morning routine in bed. Sid would nap with us after his first feed and then we would all wake up together, reading books, telling stories, blowing raspberries, tickle attacks, pretending to eat little toes and lots and lots of cuddles. We still have these moments but they now center around new activities, playing with lego, playing with the hose or cooking. He absolutely loves sitting on the counter and helping us make his dinner, he’s obsessed with cracking eggs.
I want him to remember his mama as someone who loved him wholly. Someone who tried to give him as much experience in the world as possible, I’m a photographer, I want to share with him our memories but I also want him to create his own unique memories. I want him to remember where he got his silly from… his humour is already so well developed, I’m still scratching my head trying to think where it all came from.
What is the best / most useful advice you have received about being a mother?
Another mum had told me very early on that you’re going to have one bad feed a day and one bad day a week. I think it’s a great reminder that this too shall pass, the frustrating and challenging times are temporary, it also let me be more present in the early days and just enjoy my time alone with our little family. My mum taught me to trust my instincts at a very early age, She’s a pretty firm believer in the do what works for you method. Her wishes were for me to just look after myself and my baby, everything else can wait… the house, social obligations, work… everything.
What is love to you?
Love is the only thing we’re born with and take with us… It’s the most pure thing we can give and receive as humans.
