Celebrating Mothers Day with The Island Mumma

We teamed up with Melissa Gatt aka The Island Mumma this Mother’s Day to celebrate motherhood and what it means to her-

What’s your favourite thing about being a mum?

I love seeing life through my kids eyes. You look at the world differently once you become a parent. You almost become childlike again. I get excited to explore places, about Christmas… It excites me to see how excited they get! I love teaching them about life, and how they depend on us as their parents. It gives me a sense of purpose, and it’s selfless.

How would you describe your children?

Our toddler Savannah is very bubbly, outgoing and independent. Extremely silly and cheeky. She’s at an age now where she can say the funniest things, and she cracks us up so much! With her independence, comes lots of frustration as well, and she definitely has a will of her own! Bowie, our little boy, is the epitome of “what being a boy is like”. He’s rough, he’s restless, he’s daring, and you can NOT take your eyes off of him, especially now since he has started to crawl! He’s also shy, and he always gives you a tiny smile when he trusts you enough. His twin sister, Sienna, is a smiler of note! She smiles 24 hours a day. She’s happiest when being held, and fed. She’s very calm and easy going, except for night time… then she screams our ears off our heads!

How has being an influencer affected your kids?

I’m personally not too fond of the term “influencer”. I didn’t start my page to “influence”, but rather to have an outlet point to speak about what being a mum is like. When I fell pregnant with Savannah back in 2016, none of my friends had kids, and I felt quite lonely starting this new chapter in my life. I wanted to talk about my experiences and feelings with like minded people, and I am so lucky to have gotten that. This journey has been so amazing, as I have formed such amazing relationships with friends and businesses. It has taken me out of my comfort zone, and helped me in so many ways. I love blogging about our family life, and I love learning from other mama’s. It can definitely be time consuming, but, I do enjoy it, and I do enjoy the creative aspect of it, as I have always been creative myself.

What are your favourite quality time activities?

Our family loves the outdoors. Our number one activity is to be out on the ocean sailing. We love having picnics, and winding down at the end of the day with a nice family movie and have some quality time together. The GO TV app has been a godsend to us- whether we’re on the boat, outside or snuggling up watching a movie on GO Stars, we’re always connected.

What’s your favourite self-care routine?

My favourite self-care routine is probably a nice long walk somewhere in the countryside, away from the hustle and bustle. Being able to breathe in fresh air, and hear nothing but nature. Nowadays that does not happen much anymore, so listening to nice music at home, burning a few candles and putting on a mask is second best!

How do you think your role as a mum has changed during Covid?

It’s hard for me to say how Covid specifically changed my life, as I was pregnant throughout most of 2020, and have newborns now. So I had a double impact from both Covid, and becoming mother of twins. I do know that while being pregnant in 2020, Covid felt like somewhat of a blessing in our household, because we had so much time together as a family. I had lots of help from my husband, as I struggled to manage doing basic things myself. It was tough being pregnant during Covid as well, as we constantly felt anxious about whether or not Daniel would be able to participate in the birth of our twins, and he was also not allowed to most of our ultrasounds. 2021 has been more challenging, as the twins are growing up and becoming more demanding, and Savannah had to be home schooled during lockdown as well. Thanks to our GO internet, Savannah is now accustomed to joining online classes from anywhere in the house! She also loves staying in touch with her friends through video calling.

Is there anything your mum used to do that you carried on as a family tradition?

As kids, my parents used to do something on Friday evenings we called “tafeltjie” (Afrikaans for small table) We used to have a full table of snacks (nuts, cheeses, breads, olives etc) and sit on the floor. We would enjoy simple food together, chat for hours, and usually my brother and I would end up falling asleep next to my parents while listening to our favourite music. Daniel and I love having evenings like this at home as well, and we carried on the tradition in our own household.

Visit The Island Mumma’s Instagram profile here.