AN AFTERNOON POOLSIDE WITH LEONIE AND THE LULLABY CLUB
This week we caught up with the lovely Leonie and coaxed her into modelling (which she total nailed!!) the beautiful new The Lullaby Club lounge pieces. Leonie is a local Mount Maunganui Mum, who funnily enough introduced us to the The Lullaby Club around a year ago. She has a relaxed but polished style and totally embodies The Lullaby Club vibe. Read on as we chat further to Leonie about motherhood and life in general.
Lovely Leonie, thank you for stepping in and nailing the shoot this week! Because of you, we discovered TLC. Tell us how and when you discovered the brand and what draws you to support TLC?
Thank you! I had so much fun joining you for the shoot! I stumbled across The Lullaby Club on Instagram around a year and a half ago when searching for comfortable linen two piece sets. As we were planning to start a family, I got pulled in by the matching Mama and Mini Lounge Sets that had just been released and when I fell pregnant in August 2019, a Lounge Set was the first thing I purchased for myself and my growing belly! When it comes to maternity and breastfeeding friendly clothes, the options for modern and stylish pieces are pretty limited! I just love that every piece from TLC makes growing a baby, breastfeeding or just general lounging around or heading off to the beach super comfortable, easy and stylish! It helps that they’re ethically made too!!
2020 was an interesting year for most, but for you it was very exciting as you became a Mum to the adorable Roman. What has surprised you the most about becoming a mother and parenthood in general?
What a time to have a baby right!! One thing that really surprised me is how much I would LOVE being a Mum!! I’m the kind of girl who loves to have a career and something to work towards, so I thought I would have a baby and head on back to my career six months later. But being a Mum is such an important job in itself and I have absolutely loved every minute of it so far! I would happily never work another day in my life haha. Another thing my husband and I have learnt about parenthood is the importance of staying relaxed and and being on the same page. Roman is a super chilled out little dude and I really do think that being relaxed as parents can help the baby to be relaxed too! We went into this journey of parenthood with the mindset that this baby was joining our family, we didn’t join his. So we just tried to keep family life pretty simple, still heading out to enjoy the things we loved to do, but bringing little Roman along with us!
What's one piece of advice you can offer a new mother / new parents?
Enjoy the journey! Having a baby is one of the hardest but also most rewarding things you will ever do. Try and look for all of the little things that will make you smile. If someone offers to cook you a meal, do your washing or come and hold your baby so you can sleep, let them! It helps so much and makes the journey so much more enjoyable!
What are your go to Lullaby Club pieces and why?
I would have to say that my lounge set is my fave piece as it’s what made me fall in love with TLC in the first place! But I recently got the Avalon smock and it’s been the dream summer piece! So easy to throw on with sneakers or sandals. And breastfeeding friendly of course!
What other brands / small designers would you recommend for Mums and Mums to be?
I tend to steer away from typical maternity clothes and brands and just opt for the flowy pieces, or size up in the brands I love. I try to find dresses that button down as I haven’t had much wear out of any that don’t! Neon Gypsy make some pretty great clothes 😉 I’ve also been loving Deiji Studios, Opia, Rowie, Aere, Miann & Co and Sienna Blair.
Your best parenting hack so far is...
We started by using no white noise, dummy or any of the other quick-fix settle techniques when putting Roman to sleep. There’s nothing wrong with using those things, but it meant that when he wouldn’t settle, we had heaps of different things we were able to try! If you use them all right from the beginning and your baby won’t settle, you’ve got nothing else to pull out of the bag 🙂 and because we didn’t rely heavily on any of those things unless we really needed them, he is now an amazing sleeper! He sleeps 13hrs a night and it’s absolute bliss because it means we get to sleep too!
What are your plans for 2021?
I would love to look into starting my own business! So my plan for 2021 is to look into what that could look like. Then in future, I can work from home, maybe have a couple more kids and hopefully be home with them all the time, but still afford to buy all of the Mama and Mini sets that I stumble across in the years to come!
Thank you so much for your time, we love you!
NG xx
Leonie wears a M-L in the Lounge Dress and Playsuit
The Lullaby Club New Styles Launching 1pm NZST Friday 15 January 2021
Lounge Dress // Chocolate + Rose + Oat
Lounge Playsuit // Cocolate + Rose + Oat
Avalon Smock Dress // Mint Daisies + Lilac Gingham
