hey mama, in the lead up to mother’s day we wanted to highlight some of our favourite mama’s out there to help us feel a little more connected, supported, heard & seen during this time.
each day we have been sharing with you an interview we did with one of these beautiful women.
So for Mother's Day we wanted to introduce you to the mama behind biglittlethings...
biglittlethings | Yanika, tell us a bit about yourself & who you’re a mama to.
Yanika | hello! This is such a weird thing for me to do as I very much prefer to spotlight other mama’s rather than talk about myself but here we are.
I am Yanika & I’m 30 years old, the very proud owner & curator of biglittlethings, an even prouder mama to Alia, our 19mth old daughter & an 8 year old sausage dog named Kingston with my partner, Josh; doing life in our bubble in Melbourne, Australia.
B | tell us either about your journey to motherhood OR through motherhood currently.
Y | My journey to motherhood was relatively easy at the very beginning, we fell pregnant quite quickly after deciding we wanted to try which we were so grateful for, then once I hit 7 weeks - HG set in hard & fast & didn’t stop until the night before I gave birth.
I’m going to side step my HG story as I believe I’ll be telling that part of my journey in another interview.
But the birth of our daughter & the day I became a mama is one I love sharing; since I had been so so sick we had planned to birth at a hospital; I don’t know why but I never really felt like it was going to be – I guess because I never was able to do the tour (vomited & fainted through the first 5 mins) or experience that part of it – we luckily had an amazing private midwife & was doing shared care with a midwife centre.
The morning of, I woke up from midnight every hour or so, then at 6am I ran a bath which I knew was my safe place where I didn’t feel like vomiting. We did calm birthing classes so I just sat in the bath breathing through contractions until around 8am, Josh wandered into the bathroom & I told him I was pretty sure we were having a baby today. Between 8am-12pm I was in deep, & although Josh had the car ready to go I knew she was coming…fast.
So instinctually knew I wanted to stay right where I was on our bed going through the breathing & as our midwife arrived; Alia was born at 12:56pm in her dad’s hands & then into mine. And we had our very fast, spontaneous home birth that I will forever be thankful for as it truly felt like it was meant to be.
B | How is having a 19mth old treating you? What has this first year been like as a new mama?
Y | Yes, so Alia is now 19mths old! It truly goes so so fast… the first year was so many things, I struggled very much with Postpartum depletion after suffering from HG & it was something I was so under prepared for..
I wish I knew what I know now. I’m so lucky though – I was able to be at home & be with Alia & our breastfeeding journey has been incredible, give or take a few bouts of mastitis, & she’s been the most relaxed & chill baby from day one, the toddler tantrums/emotions have begun but she’s the most empathetic, caring, loving & happy little gal – Josh & I end each day just looking at each other going – how did we get so lucky with her!?
B | why did you start biglittlethings & how are you juggling working from home & being a mama to Alia?
Y | I started biglittlethings because there was nothing like this when I was looking for things to buy when I was pregnant, all the brands we stock are everything I love & use & wanted to share this with all the mama’s out there, whilst doing beautiful things to make their day.
Whether it’s a gorgeous gift box they ordered for themselves to make their own day or a gift registry gift you send to your sister, best friend or daughter. It’s now grown so quickly, so beautifully into something I am so proud of & all the late nights, all the ups & downs the set backs & the rewards are paving the way for bigger things to happen & I cannot wait to share this with our beautiful customers & community.
Juggling it all is a day by day thing. At the moment I do most of my work at night when she’s asleep, I’m a night owl but also a very tired mama haha. I do all my meetings etc when I can during the day when Josh & I balance both our time with Alia so we can both work on our businesses. And that’s when we are so lucky that we can work from home & that we have each other.
B | if you could go back in time; what would you say to your pregnant self?
Y | there’s so much, I want to say; it’s ok, this is going to be hard & it won’t let up but you are stronger than you think you are. Your body will change so much, please learn to love it. The little person you will meet at the end of this horrible pregnancy will be worth it. And I’d say try Frozen coke immediately! Don’t wait until 20 weeks to find out about it! (my HG sisters will know what this means.)
B | what are some biglittle moments of being a mama?
Y | Watching Alia grow into her personality, going into her room in the morning to her saying “hi!” to hearing her read to herself, or seeing her love her dad so very much. And those moments when she just comes over to me & gives me a hug because she wanted to.
B | what/who inspires you as a mama?
Y | every single mama we have interviewed, every mama I speak to on Instagram, emails, facebook, & every mama who gets up every day even when she doesn’t think she can. That’s who inspires me every day.
My mother in law, my cousin in law, my godmother, my beautiful friends & the women in my life who stepped in when I needed a mother.
B | lastly, a very important question - what’s your Top 3 favourite products from biglittlethings?
Y | I honestly cannot answer this because every single product is my favourite for obvious reasons.
But I wrote a list of my “want to stock” when I first started thinking about biglittlethings almost 2 years ago & the first three brands, amongst the other wonderful ones we have today, were;
- Notes to My Future Daughter/Son
I am so so grateful that we have ticked off the brands that we stock to this day that was on that list & I love each & every one of them including the mama’s behind the brand & was so excited to announce that biglittlethings will be stocking Tiba + Marl & I always celebrate the wins we have.
