Seize the Yay

My first blood relative arrived when I gave birth to my son Teddy. Growing up, I always knew I was adopted; brought to Australia from South Korea at just five months old, it was never a secret. But even after finding out you're adopted there are so many other questions, some of which people may choose to never find answers for.  As Adoption Awareness Month comes to a close, find out what life growing up adopted in Australia is really like.  Follow The Quicky THE END BITS Support independent women's media Check out The Quicky Instagram here $33 off - Mamamia’s biggest Black Friday discount ever.Get an all access pass to Mamamia for just $36. Enjoy $33 off a yearly subscription by heading here. Liked this episode? Listen to these: GET IN TOUCH Share your story, feedback, or dilemma! Send us a voice note or email us at [email protected] CREDITS Host: Claire Murphy With thanks to: Sarah Davidson, host of Seize The Yay podcast Executive Producer: Taylah Strano  Audio Producers: Tegan Sadler See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we have a voice in your ears that needs no introduction - his music has been a formative part of so many of our lives and I’m pinching myself to have him here for you today. I’m talking of course about multiplatinum-selling singer and songwriter, Pete Murray. My husband, Nic, doesn’t fangirl many people (if anyone) but as an OG follower who had Pete’s very first original independent EP, the only person more excited about this interview than me was him and that's rare! Pete's incredible career selling over 1.2 million albums, releasing three ARIA chart-topping albums and amassing 17 ARIA nominations is no secret, but perhaps even more so than any guest we’ve had on before, it’s what came before that’s so powerful in reminding us all that not only does nothing happen overnight, some magic strikes later in life than you’d expect. While the tender age of 21 years isn’t old by any normal standards, I would never have guessed that this was the FIRST TIME Pete picked up a guitar after his earlier years showing every indication of a career in sport. I loved learning about his younger years, his process for writing, his fascinating combination of self-doubt and self-belief and everything in between. With fresh new music (check out his first new independent single in 20 years, Wouldn't It Be Good, here) and a new tour on the horizon we had so much to chat about and I hope you enjoy! LINKS You can follow Pete here.You can see the tour dates and get tickets here. + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Join our Facebook community here + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are back with a guest episode and I’m thrilled to have one of Australia’s most known and loved voices on the show this week, Jessie Stephens. Many of you will probably recognise Jessie as one of the hosts of Mamamia Out Loud (among many other shows in the prolific Mamamia network of which she is also an executive editor and which we are so excited to have joined in a new chapter for the show). While now she is dominating the airwaves (and has authored two books), you may not know she actually began as junior burger editorial assistant a decade ago and worked her way up the ranks to become one of the few people who can say they’ve been in the one workplace for ten years - an example that you don’t have to leave your job to grow and find new yays. And one of the coolest parts? Jessie is an executive editor alongside her twin sister, Clare Stephens, who after studying different things but both doing their Masters of Research left academia to BOTH become newbie editorial assistants and they’ve worked their way up in different but parallel ways. And the two also have twin brothers, so it was fascinating to learn about such a uniquely special facet to her pathyay. She is also a little bit ahead of me as a working mum and a great source of inspiration having lent her wisdom to a chapter of The Juggle by my friend and manager Genevieve Day who you heard from a few episodes backs. Despite having many mutual friends, I’d never chatted to Jessie before but you’d never know she’s such a great conversationalist and I hope you enjoy as much as I did. LINKS You can follow Jessie here. You can buy her books and more here. + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Join our Facebook community here + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are back with our third episode of Seize the Bébé on a topic that’s definitely been the most requested in my DMs and that I personally found sparked a level of desperation in me for information that I’ve never experienced before. We are talking, of course, about the elusive and emotionally charged topic of sleep and more particularly the dreaded "sleep regression" or (regressions as supposedly there are several). Even within parenthood where most topics are already a bit emotional or judgy, sleep seems especially sensitive, often because you’re usually only talking about it if you’re not getting enough, which is never anyone’s best version of themselves. So, as with all these episodes, a big disclaimer to start - this is all anecdotal and not an exhaustive fully researched guide. I have no professional experience or scientific backing, just answering your questions about what we did and there are many sleep specialists who you can turn to for actual advice. I actually found this one quite hard to write as not only there an infinite amount of variables when choosing sleep techniques, every baby and family is different (perhaps moreso in this area than any) plus even what worked for us this time might not work next time. Having said that, I didn’t care when I was in the depths of it - I still wanted to know what everyone else did just to get ideas or guidance even on where to start. So I’ll lay out what we ended up doing (which, to reassure anyone out there in the thick of it, did work wonderfully and quicker than I expected) and how we decided on that pathway, but just reminding you this area is VERY specific to you. For context, I’m talking about our experience getting through the so-called four month regression which is the first major one that gets talked about. Teddy was born two weeks early and this hit almost exactly at 4 months and two weeks - he’s punctual that boy. I'm sure we'll be back again with new and different views and answers for regressions in future! But for now, I hope even parts of this are useful! LINKS More info on Dr Golly's guides are here.You can follow Dr Golly on instagram here.More info on Baby Spa's sleep consultations here. You can follow Baby Spa on instgaram here. + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Join our Facebook community here + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.