February Favourites: Small things that have brightened my month
My 32nd birthday, our last trip before baby, becoming a godmother, new hair care routine, and lots of baking.
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February didn’t begin with a bang. It arrived like a deep exhale, a quiet invitation to slow down, to press pause, and to ask myself what I actually want these final weeks of pregnancy to feel like. Not what they should look like. If I’m honest, I haven’t felt like myself lately. I’ve struggled to motivate myself to do the very things I love, including sitting down to write this newsletter. I’ve felt sluggish, slow, heavy with tiredness. And yes, that’s all perfectly normal when you’re entering the final month of pregnancy. But normal doesn’t always mean easy. This month has asked me to loosen my grip, to soften my expectations, to redefine productivity, and to begin again… more gently this time.
If it weren’t for my dedication to romanticising my life by creating weekly roundups over on my Instagram, it would have been very easy for me to look back on February and say nothing happened. This is the exact reason why I made the decision to document this year and pay attention to the little moments that have brought me joy. Each month I’ve been making a vision board and setting some fun personal goals to help guide me through the weeks. These have been motivating me to push a little outside my comfort zone and follow through on creating pockets of joy. Turns out, you have to create them. They don’t just happen on their own.
So here’s a look at February, which was short and sweet as always.
I became a Godmother for the first time
This month began in such a special way, because I became the Godmother to my best friend’s daughter. My best friend and I were born a month apart, and we have known each other our entire lives. I am so grateful to begin this chapter of motherhood together with her by my side. It was an honour to be asked to take on such an important role for her daughter. We had a great day celebrating her christening.
Chocolate covered strawberries and fresh flowers for Valentine’s Day
For those who are new around here, I quit drinking almost six years ago after struggling with my relationship with alcohol in my early 20s. My weeks used to be ruled by alcohol. I was either drinking, recovering from drinking, or trying to give up/moderate my drinking. I always felt like this fixation on alcohol held me back from creating the life I really wanted for myself. I remember when I was drinking, I always felt so envious of people who put time and effort into making holidays special — even silly ones like Valentine’s Day.
Holidays would roll by and I would suddenly see other people posting online about a cute date night or flower arrangement they made. I wanted that for myself. So as I’m about to become a mother, I’ve really been thinking a lot about how I can make each holiday special for my little family.
One tradition that I would love to implement is that on Valentine’s day, we make chocolate covered strawberries. Mainly because they’re simple and delicious. I was making them this year and got so emotional thinking about what next year might look like with my baby who will be about to turn a year old. I also made an effort to go out to my local florist and pick up some tulips and arrange them on our table. The bouquet cost me a pretty penny, but it was well worth the joy I felt each time I caught a glimpse of them on our dining table as I walked by.
Sweet Treats
Speaking of sweet treats, they were featured many times throughout the month. We had Pancake Tuesday, my birthday celebrations, and then towards the end of the month I made these chocolate fudge brownies. Brownies are my husband’s favourite dessert and these were so simple to make. I wanted to bake myself a birthday cake, but since we were gone for the whole weekend on our little ‘babymoon’ (more on that later) it just didn’t make sense. Instead, I just whipped these brownies up when we we returned and let’s just say they disappeared very quickly.
My birthday and our last trip ‘just us’ before baby comes
My husband’s best friends very generously got us a voucher to a beautiful hotel nearby to celebrate the news that we were pregnant. I knew when we received this amazing gift, that the weekend of my birthday would be the perfect time to get away. It’s been booked in the diary for a while, and I didn’t realise how much we both needed this time to just relax and spend some quality time together before we’re joined by our little one.
Lately, our quality time together has been spent driving to hospital appointments and putting together baby furniture. I was so happy to go away for a few nights, go swimming, get a pregnancy massage, and enjoy some nice meals together. We had some of the most incredible food and really got a chance to soak in this special time together. For my actual birthday, I started the day with a beautiful breakfast, went for a swim, got a massage, received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from my best friend, took a nap, had a delicious dinner and dessert with my husband, and then passed out watching Netflix in bed by 11pm. A dream.
Self care and slowing down
I know I probably haven’t shut up about my pelvic pain, but why didn’t anyone warn me that this was a thing?! I’ve been doing physiotherapy and trying to rest as much as possible, but some days it is just debilitating. On the days where it’s too painful to do more than walk around the house, I get so frustrated, because I feel like there is so much to do before baby comes. I also just hate resting when I know I could be cleaning my kitchen or doing laundry.
It’s forced me to surrender to what is. I also wrote about the practice of allowing myself to slow down this month and just when I think I’ve cracked the code, I’m humbled again. It’s been a learning curve of trying to gauge when I need to push myself a little and when it’s really time to stop. Even getting up the energy to drive myself to the cinema one afternoon to see Wuthering Heights was a challenge. Side note: Loved the movie, but cried the whole time. PSA to pregnant women, maybe watch this when you’re not so emotional…
I’ve had to re-evaluate what self-care looks like in this chapter. It’s all about long baths, afternoon naps, saying no, and not feeling guilty about any of it.
Trying some new products
Speaking of self-care, I was so excited to be sent a luxury hair growth set from Champo* after sharing more on TikTok about my motherhood journey. They got in touch to see if I was interested in taking their Hair Quiz to find out which hair type I had and then sent me a beautiful set of their shampoo, conditioner, and hair oil. I have to say, I’ve used it for a few weeks now and HIGHLY recommend. It lathers so well, makes my hair super soft and shiny, and smells amazing. Having some new products to try really elevated my showers this month.
Third trimester prep
I wasn’t going to include this, because initially this stressed me out more than it brightened my month. But February involved a mini panic that we weren’t ready for baby and time felt like it was moving at lightning speed. I wrote about it in a recent newsletter that you can read here. This led to a night of intense online ordering that had our postman visiting our home with deliveries every day for over a week.
I just needed to bite the bullet and start getting things organised. Once I did, I felt so much better. We don’t have everything, but we have enough. My husband set up our bassinet and a nursing chair in our bedroom. We are waiting on one more piece of furniture, which will arrive this weekend. There is always something else to order and buy, but I’m trying not to over consume out of anxiety. If we really need something, we can order it or go pick it up.
I also packed my hospital bag and washed baby’s clothes. It’s such a strange time, because I could literally go into labour today or in four weeks. Wrapping my mind around that has been strange. Tomorrow, the final day of February, I’m going to a small ‘baby shower’ lunch with a few family and friends. It’s just something low key to celebrate this next chapter, but I’m really looking forward to it.
All in all, February was beautiful. The sun came out for the first time in WEEKS, I turned another year older, and we got a little bit closer to meeting baby. Romanticising the first two months of 2026 has been eye opening and I can’t wait for next month’s favourites — who knows what March has in store!
p.s. - what brightened your February? Please share in the comments with everyone. We would love to know what has brought you joy this month ✨
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