Ece Yilmaz

I am learning how to do life with this little human. As I teach her how to regulate her emotions, I learn how to regulate my own. As I empower her to love her body, I model loving my own. As I guide her to cultivate confidence in her abilities, I discover my own. As I help her embrace failure, I honour my own. As I tame her limiting thoughts, I eradicate my own. As I glorify her highest self-expression, I nurture my own. As I show her that she is worthy of grace, I find that I, too, am worthy of giving myself grace. As I illuminate her soul's path, I illuminate my own. ✨🤍 🌠 #motherhood #consciousparenting #mindfulparenting #intentionalparenting #reparenting #reparentingyourself

Bringing my A-game to 2023 and manifesting my dream reality. 💥 #nothingwillstopme

I spent a part of my weekend looking through photos from the last couple of years and it hit me hard as I came to terms with how long it has been since we entered this strange decade. This wedding was our best friends’ (& Lila’s godparents’) wedding just before the pandemic hit Australia. Lila was the sweetest 2 year old flower girl and literally held up the wedding because she decided to have a long nap before her debut down the aisle. 😂 It was a day to remember. 💗 Only a few weeks prior to the wedding, the groom to be, @wealthandfitness , had us captivated as he read out loud, a Facebook post of a crazy virus sweeping through China. We listened, interested but unconcerned, oblivious to the chaos that would soon be unleashed. 225 days in lockdown later, this wedding was the last time I remember a normal-ish world. The beautiful couple are now only weeks away from welcoming their first born to be. 🥲 @watchmenikay 🤍 Time moves slowly, but passes quickly. I hope everyone is doing okay, this pandemic has well and truly swept through us and we’re ready to move on. Hopefully soon, these days will all be a memory and nothing but a story told when we’re old, about that time we lived through a pandemic. 🤞🏼

PART 2 - HOMESICKNESS, MOTHERHOOD & BED BUGS 🤪 Homesickness hit me much sooner than expected, and within days, I found myself shedding tears in a supermarket aisle, feeling so incredibly foreign. As if being pushed an ocean outside my comfort zone wasn’t enough, the universe wasted no time presenting me with one obstacle after another, testing my mindset and resilience to the core of my being. Suddenly, everything I knew about my daily routine was turned upside down, and honestly, I wasn't thrilled about it. I went from a familiar, organised home to an apartment filled with someone else's furniture. I spent a whole week obsessively cleaning, sage and palo santo smudging and endlessly diffusing essential oil concoctions, trying to make it feel like my own, but my efforts were in vain as the discomfort seemed only to grow. Then I had an unfortunate encounter with bed bugs, and let me tell you, those tiny suckers pack a mean bite. I endured swollen, itchy, burning, and infected bites all over my body for an excruciatingly long two weeks, with no remedies providing relief—it turns out I am allergic to them. 😪 Meanwhile, motherhood became a whole lot more intense as Oz wasn’t around to share the load anymore and I had none of the support network I’m used to. I had no choice but to put my own struggle and emotions aside to ensure that my baby adapted well to this drastic change where she suddenly had a different bed, no meticulously arranged toy room, no personal library of books, and her stacked week of activities was down to nothing. Add to that her father, who worked from home for the past three years of her five-year life, now heading out to the office every day instead of always being within her line of sight. I had to become her anchor, masking my internal panic with a calm facade to ease her transition. Navigating the highs and lows of parenthood is a constant battle, but this recent hurdle took me to uncharted territory. The emotional toll of being there for my small human while grappling with my own needs has tested me in ways I never imagined. That, my friends, concludes weeks 1-3 of the ‘Ece in Fiji’ memoirs. 🥲

Jet-set noodle 😎 #travelgram #fijiislands #vitilevu

PART 1 - THE JOURNEY FROM MELBOURNE TO SUVA 🇦🇺✈️🇫🇯 As we enter our 7th week of pacific island life, I’m finally aligning with sharing again. Time quite literally flies and when I look back, it feels like only yesterday we left Australia - exhausted after being awake for over 48 hours because we underestimated how much packing there was to do and procrastinated mindlessly. 🫠 Major lesson learned, I will never procrastinate again!!! So, Oz fell asleep before the flight even boarded. Lila flew like an absolute champ and was the only kid on the flight not crying. I knocked out a few minutes after taking off and had the most uncomfortable yet satisfying 2-hour nap of my life. The trip from Nadi to Suva was insane. We got caught in a crazy torrential downpour turning the drive into a 4-hour venture whilst Lila used me as a bed. I silently sobbed, wondering why I had agreed to do this. I missed my fur children whom I’d unwillingly abandoned, my body was aching in fatigue, my mental exhaustion was at peak level, and I just wanted to go home. Around 2 am, we finally arrived at our apartment, and I got straight into preparing Lila’s bed. Just as we were about to get her into bed, she asked for Llama (her soft llama shaped comfort pillow, who’s very creatively named “Llama”, whom she’s used to sleeping with every night since age 3). I go to grab her but can’t find her anywhere, even though I’m sure I packed her. It turns out she was taken out of the suitcase at some point at grandma's house the morning before we left and not packed back in. 😩 So, I break the news to my exhausted five-year-old at almost 3 in the morning that her one must-have comfort item had been left behind. She’s hysterical while Oz and I are at our wit's end. Once she’s finally asleep, we prepare our bed and collapse. Street dogs bark and howl all night while Oz snores next to me. That, my friends, was our first night in Fiji. 😅

The noodle is getting along famously with the sweet Fijian locals - she’s pretty much an attraction wherever we go 😂 here she’s playing peekaboo with the restaurant waitstaff 🙈 The people of Fiji are incredibly loving and oh-so welcoming 🙌🏼 Lila has fit right in with her big smile and good vibes 🥰

WHAAAT?! 😳 Yep. It’s happening. I still haven’t entirely accepted it, but it’s happening. Like, for real. We’re moving to Fiji in two weeks. 👀 As I’ve mentioned before, we’ve been on the hunt for a house near the beach for months now and just as we found what we were looking for and were packing to make the move, Oz got headhunted for a job offer of a lifetime. Things went 0 to 100 very quickly, and now we’re packing not to move a few kilometres away but across the ocean to a freaking tropical island.🤯 Talk about moving near the beach… The universe was like, “um… you said you wanted the beach. So, here you go, I’LL GIVE YOU BEACH!” 🌚😅 As I said, it still feels surreal to me. I’m scared and excited all at the same time. So I guess it’s going to be good… I hope so, anyway. 🫠😅 Watch this space as we make the big move and adapt to a whole new way of life. Island life.🙊🙈

Challenge your perception of food and try to celebrate it as a source of fuel, not guilt! ✨ By removing the pressure of restrictive eating and moving towards a more balanced and intuitive approach, you can cultivate a healthier relationship with food and your body, improving your overall health and well-being. Embrace the beauty of balance and variety in your diet, and remember that it’s truly the bigger picture that counts. Remember, no single meal or treat defines your progress or worth. ✨ By releasing deprivation and guilt, you'll feel more empowered to make mindful choices and be kinder to yourself. ✨ Nourish your body and soul without guilt holding you back. You will thank you for it. ✨ #bingeeating #weightloss #restrictiveeating #intuitiveeating #foodisfuel #healthyliving #mindsetmatters

How does she keep getting cuter? When does it stop?! 😍😩 #mybabygirl

Apparently, this is called the “Woohoo! It’s raining!” pose 😂🌧️

When on a walk with Lila… Every single second is exciting 😂🦗🍄🍂