In 2020 we had a one way flight booked to South America, then COVID happened. Fast forward to Feb 2021 and I was pregnant. We knew that there had to be more to life than working full time to pay our mortgage, buy some food, and have fun on the weekends. With every career ladder climb and pay rise our expenses magically increased, it was a never ending cycle and it was exhausting. You show up to work on a Monday exhausted from the weekend, then finish the work week on a Friday exhausted from the week that was.
We knew there was another way to do life, we just didn’t know what it was or how to do it yet.
Kaia came into the world December of 2022 and our lives changed. All of a sudden we had this beautiful, happy, healthy baby girl and we knew life had to be different for her. Everything seemed so insignificant and all of a sudden the biggest and most important job of all was being full time parents and showing her what life could, and should be, and how it didn’t have to look the same as everyone else. The first few months were hectic, I went from a full time corporate employee to a first time mum and we were adjusting to life as parents of a newborn. In August of 2023 the magic happened. Jacob quit his job, we packed up our home, and we became two unemployed first-time parents on a mission to do life differently.
In Thailand our days vary, but every morning Kaia wakes up and we are both there. She’s bright, she’s bubbly and her smile in the morning radiates into your heart. We do our good mornings then usually head off for a climb. Jumping on the bike in the morning as a family is something else. The fresh cool air blowing across your face, through your hair and into your lungs, my arms wrapped around Jacob with this baby snug inbetween, an endless landscape of green jungle and limestone cliff faces, it’s a feeling I can’t describe but it makes me feel so incredibly whole and so grateful to be alive. Wherever we end up climbing we do a quick breaky, throw her cot out, chuck in some toys, put her mozzie net on and jump on the wall. She plays away while we climb and once she needs a sleep (more on naps to come), we swiftly convert the cot back into her sleep space, chuck the shooze shade on, throw in bunny, and jump back on the wall. She wakes just before lunch and one of our favourite things to say, as you unzip the cover, is “what’s out Kaia’s window this morning” she smiles, looks around and really takes it all in.
It’s incredible the places she goes to sleep and wakes up in and I can’t even imagine what it must feel like for her to open her eyes to a new beautiful spot every time with mum and dad staring down at her. We then head off for some lunch. The afternoons are all about Kaia, we aim to get a swim and play in somewhere before the afternoon nap then wake up and decide what we are doing for dinner. We may head out somewhere or stay in, depending on weather and what else has happened that day.
It’s somewhat of a loose daily routine that prioritises us and puts life first. It’s incredibly important to us and we are so grateful to be able to provide this for us and for her.
Life is a crazy thing and although it feels like we don't really know what we are doing, we know which direction we want to be heading and that is that life always comes first, and the rest we will just figure out along the way.
Til next time,
R