THE MAKING OF

The Yummy Mummy Manifesto took almost three years to write and two years to illustrate and develop. I illustrated this book and website using a size four paintbrush, white Bristol plate paper and many bottles of super black ink. The colors and wild wallpaper and textile patterns were developed with my friend and design partner Maree Oaten. Bravo babe! Writing  the book was step-by-step and stage-by-stage, tracking my swelling belly with the style chapters and addressing issues like nutrition and fitness both before and after my baby came along. Writing Yummy was labor intensive (bad pun intended!) and it had to be. Pregnancy and mothering is a very detail oriented business, but one finds that the details blur and then melt away, replaced swiftly by new challenges and demands. I have a three year old son today and am wobbly and uncertain around newborns all over again. I give maternity dresses to girlfriends and can barely remember what it was like to lie with five pillows under my aching third trimester body desperate for sleep! The amnesia of motherhood is created by the sheer velocity of our progress. In saying this I hope that my book serves as a vivid guide and comfort through the first three years of the journey.

When you write a book about an endless subject, there is always more to add. In that spirit this site is an extension of my life beyond its pages, an accessible and lively spot where I can include revelations, scrummy recipes, inspiring links and useful networks.

I like to think of this site as a sunlit corner of my big old hand-made Balinese living room table in Brooklyn, a good place to start cutting out a dress, unspool a ball of wool, grate some carrots, read a juicy article or have yet another cup of tea. Welcome!