Arum Lilea

South African fashion, beauty & travel blog

Our Maternity Shoot

Hi everyone!  I’m so delighted to share our maternity shoot pictures with you today.  This pregnancy has quite truly been the most magnificent journey and I couldn’t be more grateful for such a healthy and happy pregnancy.  I also want to say a huge thank you to so many of you for supporting me along this journey towards becoming a mom.  Over the past 10 years, I’ve shared so many details of my life on Arum Lilea and it’s just incredible to have a community of the sweetest ladies join me on this adventure of life and share your pearls of wisdom and encouragement along the way.  From my university days, to meeting Ryan, our engagement, wedding, move and now the arrival of our baby boy, it’s been so wonderful to be able to share it all with you.

What’s in my Hospital Bag

I can’t quite believe it but we have a week to go before Baby Maroun arrives!  We have had so much on the go that time has flown and now all of a sudden, we are days away from welcoming our son into this world.  I’m officially on maternity leave but I still have a few work and admin things to take care of this week but hopefully I can also get as much rest as necessary to prepare for a healthy birth.

I had already packed my hospital bag with the hospital’s suggested list of items to pack but I thought I’d ask for recommendations from moms on Instagram if there were any comfort/practical recommendations that might not make its way on to your hosptial list.  I had an overwhelming response of so many incredible recommendations for what to pack in my hospital bag so I have to say a HUGE thank you to all of you that responded.  They were genuinely such brilliant recommendations that I thought I’d document them all here so they any other expectant moms can use this post for reference too. Here’s what’s in my hospital bag.

Matthew McConaughey’s 5 Rules to Live By

During the week I happened to stumble across Matthew McConaughey’s 5 Rules to Live By which he delivered in a key note speaker’s address to graduates at a university that I can’t remember.  My initial thought was that he was an interesting choice of key note speaker but then when he began I thought, wow, this guy has learnt a few pearls of wisdom along his journey.  I’ve been wanting to reflect on the speech all weekend and then when I opened my laptop to start writing this blog post, I figured why not share my thoughts right here.  Here’s my take on Matthew McConaughey’s 5 Rules to Live By.