The Dreamers - Lucy Ivers

August 11, 2025

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Written by

August 11, 2025

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Written by

Welcome to the new Dreamers series, created in collaboration with Emma Wand Photography—where we celebrate the beauty, chaos, and magic of real family life. This month, meet Lucy Ivers: mumma of two and nature-lover, sharing her honest reflections on motherhood—camping trips, beach dips, family cuddles, and all the fleeting moments that make it magical.

Tell us who is in your family and where is home right now?

It’s me, Andy and our two daughters Teddy (3) and Goldie (4 months). We live in Burleigh Heads and we love it! We moved here from Brisbane and after a year of travelling Australia in our camper van, we knew we weren’t willing to live far from the beach.

We love the buzz of Burleigh for now, but our dream is to one day move to a small coastal town.

What’s your favourite way to start the day as a family?

(Coffee, cuddles, chaos?)

Family cuddles in bed is customary around our place, ideally followed by a barefoot walk down to the beach and a morning dip. That’s our absolute favourite way to start a day. But Goldie has a penchant for partying all night long, so nowadays it’s more common to have Andy take the girls out first thing and do the breakfast routine so I can get a little sleep. I’m VERY much looking forward to getting back to our morning ritual.

What are the rituals or routines that bring your family joy—even on the messiest days?

Sunset dinner. We used to take our dinner out to the beach all the time when we lived in the van. We would sit on perfect, quiet dunes and look for whales, and wonder why we were the only ones there. We guessed that people were still returning from work, or taking their kids to sport, or just dealing with witching hour at home. And we promised each other that when we settled somewhere, we’d NEVER let something so trivial as work or household stuff get in the way of being on the beach for sunset. And of course we do get stuck in silly little ruts and forget our priorities from time to time. But never for too long. We make a huge salad bowl up (pasta salad, nacho bowl, poke bowl etc), bring three forks and share our big dinner by the ocean. And it’s the most joyous time.

How has life changed since welcoming Goldie to the family? What surprised you most about becoming a parent of two?

I was so pleasantly surprised to instantly experience that love explosion. Everyone said when you have your second, your love doesn’t divide, but multiplies. It was just so instantly true. I was also surprised to learn just how much harder it is to really soak up this time in the baby bubble with the two. I expected to spend all day sniffing her head and being joyously nap trapped. But there’s just so, so little time. Last time I had a baby, We didn’t have any other responsibilities other than to love her and be with her. But this time we have a toddler who needs to be fed (like, multiple times a day!!) and deserves attention and play and help. There’s not enough time to just sit and watch Goldie grow and change by the moment. Thankfully I’ve completely neglected the house in favour of head sniffing.

What are the biggest lessons Teddy has taught you about parenting?

Surrender. It’s such a great lesson to learn and we both find ourselves learning it over and over. It’s amazing how pleasant life can be if you’re not clinging to order and control all the time. I love the feeling of remembering that I can surrender to the moment, to this season. It’s unbelievably liberating.

Do you both share a similar parenting style or do you balance each other out in different ways?

I think we do share a very similar parenting style. Part of it came out of some great talks about some approaches we’d like to take, and what our family values would be. But most of it came pretty naturally. I think we’re very lucky - it’s awfully rare that we butt heads over anything to do with parenting.

Any tried-and-tested parenting philosophies or approaches you lean on to navigate the tougher moments?

Water. Everything is helped by water. When things are tough and we need a reset,

it’s all about water.

- Get into it (bath, shower, beach, pool, creek)

- Drink it (a nice icy cold cup)

- Look at it (go look at a natural body of water)

What’s a recent moment that made you both laugh until you cried (or cry-laugh)?

The day Goldie was born, Ted came to see her in the hospital. One of the first things she said to her was “Goldie, in our family we always have a try. Even if you don’t like red capsicum you still try, and if you like it- that’s great! And if you don’t like it- no problem!” It was so funny to hear her parrot our dinner time rules and pass them on as first point of order.

What are your favourite ways to slow down and connect as a family?

Camping! We used to be able to get away in our camper van, but now we’re a family of four we don’t all fit in there anymore. So we’ve dusted off the bell tent and we’re back to basics. But when we’re camped up somewhere lovely, reading books, taking photos, hiking and swimming… it’s when we’re all at our very best.

What values or lessons do you hope to pass on to Teddy and Goldie as they grow?

Andy and I are really committed to modelling our values and getting the kids involved from the get go. It’s really important to our family that we speak up and stand up for people more vulnerable than us. We bring the kids to protests, talk about our privilege, and they’ve both tagged along as we’ve volunteered for the Greens party in lead ups to elections. We are deeply passionate about the environment, and we’re so proud to watch Teddy pick up rubbish at the beach of her own accord. We do our absolute best to minimise plastic in our lives and it’s really moving to hear Ted tell us that “we don’t like plastic because it’s bad for the earth”. We treat the earth and its animals like they’re family. Because they are.

If your family had a motto or mantra for this season of life, what would it be?

The two most common phrases in our house:

“We always have a try” “We’re so lucky”

Quick Fire Questions:

Favourite song to dance around the kitchen to?

Cell block Tango - from Chicago (not the most toddler appropriate lyrics, but it’s by far her favourite song)

Go-to family meal when everyone’s a bit hangry?

A big pasta

One word to describe each of your kids?

Teddy- delightful, Goldie- squishy

Weekend ritual you never skip?

Farmers markets

Most used item in your nappy bag?

Dribble bibs

Any fave Banabae Items?

Andy and Teddy have built quite the collection of Banabae hats and caps. They’re always in them. I’m OBSESSED with the Twilight robe - if I’m at home, I’m in it. And the Early Riser swaddle for Goldie is the most versatile piece ever. Swaddle, pram cover, light blanket, sarong for me, we lay it on the ground for tummy time anywhere. Love it!