Tameka Yallop's first Mother's Day

Motherhood changes everything and new mums Tameka and Kirsty Yallop are experiencing that as the pair celebrate their first Mother’s day with daughter, Harley.

It’s been a time of immense joy, love, and learning.

“I think I have learnt the most in the last seven months than I have in my entire life. Just learning everything to do with Harley, to do with pregnancy and sort of the transition that Kirsty went through, it's mind blowing.” said Yallop.

Being a professional athlete as well as studying is something Yallop had been balancing thanks to a routine. But babies don’t work to other people’s schedules and so the 29-year-old has had to start using time differently.  

“I definitely felt like before Harley, I was a lot more rigid in sort of the way I approached my study. And I would start things early, just to make sure they were done on time, instead of sort of rushing around at the end, and now I think I'm definitely a lot more time conscious.”

The same principles apply to the way Yallop approaches football training and game day.

“I used to have a sleep in, banana and blueberry pancakes before a match, and completely chill out, not do anything that exerts my energy. Now it's I get up when she gets up. If I've had a bad night's sleep, then I just deal with it. It means I just have more coffee before the game. It's definitely changed a lot.”

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“But I think especially after the first couple weeks of having her, getting back into training I felt like every session was under fatigued. And I was just under the pump and struggling to put one foot in front of the other but your body definitely gets used to it.”

“I think the sleep deprivation was definitely the thing that I kind of was least aware about. And I guess trying to train while fatigued as well, but in saying that, I would do it all again 100 times over.”

But dealing with fatigue and getting used to sleep deprivation is worth it for all the little moments as Yallop explains.

“I mean, it's the most amazing thing to sort of wake up in the middle of the night and be so tired and you go into your little girl's room and she's smiling. You're like why are you so happy at 1am but I love it, I wouldn't change it for the world.”

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Tameka’s wife Kirsty, herself a former professional footballer, echoes those sentiments.  

“We're definitely super lucky to have Harley now and our life has definitely changed for the better. But it's still very much the same. Like we still do the same things. We still like to do the same things. We just have a little friend that we get to take everywhere.” said Kirsty.

Having two professional footballers as mums means Harley already has a ball at her feet. But with one mum a Football Fern and the other a Westfield Matilda, Harley will have two teams to support – and two teams to potentially play for.

“I think everyone that we come across that knows I'm Aussie and Kirsty's Kiwi has asked us who this little one’s gonna play for. So it's definitely been a hot topic. And I think we've decided that whatever sport she wants to play, we'll be happy with too. We'll let her choose.”