Camping with preschoolers is not for the faint-hearted.

In this episode, we unpack the beautiful chaos of family camping trips, the sleep deprivation, emotional meltdowns (from kids and adults), post-surgery recovery, and the strange parenting phenomenon where you swear never again… only to start planning the next trip days later.

We share honest reflections on marriage under pressure, parenting through exhaustion, and why humour is sometimes the only survival tool. Along the way, we talk about building a brand in the middle of real life, leaning on community support, and collaborating with people who truly understand the parenting experience.

It’s raw, funny, relatable and a reminder that the messiest moments often become the memories we treasure most.

Hot messes. Big visions. And muddy shoes.

Key Takeaways

• Camping can seriously test your patience (and your marriage).
• Making memories with your kids is hard work — but deeply rewarding.
• Parenting post-surgery adds a whole new level of challenge.
• Sleep deprivation is basically a parenting rite of passage.
• Community support matters more than we realise.
• Humour helps everything.
• Building a brand takes collaboration and understanding.
• Your parenting perspective evolves over time.
• Kids absolutely copy their siblings (for better or worse).
• Every chaotic moment is still a learning moment.

No one warns you that parenthood can change your body, your energy, and even your motivation — and that it’s not because you’re lazy, failing, or “not coping well enough.”

In this episode of Hot Messes, Big Visions, Nikki and Sophia talk honestly about the parts of parenthood that rarely get said out loud:
hair loss, hormone shifts, emotional exhaustion, and the quiet loss of motivation so many parents experience after having kids.

This isn’t about fixing yourself.
It’s about understanding what’s actually happening — and realising you’re not alone.

• Why hair loss after kids is more common than we admit
• How hormones impact motivation, mood, and energy
• Why “rest” doesn’t always fix exhaustion
• The guilt parents carry for not bouncing back
• Why this isn’t a personal failure — it’s a support gap
• How naming the reality can be the first relief

If you’ve ever thought “Why am I still so tired?” or “What’s wrong with me?” — this episode is for you.

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In this episode, we talk about:

But you have childcare… why are you still tired?”
We got asked this recently and honestly, it stopped us in our tracks.

In this episode of Hot Messes, Big Visions, we unpack why having childcare doesn’t magically make parenting easy, why so many parents still feel exhausted even with support, and how modern parenting has quietly turned tiredness into a personal failure.

Spoiler: it’s not.

We talk about:

• Why childcare doesn’t cancel mental load (or emotional labour)

• The pressure of mini mum “girl gangs” and comparison culture

• Why parents are still everything to everyone — even after school and daycare drop-off

• How we turn any spare capacity into more responsibility (hello degrees, side hustles, and “I’ll just do one more thing”)

• And why being tired doesn’t mean you’re doing parenting wrong — it means you’re carrying a lot

This isn’t a clapback.
It’s a very real, very honest chat between friends, the kind where you laugh, nod, and think oh thank god it’s not just me.

If you’re tired even with help, you’re not failing.
Parenting doesn’t get easy when you get support, it gets honest.