Sophie Nettlefold describes herself as a 30-year-old woman living between the Mornington Peninsula’s bay and ocean beaches with her partner and their 18-month-old son, Rex. She is also the powerhouse behind Sonnet Studios — the creative agency she launched in 2017, and which opened the doors to Sorrento’s Pop Creative House last year “as a kind of meeting place and mixed-use studio space for the community of creatives, brands and businesses we work with and want to support”

As we dive into Motherhood, take time to explore our curated list of gifts this Mother's Day.

In series two, we speak with Sophie to hear about the ways in which water weaves through her mothering journey.

You’ve established a very successful creative agency. What do you do when you’re not logged into Sonnet Studios?

I love making use of where we live every day that I can, being outdoors with my family and friends. I like sharing meals and cooking together — with family, friends; anyone, really! I like de-regulating exercises like yoga, Pilates, walking, and a dip in the ocean or a pier jump for a little energiser. I don’t think I can claim that as ‘swimming'!

How would you spend a day at the springs, sans child? What would you pack? How does it feel to have uninterrupted bathing time?

I could easily fill in a whole day at the springs. The reflexology walk would need to be tracked across after each plunge; I would oscillate between a soak in a pool of the highest degree Celsius and the cold plunge maybe once or twice just to make sure I was still awake. I have never done this, but my friend recently went sans child with her headphones and listened to her favourite book while soaking. Although the sounds of the birds and the wind in the trees always put me at ease, I think being read to while soaking sounds like my idea of heaven. I would pack an Emotional Support Water Bottle, waterproof slides, and the fluffiest, comfiest, loungiest clothes I own to wear after bathing, eating solo in the restaurant, taking my sweet time.

How would you spend a day at the springs, little one in tow? Do you find it's a good way to connect as a family?

Rex loved bathing with his cousins at the springs last autumn, apart from the obvious (the huge, uninterrupted sleep he had following a good warm soak), the memories of the paddling around in the Family Pool with his cousins and aunties are something I deeply cherish from that time in our lives.

Bathing is intimacy; shared relaxation feels sacred. Relaxation is also not simply a luxury for adults — kids need to switch off from their sensory overload too.

How do you keep your creative juices flowing?

One of my weekly rituals is drinking my morning coffee while staring out to Portsea Back Beach. It’s 30 minutes to start my day and it always makes me feel less shackled to a desk, or confined to a screen and more inspired, ready for feeling creative.

What is bath time like at your house?

Bath time represents a book-end to each day for us. Tom almost always hosts the bath time ritual with Rex, it’s playful and it’s one-on-one time, it’s a chance to connect before bedtime. Sometimes it’s a shower together: Rex will stand under the waterfall, which I still remember thinking was magical as a child!

Did water play a role in Rex’s birth at all?

It was planned to be a water birth, and I always envisioned this. But lucky-and-unluckily, my birth was very quick and they couldn't fill the pool up in time!

Post-partum and throughout pregnancy, though, I would soak in bath salts and magnesium all the time as my rest ritual. It felt so freeing to feel weightless.

Growing up on the Mornington Peninsula, how was water part of your childhood

Water was and still is the conduit for family time for me. Surfing holidays with my brothers; always road tripping up the east coast in the cooler months so we could continue going to the beach. I was really caught off-guard and emotional this summer watching Rex in the rock pools at our back beach because I remember that kind of wonder so vividly from my own childhood.

In the first house my parents built with their four kids, Mum insisted on having this tub that was so big it fit all four of us — and then some. Now that I have my own family I understand the vision of family bath time and togetherness.

What role does water play now in your mothering journey?

You know, I’ve always loved the bath as a ritual for going inward, and I do feel like water cures everything. Whether it be an ocean swim, a soak in bubbles, a good cry, being in bed when there’s rain on the roof, sweating it out, ice blocks in a top-shelf drink: it’s always water based for me.

Discover more about Sophie and Sonnet Studios on socials or their website.