“I’m a mommy!” Síomha Ní Ruairc jokes, quoting the viral Love Island USA moment from last summer.
The former Ireland AM host welcomed her first child with her husband, Cathal Pendred, earlier this year.
Síomha tells VIP Magazine that she is “absolutely loving” motherhood.
Speaking on the red carpet at this year’s Platinum VIP Style Awards, she says: “It is better than I ever could have imagined. She has added so much to our lives. She has just added so much joy and so much love. She’s been an easy baby, which has made the transition to parenthood easier. I will give her the credit.”
As a proud Gaeilgeoir, Síomha said her daughter, who’s name she has chosen not to share publicly, is being raised bilingual.
“I speak predominantly ‘as Gaeilge’ to her, but there is a lot of English around her as well, it’s kind of how I was brought up. My mam spoke mostly Irish to me, and then everything else in their life is English.
“They will pick up English from wherever, but for me, I will try to speak as much Gaeilge as possible.”
Of course, there’s plenty of ways to pick up Irish for little ones, including Bluey As Gaeilge as well Cúla4.
“Cúla 4 is an Irish-language TV channel which will be phenomenal. Now she is not watching TV. No screens!” she says.
“Come back to me in a few months and see if I am still saying that, but for now, no screens. But you know that there is a full channel that streams it like 12 hours a day when she does get to that stage.”
Despite being a busy woman, working on both TG4 and Virgin Media as well as co-hosting How To Gael with her friends, Louise Cantillon and Doireann Ní Ghlacáin, she is in no rush back to work.
“It is funny, week six to eight, I was like, ‘I am ready to go back to work’ but then as babies do, they enter a new phase of development. Maybe I am not quite so ready just yet. So I am gonna give it another few weeks and then I will be right back in the studio with the cailíní,” she says with a smile.
“I am properly on maternity leave, it’s sensational. I reply to an email here or there, I organise stuff for later in the year, but I am really enjoying my time with cailín sa bhaile and I’m not going to be rushing out of that.”
Check out all the winners at this year’s Platinum VIP Style Awards here.
