As a child, I never really appreciated the beauty of South Queensferry’s waterfront.

Growing up, the lure of the capital’s vibrant scenes; shops, cafés and restaurants, was way more exciting than my then local high street.

I’ve come to appreciate how magical it is to walk through the picturesque cobbled streets of South Queensferry, especially now, during lockdown when the crowds are all sheltering at home. I had to take advantage of this quiet rarity, and I had the perfect opportunity for this with an outdoor family photoshoot.

On the morning of the photoshoot, I set off early to allow enough time for me to do my usual location scouting. I walked around in the bright late-morning sunshine, having a rough idea of a few particular spots I wanted to check out so that I can more easily visualise the photo ideas I had in my head. After this, I had some time to spare so I took photos of the streets and buildings as I waited for Romana and the girls to arrive.

We started the photoshoot bang on 11am as planned, the light was still great and as the clouds moved, it allowed the rays to burst through, perfect, sunny and warm, the photo shoot went ahead as good as I could have imagined.

Romana works as a Radiographer and during the lockdown, both her and her husband have had to juggle their professional roles as key workers with parenting their twin girls, Nayla and McKayla.

During the photoshoot I had a lovely conversation with Romana, asking her about life as a mum to twin girls and how she has been coping with manging family life through the lockdown.

What is it like being a mum to twin girls?

The best feeling ever. I am forever grateful to have two amazing girls. Hectic and fun are the accurate combination of our life. The girls are full of life and adventure and keep me on my toes. They are at the stage where they are exploring more and understand way more so It’s an adventure.

What’s the most rewarding thing to you as a mother to your daughters?

Seeing them interacting as sisters and just enjoying each other. In these moments it’s so pure, authentic and just special. It’s those moments that you can’t explain to anyone but when they happen you just pause and take it all in. Until they start arguing about what channel to watch again!

What key values do you teach your girls as they are growing up?

I teach my girls to be authentic and love themselves from within. I want them to understand that they will not always get it right and that’s OK. We keep trying and even if we fail, we fail forward. And they are enough as they are.

How do you manage to balance work and parenthood?

We live for the moment; every day is different. Yes, we have a plan and structure, but life happens, we adjust and move on. In an ideal world I would love to just work school hours so that I can spend more time at home but it’s not my reality just now so we make the most of every day I try to be present whenever they need me and we have times set aside for family time where we relax, watch a movie, cook together or just do something fully present in the moment and that helps.

Any challenges faced during the COVID 19 pandemic?

The biggest challenge is that both myself and my husband have to go to work and put the girls in the school hub. It was hard but the hub ( rainbow hub in Knightsbridge) was absolutely amazing, the girls did not want to come home every time I went to pick them up which helped reassure us as parents that they were fine and well regardless of everything else that was happening in the world around us.

We came to the end of the outdoor photoshoot session, and we made our way back to the cobbled streets. The girls were super excited to head off for a well-deserved treat, after all, McDonald’s had re-opened since closing their doors for weeks due to lockdown, so a Happy Meal was calling their names!