Mollie King say she feels "lucky" as she opens up about motherhood and her family plans for Christmas.
The former The Saturdays singer-turned-BBC Radio One presenter, 36, recently celebrated daughter Annabella's first birthday with fiancé Stuart Broad and says she is savouring each and every milestone.
Speaking about mum life to The Standard in partnership with The National Lottery's Habitats of Hope exhibition at the Horniman Museum, she said: "It’s definitely busy and definitely a juggle. It feels like there isn’t really any downtime any more as the minute I get home, all I want is just to be with Annabella and playing with her and teaching her new things.
"She honestly has been the most special thing to ever happen to me, I feel so lucky and get so emotional talking about her because she is just complete magic. The fact that she has come into our lives, I’m just so grateful.
"She’s very vocal, she’s not saying words at the moment but she’s definitely babbling away. I think she’s going to be a bit of a chatterbox like her mum, that’s for sure."
The Ego hit-maker laughs when asked whether she thinks Annabella could take after her as a singer too, adding: "She does love her music, but who knows what she’ll enjoy."
For now, King is looking forward to making new memories with her little girl and she and her former cricket player other half are set to host Christmas together for the first time.
"We’re getting the family together," she explained. "It’s a really nice time for us to just slow down, be really present and just have the people around us that we love. We’ve got Stuart’s family and my family getting together. Stuart and I are actually hosting Christmas together, it’s our firsttime so it’s going to be pretty busy I think."
There's one thing for certain, King won't be on turkey duty.
"100 percent Stuart," she laughs. "I think if it was me it would be more like turkey dinosaurs! Stuart is a great cook so I will leave that to him."
Workwise, King is plenty busy hosting Radio One's Matt and Mollie Show with co-host Matt Edmonson, plus, her new "passion project" on the station, Future Pop.
"It is all about upcoming artists," she explains. "Most of them have never been played on the radio before so I can get behind them early doors and just share with listeners why I love them and why they should get behind them.
"I have huge hopes for them really that this time next year, they’ll be those people who are household names and possibly even festival headliners."
She has also launched podcast Where It's At: A Short History of Girlbands on BBC Sounds and while she can't contain her excitement at Girls Aloud reuniting for a tour, is playing coy on the chances of her and The Saturdays following suit.
"I swear the minute they announced this my phone went wild – it was as though I was in Girls Aloud!" she said. "It was like, ‘what about The Saturdays?’ and I said ‘lets just enjoy Girls Aloud’. I always say never say never, but I’m going to be for sure front row of the Girls Aloud concert."
Away from broadcasting, King, who is a patron for Born Free, an international wildlife charity that campaigns to "Keep Wildlife in the Wild," has partnered with the National Lottery to mark the start of COP28 by unveiling a unique exhibition called Habitats of Hope’ at the Horniman Museum and Gardens in London's Forest Hill.
The exhibition highlights lesser-known animals in the UK that have been saved from extinction with the help of funding from The National Lottery.
Speaking about getting to see the exhibition, which is open everyday from 10am - 5.30pm, free to enter and runs from now until December 10, she said: "It’s so lovely, it’s really exciting and it basically highlights what the National Lottery funding does, it shows where the money goes into all of these conservation projects, which are really helping to look after and support animals which could possibly become extinct or are endangered.
"So much money is raised by The National Lottery - £30m a week goes to the good causes. So it’snice to actually be here and to see what that money is out there doing."
