Meet our Cover Stars

OHbaby! checked in with some of our gorgeous cover stars and gleaned some timeless wisdom out of the mouths of our babes.

Eva graced the cover of our first-ever issue back in autumn 2008. “I remember thinking it was a bit clichéd, having my own child on the cover” says Eva’s mother and OHbaby!’s managing director, Angela Pedersen. “But at the same time it made it quite special as well. I remember being in the studio with her while our art director, Sue, styled her for the photographs. Sue had a clear vision of what she wanted and it was achieved, which was great. Eva was just such a cute happy baby. She loved the little bath she was in and wanted to put the rubber duck in her mouth all the time. We had to move it away and run back behind the photographer and be a goof ball, making her laugh and smile … she was so obliging.”

Eva is now ten and in year six at school. She still has a sweet gentle nature and is also organised, determined and creative. She enjoys sports, swimming, drawing, eating watermelon and hanging out with her family. “Eva has a beautiful tenderness about her” says Angela. “She wears her heart on her sleeve and thinks deeply. She’s also very welcoming of new people and makes friends easily.” When Eva grows up she wants to be a police officer or an engineer.

OHbaby!: If you could give a few general tips to NZ parents, what would they be?

Eva: Don’t be a slave to your children. Be strict but not too strict – medium strict. And stay together, don’t get divorced.

OHbaby!: What do kids really need from their parents?

Eva: LOVE … and quality time.

Luca made his debut on our spring 2011 cover, wearing a magician’s hat and a mischievous grin which worked a treat with the coverline: the magic of play, spark your child’s imagination. His mother Michela remembers he charmed everyone at the photoshoot; smiling, being cheeky, hiding under the hat and playing peek-a-boo. Nearly seven years on, it seems nothing much has changed. “He is very cheeky still” says Michela. “He still makes people around him laugh and smile. He’s a lot of fun to have around, sometimes a little crazy but always charming and kind. And underneath it all, he’s a sensitive soul. He has a great imagination which is often put into doing drawings and making up stories.”

Luca is now seven and in year four at school. He likes swimming, playing soccer and cricket, and reading. He also loves Rainbow’s End, going to the movies and building in Minecraft. Minecraft has inspired him to want to be a designer/builder of houses when he grows up. Otherwise he’d like to be a toy or game designer or a police officer.

OHbaby!: If you could give a few general tips to NZ parents, what would they be?

Luca: Always be nice to your children. If you can take a day off work and spend it with them, you should. Take your children to fun places.

OHbaby!: What do kids really need from their parents?

Luca: Love. Always love your children and show them you do. Make them happy.

Coco-Sabine graced our spring 2008 cover, sporting pink and white polka dots and holding a gerbera. The butterfly was superimposed into the image. Her mother Shiree remembers the photoshoot well. “The kids were all a bit serious to start with, so I put on my early childhood teacher hat and got them all laughing at my seriously bad acting skills. The boys loved the food, the girls loved their outfits. Coco-Sabine was a very happy baby and toddler. She had a twinkle in her eye then and still has it now. She wakes up happy and shares it with us all day.”

Coco-Sabine is now 12 and is in year eight at school. She plays the drums and loves to dance – she does hip hop, jazz and musical theatre. She also likes going to the mall with her friends and getting Starbucks. When asked what she wants to be when she grows up, the answer is impressive: an actor or an orthopaedic surgeon.

While most 12-year-olds don’t know what an orthopaedic surgeon is, Coco-Sabine has personal experience with their work. She suffered a horrific skiing accident in Queenstown at the age of nine which left her with multiple broken bones. She was airlifted to Dunedin hospital and flown to Starship 10 days later, where she spent weeks and had numerous operations. “Throughout this she was an absolute champion” says Shiree. “Her surgeons and nurses were always amazed at her resilience and her positive attitude. She was able to reach out to so many other children during her days on the ward too; she was brave and showed them how to be brave. Even the cleaning staff knew her by name, and she was recognised around the hospital by so many.” Thankfully Coco-Sabine has now fully recovered and her zest for life continues.

OHbaby!: If you could give a few general tips to NZ parents, what would they be?

Coco-Sabine: Be kind like my mum. Be cool, don’t embarrass your kids. I always like it when my parents spend time playing with us and also when they don’t get mad about us not putting our shoes in the basket at the front door.

OHbaby!: What do kids really need from their parents?

Coco-Sabine: Hugs and kisses, and saying ‘I love you’.

Jesse charmed the masses on our spring 2011 cover. His mother, Angela Pedersen, actually had a different cover planned for the issue but the shots didn’t come out as they’d hoped. “It was a last-minute decision to put Jesse on the cover instead. I’d recently had our photographer take some shots of Jesse just for our family, and this one stood out with the team as a suitable fill-in. I remember the day we took those photos. It was at home and Jesse was his usual super-happy self.”

Jesse is now eight and in year four at school. He enjoys camping, Minecraft and swimming. Angela says he’s still a joyful, happy-go-lucky and affectionate child. “Jesse can turn most people’s frowns upside down. He has an amazing way of looking at the things we would perceive as negative and finding the gold in them – this can have a profound effect on us. He has such an amazing mind too, creating all sorts of robots and contraptions for his career as a robotics engineer. He doesn’t think ‘When I grow up I’ll be a robotics engineer’ – he already is one now and he draws and writes his ideas down in a little journal!”

OHbaby!: If you could give a few general tips to New Zealand parents, what would they be?

Jesse: I agree with Eva’s answer. Also, parents should give punishments on a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ basis.

OHbaby!: What do kids really need from their parents?

Jesse: LOVE … obviously!!