The Mac family is expanding, with the news that Sam and fiancée Rebecca James are expecting baby number three!
The popular Sunrise weather presenter revealed the wonderful news live on air on Wednesday March 4, to the surprise and delight of hosts Natalie Barr, Matt Shirvington and Edwina Bartholomew.
Confirming they’re already 20 weeks along, the proud father-of-two couldn’t contain his excitement as he spilled their big secret.
“We are expecting baby number three!” he said.
A wonderful surprise
In keeping with tradition, they’ve decided not to find out the gender ahead of time.
“I love the surprise element,” Sam said.
The couple followed up the announcement with a big reveal on Instagram, sharing a series of adorable family photos – that they revealed took some bribery to capture!
“Baby Mac #3 coming this July,” they wrote. “The negotiations involved to get a 3 year old to appear in a photo…Wowsers.
“You’ll notice a bribery cookie, we had a bubble machine, I think at one point I even promised Margot a Pony.
“But we got there! Bec is doing so great & Mabel is super excited to get her turn at being a big sister! Bring it on.”
Celebrity congrats
The well wishes came flooding in thick and fast from the couple’s famous friends.
“Beautiful news!!!” wrote Sally Obermeder. “This is the nest news xx,” added Edwina.
“Triple Mac!! Amazing news,” Natalie commented, while The Morning Show co-host Kylie Gillies shared, “So beautiful. Congrats Team Mac.”
A COVID love story
Introduced by a mutual friend “on social media”, Sam and Rebecca began their relationship during the COVID-19 lockdown.
With Sam based in Sydney and Bec in Melbourne, it was six long months before they were even able to meet in person.
“We just started chatting and we literally spoke sometimes just online, sometimes on the phone, every single day for almost six months before we could meet each other in person before the borders were open and it lined up,” Sam tells TV WEEK.
“So when we actually met in person for the first time, we felt like we already knew each other and we’d kind of built this friendship based on just supporting each other through a challenging time. There was some depth to it already.”
Within a year, Bec relocated to Sydney – and the couple’s life has flourished ever since!
“We had a house another year after that and a baby another year after that. And then two years after that, another baby and we’ve started launching a business together,” Sam reflects. “It’s just been go, go, go.”
After welcoming their first daughter, Margot Grace, in September 2022, the couple announced their engagement on December 30, 2023.
Their second daughter, Mabel August, was born in August 2024.
Fresh start in the county
In October last year, the family relocated from Sydney to Melbourne after what Sam called a “lightbulb moment” seeing his daughters playing in the backyard of their grandparents’ house near the Yarra Valley.
“The lizards, kookaburras & kangaroos lit up their faces with such joy & wonder. We knew that was the childhood we wanted for them,” he explained. “The grandparents are now 9 minutes away instead of 9 hours.”
Moving closer to their family has been perfect for the couple and their young daughters.
“We’ve got more space. We’re out near the Yarra Valley, so the girls are going to have trampolines and cubby houses and so much space,” Sam tells TV WEEK.
“And I know that Bec’s going to have that support, particularly when I’m on the road with work. So it was the right decision and it’s a big adjustment, but I’m glad we’ve made it.
“The beauty of my role with Sunrise is that I could kind of be based anywhere because I’m somewhere different almost every day.”
Still, packing up and leaving his girls never gets any easier.
“[Margot] says, ‘Daddy goes on big aeroplane, fly away for work,’” he recalls. “It breaks my heart. [But] she knows that I’m doing it for the family.
“She grasps that I’ll be back as soon as I can. ‘Two more sleeps till Dad’s home,’ which is really sweet.
“Bec will put [Sunrise] on in the morning, but rarely would we hold [her attention] for more than two minutes because she wants to watch Bluey, Peppa Pig, PAW Patrol, PJ Masks!”
