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12 Honest Quotes About Motherhood From Carrie Underwood
Mar
Carrie Underwood knows the joys and sorrows of motherhood.
The singer and her husband, Mike Fisher, have two sons: Isaiah and Jacob. Since becoming a parent in 2015, she’s shared about mom guilt, breastfeeding, pregnancy loss, work-life balance and more.
In honor of her birthday, we’ve rounded up 12 parenting quotes from Underwood.
On Becoming A Parent
“I definitely feel like it’s changed me as a person. I’m happier. I’m in a better mood a lot of the time. He’ll be watching cartoons and I’ll be watching him. I’m completely in love. I love it when he’s sleepy and I get to hold him and smell him. He doesn’t know I’m staring at him and being all googly-eyed!”
On The Pressure To Seem Perfect
“I think it’s important to have a support network. We live in a world where everything seems so shiny and pretty on Instagram and Facebook. I love it when families can just be real and say things aren’t great.”
On Breastfeeding
“You feel guilty about every single thing, every decision you make, everything you do. [I plan to keep up breastfeeding] as long as I can take it. It’s hard. My supply is pretty nil. We have to supplement with formula. I’m doing the best that I can, you know?”
On Her Advice For Working Moms
“Ask for help. Accepting help is hard for me, but I’m learning. Sometimes I feel guilty that this is my son’s life: We live on a bus and we’re in a hotel room and sometimes we’re in the middle of nowhere and it’s not so great. It’s not all glamorous. We have a nanny who helps out, especially when we’re on the road. But I’d feel guilty asking someone to watch him at home while I run to the grocery store.”
On Her Miscarriages
“I’d kind of planned that 2017 was, you know, going to be the year that I work on new music, and I have a baby. We got pregnant early 2017, and didn’t work out … It happens. And that was the thing, in the beginning it was like, ‘Okay, God, we know this is, just wasn’t your timing. And that is all right. We will bounce back and figure our way through it.’ And got pregnant again in the spring, and it didn’t work out. Got pregnant again, early 2018. Didn’t work out. So, at that point, it was just kind of like, ‘Okay, like, what’s the deal? What is all of this?’ And throughout the whole process, you know, I’m writing and, like, literally right after finding out that I would lose a baby, I’d have a writing session, I’d be like, ‘Let’s go. You know, I can’t just sit around thinking about this. Like, I wanna work, I wanna do this.’ ’Cause I would literally have these horrible things going on in my life, and then have to go smile and, like, do some interviews or, like, do a photo shoot or something, you know? So it was just kind of, like, therapeutic, I guess.”
On Her Pregnancy With Jacob
“I had always been afraid to be angry. Because we are so blessed. And my son, Isaiah, is the sweetest thing. And he’s the best thing in the world. And I’m like, ‘If we can never have any other kids, that’s okay, because he’s amazing.’ And I have this amazing life. Like, really, what can I complain about? I can’t. I have an incredible husband, incredible friends, an incredible job, an incredible kid. Can I be mad? No. And I got mad … I was like, ’Why on Earth do I keep getting pregnant if I can’t have a kid? Like, what is this? Shut the door. Like, do something. Either shut the door or let me have a kid. ’And for the first time, I feel like I actually I told God how I felt. I went to the doctor to, like, confirm, another miscarriage. And they told me everything was great!”
On Working Out With Isaiah
“He has a short attention span, but he’s a pretty good workout buddy. He just wants to be a part of it, and he just wants to be around you and just do what you’re doing … He does squats often — if you ask him to do a squat he knows what that is and he can do it. He loves getting the little weights and acting like Mommy and Daddy. He’s just a lot of fun to have around.”
On Touring As A New Mom
“I’m fortunate because I get to have my little guy with me. I was so concerned about going on tour and how it was all going to work. How am I going to be a mom? How am I going to do what I do? He’s learned how to hang with us and keep up. It’s been really wonderful having him out on the road.”
On Her Unconventional Lifestyle
“I felt a little bad that he doesn’t have ‘normal’ babyhood. My friend told me I needed to cut myself some slack and said, ‘God gave him to you and he knows what you do.’ Once she said that I was like, this is the way it’s supposed to be and I should not worry so much … I give motherhood my all. I give entertaining my all. Hopefully everything will be OK and so far it has been. We are figuring it out as we go.”
On Her Messy Reality
“Sometimes I think people probably think it is, but it’s real. I love that our house is a mess and there’s toys everywhere. I’m constantly trying to make it not a mess, but it is and that’s OK. I love that my life isn’t so glamorous.”
On Talking About Her Miscarriages
“For my body to not be doing something it was ‘supposed to do’ was a tough pill to swallow. … It reminded me I’m not in control of everything. [Talking about the miscarriages felt like a] weight lifted off my shoulders. … It’s not a dirty secret. It’s something many women go through.”
On Balancing Work And Family
“If my husband were at the beginning of his career, I’m not sure we could handle it. Since he’s kind of nearing the end and won’t be traveling so much, we’re like, ‘We can figure it out for not that long.’ You make it work. When I was pregnant, I thought, How am I going to go on the road? How am I going to keep doing my job? I had to just give it to God and stop worrying about it. Sure enough, we figured it out.”
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