Businesswoman, interior designer, and mother of five Joanna Gaines says having a baby at the age of 40 makes her feel young.
“I kid with people, ‘If you ever want to feel young again, have a baby at 40,'” she said in an interview with People magazine. “It’s brought this whole new thing for me where I’m a lot more laid-back. People joke that I’m the ‘Fun Jo’ now.”
“I realized there has to be spontaneity, and schedules kind of go out the door,” she added. “It’s like, ‘Hey, if I don’t get to it, it’s fine.’ I’ve just relaxed so much more, and it’s been fun for me.”
Gaines refers to her son Crew as her “little sidekick” who goes with her to work and attends her meetings.
Gaines admits having a child later in life felt different.
“I am 40, and pregnancy this time was different,” she wrote in a fall edition of the Magnolia Journal magazine last year. “I have always really enjoyed being pregnant — I tend to feel my best during those nine months. This time I felt a little more worn out than usual.”
Instead of seeing Crew as a burden in her busy life, she believes having a child later in life is a gift.
“It’s sweet how, even in the most unpredictable ways, we’re given exactly what we need for that exact moment in time. It wasn’t something I could have anticipated. But being pregnant and ‘forced’ to slow down has been a gift,” she said.
Will the Gaines family add another bundle of joy any time soon?
“Heck if I know,” Joanna told People. “I thought I was done, and then we had Crew.”
In the meantime, Gaines is promoting her newly released children’s book, “We Are the Gardeners.” Gaines says she wrote the book with her children.
“We wrote this children’s book together to tell the story of our journey in the garden—a story of trying and failing and trying again and never giving up,” Jo captioned a previous Instagram post announcing the book. “We hope it inspires you and your little ones to get outside, get your hands dirty, and grow something great!” Gaines wrote in an Instagram post.