Heather Rae El Moussa’s Best Quotes About Motherhood, Parenting With Tarek

The next chapter of her life! Heather Rae El Moussa (née Young) has often opened up about becoming a stepparent and a mother.

The Selling Sunset star, who started dating Tarek El Moussa in 2019, gushed about the bond she formed with her now-husband’s children. The HGTV star, for his part, shares Taylor and son Brayden with ex-wife Christina Hall (née Haack).

In July 2022, Heather and Tarek announced that they were expanding their family. “Surprise!!! Baby El Moussa coming early 2023!! 🤍,” she captioned a maternity shoot photo at the time.

Ahead of their child’s birth, the real estate experts addressed their coparenting approach with Hall.

“Communication is important and honestly, we were talking about this earlier, it’s so nice to have a good relationship with the other parent because everyone’s happier, the kids are happier, it’s just been incredible,” Heather exclusively told Us Weekly in December 2022. “We have them 50/50. So, at our house, I’m mom to them and then they have their mom, and me and her communicate well, and we talk almost every single day about the kids and it’s just important. We’re raising good humans.”

Tarek added: “The key is just putting the kids first. Our feelings or emotions don’t matter, but the truth is, we’ve all been getting along fantastic. It’s funny, now we team up against the kids because they don’t know we talk, so it’s like, ‘Hey, I was talking to your mom, I heard what you did.'”

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The pair, who tied the knot in October 2021, welcomed their first child together in January 2023. Heather discussed her first days as a mom after introducing her son, Tristan.

“I had this whole new appreciation for moms,” the real estate agent explained to Us in February 2023. “I love being a stepmom to Tay and Bray, but having my own and carrying him and then going through the labor and going through all the experiences, it’s obviously something I’ve never experienced. … All the firsts — it’s a little nerve-wracking.”

After initially struggling with breast-feeding, Heather praised her little one for adapting to a routine.

“Even with all this going on, I genuinely love breastfeeding,” she wrote via Instagram that same month. “I love the skin to skin connection and think it’s such a beautiful bonding experience. It might be hard and challenging at the moment but it is such a special experience that I get to share with our baby boy and we’re working together to make it easier like we’re a little team.”

Scroll down for Heather’s candid quotes about becoming a mother:

“We coparent very well together,” Heather shared with Us about spending time with Tarek’s children. “We communicate daily about the kids, and they’re the most important thing in the world to all of us. So, as long as the kids are happy, we’re all happy.”

After exchanging vows, Heather reflected on her new role as a stepmother.

“These kids are truly our everything, so we decided to say our vows first to the kids and second to each other. This is just a tiny portion of what I said to the kids, but I truly meant every word: When your daddy and I decided to be fully committed, I was 100 percent committing myself to you too,” she wrote via Instagram. “I am beyond honored to be your bonus mommy. Thank you for allowing me to love your daddy with all my heart. I love you both more than you will ever know.”

“I’ve never been this exhausted, but also this happy in my whole life 🙏,” the former model captioned an Instagram selfie with her son.

Days after giving birth, Heather offered a glimpse at home life with her newborn. “Just mommy & daddy doing mommy and daddy things 🤍 This was taken the day we took our baby boy home and we were filled with a million different emotions,” she wrote via Instagram. “So much excitement but also this overwhelming feeling of wanting to protect him and keep him safe.”

“New to the El Moussa crew 🥺🤍🤍 Mom life is staring at him non stop because I can’t get enough 🫶🏻,” the Netflix personality gushed via Instagram, alongside new photos of her baby boy. “The moment I held him in my arms he became my world. I’m thinking about sharing some things like my breastfeeding experience and how Tay and Bray have been with him so let me know if that’s something you guys want to hear or if there’s anything else 🥰.”“New to the El Moussa crew 🥺🤍🤍 Mom life is staring at him non stop because I can’t get enough 🫶🏻,” the Netflix personality gushed via Instagram, alongside new photos of her baby boy. “The moment I held him in my arms he became my world. I’m thinking about sharing some things like my breastfeeding experience and how Tay and Bray have been with him so let me know if that’s something you guys want to hear or if there’s anything else 🥰.”

Heather reflected on her first days as a mom, telling Us, “I’ve been learning about the body and about babies and what our body does to help your baby survive. Like, he’ll find my breast and he’ll crawl at my stomach to find it to go feed. And I leak when he’s on me because my body knows he’s on me. So, it’s just all these things that your body can do that I never got to experience before. I have this whole appreciation of the female body.”

The TV personality opened up to E! News about the difficulties of balancing raising a newborn with being a stepmom.

“A lot of my time has been with the baby,” Heather shared at the time. “Tarek has really stepped up in the daddy role and puts them to bed every night, takes them on little trips and things because it’s hard for me to leave right now. Brayden definitely said he’s missing me. But I know that time will pass. The newborn phase is always the hardest.”

She added, “I’m on maternity leave, but soon-ish I will be going back and focusing on work,” she shared. “I have to see how I can balance everything. Having Taylor and Brayden, a husband, a dog, career and new baby. I’m going to see how we can balance it before we decide.”

The Netflix star noted that the couple have “a lot of help from family” and that both her and the Flip or Flop alum’s moms have been “incredible” since she gave birth. 

“I have never appreciated my mom and mother-in-law as much as I do now. It’s just very comforting to have them around,” she said.