Enchanting Quotes About Motherhood From Amy Adams

Amy Adams knows the challenges and joys of being a parent.

The actress and her husband, Darren Le Gallo, have a daughter named Aviana. Since becoming a mom in 2010, Adams has been open about her experiences with body image, work/life balance and more.

In honor of her birthday, here are 19 quotes about motherhood from Adams.

“It’s sort of surreal. I’m so excited. It’s something I’ve always wanted, but I’ve been so focused on work that I never really focused on family. I’m just excited to sort of get to build my own traditions and to sort of see who this person is and get to learn from my child as well as teach my child about the world I live in. But I can’t wait for my child to teach me about the world I live in.”

“I read about these actresses who get on a stationary bike two weeks after giving birth and I’m like, ‘What? Where did you push your baby out of?’ Since having Aviana, I have a muffin top, and that’s okay right now.”

“I’m definitely not one of those women who make it look easy. I’m always running late — and look, there’s guacamole on my purse! But I’m more patient than I ever thought I would be, and I’m not so hard on myself anymore.”

“I was a dancer, so I sort of talked her into taking ballet. I want to be a dance mom so bad. I would love it. … But she’s not into performing, so we made a deal that she would not have to do ‘The Nutcracker’ or recitals. … It would be really fun to be the mom fighting to the front with my camera, brushing her hair really tight. … She’s very good at everything, but she just doesn’t want to be looked at. Silly girl! No, I’m kidding. She’s awesome.”

“It opened up my eyes and got me outside of myself. I hate to think that I was so wrapped up in my own stuff before I had her but I was, so now I’m able to look at things from a different lens. It took me out of myself.”

“It’s sexy to see him raising a girl and teaching her how a man should treat her in a lovely way.”

“Being pregnant finally helped me understand what my true relationship was with my body ― meaning that it wasn’t put on this earth to look good in a swimsuit. I was like, ‘Look, I can carry a baby! I’m gaining weight right, everything’s going well.’ And I’ve had that relationship ever since. I’ve been working out when I can, and I’m trying to eat in a healthful way, but losing weight is not my number-one priority. It’s part of my job to return to some semblance of what I was before. But I don’t feel I’ve ever made my career on my rockin’ bod.”

“I actually love my work more now, ’cause I feel if I’m going to be away from her, I’d better enjoy it. I’m trying to be more present in each moment of my life. She’s taught me that.”

“I saw almond milk in the fridge ― Darren drinks it, but I’d never tasted it ― and it triggered an animal response. I was like, ‘I need that,’ and I drank the entire carton in 10 minutes. I looked at Darren and said, ‘I think… yeah, I’m pregnant.’”

“Of course I have those moments: ‘I want to be a good mom. Am I going to be a good mom?’ But I think that’s pretty normal. All my concerns and worries, they’ve been felt for centuries. Both of my sisters have kids, so I feel I’ve got a great support system.”

“I tend to wear very little makeup at home because when my daughter was even younger she saw me putting on makeup and she said, ‘You look like Amy Adams when you do that ― I just want you to be Mom.’ So I said, ‘You got it, honey.’ … When I was getting made up, she felt that was somehow attached to another part of my life and she just wanted me. But it got to the point where every time I’d take a shower she’d be like, ‘Mommy, are you going to work?’ I was like, ‘I guess I need to shower more often if she thinks I only shower when I’m going to work.’”

“Now we understand the importance of teamwork. And if we have a disagreement, we work toward a solution.”

“I definitely feel more raw and more open to empathy, and that helps. But what’s really changed is how I process work. I used to have a dysfunctional relationship with my work, where I was bringing home all my insecurities and expectations, and if I felt a director didn’t love what I did, it would just plague me. That had to change.”

“That’s a big principle inside our household ― whether it’s giving of time, giving of your resources. So my daughter has a big understanding of how important that is.”

“The first couple of years I couldn’t quite figure out the balance, and I didn’t have a clear separation between work and home. But I’m not living in this sort of obsessed space any more. It’s not that I don’t find my work important. It’s just that I now know, at the end of the day, I’ll be back home reading stories to my daughter.”

“That playground gives me the feels. My daughter, Aviana, broke her foot there. So the feels in this case is an anxiety bubbling up. It was scary. She had a buckle fracture on all the bones across the top of her foot. She was about 4 or 5. We started calling her Wolverine, she healed so quickly. My husband and I went for a run while Avi was playing with the nanny. And when she saw us, my daughter started running toward us and fell down. We had to run back to the hotel, and Darren was carrying her, and in my mind I was like, Oh, my gosh, this is so ‘Kramer vs. Kramer!’ He looked like Dustin Hoffman when he was running out of the park with the child in his arms, and I thought, Amy, what’s wrong with you? That was my mind’s way of dealing with my daughter being injured: coming up with a movie reference!”

“I did think about like the way that generationally, we pass down our own dysfunction, intentionally or unintentionally. So it made me look at how I parent and sort of what I need to own on my own in order to be a really good mom to her and what I need to let go of.”

“I have to trust that I can prioritize my family and myself while still finding the energy and focus for my work. And I believe I can. I know I can.”

“The best advice I’ve gotten as a parent is, ‘You’re not gonna be perfect.’”