The new addition is loved.
Heather Rae and Tarek El Moussa are opening up about welcoming their newborn son, Tristan, last month, and how the family is adjusting to the new bundle of joy.
Speaking with ET's Cassie DiLaura at their home in Orange County, California, the couple gets candid about their new life and gave ET the exclusive first look at their little boy.
“I didn't think I'd be this obsessed with him. I thought, you know, 'Oh, I'd be OK going to dinners' or 'I'd be OK going on the little trips' and it's hard to even go to the doctor or, like, leave the house at all or leave him at all to even shower and get ready. Now we have this little thing we have to protect for the rest of our lives and he's so precious," Heather Rae says. He's such a good baby. I have this insane bond with him that I didn't know I was going to have and I don't think you can experience that until he's here and you have those feelings."
Tarek, who is already a dad to Taylor, 12, and Brayden 11, whom he shares with ex-wife Christina Hall, says fatherhood is different for him this time around.
“You know, I'm older now, I'm more established, I'm a little bit calmer," he says. "So, you know, I'm finding with Tristan I'm able to be a lot more present, meaning I don't have a million things racing through my mind. So every night, we get some one-on-one time and he lays on my chest for about an hour every night and that's where we really get to bond together."
With the addition of Tristan, the couple is finding their quality time together is now limited.
“Well, right now we are definitely not in the norm. I mean, we are not, you know, she just had a baby, so do we have our normal one-on-one time? No, we don't. Do we get as much time together? No, we haven't,” Tarek says.
Heather Rae adds, “Yeah, so that has been hard because we love spending time together, but we know the importance right now is Tristan and what he needs, and [Tarek] understands that too, so, you know, we try at night when he's holding Tristan, we get in bed together, we'll put on a show, we snuggle, but he's busy. He's in and out, rushing around. I'm on maternity leave right now, so I'm at home. I have a lot of moments with Tristan, but our time will come back.”
Tarek says his children, Taylor and Brayden, have shocked him with how well they are handling Tristan’s arrival.
“I mean, I was shocked about how excited they actually were when they found out she was pregnant because throughout her entire pregnancy, I mean, Brayden was stalking her. 'Let me see the app. Is the baby a pear? Is it a grape? Is it a banana?' And then, you know, Taylor's just been so excited through the whole thing, and I have this one photo that I took with the kids right after the baby came out and the kids just look happier than they've ever looked,” he confesses.
“Brayden's like, ‘He looks like me. He looks just like me.’ It's so cute," the Selling Sunset star shares. "They wanted to hold him. Brayden's arm got tired. He's like, ‘Oh my arm hurts.’ Taylor holds him here at the house and Brayden's like, ‘He's always sleeping.' So they welcomed him with open arms and he just kind of fits in with our life.”
Heather Rae says that with the birth of Tristan, she realized she was meant to be a mother. “Everyone always said I'm like a very nurturing person and I'm really nurturing with Tay and Brayden. ... So when I thought I didn't want my own baby, everyone was shocked and then, you know, we decided to do it and he's here and now I realize what I was meant to be.”
As if the couple didn’t have enough on their plate with a newborn, they also have another exciting new addition -- their new HGTV show, The Flipping El Moussas. The 10-episode docuseries will give fans a look at the couple's personal and professional lives, as Heather Rae joins her husband in the flipping business, using her experience in luxury real estate, to bring more high-end properties his way. And Tarek shows his wife the importance of "The Four F's."
The Flipping El Moussas premieres March 2 on HGTV and Discovery+.
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