20 Reasons Shawn Johnson Is Our Relatable Mom BFF

As any new mom knows, after the baby is born, it takes a while to get back into the swing of regular life again. Shawn documented her first journey outside after baby Drew’s birth, and it’s easy to see she was excited about the change of scenery. “Feel like a new woman,” she wrote in the caption. We remember that feeling all too well.

Every once in a while (or often — no shame), moms of newborns just don’t get dressed. We’re so busy that we end up accidentally staying in our pajamas all day. Shawn made her PJ day into a cute Instagram post, joking about how at least one of them was getting sleep — even if it wasn’t her.

Shawn captioned this photo, “Already the obnoxious mom that matches her little girl,” but we’ve all been there. It’s hard to resist the urge to match our kids’ clothes to our own — and why should we resist? Even Kate Middleton matches with Princess Charlotte all the time.

Truth be told, Baby Drew probably had no idea that it was the holiday season, but it’s so fun to get all excited about Christmas with a newborn. Shawn decorated in November, shortly after Drew’s birth.

“Who else has their Christmas decorations up already?! We had to do it for Drew this year. The lights are her favorite!” she wrote.

Sure, Drew is crying up a storm here in her very first Thanksgiving family photo, but that’s real life. Family pictures where everyone looks perfect and the baby isn’t crying are rare, so we just have to enjoy the moments the best we can anyway. Shawn sure did, writing that she was so thankful for her beautiful little family — screaming baby and all.

“This sums up our entire holiday plans … cuddles,” Shawn captioned this photo of her and Drew lounging in their comfy clothes. The holiday season should be for rest and relaxation — even if it doesn’t always go that way. This mama’s got it on lock!

This might look like a totally cute family pic (and it is!), but Shawn revealed in the caption that it was taken right after little Drew had a “pooplosion.” Happens to the best of us. Just gotta laugh it off, like she did.

We don’t understand how babies grow up so fast. It really is like you blink and you’ll miss it, so we totally understand how Shawn feels about her little one turning 1 month old.

“All I can think about is that she’s basically in kindergarten … cue mommy meltdown,” Shawn captioned the pic.

Where does the time go?

Shawn took every precaution to keep Drew warm during this outdoor adventure. Shawn wrote alongside a laughing/crying emoji, “My little snow bunny … bundled so much she can’t move her arms.”

Hey, better safe than sorry!

Everyone who’s done this to a baby, raise your hands in the air. It’s so much fun to make our little ones dance to our favorite songs, and Shawn got into it with Drew to this country song. Drew looks like she’s having a total blast.

Motherhood makes fashion such a struggle at times. Shawn understands that just like the rest of us. In this picture, she wrote that she’s wearing a “spit up stained hoodie covered up by perfume, greasy hair that hasn’t been brushed covered up by a beanie, sleep deprived bags under my eyes covered up by glasses. Oh and my body has been bathed in boob milk and my hands obnoxiously layered in germex.”

Ooh, been there, girl.

Something we totally love about Shawn and husband Andrew East is that they make each other a priority. It’s easy to push aside a relationship when dealing with a newborn, but the couple knows that the stronger they are, the better it is for baby Drew. So, they make sure to go out on date nights when they can to keep their romance strong.

“If I stop, she cries,” Shawn told her husband in this video. It shows Shawn pacing around the kitchen in circles, pushing little Drew in a stroller to keep her asleep.

Hey, whatever it takes.

Shawn fully recognized that wrapping gifts for a newborn was a little silly, but it’s also so much fun. So who cares? “Like weirdos, we will open them obnoxiously in front of her, as if we don’t know what they are,” Shawn joked about the presents.

No matter what age kids are, they always seem to know exactly when it’s Christmas morning, and they always seem to wake up at the crack of dawn. Drew was no different, waking her mom up at 5 in the morning to start the big day. We can’t blame her, she had a lot of presents to watch her parents unwrap.

“Just trying to take a picture with my girl,” Shawn captioned the pic. “This was actually the best one.” Drew’s face is truly next-level here. Kids, they just never smile when we really want ’em to.

A great thing about a newborn is that they don’t have opinions of their own yet, and we get to help shape how they feel about things. So, now is the best time for Shawn to get Drew into the right sports team. Mommy/daughter matching jerseys help.

On a more serious note, Shawn has been open about her struggle with breastfeeding. A lot of moms face similar issues, and it must be nice for everyone to know they’re not alone. “I had such concrete plans to breastfeed and little miss just said no,” Shawn admitted on a photo of Drew drinking from a bottle “After many MANY tears and wrestling matches … she made her choice and she’s such a happier little lady now.”

As she said, motherhood is all about rolling with the punches, and sometimes plans change. That’s OK.

For generations, mothers have been capturing their first child’s every move on camera. Everything a new baby does is just so precious! It’s no wonder Shawn has been lovinglu documenting every step of Drew’s life, like when she smiled for the camera here.

OK, so Shawn’s friends are a little more famous than ours (like Nastia Liukin, who is Olympics-level famous), but we can relate to bringing the baby with us to our girlfriend catch-ups. Sorry, we’re a package deal now.