Balancing work and family life in a pandemic is no easy task.
In a new interview with People, “Superstore” star America Ferrera talked welcoming her second child in May and working from home with two kids in the house.
“Oh my goodness, it’s a world’s difference. Everything’s been so compounded by the pandemic and by quarantine, and truly not being able to have the extended network of family and friends that one would normally have when you bring a new baby home to hold the baby and give you a break or to help,” she said. “My son went everywhere with me. I went back to work when he was only 10 weeks old and I would hand him to, like, a camera grip. I’d be like, ‘You hold him. I’ve got to go over here.’”
Ferrera said that being a mother of two “can be overwhelming,” but she is still finding ways to find time for herself.
“Working from home is particularly difficult as Mommy because if he or she smells me — and they smell me anywhere in the vicinity — then it’s just, ‘Mommy mommy mommy,'” she said. “That’s all they want, regardless of them having Dad or when we’re lucky enough to have someone helping us out.”
Talking about her newborn daughter, Ferrera said, “Whenever there is an occasion for a new face, she just bursts into tears. She doesn’t know what to do with new faces, so hopefully she’s young enough that this will all start to get better before it can really start to stick with her.”
She added, “I could never have imagined that we would be growing the family in this circumstance, but it’s also been wonderful because it has forced us to really just spend time as a family of four and really get our rhythm of just being our little family. As challenging as the year has been, I think there will be a lot of fond memories of this time of really having to slow down and take the time to be together and sink into family life.”
