Carrie Underwood covers the November issue of Redbook and while her overall look is usually very “done” I like that it’s accessible and pretty. They put her in clothing that I might wear, and I’m going to steal that idea of pairing a denim shirt with a girly skirt. Also, they get a lot of points for getting her to pose with her adorable dogs. In the interview, Carrie talks about whether she’ll have another child (it sounds like she’s trying), being a mom to Isaiah, now 19 months old, and mom guilt at having to tour and raise a kid at the same time. She has a nanny and she sounds guilty about that too, which is understandable but a lot of working moms have help there’s no shame in it.

How her onstage persona “Carrie Underwood” differs from the real “Carrie”:
“I love being onstage, but that’s different. That’s not Carrie. That’s Carrie Underwood. The rest of my life I feel like I’m incredibly disappointing to people. Like if I run into someone at the grocery store, I really don’t know what to say because I don’t have a microphone in my hand or bling on. They expect me to be ‘Carrie Underwood,’ but I’m just Carrie. I’m sorry!”

On having a second child with her husband, NHL star Mike Fisher:
“If my husband were at the beginning of his career, I’m not sure we could handle it. Since he’s kind of nearing the end and won’t be traveling so much, we’re like, “We can figure it out for not that long.” You make it work. When I was pregnant, I thought, How am I going to go on the road? How am I going to keep doing my job? I had to just give it to God and stop worrying about it. Sure enough, we figured it out.”

How online bullying has changed the way she uses social media:
“I feel like bullies have changed the way I react to the world. You want to be connected to your fans, and I used to feel like I could go through social media and talk to people, really have that communication. But you get to a point where there are too many mean people saying mean things— probably just to get a reaction from you—and eventually I was like, “I don’t know if I can do this.” You have to have a barrier up, which is sad.”

Her advice for working mothers:
“Ask for help. Accepting help is hard for me, but I’m learning. Sometimes I feel guilty that this is my son’s life: We live on a bus and we’re in a hotel room and sometimes we’re in the middle of nowhere and it’s not so great. It’s not all glamorous. We have a nanny who helps out, especially when we’re on the road. But I’d feel guilty asking someone to watch him at home while I run to the grocery store.”

How having her son, Isaiah, has changed her as a person:
“I definitely feel like it’s changed me as a person. I’m happier. I’m in a better mood a lot of the time. He’ll be watching cartoons and I’ll be watching him. I’m completely in love. I love it when he’s sleepy and I get to hold him and smell him. He doesn’t know I’m staring at him and being all googly-eyed!”

[From Redbook]

It bugs when singers have stage names for their performing personas, but I’ve never been in that position so I can’t understand the pressure they’re under. As for online bullies, I strongly feel that all social media platforms should have the type of controls that Facebook does so that you can ban and block people without others seeing their comments on your account or page. Twitter’s platform doesn’t lend itself to that unfortunately so people can talk smack and say horrible things and you just block them so you don’t see them. It’s not very effective.

Also, I’m surprised that Carrie wants another child at this point. She said for years that she was waiting to have kids because she was focused on her career, but it sounds like she’s experience motherhood, loves it and knows how to make it work, guilt aside. I still feel guilt that I have to work at night sometimes and can’t devote more time to my son. It’s always a balance.

I call this photo: Sesame OD #sesameplace

A photo posted by Carrie Underwood (@carrieunderwood) on Oct 1, 2016 at 10:10am PDT