As the saying goes, mother knows best!
Before Weekend TODAY co-anchor Kristen Welker signs off for maternity leave, she's getting some sage parenting advice from three special moms in her life — her mother, Julie Welker, her childhood friend Laura Lees Nagle and colleague Dylan Dreyer.
The four ladies caught up via video conference recently to talk all things motherhood, and Julie even reminisced about young Kristen, who she remembers as an energetic and brave girl.
"Once, I got a call from nursery school that Kristen had broken her leg because she was pretending to be Wonder Woman and jumped off a chair," Julie recalled. "That shows you how active she was as a child."
When Kristen was still a kid, Julie would often bring her to work. It ended up being a blessing in disguise, helping foster a close bond between mother and daughter. "Spending time with your girl — and the two of you know with your children — is one of the most important things you can do," Julie said.
"Just spending the time getting to know them, having them get to know you, getting to know the work you do, and nothing beats spending time with them."
At home, Kristen and her mom and dad would share daily meals together. "One of the things we held dearly was having dinner every night, as a family," Julie explained. "That allowed us to talk and to recap the day and to learn what experiences Kristen had had and to tell her about our experiences and our work ... There's nothing I feel that was more important than that time."
Julie always encouraged her rambunctious daughter to embrace her true self and said she plans on passing along that same lesson to her granddaughter.
"I would just tell your daughter to be herself. Just as we wanted you to be yourself."
Julie added that she's "absolutely ready" to be a grandmother. "I will spoil, I will treat, but mainly I can't wait until she gets old enough to go shopping."
And when any challenges come up? "The best advice is to call your mom!" Julie joked.
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Dylan, who is now a mom to two boys and is expecting a third child in November, agreed with Julie's judgment. "You need your mom," she told Kristen. "You need the grandparents around because they know everything and you know nothing."
But, Dylan added, "There's this moment of, you just want it to be you and (husband) John, and look at each other and say, 'We got this.'"
Nagle, one of Kristen's oldest friends, is a mom of two girls. She revealed a hot tip Julie shared with her: "She taught us, 'This too shall pass' and I think that's so true with children. The issue of this hour is going to change to the issue of the next hour."
With all the ups and downs of motherhood, Julie reminded Kristen to document and keep on creating new family memories. "You record it, write it down, take photos and again, the most important thing is to spend as much time with her."
In April, Kristen and her husband, John Hughes, opened up about their experience struggling with infertility and announced on TODAY that they are expecting their first child, a baby girl, with the help of a surrogate.
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