‘7 Little Johnstons’: Liz Johnston Reveals Her Biggest ‘Joy’ and ‘Challenge’ Since Welcoming Baby Leighton (Exclusive)

Liz Johnston is soaking up every moment with daughter Leighton Drew after welcoming her firstborn baby with partner Brice Bolden in November 2023. The 7 Little Johnstons star, 22, opened up to PopCulture.com about her first six months as a mom as Tuesday’s episode of the TLC show featured her breaking the news of her pregnancy to her family.

“Motherhood has definitely been super fun. I love having a little girl,” the new mom gushed. “Watching this little girl grow up has been amazing. We started out as this little 5-pound baby and now we’re 16 1/2 pounds and full of love and joy  … we are babbling and talking and we have teeth. It’s been super fun.”

With Leighton just recently hitting her 6-month milestone, the reality personality says her daughter may have “her father’s looks” but has her mom’s personality, as she’s “very, very social,” “very talkative” and “very smiley.” The proud mom continued, “She has been laughing, giggling – she’s so much fun and we love her to death. We cannot help but smile or laugh at her because she’s just a goofy, happy little baby.”

The “biggest joy” for Liz throughout it all has been realizing how much her mom, Amber Johnston, has done for her over the years. “I feel like you really don’t know how much your mom has done until you become a mom,” she explained. “Because then you’re doing all those things that your mom did when you were a baby. I really have more appreciation for everything that my mom has done for me and for my siblings for sure. Because she did this times five and I only have one [baby]. I can’t even imagine having five kids right now for sure.”

With the joys of motherhood also come challenges, and for Liz, the biggest so far came around three weeks after Leighton was born when the infant suffered from “really bad reflux” that left her sometimes choking or turning blue. “Those nights were really hard because she wouldn’t get any relief or comfort unless she was sleeping on me,” Liz recalled. “I definitely will never – and my family will never – forget those nights.”

While Leighton has mostly outgrown her reflux at this point, Liz admitted that she “kind of” misses that stage as she looks back on how quickly time has passed. “She’s six months now and I’m just like, ‘Wow, this is going by a little too fast for me,’” she shared with PopCulture. “We’re talking about daycares and getting her into school. She’s close to sitting up on her own and she’s talking and babbling now. All I can think about was, ‘Man, those three weeks [where] we weren’t barely able to sleep at night or get any rest and now we’re here.’ It’s crazy.’ You think you wouldn’t miss those nights, but I kind of do miss when she was so tiny. It goes by so fast. So fast.”

Liz says she now understands how people go on to have two kids under two years old, but realistically, she says baby number two is “way down the road” for her and Bolden, as they want to buy or build a home before Leighton turns two. Having grown up in a large family, Liz says she does want her daughter to have a sibling or “two or three,” sharing, “I’m like, we at least have to get one more. One more is destined for the future and before I’m 30.”

7 Little Johnstons airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.