Rumer Willis Calls Raising Daughter Louetta an 'Experience I've Dreamed About My Whole Life' (Exclusive)
The new mom opens up about the "magical" experience of motherhood
Rumer Willis is embracing the beauty of mom life as she heads into the holiday season.
Speaking with PEOPLE about her partnership with Bumpsuit — which the Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood actress, 35, credits for changing both her maternity and postpartum experience — on the Armadillo carrier in an exclusive colorway, the new mom raves about 6-month-old Louetta's latest milestones.
"She just said 'Dada,' the other day which was amazing," Willis tells PEOPLE. "She's really close to fully crawling. She can scoot pretty fast across the floor."
"She's just smiley. She's such a flirt, she loves people."
Willis and Bumpsuit are debuting the Armadillo Baby Carrier in "Lou Blue," inspired by the color of the infant's eyes. The carrier also includes an embroidered weather cover, which reads, "All you seek lies within."
The phrase resonated deeply with Willis, who shares the message for other parents who may be searching for love and guidance during their parenthood journey.
"Honestly, being a mom is an experience I've dreamed about my whole life," she shares. "And what's been incredible to experience is that Lou has far exceeded any expectations or any idea or dream that I possibly had."
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Related: Rumer Willis Reveals Daughter's Name Was Inspired by Text Typo: 'Divine Intervention' (Exclusive)
The carrier comes in handy when mother and daughter enjoy days out and about together.
"One of my favorite days, and when I use the carrier the most, are Sundays. We wake up, probably around seven, and we go to the farmer's market. So what I love to do, especially when it's sunny, I like to put her in there and we kind of stroll through the farmer's market," Willis says.
"I love being able to use the cover, especially when she was little and I was so worried about germs, so that was also great."
The Armadillo carrier helped Willis bring Louetta out for some fresh air "when it was super sunny out, in the spring when she was born."
"It was nice to be able to go outside and also that she fit in it. She was pretty tiny, and so she didn't really fit in any other carriers. She was super small and the armadillo was, I think the only one that actually fit her little body."
The carrier also gets some use indoors, as lately, Lou has been joining Willis in the pottery studio.
"After we get home from the farmer's market, depending on what we're doing that day, sometimes my partner and Lou and I have been going to the ceramic studio," Willis shares. "We've been taking classes there recently and when I don't have a friend coming to help or my partner, I have the Armadillo."
"I strapped her with the carrier to my back last time and I was running around the studio, glazing stuff. I was working the pottery wheel and it was pretty incredible."
Willis also takes advantage when it's time to get things done around the house. "If she's not wanting to nap or she's feeling active, we'll put her in it and get some chores or work done, and she loves it."
Lou was strapped into her Armadillo as she enjoyed her first concert recently, watching dad Derek Richard Thomas perform.
"I took her to her dad's show at the Troubadour and I had her in the carrier with the little headphones on," Willis says. "She had such a great time."
With the fun moments together, there have also been a few harder parenting moments, like a recent illness taking out the whole family of three at the same time.
"We had one tough night but other than that, I'm wildly impressed by the resilience of children. She was sick and had a fever, but she was still Lou. She was still smiling," the new mom says. "She's just a little trooper and I'm so impressed by her. And now, we're all doing fine."
Sharing the highs and lows and building community around the motherhood experience has been a "really beautiful" plus for the actress to experience.
"I think what people say about it taking a village to raise a baby is totally true. And It's been lovely to be able to have friends that also have young children and just being able to experience positive parenthood with them and see the milestones that each of our kids are hitting at different times," Willis says.
"Children are wonderful and these magical, little beings and truly getting to witness and be around them as they discover the world, it's incredible."
Also incredible for the new mom is seeing Lou continue to bond with all the people who love her most.
"I think inherently, some of the most magical parts of myself, are definitely from them, so I feel like that will be passed down to her," Willis says of parents Bruce Willis, 68, and Demi Moore, 61. "I love watching them with her."
"I also think it's amazing, being able to discover myself as a mom and her dad and I discovering ourselves as parents," she continues. "We're discovering how we want a parent, and how we're taking the things certain things from our parents, but also how we're kind of forming new things for ourselves because there's so much that we have access to that our parents didn't."
Louetta also enjoys close ties with her aunts, Rumer's sisters — Tallulah, 29, and Scout, 32, plus younger sisters Mabel, 11, and Evelyn, 9.
"They love her so much," Rumer raves. "It's such a joy to see. They're just obsessed with her."
With the holidays on the horizon, Rumer says she's looking forward to "all the presents for me going to Lou."
Of her wider family, she says, "We always do stuff together at Christmas and everybody has a stocking and to just be able to see her there this Christmas, it's exciting. Christmas is such a big holiday for us."
The 'Lou Blue" Armadillo carrier retails for $275 and is available now on bumpsuit.co, the perfect gift for new moms this holiday season.
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Read the original article on People.