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Nicole: He's enjoying it! I don't really like it. It doesn't really fit with my wardrobe; it's not who I am. I never had to think about wearing a bra, so it's a whole new world. But you know, whatever.
Joel: I like you both ways.
Do you have help at home?
Joel: We don't have a nanny. We have our moms. They've helped us a lot.
Nicole: And we have to give credit to Benji [Joel's twin brother]. He lives six houses down. He babysits, like really babysits.
Joel: There was a day when I'd been at work all day and Nicole hadn't left the house for 48 hours, and I was like, "Let's go to a restaurant down the street," and Benj was with the baby. Then someone said they read somewhere we were out all the time. It's crazy. You leave the house for one hour and everyone's like, "She's out! She's leaving the baby!"
How is Lionel as a grandfather?
Joel: He's a great granddad. He's the best. She loves him. You have to be around Lionel to see how he is. He's just happy.
Nicole: I just think without even consciously talking about it, the family has gotten closer. [Harlow] is really the focus, and everyone has the same goal: to love her and to make her happy. When Joel and I got together, he was always like, "Let's go to your dad's, let's go to your mom's," so we started going over there more. My dad always says Joel really brought the family together. [Joel blushes.]
Have you talked about how you want to raise Harlow?
Nicole: Joel joked my whole pregnancy that he thought he would be the strict parent because I'm so laid- back and free-spirited.
Joel: She's the strict one!
Nicole: And since she was born, I've been so protective. Now Joel's like, "I'm going to be the fun parent!"
Joel: Nicole can tell the difference between a whine and a cry. I'm like, "Oh, she's making a noise, I gotta go in there." And Nicole's like, "Let her self-soothe for a minute and see how she does."
Nicole: I'm with her all the time. And she was a part of me for so long. I know when something's wrong.
What was the experience of going to jail like when you were pregnant? [Richie served 82 minutes of a four-day sentence last August for DUI.]
Joel: For her and for me, it was just, "Let's just get this over with." Nicole was just doing what she had to do, doing the right thing, going in and facing it and taking care of it. We wanted to close that chapter.
Nicole: And move on.
Do you feel healed? You've said getting pregnant saved your life.
Nicole: Did I?
Joel: So dramatic.
