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Jaci Velasquez is an award–winning musical artist who's been honored by secular and Christian award shows alike, including the Grammy Awards, Latin Billboard Awards and Dove Awards. Loved the world over, Jaci has sold more than 3.5 million Christian and Latin albums and has had 16 number–one radio hits. She and husband, Nic Gonzales (frontman for Salvador), welcomed their first child, son Zealand, in November 2007.

What's being a mom like for you?

It's amazing. And it's really crazy. I used to say to my family, "Well, honestly, the plan is that nothing is going to change. We are just going to have a baby and everything is going to stay the same." If you're a mom, you know that is just not realistic. Everything changes. We have a good baby—and our whole universe has been rocked. Zealand has also changed the way my husband and I look at the world. He's a little light on this earth. And we get to see how God is so real and miraculous in the life of this little boy.

How has your life changed since Zealand arrived?

I don't sleep. I think the most I've slept is about five hours in a night since he was born. He's pretty good, but we are still doing the breastfeeding thing. With my lifestyle, that's really difficult, but it's really important to me. Even when I'm away from him—and I've only had to be away a few times overnight—I still have to wake up because I have to do what Zealand would be doing if I were with him. So, there is no rest for the weary.

Has anything else changed?

My feelings about home have changed. I'd rather be home than anywhere else. And when I look at all our furniture, I ask, "Can he hurt himself on that?" Everything is based around Zealand. We have a white couch—white fabric—and for now, it's not so bad. He slobbers on it and leaves little stains, but wait about three months, and it's going to be a different story. It's the little things like that I never thought in a billion years would change, but they're already changing.

What do you do when you get a chance to play?

I put on makeup. If you have a baby, you know you typically get about five minutes for makeup, if that. Once your baby starts making noise, you can't even focus to put your liner on very well. So my playtime is putting my makeup on, tweezing my eyebrows—every little bit. I also like to roam aimlessly at T.J. Maxx. Sometimes I'll buy something or other times I'll just window–shop. Another favorite thing I do for fun is go see movies all by myself. I've always been like that, but more so even now. It's a real treat for me.

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