Colleen Ballinger sure has something to sing about!
The 31-year-old actress and comedian, known for her popularYouTube character Miranda Sings, is engaged to boyfriend Erik Stocklin — and expecting her first child, due New Year’s Day.
“We’re so, so excited,” Ballinger, who is 13 weeks pregnant, told PEOPLE exclusively of the double-whammy news. “We’re so in love and can’t wait to meet this kid. It’s just all happening at once; a lot of exciting things coming quickly, which is awesome. I’m the luckiest girl in the world.”
Ballinger spilled the beans to her millions of loyal YouTube followers about her major life changes on Fridayin a joyful videoon her channel.
Erik Stocklin/Instagram
While she tells PEOPLE she “couldn’t be happier” to be a mom, pregnancy hasn’t been easy so far. “It’s been so miserable,” Ballinger admitted, laughing. “I feel like people don’t talk enough about how hard it is. I had no idea.”
“I’ve been very, very sick — just grumpy and moody,” she explained, adding that she’s suffering from “morning sickness” all day. “I’m due New Year’s Day, but I’m hoping it comes this year rather than next. I already feel like I’ve been pregnant for seven years!”
Her mother hasn’t been very helpful guiding her through the process. “When I told her, she had the best reaction — screaming and kissing my stomach. It was very sweet,” Ballinger recalled. “But she told me, ‘Oh it’s wonderful, it’s amazing, I didn’t have morning sickness, it’s going to be so easy, you’re going to love it.’ ”
Added Ballinger, “And then I’ll call her and be like, ‘Mom, I’m so sick, I have these symptoms.’ And she’ll be like, ‘Oh yeah … I did get really sick too, that is true, I had that too.’ … She set me up for failure!”
Jerritt Clark/Getty
Ballinger has learned a lot on her own so far, including that the foods she’s craving (pickles and In-N-Out Burger) are less about what shewantsto eat and more about what she cantolerate.
“I thought cravings were like, ‘This sounds so delicious,’ ” she said. “But what it really is is, ‘Everything makes me want to throw up. I need to wrack my brain for any food that won’t do that. What about a sandwich? No, gross. What about Mexican food? No, gross. In-N-Out? Yes. That’s the only thing I can eat without vomiting right now.’ So cravings are more like, ‘What won’t make me throw up.’ Not so much like, ‘I want this.’ ”
“I have a whole new perspective on pregnancy and motherhood now that I’m experiencing it,” Ballinger continued. “Just because it’s so hard and so confusing and so exciting. Women are so amazing that their bodies can do this and that they’re strong enough to do this. I can’t believe almost every woman goes through this because it’s so hard.”
The two had previously shared the screen in her two-season 2016 Miranda Sings Netflix seriesHaters Back Off,in which he played her best friend (and love interest) Patrick.
They only went public with their romance earlier this month, and remain mostly private about their relationship. Ballinger was previously married to fellow YouTuber Joshua Evans, though they split in 2016 (he, coincidentally, announced his engagement to a woman named Pamela this month as well).
“Erik’s so wonderful,” she said. “I’ve never been treated so amazing. He treats me like a princess, especially through this pregnancy. Every morning he brings me breakfast in bed and he brings me my vitamins. He gives me shoulder rubs every night. And brings me presents. He is my biggest cheerleader and just the best partner in the world. I feel lucky.”
“I didn’t believe it,” she recalled. “I was so in shock. I probably peed on 40 sticks because I wasn’t experiencing any symptoms yet. I actually told my best friend first to get him to look at one to tell me if I was losing my mind. But there it was.”
She told Stocklin soon thereafter, though he guessed before she got it out. “Later, on the beach, he told me, ‘I just knew the way you were looking at me,’ ” Ballinger explained. “He was so, so excited and had the best reaction.”
Then came their engagement. “He’d been planning it for so long and we’ve been talking for so long about getting married and having kids, but then this happened first,” Ballinger said. “He was like, ‘I don’t want you to think that I did this for any other reason other than that I love you so much.’ It was so sweet.”
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And yes, because she’s pregnant, that means Miranda will be too. “I’m still figuring out a fun little story line in my head about what’s going to happen,” Ballinger explained. “I’m excited for people to watch that too. Miranda’s obviously going to bemortified.”
source: people.com
