Brittany Mahomes has a lot to talk about. I mean, she’s the cofounder and part-owner of women’s soccer team the Kansas City Current, and just made history for opening the first women’s sports stadium in the entire world. Secondly, she’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’s “Rookie of the Year,” set to debut as the magazine’s cover model in May with some truly stunning bikini photos. Oh yeah, and she just happens to be the wife (and, adorably, the high school sweetheart) of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback and three-time Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes.
But despite all those other reasons to be excited, Brittany absolutely glows as we talk about life with her two kids, daughter Sterling (3) and son Bronze (1) during an exclusive chat with SheKnows — and when I ask her what her favorite part of motherhood is, she can hardly narrow it down.
“Oh my goodness, I love being a mom,” she gushes. “I think I’ve been called to be a mom ever since I was little. Just seeing my kids grow up, and the things that they’re learning, and the things that they’re taking from their dad … when we have first experiences with them, taking them somewhere, seeing them happy and lit up and in good spirits when we do stuff, is probably the biggest thing that I enjoy.”
Brittany must really be enjoying herself, because when it comes to experiences, the Mahomes kids are out here living their best lives. She shares that “threenager” Sterling is currently honing her social butterfly skills. “Any type of activity with a playground involved is definitely her favorite thing,” Brittany says. “Anywhere we go, it’s like, ‘I want to go to the neighborhood park! I want to go to this park with my friend!’ She loves to hang out with her friends. So just getting out of the house, even going to, like, an indoor play area.”
As for Bronze? He might still be a little guy, but his big loves are indicating that he might be following in his athletic parents’ footsteps. “Bronze is definitely a sports guy. You give him any type of ball and he will have the time of his life,” Brittany tells me. “He loves basketball. He loves football. I mean, we took him to the park recently, and he can spot a ball from a mile away and he’ll sprint to that ball and play with it until he’s tired. So I definitely think he’s gonna like sports.” With parents as sporty as his, though, is it really any wonder? “Yeah, I have to say I never saw that coming,” she jokes.
When they’re not at the playground, they’re busy jet-setting; Sterling and her little brother have already traveled more in their short little lives than some of us do in an entire lifetime. Brittany says she makes sure to have a game plan when they travel, laughing that she “overpacks” … a typical mom trait (I can vouch!). With toddlers, you have to. I ask Brittany for her best “mom hack” for traveling with little ones, and she tells me it’s snacks — particularly the ones that involve some effort to keep little fingers occupied for a while.
“Like oranges — they have to peel it themselves. And then they get to eat each little piece. So oranges are great,” she says. “Apples are great because it takes them longer to eat that kind of stuff. We do Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars. Bronze loves those and they take a good while for him to eat.” Brilliant!
Though practically every mom has snacks on hand, it’s especially important for Brittany; both Sterling and Bronze have serious food allergies, and eating the wrong things could have dire consequences. “Patrick and I don’t have allergies,” she tells me, “so [the kids’ allergies] kind of hit us from left field … we were definitely not expecting this.” After terrifying incidents that alerted the Mahomes to their kids’ conditions, she realized that preparation was going to be super important.
As parents, we’re always protective, but since the discovery of her children’s food allergies, Brittany has had to add an extra layer of vigilance to the Mahomes’ everyday lives. Which is why her another of her recent ventures — a partnership with AUVI-q, the first and only FDA-approved epinephrine auto-injector for infants and toddlers — was a natural fit, since the product is something she keeps on hand at all times in case of emergencies.
Everyone who is regularly around Sterling and Bronze has been instructed on how to use the AUVI-q. But, she says, there’s one feature of the auto-injector that puts her mind at ease: even if someone has no idea how to use it, it will actually give its own instructions out loud. “It talks you through step by step how to use it in a calm voice, because the situation is definitely a panic situation, right?” Brittany explains. “Having a voice speaking to you in a calm sound is definitely reassuring.”
She confesses that lingering fears around Sterling’s food allergies have made her hesitant to enroll the 3-year-old in preschool, even though some of her friends’ kids are going. But, Brittany tells me, that’s part of why she partnered with AUVI-q: to make sure that her own kids, and every kid with food allergies, aren’t “othered.” She wants less of a division between kids with allergies and kids without, and for parents to talk to their children and create more awareness around how common food allergies actually are (about 1 in 13 kids, or about 2 kids per classroom, says the CDC).
“I’m hoping that more people out there will inform their kids that don’t have allergies that this is a thing, and that they may be friends with a kid who has allergies,” she says.
With so much on her proverbial plate, it’s no wonder that Brittany admits to struggling with balancing it all — and managing to make time for herself in the midst of everything else without feeling guilty. She tells me that she never left Sterling, at all, until her bachelorette party when Sterling was a year old.
“I just want to be with my kids, you know, 24/7,” she says. “I want to always be with them, I want to do everything, but it’s also like — I have stuff I need to get done. And I need to take care of myself as well, so I’m not so tired. And you can’t pour from an empty cup, so I’ve got to keep my cup full. I’ve got to take some time for myself.”
On those occasions when she does overcome the mom guilt — at least for a bit — Brittany says the one instrumental factor is positive self-talk. “It’s telling yourself that it’s okay,” she says. “And you have to be energized, you have to be in a good mood. If you if you don’t take care of yourself, then it’s really hard to take care of other people.”
