“It feels like my first time,” Joanna Gaines says of her fifth pregnancy, which she is reveling in. It’s been seven years since she and husband Chip Gaines had their youngest child, and “the best thing about all of this is the excitement my kids have shown for their new baby brother,” Joanna adds, noting that Drake, 12, Ella, 11, Duke, 9, and Emmie, 7, “love my growing belly, and they cannot wait to meet him!” But their baby, due in midsummer, isn’t their only work in progress.
Even as the couple bid a bittersweet farewell to their hit HGTV show, Fixer Upper, which they’ve decided to end after nearly five years, they’re preparing for a very busy next chapter. Joanna says, “The end of this final season marks the beginning of a new one.” Chip, 43, wrote in his 2017 book, Capital Gaines that “complacency is the enemy.”
Now he and Joanna, 39, are forging full speed ahead. Not only is their new restaurant in Waco, TX, now up and running, Joanna’s companion cookbook, Magnolia Table, hits shelves on April 24. In it, she shares recipes from their home and eatery. “Cooking is so special to me because time spent around the table with family and friends is such a gift,” she says.
Meanwhile, they’re also preparing to launch Magnolia Kids, a line of children’s furniture and accessories, and they’re still flipping houses “and building about 20 new homes here in town,” notes Joanna.
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To add yet another challenge, Chip is training for a May marathon. “My favorite thing is watching the kids wait for him to come down our driveway so they can cheer him on,” Joanna shares. “I always get teary-eyed.” Their life is so full, it might seem overwhelming. But Chip says, “The human heart was made to swell, and jump, and stir.” And when chasing your dream “no matter what it is,” he adds, “trust me, the work is worth it!”
For more on Chip and Jo, pick up the latest issue of Closer Weekly, on newsstands now — and be sure to sign up for our newsletter for more exclusive news!
