“Life was uncertain before you came. I didn't know which path to take, the choices to make. I didn't know what to be, what I want to be. Now, nothing is clearer to me than to be the best me, to be the best mommy, for you.”

This was what Elisse Joson wrote in the lengthy caption of her post giving us a glimpse of her and McCoy de Leon’s daughter Felize McKenzie when she was still a newborn soon after the episode of their delighting appearance on Pinoy Big Brother Kumunity Season 10 officially announcing that they were already parents and inviting kuya to be her ninong was aired in October 2021.

Just a few days after the surprising reveal, they uploaded a vlog that included a few clips of her motherhood journey and their lovely moments with family and friends. There was also a clip wherein Elisse was emotional as she showed a sonogram of their daughter and admitted that she still couldn’t believe that she was about to become a mom already. She might have found it scary at first, especially since McCoy wasn’t by her side at that time, but she knew that their family would get through it.

And they really did as the three of them have been delighting us with adorable pictures and clips of their bonding moments together. McCoy may not share much on his Instagram account, but Elisse has several posts featuring Felize.

With how beautiful, kikay, and fashionable she is like her mom, we can say that she’s definitely Elisse’s “mini me.” Just like other mother-daughter tandems out there, their beautiful duo likes to go twinning when it comes to some of the outfits that they wear, may it be in their girls’ dates, travels, and even simple bonding moments at home.

While motherhood can be exhausting, Elisse said in an interview with PUSH that the arrival of Felize has only brought positive changes in her life.

She conveyed, “I think ‘yong fulfillment na hinahanap ko for a long time, I think I found it by being a mother. And masarap talaga sa feeling. Actually, to summarize it, masarap sa feeling kasi you wake up to see your child…who looks up to you, and it feels great na wala siyang judgment sa‘yo. She just loves you for who you are. Parang mararamdaman mo ‘yon kahit baby pa lang siya. It feels really nice to love someone na galing sa‘yo.”

Her schedule may tend to get really hectic especially when she started working again, but she tries her best to achieve work-life balance because she and McCoy aim to be hands-on in taking good care of Felize.

And just in case you’re also wondering how they’re able to come up with her beautiful and unique name, Elisse explained it in her interview with Metro.Style in November 2021. According to her, “Felize” actually translates to “happy” and “joy,” which are the things that she could ever wish for her in life, while McKenzie is patterned to McCoy’s name and “has something to do with [being] a strong warrior.” And it seems that the little girl is indeed growing the way they wish her to be.

Go through the photos in this gallery to see some of the lovely and joyful moments of Elisse and Felize together!