Kelly Clarkson [1] embraces her new role of glowing mom in Redbook's May issue [2], getting cuter than cute with her daughter in gorgeous photos. Although Kelly has shared sweet snaps of baby River Rose Blackstock [3] before, her new photo shoot features memorable close-ups of the duo she just might want to frame.

When Kelly wasn't doting on her and husband Brandon Blackstock's baby, the singer opened up about criticism of her weight [4] in the months since she gave birth in June [5]. "I don't obsess about my weight, which is probably one of the reasons why other people have such a problem with it," she said. "There are just some people who are born skinny and with a great metabolism — that is not me. I wish I had a better metabolism. But someone else probably wishes they could walk into a room and make friends with everyone like I can. You always want what someone else has."

Kelly also touched on her relationship with Brandon, who is Reba McEntire's stepson. "I always swore ours would not be a relationship where we have to schedule sex," she said. "That is never going to happen. We put each other first. I call it the oxygen-mask mentality — take care of yourself first!" As for the duo's dynamic, Kelly said she sees Brandon as his own man and not her other half. "He's a whole and I'm a whole. I've never believed in someone taking care of me, and that's probably because I grew up poor and without a lot of family stability." Keep reading to see photos from her Redbook cover story, which hits newsstands on April 21.