Welcome back to No Manual, A Momcast, where we're
here to just talk about the reality of motherhood,
have some laughs along with it, maybe some tears.
This week we have kind of a different and fun
episode. We thought it'd be fun for you guys
to get to know us kind of just not as moms. So
we asked you all to send us some questions. We
got a few questions and then we also put together
just almost some icebreaker style questions.
Some of them are mom related and parenting related
and some of them are just. completely random.
Yep. So that is what we're going to do today.
And we're just going to have some fun. But first,
do you want to start with your mom moment? I
would love to. So my mom moment happened yesterday.
Actually, both of our boys were crying like just
yesterday was a really tough day. Like Colt was
just inconsolable and Cruz was, I don't even
know, hungry all day. I felt like But both the
boys were just crying and Michael and I just
like looked at each other and it was just that
moment of like, what are we doing? What is this
life? And... Yeah. And then on top of that, so
our dog, Brisket is his name. He's crazy. Our
dog is crazy. But recently he's had these allergies
pop up. So he's like at the same time that both
boys are crying, inconsolable, our dog is just
sneezing in the background and like, like reverse
sneezing. I don't know if you ever heard a dog
do that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And like he's, he's
inconsolable almost. Michael and I are just like
hysterically laughing because we were like, what
is happening here? Yeah, I'm like, I don't know
what I'm doing. What is happening? And yeah,
it was just a moment of like, OK, let's take
a deep breath. Let's get both boys calm down.
Let's put the dog outside. He'll figure his sneezing
out. And yeah, that's my mom moment. What is
yours? So this past weekend, Stewart's mom took
Lloyd overnight so that we could have like kind
of a date night and obviously Zeta was still
with us but so we had like kind of a chill night
and then we're planning to have like a breakfast
date and so Zeta's been really good at sleeping
for how little she is where she'll give us like
sometimes a like seven to eight hour stretch
which is great and we're like thriving but for
some reason this was just the night that she
was like absolutely not yeah so the one night
that like Lloyd is gone we have like a little
bit of peace to ourselves she was up probably
every two to three hours which of course is normal
for her age and like i can't complain that much
because she's still a baby but i was like the
one night that we're like We're gonna try to
use this to relax. No was just it was not it.
She was up early She we had a hard time putting
her down Just every kind of like issue you have
with a baby sleeping. Yeah, we had it that night,
which again She's usually a pretty good sleeper.
So this felt even worse like if this was the
norm You just get used to it if it's the norm.
But at this point, we're like, Zeta, this never
happens. You're not like this. Why though? So
that was my fun time of this week. Well, yeah,
let's hop into these questions. So we're going
to do some just some fun random questions first,
just so you can get to know us as your hosts
a little bit more. The reality is, is yeah, we're
moms, but we're also our own selves. Like we
have hobbies and interests. And I think oftentimes
in motherhood, we forget that we're like people.
Yeah. We're people too. We're not just, just
moms. So, okay. First question. If you have or
had to choose a go -to karaoke song, what is
it or what would it be? I would say mine is,
year 3000 by the Jonas Brothers. Yeah, which
they're not like the original artists, but I
prefer their version. I'm like, I was a huge
Jonas Brothers fan growing up. I still am. Honestly,
they're like my, anytime they come to town, like
I have to go to their concert. Yeah. Um, and
I all, for the longest time, I thought I was
going to marry Nick Jonas. I'm sorry. Yeah, it
didn't work out too young for him. Yeah. Yeah,
that's true. I have a great husband. So. you
know no harm but yeah year 3000 that's just like
it's a fun song people can sing along with you
you're not just like everyone's staring at you
while you sing it yeah that's the worst that's
been my go -to i like that yeah i i don't know
exactly what i would have to do in order to like
actually want to do karaoke because there's never
been a time when i've been like at a bar or anything
where i'm like i'm gonna do karaoke but if i
had to pick a song i would pick You're So Vain
by Carly Simon. I think it's just like, it's
a funny thing, cause you can like kind of perform
with it, but it's not like a Broadway song where
you have to perform with it. It just like has
kind of a vibe. Yeah. So I think that would just
be like a really funny go -to karaoke song. Nice.
All right. Next question. How would you describe
your parenting style? I would say honestly, I'm
more of like the gentle parenting style. I didn't
think I would be this way. I think just like
Colt, especially like with Cruz, I'm sure it'll
be the same way, but Colt is at that age where
he just like tugs on my heartstrings a little
bit. And like, I just want to make him happy.
So like, Michael always tells me like, okay,
in the middle of a tantrum, like I can't just
give in and give. hold what he wants, but it's
just, I'm like, oh, he's so sad and I just want
to help him and give him what he wants because
it makes him happy. And Michael's like that,
you cannot do that. But that's totally just like
a reflection of like pretty much all of my parenting
style, which I know I'm like, okay, I need to
work on certain aspects of it. But I think I'm
more the gentle parent and Michael's more like
the disciplinarian and and more like more strict
in that fashion. Yeah. What about you? I think
I like definitely have some of the like gentle
parenting. Like when Lloyd has a tantrum, I try
to like talk through it with him if I can. Obviously,
like sometimes that's really easy to do and sometimes
I'm not in the headspace to do that. And then
I like the concept and what I try to do is like
correlated discipline. So it's like you hit your
sister with that toy. So now you don't get to
play with that toy. Yeah. Or we've talked about
he likes to throw things down the stairs. So
if he throws things down the stairs, he doesn't
get to play with it for the rest of the day because
it's gone. Good. So we tried. I try to do a lot
of that. I feel like I have kind of like a mix
of like different parenting styles, because then
I'm like, we try to not have a lot of screen
time and we try to have minimal toys around.
which is kind of Montessori -ish, I guess. But
then I would never say that that is what we're
doing for parenting. There's just little aspects
of it. And then there's some kind of more old
school stuff like, well, this is dinner and I'm
not going to make you mac and cheese even though
you don't want dinner. You can finish this. You're
going to have milk before bed. I know you're
not going to starve tonight. No. But you get
to make the decision if you're going to eat or
if you're going to... wait till breakfast. And
so I've tried to start communicating that way
with him too of like, okay, you can like, again,
for dinner, next time you're going to have milk
tonight, but the next time you're going to eat
is breakfast. So do you feel good till breakfast?
And I don't know if he understands me yet, but
like I've been trying to use that, add that communication.
And I try to be calm when I discipline him. Sometimes
it's hard. Sometimes that doesn't happen. In
the moment. It can be difficult for sure. Okay,
what is something everyone loves and you hate
or can't get on board with? For me, I would say...
I don't know if you've heard of these. My sister
-in -law actually just told me about them. They're
called la -boo -boos. It's like a little like
stuffed animal thing that it looks like a little
gremlin, I think. Yeah. And, but people are like...
They go live on like Friday nights or something
like that and they sell out in seconds these
stupid labooboos they're like $50 and What people
use them for is like it's literally like a keychain
like a stuffed animal keychain that you put on
like your purse or your keys and it's Yeah, they're
like selling out in seconds. And my sister -in
-law was in town this last week and she found
a store in Denver that carried them and she went
like before they opened and like got in line
for it just to get like a different color that
she didn't have. I don't know if there's anything
I would like go to a store before I opened for.
I'm sure in like a couple months, it's like,
it's like one of those things where it's like,
oh, I'll never wear that. Right. Or when you
start ironically saying something and then all
of a sudden it's like in your vocabulary. Yeah.
Yeah. It's one of those things. But this one,
this time I'm like, there's no way I don't think
I could spend 50 bucks on this. Yeah. I don't
get that for sure. Yeah. So for me, I have two.
One is Nutella. I don't think it's that good.
Really? Oh, I love Nutella. I think it's super
overrated and there are like better chocolate
sauce options. Yeah. And better nuts than hazelnuts.
Interesting. Then the big one that I feel like
so many people hate me for is Beyonce. I don't
get the obsession with Beyonce. I actually agree
with you on that. I've never like, she has some
songs I'm like, okay, like I get it, single ladies,
you're gonna play it at the wedding. It's fun.
For sure. Whatever. But like, I don't think she's
as good of an artist. I don't think she's good
enough of an artist to have the like... She's
like an icon. The legendary and iconic presence
that she has. She's fine. So I don't get it.
So those are my two big ones. I actually agree
with you on the Beyonce one. Alright, next question.
What is your favorite parenting activity right
now? I think... I really like that it's nice
out and we get to do a lot of stuff outside.
So like Lloyd really likes the bubbles, which
has been super fun. We also recently got him,
I guess grandparents got him one of those Strider
bikes. Oh, yeah. And he still hasn't quite figured
it out, but that's been like kind of our evening
activity. If it's nice enough out is we like
go help him practice riding that. And that's
just been like super fun to like watch him. be
a little bit scared but also like try to be brave
and just learn this new thing that's like this
is probably the biggest thing that's not just
like a natural development thing that he's had
to actually learn and it's been super fun that's
fun ours is or mine my favorite parenting activity
is probably our park trips we have a park in
our neighborhood that we walk to and does not
really like being in the stroller but if he knows
he's going to the park he'll sit he will sit
in the stroller and make it all the way to the
park in his stroller and so we've been trying
to do that pretty much any day that it's been
nice out right now we'll go obviously we'll take
the baby and then um either michael or i will
sit with the baby and then one of us will kind
of run around the playground with colt and help
him down the slide and on the swings and that
has just been super fun because he is just like
so animated and so outgoing and playful and is
he going down the slide feet or like not backwards
yet not backwards yeah he goes feet like sits
on his back and goes down and then his like his
head gets thrown back for sure yeah but he loves
it he like laughs at the end Lloyd just like
one day decided that he was no longer going down
on his belly i love it just turned around went
down the slide like on his butt and then you're
like you're a big kid now and he has not looked
back and he loves the slide and i love it i love
that i don't have to like help him with it um
which like i totally would obviously and i did
but it's it's just so much more like fun to catch
him at the bottom yeah yeah and it's fun watching
your kid like starting to be independent and
learn how to do these things on their own oh
yeah yeah Okay, next question. Do you have any
nicknames? So I have two. I have some of my friends
will call me Rick. So actually my friend Carly
gave me that nickname because everyone calls
her Carl. And so then it just turned into Carl
and Rick. And then Stuart gave me this nickname.
So anyone who actually knows me through Stuart
will call me Drew. And that's what he calls me.
Where did that come from? So when we first met,
and you know when you first meet and you're like
doing the awkward like trying to get to know
each other and you don't really know what questions
to ask, it came up that I love Nancy Drew. So
for a while he called me Nancy Drew and then
it dropped down to just Drew ever since. That's
just what he's called me. Yeah, to the point
where like if he calls me Erica, it's weird.
I'm like, am I in trouble? Yeah, like are you
mad at me? What's going on? I did tell him he
had to call me Erica in our wedding vows. That
was my like one rule for our wedding vows. Please
don't call me Drew. But yeah, so he calls me
Drew like any of his friends. Like we went out
for a friend's wedding in the fall and everyone
there called me Drew because that's the only
way they know me or like his coworkers. If I
meet them, that's what they call me. Do you think
people actually think your name is Drew? And
the main thing, most people I think know it's
a nickname. Yeah. Most people assume it's my
middle name. Got it. And then when I'm like,
no, that's not my middle name, they're very confused.
Like it actually has nothing to do with my name.
I don't have a D in anywhere in any of my names.
Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. What about you? So my friends
call me Lars and I really don't know where it
start. I think it was in high school it started.
I also have a One of my best friends name is
Sarah. So we're Lars and SARS, which SARS is
like a disease or something like that, which
is funny. But yeah, that's kind of been my main
nickname. And then sometimes Michael will call
me Squeaky and that's my contact in his phone.
The origin of it is one time I like lost my voice
because I was sick and so I then I just had like
a squeaky voice after and then for some reason
it just like just stuck it changed in his phone
and It's like says squeaky with like a bird emoji
next to it, which yeah, it's funny like In my
phone, he's hubby with a heart. In his phone,
I'm squeaky with a bird. Yep. That sounds about
right for a husband and wife. Yeah. Yeah. So
those are my main nicknames. I don't think I
really have any more that I can think of. Yeah.
All right. Do you have any nicknames for your
kids? Ooh, yes. I mean, I feel like there's like
the classic ones of like bubs, bubba. But for
Colt, we call him Colty. And then for Cruz, we
call him Cruzy. So it's Colty and Cruzy. And
then our dog is Brisket. So we call him Brisky.
So it's all just like the E. The E at the end.
Yep. So yeah, those are our main ones. What about
you? So Lloyd, we call Bug because we started
calling him Bugaboo and then it just dropped
to Bug. Zayda, Stuart calls her Ducky. I haven't
picked up Duckie yet, but we also call her our
little peanut or our little jelly bean sometimes
because she's so tiny. I love it. She is a little
peanut. Yep. She's so cute. OK, did your family
have any weird traditions growing up? So I added
this question specifically because of a weird
tradition my family had that like it took me
to being an adult to realize how weird it is.
So for context. There was a company called Next
Computer that was a company for a very short
period of time. When Steve Jobs got fired from
Apple, he started Next Computer and then Apple
ended up acquiring Next. But my dad at one point
in time, I think he like toured the factory or
something like that. And so we have these. Branded
mugs for my parents do I guess have these branded
next computer mugs? So it's this computer company
from the 90s that no one's ever heard of That
they have and for some reason they only come
out at Christmas time They're not Christmas mugs
like there's nothing about them that are Christmas
related that are holiday related It's not like
they have trees on them They're just glass mugs
with the next computer logo that for some reason
we only pull out for Christmas for eggnog I love
that. Super random. That's so funny. That's our
family tradition. That's so random and weird.
Oh my gosh. What about you? I couldn't really
think of any weird ones. The two that I could
think of that were just like actually sweet traditions
that... hold on to. So every Friday night in
my family we would have pizza and movie night
and what it looked like is we had like this glorified
tablecloth basically that was ginormous that
we would put out in the living room and then
we would so it was me and my three siblings growing
up and I'm the youngest we would sit and we would
eat our pizza and our dinner while watching the
movie like on the ground. But every single week
it like so it would be like me, my brother, my
sister, and then my other brother sitting in
a line. And then every week it would shift where
then since I was first closest to the TV, then
the next week I would be like the farthest from
the TV. And so we like would shift every single
week. So then we'd watch the movie and then we'd
always have milkshakes at the end of the night,
too. So that was like. Such a fun like childhood
tradition growing up. I also feel like as a mom
now. I understand stuff like that more, where
it's like, yes, it's sweet and it's fun, but
it's also a little bit of desperation of like,
pizza. Don't have to think about what's gonna
be, what we're gonna have for dinner, because
we know it, always know what's gonna be pizza.
And there's just this fun thing of like watching
a movie, but also I'm just tired. Yes, like,
oh, I get to sit here and veg out for a second
too. Yep. Yeah. And then the other one is Christmas
related, so. On Christmas Eve, we would always,
all of us, no matter what age we were, would
sleep in my parents' room. And another thing
that would shift would be like me and my sister
that would sleep in my parents' bed. And my parents
always slept on the ground by the door to block
the door so that we wouldn't escape in the night
and try to go open our gifts. So then one year
would be me and my sister in the bed and then
my brothers sleeping on the ground and then it
would shift. But that was always just such a
fun. tradition, even though like none of us got
sleep. It was terrible sleep. Um, but it just,
yeah, it was such a fun, like childhood memory
that we'll probably do with our kids too. So
that's super fun. Yeah. Which then that leads
us to our next question, which is as your family,
do you have any traditions or any traditions
you want to start? I think for sure that one
we want to do with the kids. One thing that we
do now, it's not healthy at all but every Saturday
morning we get McDonald's breakfast and we can
always like it's one of those things where it's
like you don't have to think you don't have to
you don't have to do much other than go and pick
up the food and it's fun like Colt loves it and
it's fun and um sometimes he goes like with Michael
to the drive -through and gets it or sometimes
we'll go try to sit inside somewhere and have
it but it's always McDonald's breakfast. What's
your go -to McDonald's breakfast order? Always
the sausage, egg, and cheese McGriddle. That's
my go -to. Yes, but I get a round egg. I like
the round egg instead of like the, I don't know,
the square egg. And a large Diet Coke. Okay.
Yeah. Gotta have that crispy Diet Coke from McDonald's.
Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep. So that's all we have right
now. I think as the boys get older, we'll for
sure have more of that kick in, but Right now,
just the McDonald's breakfast. Yeah, I think
that's one of the things I'm excited to have
the kids start to get older is for them to care
about stuff like traditions. Yeah, how about
you? So we also have a Saturday morning breakfast
routine where we call it Daterday Breakfast.
And really it just means Stuart's in charge of
breakfast. So sometimes that does mean he just
goes and picks up McDonald's for us. Most of
the time he makes something. Some weeks it'll
be something kind of special. My birthday was
recently, so we made French toast because I like
French toast. And sometimes he'll make biscuits
and gravy if we're going crazy. Most of the time
it's just like what we have in the house, like
eggs and bacon. And then the other one we have
is we do like our family Christmas on Christmas
Eve. So everything's just shifted a day earlier.
So we do like. We open pajamas the night before
and then the morning of Christmas Eve, we do
gifts and monkey bread for breakfast and all
of that. Partially just then on Christmas Day,
we can spend it with our families and there's
less like pressure that way. Yep. That time.
Yeah. Nice. Nice. OK, what is your guilty pleasure?
So we love bad dating shows like The Bachelor.
Love is blind. all of those and it started we
like used to watch it watch them with friends
and it was like oh it's like an experience because
you're watching with friends and then you don't
feel as like I don't know right and then COVID
happened so like obviously we weren't watching
with friends anymore but we still kept watching
all of these just like bad dating shows it makes
you feel good about your life a little bit yeah
yeah like okay I don't have my stuff together
but at least I'm not that bad yes that's probably
my biggest guilty pleasure okay I also enjoy
the bad dating shows. Love is Blind is a big
one. I also really love the Kardashians. Just
Bad Reality TV in general. Yeah, Bad Reality
TV. The other thing, My Guilty Pleasure, which
I blame it on being like a pregnancy craving,
but Dilly Bars from Dairy Queen. They're basically
just like ice cream bars, but the Heath ones
specifically. I'm a big Heath fan, Heath Bar
fan, but yeah. When I was pregnant with Cruz,
I pretty much had one every single night. Perfect.
And now that has kind of just continued. And
you need the calories. Yeah, I eat it while watching
the bad reality TV. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of
an expensive guilty pleasure because when I realize
I want the dilly bar, which is every night, but
it's usually around like 8 30 PM and I don't
really want to drive to go get it. So we door
dash it. and you know DoorDash is just outrageously
expensive. So instead of it being like a seven
dollar thing, it's like a seventy dollar thing.
Exactly. For no real reason. Yes. And the funny
part is, so they come in like a pack of six that
you can buy and many, many, many times, probably
four or five times so far, we've DoorDashed it
and then they send the wrong flavor. Of dilly
bar and I only like the heath flavor, of course,
and especially when you're pregnant then yeah,
it's unacceptable so michael has then had to
drive to dairy queen to go get the pregnancy
craving and Now I don't really have the excuse
of pregnancy craving but Then we just have to
reorder through door dash. They do give us a
refund when it's wrong, but all that to say It
is an expensive guilty pleasure that I have right
now. To go with that, it's less expensive, but
in like kind of unhealthy. We like to get the
whatever like insane flavor that Oreo has to
watch again, watch while or eat while we're watching
The Bachelor. But to try all the different flavors.
Yeah. And some of them you're like, that makes
perfect sense. Peanut butter and chocolate. That's
a classic combination. And then some of them
are like, I don't know why we're trying this,
but we have to. What's your favorite one? And
then what's the weirdest one you've tried? So
one of the most recent ones we tried was the
Irish cream one, which we're pretty excited for.
We're like, that sounds really good. Yeah. But
it just tastes like alcohol. We're like, that's
super like, how do you get this to taste like
alcohol, especially since Irish cream? Doesn't.
Like, so that's probably one of the worst or
weirdest ones. I'm trying to think one of the
best. Oh, actually, the Post Malone came out
with an Oreo flavor recently, you know, naturally,
as you do. And it was like caramel something
and it was very good. So that was probably one
of the best ones that we've had. Nice. What is
your favorite kids movie or movie to watch with?
I guess Cold Cruise doesn't really care. Probably.
My favorite kids movie growing up was Toy Story.
Classic. Yeah, classic. Toy Story 1 for sure.
I do enjoy the others. Which also, have you watched
that on Disney Plus recently? Uh -huh. Because
they've definitely like changed some things in
the background and I like called it out when
we watched it the other day. I was like, that
moving truck is different. Stuart told me I was
crazy. I was like... No, I'm not great. I know
my picks. Like I will look it up right now. It
is different. We have this on DVD. I'll pull
out the DVD if we need to. Yeah. OK, I'm going
to have to watch it with that in mind. Yeah,
they've changed like just a couple of the background
things that if you aren't paying attention, you
don't really notice. Yeah. But it just threw
me off. Like modernize it or to? I think just
to add more detail more than anything. So it
didn't really feel like more current necessarily.
Just like I think there's like a name on the
moving truck or something like that that wasn't
there. There was like one scene where there was
more detail to a building in the background and
some weird stuff like that. Okay, I'm gonna have
to watch it. But that has been a fun one to watch
with Colt too. I think we're in the middle of
Toy Story 4 right now. Just kind of watching
those through. Which he doesn't pay attention
for super long, so it takes us a while to get
through them. Few weeks ago. We decided we were
gonna have like dinner in front of the TV and
watch Toy Story And that was just that was a
fun little time, but that one's been fun to watch
with him cars has been fun Really anything that's
kind of like more. I don't know more action Okay
packed in a sense keeps him interested Yeah,
which he like now at his age. He'll sit in front
of the TV for like I don't know ten minutes Yeah,
that's what he loses interest. Yeah um so it's
yeah it's been fun it i do think it'll be fun
whenever he can sit and like make it through
a movie not that we'll do that all the time but
that'll just be a fun little like movie we could
have movie nights right then you can have the
like pizza and movie nights as a family and it's
fun instead of stressful because he's not running
around yeah Yeah. Okay. How about for you? I
mean, Sam, I would watch pretty much any Pixar
movie, at least any classic Pixar movie. Some
of the new ones we have been less interested
in. One of my favorites, I think, is Inside Out.
Oh, that is a good one. I haven't watched the
second one yet, have you? We actually just watched
it this week, but Stuart and I saw it when it
was in theaters because Inside Out 1 was the
first movie we saw in theaters together. So when
it came out in theaters, we're like, we have
to go on a date and do this. And Inside Out 2,
it is good. It definitely doesn't because she's
old. Riley is older than it. It has like older
themes, like not necessarily not in like a weird
way or anything like that, just in more of like
this is more for like 12 year olds than for eight
year olds. Yeah. So it's just like grew up with
it. Kind of like the Toy Story. Exactly. Yeah.
So it's kind of more of that vibe of like if
you watch the first one about the same age as
Riley, then. You'd be the appropriate age when
this one came out, but like it's for like little
little kids It's just like above their head,
you know, it's not inappropriate. It's just they're
not really gonna understand what's going on Yeah,
like they're not gonna understand that they're
depicting a panic attack kind of thing. Yeah,
but it was really good. So Okay, what is your
go -to drink order? so this is I'm a bad person
for a question like this because I'm a very mood
-based drink order, like just ordering things
in general. But I do like iced tea and hot chocolate.
But like if I had to pick like two things, it'd
be like iced tea in the summer and hot chocolate
in the winter probably. I also like... a Sonic
Limeade. Ooh. That's like a Cherry Limeade. Their
Cherry Limeade is the move for sure. That's Michael.
Michael loves Sonic Cherry Limeade. Sonic has
gotten so much more money. And if you order through
the app, it's always happy hour. So you can't
like not do that. Hey, that's good to know. Yeah.
Yeah. There's a tip for all you listeners out
there. Yeah. Okay. Mine. I mentioned McDonald's.
I love like a McDonald's Diet Coke. And it really
any time of the day, it's just like it's the
the carbonation of it is so good that I just
that's how I feel about Dr Pepper too. Yeah.
And then like coffee wise, I'm a big coffee person.
I usually have to have at least one coffee a
day. I do love just like an iced latte with like
a little sweetener of some sort in it, vanilla
or honey. At Starbucks, I'm always an iced brown
sugar shaken espresso. with cold foam. Gotta
add the cold foam. Gotta add it. So I'm like,
I think, I would say I'm like a sweet drink person.
I like sweet drinks. I don't do coffee, but I
like sweet drinks. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Those are
mine. All right. What is the best piece of parenting
advice you've received? I would say, I don't
know if I'm probably going to butcher the wording
honestly, but I heard this actually recently.
And I forget who was from, but just going into
like having two kids. And with Colt, I was very
like schedule oriented, very strict, like, oh,
your wake window is supposed to be two to three
hours. So like it has to be that. And so like,
if you wasn't taking a nap at the three hour
mark, I was like, what did I do wrong? I messed
up the day, like the whole schedule shifting.
And I feel like this time around, someone told
me like, you need to just go with the flow. Like,
don't worry so much about the schedule and the
wake windows and just go off of cues and how
your kids are doing and how they're feeling.
And I feel like that, it may not be necessarily
the best parenting advice I've received in general,
but for this season, that's like what I'm holding
onto when... when naps get screwed up or like
we're not sleeping much the night before and
it's messing with the day I'm trying to just
be like okay with the fact that like the schedule
is gonna shift and kids are gonna like kids are
like like us as adults where like you have a
bad night's sleep and you're tired throughout
the day so you're gonna sleep try to take a nap
an extra nap during the day yeah and vice versa
same thing so Yeah, I would say that it's season
oriented advice that I am holding onto. What
about you? I think one thing that's helped me
again, especially in this season. So when we
had my mom on in one of our like first episodes,
she said something about how like kids aren't
doing things intentionally to like ruin your
day or make you mad or something like that. I
don't remember exactly how she said it. But Lloyd
is definitely in like a season where it definitely
feels like he's doing things intentionally to
like. piss me off which I know isn't true but
then it's like he climbs on the table and I try
to like redirect him and he just like starts
giggling and it feels like so intentional that
he's like trying to spite me or something uh
-huh so like keeping that in the back of my head
has been Super helpful. I'm not good at remembering
it every time. Yeah, but like okay. He's just
a little guy he's he's learning things and he's
not doing this like intentionally to Make my
day harder make it worse. Yeah, even if whatever
he's doing is making my day harder making it
worse So I think that's probably at least the
big one for this season right now. Yeah, that's
good Yeah, I totally feel that too. You're not
alone and like feeling like your kids are doing
things on purpose yeah it's it i don't know what
it is that feels so intentional but it does it's
like they know exactly what to do yeah and when
to do it to piss you off yep i feel it okay next
question what is your go -to feel -good movie
mine is miracle on ice it's a good one anytime
i'm like bad day sad something like that like
i could put that on Which is funny cuz I'm not
really a hockey fan. Yeah, I mean like did you
watch it a lot like growing up? Yeah, my parents
really like the movie. So that's probably part
of it It's a little bit nostalgic, but then like
I'm ready to go beat the Soviets after I watch
it You know, you're you're just in a good mood
and yeah, it's got a great ending It's based
on a true story, which makes it even better.
So that's like I think Stewart just like put
it on one day that he knew I was in a bad mood
It's like this helps things. That's good Mine
I'm not a huge movie person in general, but I
would say the movie that I've seen the most is
probably 500 days of summer. I haven't seen it
in so many years. Yeah, but there was a time
where I would watch that all of the time and
it doesn't necessarily have like the best happy
ending. It's just kind of like definitely not
a classic goal happy ending. No, no, it still
ends like joyful and happy, but it's not like
Love story that you're wanting. Yeah. Yeah, he
doesn't get the girl No, he does not get the
girl, but he does end up happy and that's okay.
So that's probably my feel -good movie. I also
Loved growing up John Tucker must die. That's
like that's also yeah that one or she's the man
those are like that I like 90s. Yeah, I want
to watch like put on a movie that I I know makes
me laugh or feel like makes me feel good, but
I don't have to pay attention to a ton. Those
are John Tucker must die or she's the man. Love
it. Yeah. I also love 27 dresses. Oh, that's
a good one too. I think that's like probably
my like go -to rom -com. That's funny. And that's
a classic. Yeah. Yeah. And she does get the guy.
She does get the guy at the end. Yeah. Love it.
All right. What is the best book about parenting
that you've read or parenting book? I, this is
a confession, I've actually never read a parenting
book. I haven't read that many. Yeah. I've read,
so I read Bringing Up Bei Bei. Okay. Which I
just thought was super interesting and like I
would kind of recommend it. So it's an American
mom raising her kids in France and kind of just
like comparing a lot of the like different parenting
tactics. And there's a lot of things and I'm
like, oh yeah, that does make sense. Like this
is how we do it in America and it clearly doesn't
work very well. And this is how, you know, they
do it differently. And I also just thought it
was really interesting to hear the differences
of like how different cultures handle motherhood
and handle parenting. And then another one that
I read recently, it's what a difference a mom
makes. And it's specifically about being a mom
to boys. Um, and there were, I mean, there's
some things in it that I was like, I don't know
that I necessarily agree with that, but it was
super helpful again, like as a mom of a boy of
looking at some just like challenges that come
up both at like this age and then knowing what's
going to come down the road of things he's going
to have questions about and stuff like that and
how to approach it in like a healthy way and
like knowing how boys think, especially for me,
like I did not grow up with brothers. So. You're
like this is new territory. So that was I think
it was just like super insightful for me. Mm
-hmm Okay, what is your favorite random fact?
Okay, so this is another one I put on here But
we recently learned Stuart and I I don't know
I think he found this fact is that there's a
prison Don't remember which country but there's
a prison that instead of using guard dogs They
use guard geese because geese are loud and they
can't be bribed like a dog can be bribed And
I think it's the funniest thing in that all prisons
should use geese now Honestly, it's genius. It's
so funny. It's like why didn't people think of
this before? Yeah, and geese are just mean like
yeah I mean, I wouldn't want to try to escape.
Yeah, if there's we were you know, we were on
like a walk the other day and Lloyd wanted to
go say hi to a goose. I was like, no, this is
going to be a very traumatic event if you try
to do that. Yeah. So I get it. Geese are mean.
They're mean. And they're very loud. Yes. My
favorite random fact is that I don't have a favorite
random fact because I just, I feel like I like
hear random facts like that. And then I just
never remember them. That's fair. You probably
have more important things to think about is
really what it is. I don't know. I just have
never been, I've never been one of those people
that like holds onto random facts or like remembers
movie quotes. Like I just don't remember those
things. Like, yeah, I could kind of like paraphrase
it for you, but there's people that just like
know those things like no other. Stewart is really
good, especially at Trivia. movie quotes that's
I see I think that's fun all of them I think
that's so fun and I just like I can't hang with
that because I just can't remember so that's
fine sorry everybody all right so this one is
for you and I won't really have an answer so
what advice would you have for someone who's
stepping into the IUI process Yeah I would say
so IUI is intrauterine insemination and that's
what Michael and I did fertility treatment wise
to get pregnant with colt. And I would say probably
my advice stepping into it is really that like
I actually heard this advice not too long ago
from a fertility page that I follow, but that
you, yes, you're stepping into this really hard
process, but you've already walked through probably
the most difficult part, but which is the months
and months of disappointment of trying to get
pregnant and not getting pregnant. And now you're
stepping into this process that, yes, it's hard.
There's lots of different parts to it with medication
and testing and all the things, but now you're.
you're getting to the point where you're reaching
the end and so I would just say like my advice
is to hold on to the fact that you're reaching
some results and that you've already made it
through all this hard and that you can make it
through this difficult part too so hopefully
that makes sense but yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
next question is what is a current book you're
reading So right now I'm reading the Count of
Monte Cristo which according to my Kindle if
I read an hour a day I will be done in about
two months. Oh my gosh, and how long is how many
pages is this book? It's a really long book.
I know in a Kindle it's different, but yeah,
I don't remember how many pages it actually is
It's like, I mean, it's like over a thousand
pages for sure. Wow. But I was like, I feel like
I should read it. And it was like 99 cents on
my Kindle. So why not? And of course, as a mom,
I'm probably not going to have time to read a
full hour every day. So hopefully I finish it
this year. We'll see. It'll be one one book for
the whole year. I'll finish it someday. What
about you? What are you reading? So I the only
time I really read is during night feeds. And
it's not every night. It depends on how. Exhausted
I am if I can keep my eyes open, but Michael
got me a Kindle for that was my push present
which I Thought was is such a great idea. Yeah
So I'm reading this was free on the Kindle. It's
called 28 summers. I I think her name is Elin
Hilderbrand She's like a really popular. It's
like romantic love author. I don't know and she
is a ton of books. So I'm like This is the first
one I've read from her and so I'm like if I like
her books then there's like a bajillion more.
That's always nice when you find an author that
already has a bunch of books that you like because
then you have the backlog to go to. Yep exactly
so I'm only like three chapters in so I can't
tell you if it's good or not yet but uh it's
definitely one of those like just cheesy You
know, sometimes that's what you need. I think
for a long time, as an adult, I didn't want to
read. But I think it was because I had it in
my head that I should be reading really important
books and books that are going to make me a better
person or that are spiritual or whatever. And
then at some point, for some reason, I was like,
I should reread the Mary Poppins series. I read
it as a kid with my mom. But I just like... want
to reread it for some reason and I did and then
I was like oh yeah I don't have to read anything
like heavy or important I can just read because
I want to exactly and if it's the most predictable
book in the world that's fine if I enjoy it like
that's all that kind of really matters yep exactly
yeah I love that I I feel like I try to go I
don't read a ton I feel like I'm reading more
now as I'm like breastfeeding and stuff but I
try to do like a fun book and then like a leadership
book or like a learning book and then try to
trade off between the two. Yeah. All right. So
this is the last question we have. What is your
current biggest challenge in parenting? Right
now for me, so with two under two and breastfeeding
and Colt is just super jealous of the baby. He's
just still having a hard time adjusting, which
I feel for him. He's I feel it makes me sad when
he's so jealous. I know this is good. He's going
to adjust eventually. But any time I feed Cruz,
he's like tantruming because he's so upset that
I'm not holding him or giving him the attention
that he wants or needs, which then makes me sad.
Then makes me honestly feel like I haven't fully
fully bonded to my newborn baby Because I'm like
during the day when I'm playing with Colt I'm
trying to have Michael hold Cruz unless I'm feeding
him right so I don't piss off Colts right and
I was talking to one of my friends about it that
I'm like it just makes me sad that I don't feel
as like in the newborn bubble or like as bonded
to my baby like my second baby who was just like
just inside of me and we were together all the
time. Right. And then I'm like handing him off
so that I'm not having my other child's tantrum.
Yeah. And I feel like disconnected in some way.
And I know it's an internal like battle, but
I just I don't that's my biggest challenge right
now. I don't know how to fix it. I don't know
if I just need to like get over this hump of
difficulty and let Colt work through the jealousy.
Because I have to feed my baby. I have to feed
Cruz. And it's something that Colts just has
to kind of accept eventually. Because Michael
goes back to work in just a few weeks. There's
going to be a lot more of this because it's just
going to be me home with the boys. I don't know.
It's a really difficult mental battle that I'm
trying to work through right now and trying to
figure out the right solution, but I don't know
if I have it yet. Yeah. No, that's super hard
to just like, cause you kind of just have to
experiment. So even if people have advice, which
might be helpful, it's not their kids. So it
looks, it may not work. Yeah. We did the whole
thing of like, we bought Cole special toys that
he can only play with when I'm nursing. And he
did that for a few feeds. And then he's like,
I'm over it. I don't want those. I want my mom.
Right. Yeah. And so I've also heard recently
about having a special snack that they only get
during feeds. That's smart, too. Maybe I'll try
that. Like something fun. Yeah. Yeah. Something
that they like. Yeah. Don't usually get like,
oh, you can have this eight times a day. My child
eats so much. But yeah, that's a good one to
try. Maybe I'll try that. Yeah, if anyone has
any other advice, I'd love like message me because
I'd love some advice on that. If you've been
through it or yeah, if you just have some tips,
please, please let me know. I'll try anything.
We'll always take all the tips. Yeah. How about
you? For me right now. So I definitely thought
I would have a hard time with tantrums once they
came along. Yeah. And for the most part, I can
handle it. But Lloyd's been super defiant lately
where like he's like testing you yeah And I think
I told you when you got here He's been in like
he started doing the hitting and he doesn't bite
us, but he'll bite Zeta and Like he's head -butting
me and all of these things and so then obviously
like I'm trying to teach him that he can't do
these things or you know there are other things
that he's just like learning and experimenting
like climbing on things he's not supposed to
and doing all these things he's not supposed
to and I try to start like because I know saying
like no or don't is just unproductive because
at this point their brains just like don't really
understand what that means yeah so like I know
that and so I try to start with like showing
him what he's supposed to do and like you know,
we don't climb on the table, we stay on the floor
or our water bottle stays this way instead of
pouring it out. So, you know, I try to start
by like showing him what we're supposed to do
and then when that doesn't work, I try to like
redirect him like, hey, how about we play some
drums instead of headbutting mom? And then that
doesn't work. And it just like escalates and
I keep getting more frustrated and I get he's
just learning. and it's part of development.
But he also thinks it's funny when I try to redirect
him or try to get him to stop doing something.
He thinks it's so funny to keep doing it. And
it's getting him attention. And of course some
of us - They don't understand the no or the discipline.
It's just the attention that they're understanding.
And then of course some of this stuff is... Stuff
that I can't ignore, you know, it's like like
if he bites his sister I can't just like ignore
that and hope that he stops someday. Yeah, like
no we can't do that So I have to give him the
attention and discipline But then he's getting
attention. So he's excited about that Like I
said earlier where I know that he's not like
intentionally trying to piss me off But some
days it really feels like he is And yeah, so
just like trying to control my own emotions and
that and not take it personally. And just figure
out how to deal with redirecting him and getting
him to do the right thing when he's, sometimes
I think he knows he's doing something wrong because
he gets that like mischievous giggle and they'll
look in his eye where I'm like, you know that.
You know what you're doing. Yeah. Yeah. But that's
been very challenging, especially this week.
I don't know. what's going on this week, but
it's been way worse. Yeah. So I feel like it's
been a rough week for us too. So if you're having
a rough week. Yeah. Another thing, if you have
advice on, I would take it because I've got no
idea how to do it, how to handle this right now.
Oh, yeah. OK. Well, that was fun to. answer some
fun questions and hopefully yeah you got to know
us a little bit better and um we'd love to answer
more questions so feel free to ask us on social
media or um reach out to us but do we want to
close with our wins yeah do you have yours yeah
so kind of going off what i was saying what i'll
say is my win is with all of that with void drawing
tantrums because he's almost two and especially
the headbutting because like he heads butts me
more than he had but like headbutts and hits
me more than anyone else yeah super fun which
is super fun but i'm trying to remember that's
like it's because he feels safest with me and
like most comfortable with me and it's because
he knows that like i'm going to love him even
if he headbutts me and hurts my chin or hurts
whatever uh so like that's kind of the win i'm
like trying to focus on right now is this sucks
but like i've been a good enough mom so far that
he knows he is a safe place he knows he's safe
with me he knows he can throw a tantrum and i'm
gonna sit with him and love him and that like
i will always take care of him even when he's
not behaving the way that i would like him to
what about you for me so I mentioned earlier,
we've been trying to go to the park every nice
day that there is right now. And with Michael
still on paternity leave, that's just been a
fun activity for us. But yesterday we went to
the park and it was so beautiful. Then it rained
yesterday after that. Like almost immediately
after we got home, which was perfect timing.
But when we were at the park, I just, so I was
like. nursing crews at the park and Michael and
Colt were like playing on the swings and I just
like sat there and I like looked down at crews
and then looked over at Colt and I was like this
is this is everything I dreamed of I was like
this right here is why why I exist I was like
I'm living in like the good old days yeah the
when I mean I'm just like so happy with It's
such a blessing to have the family that I have.
And I think that was just a good reminder yesterday.
In the difficult times, it's been really difficult
parenting these past five weeks of adjusting.
Yeah, but then you just have those quiet moments
like that where you're like, oh no, but this
is the best. Yeah, it really is. And through
all the heart, it's just so beautiful. So yeah,
I love our park days. I'm sad they're like, they're
not going to be as often with Michael going back
to work. Yes, I'll probably attempt to do the
park with two kids. I don't think it'll look
as like beautiful. We'll go together and we'll
figure it out. Yes. Four kids, two moms. Let's
do it. Yeah, that's fine. But yeah, that's my
win. So. I love that. Yeah. Well, thanks for
tuning into today's fun little get to know us
episode. Thank you for listening to our podcast.
We hope you're enjoying it. Please rate, review,
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