This Or That Mom Edition: Pregnancy vs. Newborn Tired, Breastfeeding, Baby Carrier Preferences, Sleep & More + Pooptastrophe of 2025

Join Molly and Megan this week as they debate infant carriers, room sharing, pregnancy vs. newborn tired, breastfeeding, naptime, appropriate cold weather gear for children and so much more. Listen while the ladies of The Momsense Podcast learn empathy from a 5-year-old and as Molly describes Penny’s poop emergency.

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
Welcome to episode 2 of the Mom Sense podcast with Molly and
Meg. I'm Molly.
And I'm Meg. So like last week, we are going
to start things off with our weekly updates.
Of course, I have to hit you first with a funny story.
Like I said last week, we're going on a trip to Myrtle Beach.
We leave in Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday to five days and

(00:36):
a little over a week ago I texted Megan because of course
she's my go to mom friend and asked her do I really need one
of these ridiculous wagon things?
In my mind I was like on the beach it would be really nice to
have a place where Penny can layand also I can like haul stuff

(00:58):
to the beach and not have 50,000bags.
So I was like I I do want one, however they're massively
expensive. So I texted her and I was like
do I really need one? Absolutely that.
I have one. I bought it and I sold my my
stroller. You need one in your life.

(01:19):
Yeah, I've not had a mom friend say no, you don't need one.
However, big regret. Totally should have put it on
the baby registry. So all the first time mom's
listening, put one on your baby registry.
So I bought the Wonderfold wagon, the one that Megan has,

(01:40):
and I put in our show notes, thewonder Whatever wagon thing
because I couldn't remember whatit's called.
So during one of pennies naps a couple days ago, I started
putting it together. It lives in my dining room now.
It's just full of everything that we need to take on the
trip. I would just walk by it three
times a day and throw another thing in there.

(02:02):
But I had it all set up and in there and my husband Taylor came
home from work and he walked in and Penny was already down for
bed and I was probably watching TV or doing something, eating
dinner maybe. And he walks in.
He's like, jeez, are we going off roading with our baby?
That things like a car and quiteillegit is it's massive.

(02:23):
It's. A bus.
However, you know, I'm very excited to use it because I feel
like it's going to be fun to take her to restaurants in
because that she can like sit inthere and play and not sit on my
lap at restaurants. Lately she's just been sitting
on my lap the whole time, which can get a little much.
Yeah, yeah, they're super convenient.

(02:43):
You can carry a bunch of stuff in them.
If you want to be optimistic, you can think if they can nap in
one. I've brought it to the beach
thinking Brooke would nap in it.She most certainly did not, but
options there. Yeah, Penny is a very particular
sleeper. Like, she only ever sleeps in
the car or in her crib, which is, I mean, in one sense of the

(03:05):
world, wonderful, right? She sleeps in a crib.
Great. And on the other sense, like we
can't go out during a nap period.
Like, we need to be home during a nap period, which really is a
bummer. Like it would be awesome if
she'd sleep in a stroller even, but she doesn't.
Yeah, we're supposed the same way.
It's very inconvenient. I mean, to 1°, you're like, all
right, well, we finally we've cleared one hurdle, which is the

(03:28):
sleeping in the crib thing. But yeah, then it's really,
really inconvenient when you're out and about.
My funny story has to do with you, as a matter of fact.
So I don't know if I mentioned this last week, but I hope I'm
not necessarily you. Actually, Brooke is very
particular about me putting her down specifically.

(03:49):
She asks for me if we like play.I don't know, kind of like mess
there and go back and forth. Big sneeze.
OK, I was wondering if you guys could hear that.
I was like, Taylor, what the heck?
OK, we have to leave this in because I have to do this.
Taylor, you made the podcast. Holy cow.
Can't believe we just heard him sneeze from 2:00 rooms away.

(04:12):
The. Fact that you're just Captain
Poker Face, it's really funny. OK, anyways, God.
Bless you, bless you. Just prefers me to put her down.
So I put her down most nights and she she's almost 2.

(04:33):
She turns 2 on Monday and she's getting just developmentally it
feels like she goes to sleep andwakes up a different kid.
Like she is getting all the bells and whistles, so it feels
like. And so with that has come
bedtime procrastination. She wants to read books.
She's kind of been dabbling thisfor a while now.

(04:54):
She wants to read books. We read a few and then we turn
the lights out and she wants me to rub her back and then her
belly and then her feet and the belly parts.
Really cute because she grabs her shirt and lifts it up under
her chin and holds her shirt with her chin so I can rub her
stomach. It's hysterical.
That is really funny. And it's like babies, like, I

(05:15):
mean toddlers too, but little kids have what I call, like a
puppy belly where their belly's like perfectly little round and
like itty bitty. It's just the cutest thing.
Yeah. Yeah, that's.
Super cute. So she has that, but then lately
she's worked into the mix askingfor photos and so we'll go
through the rubbing routine and I'm like, all right Brooke, it's

(05:37):
time to get your crib and she'llgo in the outiest voice photo of
Penny. I'm like, you want a photo of
Penny? Yes, please.
So I pull my. Does she notice if they're like
recycled photos? Does she need new ones all the
time? Doesn't doesn't have a

(05:58):
preference, but does she does? There's like a spark of light in
her eye when there's a new one. So maybe does she really likes
the one where Penny's sitting onthe counter and eating eggs?
She has me zoom in on what she'seating.
She goes, what's that zoom in? And then we go through your
Facebook. So if you ever see me
accidentally like an old photo, it's because Brooke and I are

(06:19):
going through pictures of Penny.That is hilarious.
I'm really glad that I post a lot of pictures of her.
Primarily, I'm very excited for your bedtime routine.
There's something else, like so funny.
And she's not asking for photos.I mean she did have a phase
briefly where she asked for a picture of her grandparents dog.

(06:39):
That's dissipated though. Now it's strictly your child.
That's so cute, especially because like when we come to
visit, she's hit or miss like some.
Like the first time she was likePenny, Penny the whole time.
And the second time she looked at us like, what the heck are
you doing here? They're kind of dirty.
It looks too like. Yeah, she woke up from a nap.

(07:01):
Given like she woke up from a nap and we were there so
probably wasn't the right timingbut it was funny.
Yeah, she's a big, big fan in private, let me tell you.
That's hilarious. Let's move on to what we did for
ourselves. So of course, we believe that
mentally strong moms make for mentally strong kids.
So we prioritize doing somethingfor ourselves at least one thing

(07:25):
every week so that one, we can talk about it on here with you
guys and also so that we can be the best versions of ourselves
for our kids. It was funny because last night
Taylor and I were getting in bedready, ready to go to sleep, and
I was filling out our show notesand I was like, Oh my God, I
don't have anything for that. I did for myself.

(07:48):
I was like, I got to find something.
Should I just take, I know I'm going to go get my nails done
this weekend for a trip. So I'm like, should I just like
steal something that I'm going to do and use it?
And he was like, no, Molly, it'sepisode 2.
Do not lie already. And I was like, OK, Mr. like,
honesty, whatever. So I was going to try to spin
something I did with Penny as something for myself.

(08:12):
And I really couldn't think of anything great all week.
But today we did go, it was likereally warm in Michigan today.
It hit like 78 at my house. I think it hit higher than that.
But you know, like where when itwas looking, it was 78.
So we met up with another mom friend and her daughter.
Her daughter's almost one and wewent for a walk and it was

(08:34):
wonderful. We haven't been like, out in the
sun much because, I mean, it's usually either rainy, cold or
like, massively windy lately. So we haven't done much outside
walking. But we went for a walk today.
It was actually really fun. Got some sun, and it was the
very first time I ever had to put sunscreen on her.

(08:54):
Yeah, every mom knows, of course.
Like, I put lotion on her all the time, so we're used to the
rub down and everything. But sunscreen is not lotion.
Sunscreen is like pasty and sticky and like, doesn't glide
the way lotion does. So it's very awkward and uncomfy
and I put too much on my hands. So I was like, I don't really

(09:17):
know what to do with all this. So the baby wipes came in handy.
But I've yeah, sunscreen is a whole animal that I'm not
excited to have to get into. Yeah.
And especially I'm guessing thatyou have a pretty high quality,
pretty non-toxic 1. Is that correct?
Those ones are like much chalk thickest.

(09:37):
Yeah, exactly right. It's chalk.
That's exactly right. Yeah.
I pulled mine out today. My kids went out today in the
sun without sunscreen because I pulled mine out from last season
and it wouldn't quite spray. So we'll see what Brooke looks
like in the morning. My sister-in-law actually told
me she got she got Penny the cutest little Easter basket.

(09:58):
I'm going to get to that during our next little updates.
But she bought us a sunscreen because she knows we're going to
Myrtle Beach. And then she bought us beauty
blenders and she was like, they are so helpful to apply the
sunscreen to their face, like. Yeah.
I was like, way to go mom. Like way to tell a first time

(10:20):
mom the easiest way to do a really hard task.
Yeah, wow. That's really nice like that.
No, you said that Penny and the little girl that was on OK,
almost one. Do they interact or engage or
they kind of just along? The ride her the almost one year

(10:43):
old she engages with Penny like she I was telling her mom today
she is on the go. She is so like advanced for her
age. It feels like she's like running
with one of those push Walker things.
She'll like run. She's 11 months old.
It's wild. She's got a pincher grasp

(11:05):
already. She, I mean, she's had it for a
while. Like it's bizarre.
She's incredible. But she will definitely like
interact a lot with Penny. Penny will watch her and giggle
and stuff, but I mean, Penny doesn't play with others.
However, we've hung out with them a couple times and it
always is great. It's really nice to have a
couple of first time parents that have roughly the same aged

(11:28):
kid. So it was fun.
But Penny is, like I said last week in her pterodactyl phase,
so wildly she'll just let out screeches every once in a while.
And something was going on todaywith this other little girl.
And every time Penny would scream, she'd just start crying,
like tears coming down her eyes.Not just like whining, like

(11:51):
crying. Oh no.
And her mom and I were like laughing because we're like one
this other little girl is like not shy.
She's not nervous. She's a very like outgoing
little girl. So we were both like, what is
going on? And Penny just continued to
scream, right? Like she she doesn't know what
oh SH means so she just screaming and saw the girl girls

(12:13):
crying and the mom and I are just like laughing like what are
we supposed to do? It was hysterical.
That is so funny. Yeah, so I I looked at my friend
and I was like, we're gonna force this friendship.
Like don't let this deter us. It'll happen.
Little kids like they bond so easily.

(12:34):
I, I might have told you this, but Reese, when we were at
Disney, she played in line for Tiana's bio adventure, which is
Hawaiian with a little girl who did not speak the same language,
same language as us. And I do not think Reese
noticed. So kids are like kids are so
adaptable and they like just want connection.

(12:58):
So I don't think you guys are upto force too hard, but you're
constantly. That's so funny.
Yeah, that's so funny. You just have to have two kids
that have parents that have similar priorities, you know?
You know, So there's just, like,basic kindness, respect to all
that jazz. But as long as those two things
are aligned, yeah, you don't have to work too hard, make

(13:21):
friends with rocks at this age. I wish it was that easy for us.
Seriously, be so nice. You know, all I think of is
like, I have like a handful of people that I love and I adore,

(13:43):
and then there's the rest of theworld.
Yeah, all the people that I really, really love and adore
I've I've known for a really long time though, so I don't
know, something shifted with me for sure.
OK, OK, So yeah, same as you. I had nothing to provide to this

(14:06):
session. I'm sitting here and thinking
about it, and I was like, the same thing.
I can, I can spin something perhaps.
But then I was like, no, OK, so two things.
One is that this podcast has been really nice because as I'm
filling out the show notes, I have to be really mindful and
think about things that have happened in my week.
And so I really appreciate the podcast for that reason.

(14:28):
And then reason #2 is that I don't want ABS like I don't want
to. I don't want to pull something
out and be inauthentic. So I did.
I was prepared to say I got nothing for you.
But I ended up last night, I wasin a mood.
I am stressed out if I'm just putting it bluntly.

(14:53):
And Colton was trying to shake me out of that and he had to run
an errand and he was like how about we go to this park that
Reese has been asking to go to and then we'll go out to dinner
afterwards. And so I said OK despite not
wanting to. And as we were packing up, I

(15:13):
grabbed a little blanket and my kindle and I put it back And
then when we got there I was like, alright, well you are on
brook duty cause Reese will makea friend 'cause like I said,
they make friends so easily. And I'm gonna sit on this
blanket and read. And I did that and let me tell
you, the stars aligned because we got there and a little girl

(15:35):
in a Elsa dress ran up to Reece and I'm like, this is it, I'm
gonna be off duty for a while. And I, I mean, I think I read 10
pages, but that's more than I read in this book and probably a
week and 1/2. So that's progress.
And like, way to go, Colton. Way to be a supportive husband.

(15:57):
Oh yeah, no, he always is. Like it's very, very on brand
for him. Yeah.
Yeah, very grateful. I mean, it's still like Reese is
still running over to me every 5seconds to introduce me to her
friend for the fifth time or give me a flower.
Brooks waving at me from the swing.
So like, you know, I'm still like, involved.

(16:19):
Could just like picture you reading a book and Brooke's like
waving at you and you're like, whose kid is that?
Like why is that kid waving at me?
I shut up. I shut up.
Just like to look. Like Cold.
Whose kid is that? No, but it was nice.
It was just like a way, like I did something with them.

(16:41):
But Reese wanted to do so. It filled her cup.
She got to socialize and play. Brooke is always just along the
ride and I found a way to decompress a little bit.
Sounds nice that that's. All I got though.
Good. OK, so just a couple other quick
updates before we move on to cheers and tears.

(17:04):
So this past weekend was Easter.This is the first holiday we've
had since like Thanksgiving, Christmas, you know, the
holidays. Penny was just hitting three
months at Christmas time. So we were still in that like
early phase. And I was not thrilled about the
holidays, right? Like, I have family that lives a

(17:25):
few hours away. We had to travel, we had to
spend nights outside of our house.
Penny was still colicky at that time and we were struggling.
So I was not excited for the holidays.
This time around, Penny is so much better on the go, like
she'll sleep in the car so she can sleep on the way there.

(17:46):
We can party, she can sleep on the way back.
It's easy. So we had two dinners to go to
on Easter. So we had one in about two hours
away in the afternoon and then we have to head drive back for
my husband's families in the evening.
So. Like.

(18:08):
It was good. It went very well.
Like Penny slept. Unfortunately she only slept for
one hour on the way there and then she was awake, but she
would like went with it. The whole first party she did
really well. There was no other kids there so
she had lots of attention from everybody.
Then she slept for like 45 minutes on the way back and I
really was counting on her to take like the full 2 hour nap.

(18:31):
And we got to our second party and this one has kids and like a
lot of adult family members and she was not lively at this one,
right? She wasn't like cranky or
anything. She was just like quiet and
staring at everybody. And she doesn't, she's not
around kids a whole lot. So she's like freaked out by

(18:51):
other kids. I think there is a four year
old, almost 5, There's a 2 year old, almost 3, and then there's
a 10 month old who will be one shortly.
And like it was so cute because the 10 month old and Penny were

(19:14):
just like loving each other, like playing and hanging out as
much as playing as they can do. But again, it just makes me
realize like in a few short months Penny is going to be on
the move because like this little girl is also on the move.
Like crawling like crazy, will stand up and walk holding on to

(19:34):
hands like it's bizarre. And Penny barely like she just
rolls over. So everybody keeps telling me
like it'll happen before you know it, but I feel like I'm
she's behind. But whatever, I don't really
care because that makes less time before I have to like chase
her around the house, which is nice.

(19:56):
Yeah, you're in good company. Every parent feels that way.
Every parent's like. Yeah.
They're not hitting a milestone.Should I be nervous?
Just keep telling myself that like nobody cares unless she's
like 10 months and she's not sitting up yet so whatever.
And my sister and brother-in-lawand these three kids are nieces

(20:17):
and nephews. They got penny in Easter basket
and it was so cute. Like we got penny in Easter
basket, right? Which is a whole other
conversation. Like how do you put an Easter
basket for a 7 month old who can't eat candy?
Doesn't like have like none of that stuff?
I bought her books, right? Easter related books and a

(20:39):
teether And Taylor notices that she has this one specific like
stuffed animal rattle like teether toy thing that she
loves. She'll take everywhere.
She it's the only thing that like if I put it in her grasp,
she'll just like clutch onto it for a long time and it's a
Bunny. So Taylor bought her the exact

(20:59):
same toy in a fox, a koala bear and a Highland cow.
And he went a little overboard with the toys, but still.
And so he'll, she'll lay on the floor right on her belly and
he'll like place all of them around her so that she can play
with all of them. And I was like, do you think we
went overboard? And he snatches his head toward

(21:21):
me and he goes, do you see her read in your books?
I was like. OK, I.
Guess we didn't go overboard. Does she prepare for this
conversation? He's like Molly might say this
and I'm going to have a good answer.
I don't. I was like hey don't hate on my

(21:41):
books like she loves when I readbooks.
She'll be in, yeah, and the books will be well used soon
enough, that's for sure. Yeah, that's super sweet.
I was like sassy. Very sassy have you?
I'm guessing not. Have you seen the TikTok where a

(22:03):
mom was like this is what I did for my one year old Easter
basket and she clears out a basket she already has at her
house and then goes around her house and just finds stuff that
she already owns and drops it in.
No it says how to buy a how to get a Easter basket for a one
year old for under $15.00. So it's all stuff from her own

(22:24):
house, and then at the end of the thing she pops open a bottle
of wine, and the bottle of wine says $15 on it.
That's really funny actually, 'cause I was so tempted to just,
yeah, I was so tempted to just put like her toys in.
I was tempted to do that for Christmas too.
Like just wrap up stuff that is like she hasn't developmentally

(22:47):
reached yet, like a bunch of stuff we got from the shower
that she didn't need yet. I was about to just be like I'm
just going to give her re gift these things.
But I mean, Taylor is a gift giver when it comes to petty.
That's so sweet. Likes to spoil her.
My recommendation for gifts at that age.
OK, so my disclaimer is that with your first child, all bets

(23:07):
are off. Spoil them, do whatever you want
to do. But if you are looking for the
easier route with your second subsequent child purchasing for
future things that you need, like you know that they're going
to need, I don't know, the next size bathing suit up for summer

(23:31):
or whatever, and they're not going to fit it.
Like I try to think through thatstuff or like I saved a bunch of
Reese's toys and then I just wrapped those things up and I
felt, I felt no guilt. I did that for Christmas.
Brooke doesn't know. Brooke doesn't even want to open
the gifts. Reese wants to open them.
And they're new for Brooke. Yeah, exactly right.

(23:55):
Exactly right. Yeah.
If you buy some money used car, they're still going to be
excited about it. Yeah, there you go.
Look at you. Yeah.
OK. So either way, before we move on
real quick, I just want to say that the Easter basket that my
in laws got for her are incredible.

(24:15):
Is it was incredible. Like they know that we're going
on vacation, so they bought her these, they bought her a cute
sun hat. Oh man, it's so cute.
They got us that sunscreen. I had mentioned they got her
some like toys and then they gother this little like Unicorn
stuffed animal that also is a rattle, but it's like a full
size stuffed animal. It was so cute.

(24:36):
That is so sweet. Also you, you went into detail
over that after I was like, oh, it's your second kid, just have
asked it and you're like, this is this isn't 'cause they have
three kids, don't they? Yeah, they have 3.
OK, well, she clearly does not have that.
She's clearly very, very thoughtful, which I.
Appreciate for my kid. I don't know what they got for

(24:57):
their own but they she always is.
Like Tara and I talked about this before we had kids.
She is always 120% into every holiday no matter how small.
Like she has the kids decked outin Saint Patty's day clothes
like she's got them all like doing exciting stuff for every

(25:18):
holiday. It's so sweet.
I remember telling Taylor like, I want I was.
I want to be the mom that makes a big deal about Valentine's
Day. That like, gets them all excited
for smaller holidays even. Yeah, it's fun for you.
So cute. We're having some glitching.

(25:42):
OK so in my other updates, I'm preparing for birthdays so my
oldest turns 5 tomorrow and thenmy youngest turns 2 on Monday.
So all the birthday planning andprep and stuff like that.

(26:03):
But luckily this year Reese was like do not surprise me with my
birthday decorations please let I want to put them up too.
So usually I like put them up the night before and then she
comes upstairs and like whatevertheme she picked is there and
prepared for and it's really mermaids.
And she's been all over. She's been all over the board.

(26:24):
Though at one point she wanted acars theme mixed with Blaze and
the Monster machines, which alsois very on brand for her.
But yeah, no, we settled on mermaids.
So mermaids everywhere in my house right now, but.
She does have mermaid hair, longand curly.
Yeah, Yep, she sure does. And then in addition to that,

(26:48):
she had her her Co opted like a little kindergarten graduation
for the young kids. And that was oh, it was so cute.
It was so, so cute. They had them in like little cap
and gowns. They did like a big like photo
shoot area so they they could gotake pictures that grad.

(27:08):
They got little whatever diplomas.
It was the most precious thing ever.
But gosh, it has me when we get down to our tears.
Like it has me so emotional. Like I just time just goes by so
quick. It's a thief, let me tell you.
And then my other I'm kind of stealing from the future.
But I'm really excited because we purchased the tickets today,

(27:30):
but Reece is going to go to her first concert in August, which
I'm so excited for. She's the most fun person to do
things with. She's just a good time.
She has a great attitude. She's really excited.
And so anyways, we're going to Andy Grammar, which I'm, I'm
obsessed with, which he, like, Iknow that he was popular way

(27:51):
back when, but his songs like, oh, they're so good.
They just touched my heart and they're so positive Anyway, So
she's going to have the greatesttime ever.
And yeah, I'm really excited. She could stay up past bedtime.
So that's the highlight for her.Oh, of course.
All right, so we are going to move on to cheers and tears, but
so my cheers for this week sinceI entered my third trimester.

(28:16):
So last June we started a big renovation at our house.
We were under the impression that it was going to be done by
the time Penny got here in September.
It just got done. It just, well, the actual work
like the work crews were gone bythe end of February, but we had

(28:42):
a couple little touch up things we needed to have done by
somebody else after the fact. So this week on Tuesday we had
our shades installed and that was the last thing that we
needed installed. So we can officially say that
our Renault is done on the inside.
We need to put like shutters up outside and that can happen

(29:03):
anytime because nobody has to interrupt my day to do that.
I'm so excited. So anybody out there wondering,
do not renovate your house. It's terrible.
That is so exciting. My other cheers for this week is
that Penelope Jane slept 5 out of the seven nights.

(29:24):
She slept through the night 5 out of seven times this week and
I am happy about it. I now go Penny.
Oh Penny, that is so exciting. Good for you.
How do you feel? Wait sleeps.
Sleeps through the night like she's going to 4:00, not waking
up at all or she's going longer than 4.
No, she went. She goes from 8:00 when I put

(29:44):
her down to like 6 or 630 I. Know Did you ever think this day
would come? No, especially because we've
been rocking with the 4:00 AM feed for about two months now,
so. Yeah, you feel like a new
person, don't you? Like you wake up in the morning
and you're like, conquer anything.
Yeah, now the problem isn't her at all.

(30:05):
Like she's sleeping from 8:00 to6:00.
Like, that's incredible. But for me, I need to go to bed
before midnight. Like midnight to 6:00 AM is not
enough sleep for me. I need to make myself go to bed
at like 10. Like, sorry, I'm done watching
TV. Taylor, you can watch ahead in
the episodes if you want to watch.

(30:26):
I'm going to bed. We're watching The White Lotus
right now, so we're kind of likein it.
I pray that's good. Yeah, we just started it.
It is pretty good. OK, so for my chairs, I wrote
seeing results from seeds I've planted, which what I what I
meant by that is essentially that I feel like I, I'm working

(30:49):
to instill certain values in Reese specifically.
I just hope that it's going to land and that it's going to be
instilled in her because sometimes it feels like it's
going through one ear and out the other.
And this last week she has just shocked because I've known that
she's a sweetheart girl. I know that she's very
empathetic. I know that she really cares for

(31:10):
others and has a big heart, but just like seeing her in her
element this week has been really interesting to me.
So the first example that I haveis we when we were at our co-ops
graduation, we went to, I don't know, we're going looking at the
different booths or something like that.
We were taking a break from the,the hockey tournament and we

(31:31):
went to her classroom and I was like, all right, so your
teachers, you can go say hi. She walks up to them and says hi
and starts making small talk andshe goes, what are you doing?
And they're like, oh, we're justfolding the caps and gowns and
so we can put them away in totes.
And she doesn't look back at me and ask like, if we have time.
Nothing. She just goes, can I help you?
And the girl starts to grab every single one of the caps and

(31:54):
put them in the box until it's done.
She stays there. I, I take Brooke to the
bathroom. I come back, I'm like, she just
took initiative. She just found an opportunity to
help. And I thought it was so sweet.
I, it's, I did not lead her to do that.
I didn't say, Hey, you should offer to help or hey, can we
help? She just, she just took

(32:14):
initiative on her own. It was really kind.
I was really proud. And then for Easter we were up
man loss and little boy fell andshe went over to him immediately
dropped what she was doing, asked if he was OK and then
validated his experience. How I would put it by saying

(32:36):
like yo that really hurt huh? Just for a 5 year old to talk to
another child that way melts my heart.
So it just feels like one of those things where there was
right. It just feels like one of those
like results from seeds you've planted like I have been trying

(32:57):
to. Instill these things.
In there for a long time and I'mjust seeing them come to
fruition left and right here. Yeah, it's nice to hear you say
you guys, you and Taylor both are always shouting her praises,
which I really appreciate. Yeah, it's very nice to see,
like, your hard work pay off unprompted.

(33:18):
Like you're not saying say please say thank you.
She's doing it without you asking her to do it.
She's offering help the way thatshe validates.
That's so cute and so sweet. She's like, the most emotionally
intelligent little girl, and that has 100% to do with you.
And you should be very proud. That's so kind of you to say.

(33:41):
That's really nice. And yeah, it it's the lack of
prompting that was so, I don't know, just nice to see.
I mean, she does things unprompted and asked all the
time, like switching laundry forme or I don't know, stuff like
that. But she just makes me so proud.
It's just nice to see all of your efforts are not for nothing

(34:02):
as a parent. Let's move on to tears.
OK, so for my tears, I'm going to reflect on the fact that I
had no like mom time stuff because usually I spend my
Saturday and or my Sunday doing something for myself and Taylor
very gladly watches Penny while during that time.

(34:25):
However, this Saturday Taylor had to work.
So Taylor worked all day on Saturday and then on Sunday we
had Easter. So we didn't get any like
downtime. And my tears for this week is
the fact that we had no like Taylor, me and Penny time
because Taylor works a ton. So he's gone first thing in the

(34:48):
morning. He comes home usually either as
I'm putting Penny to sleep or right after she goes to sleep.
So we don't get a whole lot of like family time.
And that's my cheers for this week, that we were just really
busy this weekend. So we didn't get any of that,
but the things we did have to doinstead went very well.
All right, I'm glad to hear that.

(35:09):
OK, hit me with your tears when you're ready.
So for my tears, it's not like something went wrong or
something's terrible, but I'm feeling hyper emotional about
the fact that I I don't have anybabies in my house anymore.
I have a little kid and a toddler and I became aware of

(35:29):
Jordan Peterson over the pandemic because he was all over
TikTok. I can don't feel like I've seen
them in a long time. But anyways, I remember clip
when Reese was really little andit's just like this audio of him
and he's saying that you only have little kids for four years
and then it's done and my God, I'm gonna cry.

(35:52):
That is where I'm at. I have a 5 year old and it like
there is a shift. It feels to me like you have a
four year old and like, I don't know, early 4, maybe to 4 1/2
and then certainly younger. They're like so attuned to you
and you are their world and theywant to go do things with you.

(36:14):
And Reese is like shifted like we go places and Reese is
excited to see certain like other people.
Reese is excited to bond with people.
She wants to play with others. Like, I don't know, it feels
like once they hit that like 4 1/2 to 5, it's like they're just
more present with the world and what's going on around them.

(36:38):
And I feel like I just don't have a little like a little
toddler anymore in our. It's so sad.
It's wonderful. But like they grow up quick.
Like it goes quick. When you said that you don't
have any babies left in your house, like that breaks my heart

(36:59):
because that's true. Like they're, they're getting so
big and so old and like they're,it's fun.
I was thinking about the same thing.
Like that's why I'm a lot less sentimental about it than Taylor
is. Anytime we have to like retire
something baby related, Taylor like always, just like, Oh my

(37:23):
God, remember how much we used that?
Remember like, she's never goingto need that again.
She's getting so big. We had a like play gym, right?
Like every parent does. And Penny used that like all
day, every day, right? We had it in this section of our
living room. Every morning we would wake up,

(37:44):
she would lay on it. She'd kick the little rattles
around like she'd love that thing.
She'd lay over there forever. And she pretty much used it up
until like last week. And she stopped because she's
rolling so much that she just, like, knocks it down all the
time. And it's just not helpful.

(38:05):
And I pulled it out of like her little play area.
And Taylor was like, does she not use that anymore?
Oh my gosh. He got all sad about it.
And then we retired the infant carrier and he got all sad about
that. I wonder if you'll feel
differently with your last. That's when I feel like it's
like the hardest. At least it is.

(38:25):
Sure I will. In some regards, because there
are some things that I get to get rid of and I'm like chucking
it out the door. I can't get out of here.
I never want to see you again. But but like just your children
being small, I feel like just time's a thief.

(38:47):
Let me tell you, that's all I have for my tears.
I said, oh, not like real tears.And then my eyes and water.
Real tears. Most real tears that we've seen
yet. OK, we are going to quick move
on to the topic of the episode, which is a little game we're
going to play called parenting this or that.

(39:09):
Megan and I spent time over the last week coming up with
different this or that questionsand we're going to discuss and
decide kind of where we both stand.
I'm actually very excited for this because I feel like so many
of the things we talked about, Iknow what you're going to say,
Megan, and I know how you're going to feel about it, but a

(39:30):
lot of these questions like I don't know what you think about.
So I'm pretty excited. All right, let's alternate.
So first one, infant carrier or convertible car seat.
Oh shoot, I'm realizing I don't realize what you mean with this
all of a sudden. So infant carrier or convertible

(39:50):
car seat, that's the thing that the convertible car seats when
that goes into the stroller, yes.
No. So an infant carrier is clearly
like what you the first car seatthat you have with an infant and
then the convertible car seat isthe one you level up to like the
one that doesn't come out of thecar.
Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. That one, the second one,

(40:11):
because you have so much stuff to carry and those infant
carriers are so it's so cumbersome, like carrying that
and all of your other couch or not.
No, the second one. What about you?
Yeah, When I had the infant carrier, I was like, I can't
wait to get a convertible car seat.
I moved her into a convertible car seat at like 5 months old.
I was ready. I was sick of the infant

(40:33):
carrier. It was heavy.
It was ugly. I didn't like it.
And yes, it limits how much you can hold in your arms.
However, now that I have the convertible car seat, honestly,
those little trips where I have to like you order something and
you just have to quit running and grab it.
I hate that she, I can't just lift her care seat, her car seat

(40:54):
out. Or the other day we had to go to
a wedding and I had to pick up dry cleaning, having to like get
her out of the car seat, go in to get the dry cleaning for five
seconds, come back out, put her back in the car seat.
Like that's annoying. Overall yes I choose a
convertible car seat. However, now that I don't have
the infant carrier, I am seeing just a couple cons with that

(41:16):
situation. OK, that's fair.
I respect that answer. OK #2 is breastfeeding or
solids? Definitely breastfeeding.
Both of us were breastfeeding moms.
I still am breastfeeding. I was very excited to start
solids when we got the go ahead from our pediatrician, but the

(41:37):
level of just overall anxiety that I experienced during solid
meal time is outrageous. 1 I I know that my anxiety is holding
her back because I'm so nervous to move on from purees because
she gags at literally anything that's not smooth.

(41:58):
And yes, every person on the Internet, everyone in the world
is going to be like gagging is good.
Yes, I know it is. However, I still don't like it.
I still don't. I still don't like it.
OK? She also is not great at self
feeding so she'll just stare at her food for like 30 minutes and
like I got places to be, I got things to do.

(42:19):
I don't like sitting here to wait and then the mess.
Oh my God, I'll load up a spoon,put it in her hand and she'll
throw it on the ground and it splatters all over our cabinets,
splatters all over the floor, splatters all over the
dishwasher because that's where she sits.
It splatters everywhere, splatters on me.

(42:41):
I hate it. I hate it.
And I know it's developmental and supposed to let her play
with her food. No, I hate it.
Definitely breastfeeding. I would rather give her a bottle
and I used I used to hate givingher bottles.
I used to hate like because right now I pump because Penny
decides she doesn't want to nurse anymore.
So anyway, I used to hate givingher bottles.

(43:02):
Now I would gladly give her a bottle over having to deal with
the mess. OK, I'm the opposite of you.
I say solids because breastfeeding.
I did it for 13 months with Brooke, four with Reese, and
it's stressful up until like thebitter end.
You're like nervous about how much you're producing, if
they're getting enough, if like it's just there's too much

(43:24):
stress involved with it. Solids I'm detached from like
doesn't feel personal, doesn't feel like I'm failing or I don't
put any of myself worth in it. It's what I'm trying to say.
So Oh yeah, I like solids for that reason.
So I I'm not complaining becausemy situation is a godsend.

(43:46):
I have an oversupply, right? So it's hard to manage, but it's
so much better than the alternative.
I tie myself worth a lot more tosolids because I know that I'm
the one preventing her from moving on.
I'd need like I, I don't care how much it would cost if I
could hire a consultant to like sit in my kitchen and watch me

(44:10):
feed my baby just in case anything happened.
I would like my heart rate is 190 when she eats.
Yeah, that's tough. So I would rather breastfeed but
I also this I am very like I don't ever want to say in front

(44:31):
of other moms because I don't want it to come across like I
care what other people do. This is a personal preference
for me. Have always planned to move to
pumping and bottle feeding at a certain age just because I don't
want Penny to get to the age where she'll like pull it in my

(44:51):
shirt or she'll try to get to meto nurse like in any setting
other than at home. This.
I had always been the plan sinceway before I planned to have
kids. I was like I want to nurse up
until a certain point and then I'm going to pump and give
bottles until they're one. That's always been the plan.

(45:12):
That was just my personal preference, but I have to get on
board with the solid thing because can't breastfeed her
forever and I don't want. To there's a clip.
Yeah, I hear what you're saying and.
Also, actually, that's a hilarious clip right there.
That was a good one and I don't want to.
I appreciate what you're saying and I also appreciate that you

(45:35):
say like I'm telling you my opinion and I do not in any way
this has nothing to do with whatI think other people should be
doing. I I don't even think about that
way because I know there's otherjust so many other variables
that other people are considering when they're making
decisions. I think that's just a general
disclaimer for this podcast. I same.

(45:56):
I agree. Exactly, exactly.
OK, this third one we came up, I, I came up with this one, but
it's because of a conversation Megan and I have.
So I think we both know exactly which one we're going to pick.
But the next one is reading stories versus playing pretend.
So, Megan, what would you pick? I'm reading books every time

(46:19):
playing pretend. I can't get down with it.
I feel so uncomfortable. I I don't know, it does not come
naturally to me. My aunt comes over and does it
with Reece and I'm like where the hell is this coming from?
I want to read a book. Yeah, I'm not a play pretend
person. That's a script in your mind.
I don't know what you want me tosay.
Yeah, no, no, they'll tell you. And so that's the other thing is

(46:41):
that it's just not fun because yeah, they have they have their
own set of rules that you don't understand.
And they're they're honestly, I think they make them up on the
fly just to make you pissed off.I.
Know, I know, and it's like theywant so badly for you to play,
but then when you play, they seem so frustrated because

(47:02):
you're not playing it right. So it's like, I don't want to
make you frustrated because I'm frustrated, but it's it's your
game, so I don't want to make you frustrated.
I don't know. Anyway, I hope Taylor is the
pretend parent and he definitelywill be.
He'll be so good at it, but I donot want that.
Like I hope that she plays pretend on her own.

(47:24):
I know she'll come to you. It feels tough too, because
obviously that's their bid for connection with you.
So I'm always trying to find alternatives that are like a
mutual. I don't know.
We both enjoy doing something that we both enjoy doing That I
can propose. Yeah.
Exactly. Exactly.
And that's. That helps.
Yeah. Reese is big into craft, so that

(47:46):
usually helps. But yeah, no play pretend for
me. Hate that shit.
I know next one we have room sharing for in their own room as
soon as possible so this is moregeared towards the early days.

(48:07):
This was actually funny because the other night, the same night
that I was like, I don't know what to put in my what I did for
myself face. Taylor and I were going through
these questions 'cause I wanted to know what he would say.
And both of course, he got into his fields about Penny getting
older and we were both like, because Penny not sleeps in her
own room. We were both like, I miss her

(48:30):
being in our room. Like I miss looking over and
seeing her in her bassinet. And I miss when she would wake
up and she'd poke her little head out and look at us like I
miss that. So I think we're big room
sharing people. Like we room shared until she
was over six months old, one because we had to because the
renovation wasn't done. So her nursery wasn't done, but

(48:50):
her nursery is also on the upperfloor compared to our room so
I'm not walking up and down the stairs 4 * a night when she's
not sleeping through the night. So we're definitely room sharing
people until the baby is closer to sleeping through the night.
OK, I respect it. I'm on the other side of that

(49:14):
spectrum in the room. Wow, so controversial in the
room as soon as possible. However, my disclaimer is, is
that with Bro or excuse me, withReece, we lived in a glorified
shoebox. So she was in her room, but
well, she was with us and then we put her in her room and she
was a stone throw away. And then with Brooke, she was
literally the room across the hall, which like the hall is the

(49:37):
length of my leg. So yeah, in both cases for us,
it wasn't like they were on different floors like the
example that you just provided. So I felt better about it.
But they are noisy noisy sleepers and also getting up and
moving to them I feel like helped wake me up for those like

(50:00):
middle of the night wake ups so.Yeah, yeah, I definitely think
that if we were like that where you open your door and you're
pretty much opening their door right after you walk out, I
would have moved her out earliertoo.
I I know I would have done the first like month, month and 1/2
in our room because of all the frequent wake ups.

(50:23):
But I mean, they are crazy loud sleepers.
Like when they're that young, they just like snore and groan
the whole time. But also I I agree, I like the
idea of waking up, like standingup and waking up because I've
like dozed off so many times in the early days.

(50:45):
And after moving her out of our room, the come to Jesus moment
that Taylor and I both had wherewe did not have to tiptoe into
our room to go to bed. We could talk in bed again.
Like it was just so comfortable.We could turn a lamp on.
Like, oh, I miss that so much. Being able to actually say

(51:07):
goodnight and not like, say goodnight out in the living
room, it was just so nice. Yeah, sure.
Our master bathroom is attached to our bedroom, right?
So I was always so anxious when I had to, like, flush the
toilet, wash my hands, do anything while she was sleeping
because God forbid she would to wake up.

(51:27):
So yeah, I mean, I'm a big fan of her sleeping in her own room.
I just don't want to walk up anddown the stairs a ton of times
like she wouldn't need me to in the beginning.
So yeah, I think we're opposite on that one.
Yeah, that's OK. OK, next one.
Diaper bag or backpack. Backpack comfort, not style.

(51:50):
I they're, I think they're hideous.
I feel so silly, like walking into places with the backpack
and we still use the backpack, but I just think they're so
convenient. So yeah.
And they also they have like little hooks.
So like on your wonder wagon, you can just like strap them on.
Just too convenient. Not cute, but convenient.
I mean I'm assuming I'm a diaperbag person because I use one,

(52:15):
but I mean my diaper bag is a backpack style so I guess I
don't. Wear is the backpack.
Mean by diaper bag? Yes, like I I sure do.
I don't. Know they're not all they're not
all backpack styles like in likethink like the tote purse thing.
Yeah, I would never use like a tote because having that over my

(52:39):
shoulder and carrying her, that's a lot.
I have a backpack, so maybe I'm a backpack person.
OK, all righty. Big birthday parties or family
get togethers or something else?I think I'm a big birthday party

(52:59):
person, but that's because I love nothing more than planning
a party. Like in another life, I was an
event coordinator. So too.
Yeah, like I'm excited. I already have Penny's first
birthday theme planned. Yeah, I'm, I'm not shocked to
hear that. I'm sure it's going to be

(53:19):
incredible. And I put that on our topics
list and I figured we could do that close to her first birthday
so that you could talk to us about your planning process.
Heck yeah, yeah. But I know that you're more of
like a family get together person.
Yeah, I'm more of a get togetherwith, well, not Reece, I'm more

(53:43):
of a get together with whoever Reece is prioritizing getting
together with. But in lieu of birthday parties,
I'm more of a spend that money on going on a family trip
together. So we've done that every, I
think not every year because first year we're moving, but
we've done that for most years, 3 or 4 years now.

(54:04):
This year she it's the same thing.
She wants to go to a water park.So we're doing that and I like
it. We get to create memories and
I'm not like you planning that kind of stuff kind of stresses
me out. So I'm glad that she's down for
trips. Yeah, I hope that when she, when

(54:26):
Penny gets to a certain age, we do stuff more like that.
I don't mind doing parties now. I don't know how I'll feel like
with subsequent birthdays. I do want to make a big deal
about her first birthday, but I do hope that we do something
more along the lines of that as she gets older, you know?

(54:47):
Yeah, I have two things to add to that.
One is I think that if you are down for birthday parties and
you like planning them and, and your child wants them as well,
do it because it's your, it's your motherhood too, right?
Like these are your memories as well.
And so you, I'm all for that. And on the other end of that
too, like when I say not down for birthday parties, we, you

(55:10):
should see all the decorations that I have up here.
We have, we have mermaid tails, we have things hanging from
ceilings. We have balloon arches like I
make it very special. I like deck it out to the nines
and yeah. Or early riser or bedtime
battler. Bedtime Battler because I can

(55:35):
really at that .0 Yeah, because at least with older kids at that
point I can. I realized that I can change my
mindset and I can make it a moreenjoyable experience, but in the
morning I want to know that I have at least X amount of time
to myself 'cause I wake up earlyintentionally ahead of my kids.

(55:58):
I know, I know, I know, but people probably hate hearing
that. But it has really helped me.
I used to wake up when race would wake up and it just
didn't. I don't know.
It didn't start my day on the footing that I wanted.
So I do wake up early now and I do appreciate that time to
myself. So I would rather the night go
longer and have more time to myself in the morning.

(56:19):
I love that my goal is to at some point be able to wake up
before Penny. Right now we're not there
because I'm not waking up before6:00 AM, but that will be the
goal at some point. And then I might change my mind.
But at this point, I'm early riser because she's always in
the best mood when she wakes up.Like she's always so happy, so

(56:43):
excited for anything that could happen.
And I find it so heartwarming. Like it makes me in a good mood
in the mornings at bedtime. That's my time to spend with
Taylor. So when she's either hard to put
to bed or like goes to bed and then wakes up every 30 minutes

(57:05):
until like for a couple hours, then I just feel like I don't
get any good quality time with Taylor.
So in in the mornings he's always running around getting
ready for work. So we don't have any time real
time together in the mornings either.
So right now I would much ratherher get up early, which is good
because that's what she does. Yeah, good answer then.
That's fair. OK, Good eater or good sleeper?

(57:30):
I think I'd pick good sleeper. Me too.
Yeah, like Penny has, She's never been a bad eater.
She just seems a little uninterested in food.
But she's a great sleeper now inthe last month, she's a great
sleeper, so I wouldn't way rather have that.

(57:53):
Yeah, same here. If I have a good sleeper then I
sleep well and I can much bettermore equipped to handle the not
so great eating. Doesn't work the other way
around. So yeah, good sleeper.
Please. Exactly.
All right, I've got a good storyabout this one, but I'll let
Megan answer it first. Would you rather allow the car

(58:17):
nap or fight for your life to get home to get them to nap at
home? Love that wording because it's
so real. It depends on the distance.
I hate to say it that way, but it depends on the distance.
If I'm at story time at the library, which is 7 minutes
away, windows are going down. Reese is going to be scream
singing to Brooke to keep her awake.

(58:38):
We're not falling asleep in the car because if they fall asleep
for 5 minutes, that is enough tosustain them for the rest of the
day. And then you get zero time to
yourself and I cannot have that.So it depends.
But but if I have to pull out all the stops, I will.
I will. OK, so my answer is to allow a

(59:01):
cart nap. 9 times out of 10, I don't care.
Like I have a route that I take when Penny falls asleep.
I'll place a target order. I'll drive around for an hour
and a half. I'll finally go get the target
order. I'll get myself a coffee.
I'll listen to an audio book. I'll roll with it.
It's fine if she's napping. I don't care when I don't care
how. I don't care for how long.

(59:22):
As long as she's napping, great.But today we were on our way
home from our friend's house. We were 30 seconds from pulling
in the driveway. I could tell that she was
dozing. I was like, if she's sleeping by
the time we get to the get roughly to the house, I'll just
keep driving. It's fine.
But I also hadn't had lunch and it was 3:00 and I had to go to

(59:45):
the bathroom really bad. So I was like 30 seconds from
home. I've we're going to go home.
She fell asleep. I got her out of the car and it
took an hour. And a half to get her.
Back down for a nap. I was like, dude, you slept for
30 minutes, like or 30 seconds. Sorry.
I was like, dude, why? Why?
You were sleeping? Sleeping.

(01:00:05):
That's all I need. I was so upset, yes.
She just needs. Like a like, I just have to
whisper nap in her ear and she'slike, I'm good, I'm refreshed.
Yeah, I'm fine. I'll take.
Out the day and it was. 3. To 3:30 in the afternoon.
She could not. She woke up at 11 from her

(01:00:26):
morning nap, so she could not go11 to bedtime without a nap.
And I'm like, you have to take one.
And so she slept for 30 seconds,and then it took an hour and a
half of rolling around in her crib for her to fall asleep.
That's tough. Yeah.
That's the other thing is if youdo let them.
Sleep in the car for a little while.
Like if you are going to wake them up, then getting them back

(01:00:48):
down doesn't happen. Transferring most times doesn't
happen. But you've been with me.
I think it's a first, first, second kid thing, at least in my
case, because with Reese, I've driven around, you've been in
the car with me and we've drivenaround and just talked.
So like, I would do the same thing.
Put on an audio book or whateverand just drive around.
Had no qualms with it. It's like nice.
Sometimes I'd stop at the home, my house, make a quick bathroom

(01:01:12):
break, refill my water, get backin the car.
Is that bad? I don't know.
But I do do that and whatever. Right in the garage.
No qualms with that. But now that I have two, I want
her to sleep in her crib for hernap because then I get more time
and I just need time to reset. Yeah, Reese is also not going to

(01:01:32):
just chill in the car. For like 2 hours I'm sure.
No, no, we'd have to like, come here to have to let her out.
So that she could like play in the backyard or something, but
then also you open the door and like all of a sudden Brooks
awake. I'm like, I'm used to vacuum
with you sleeping and now all ofa sudden, like me thinking
thoughts wakes you up. Yep, the SO in my car.

(01:01:57):
The shifter is just buttons, don't ask me why it's weird.
And if I click the park button, it goes click, click and that
wakes her up. And I'm like, are you kidding
me? Putting the car in it was
designed by him by a. Man.
It was designed by a man. Also the keeping the FoB in the

(01:02:24):
car if I have. To do anything.
Pump gas, do anything. It gives me the most obnoxious
noise and I was like, however, if I have it in my pocket
standing outside right next to the car, it still registers the
FoB as in the car. So if I shut the door, it makes
this obnoxious noise and make sure.

(01:02:45):
And I'm like, Oh my God, I can'twin.
I can't win. So if she if she ever does a car
nap, I have to have a full tank of gas and I have to stay and
drive. OK.
And this is a good one. The cold.
Weather debacle. So isn't this real?
So are you going? Your kid.

(01:03:08):
It's cold outside, it's winter in Michigan.
Whatever. Your kid refuses to go.
Are you following behind them with the coat so that you're not
perceived as a neglectful parent?
Or do you just say whatever, youleave it and let them freeze?
What do you do? I think I would.

(01:03:28):
Carry the coat. Behind them or like, you know,
at wherever I'm at, have the coat with me.
This is funny because I mean, I don't have a toddler.
That's like no coat ma, ma ma. But as safety goes, you can't
have a coat on in a car seat. And so in a perfect world,

(01:03:50):
you're supposed to put a coat ona baby or a toddler when they
get out of their car seat to go anywhere.
And I'm like, you know what, we're going from the car, which
is warm and toasty to the insidethe store, which is warm and
toasty. And you can't sit up on your
own. I can't put a coat on you
easily. So anyway, I usually just wrap

(01:04:14):
her in a blanket because I'm like, I'm not going to fight a
coat on you right now. But let's imagine I had a
toddler that was like fighting with me to put a coat on.
Yeah, most likely I would be theparent that's like, oh, don't
forget your coat as you're walking away from me.

(01:04:34):
Yeah, I feel that way too. So I'm.
I'm looking for new opportunities to allow where you
still learn natural consequencesfor things.
Like I gave the example of if she forgets her dance bag or if
I am silly and put it up in a high closet and she asked her
remind me to grab the dance bag then she does not have that

(01:04:54):
thing. Whatever, it's a natural
consequence she learns like go for some reason I can't I can't
get past what other people are thinking.
I don't know. But Reese literally she looks.
This is not a joke. She will look cold in an eye in
the eye and she'll say besides, the cold doesn't bother me
anyway. I'm so serious.
She says it. It's like a she talks like a
hard truly. No, she says it, she says.

(01:05:17):
It. It's a statement.
So yeah, she's. She's very much, I do not want
the coat. Brooke's not objecting to the
coat very often, but she will. And not just for quick trips
from car to inside building. It'll be like long periods of
time. So yeah, if you've ever seen me

(01:05:40):
do that, I tried. I tried.
She won. That's so funny.
Yeah. All right, last one, pregnancy
tired or newborn tired? I got your first.
Yeah. I have I everyone says.

(01:06:08):
Pregnancy. Tired is worse than newborn
tired. Everyone tells you that,
especially when you're the pregnant person.
Everyone's like, don't worry howyou feel now it's a way harder.
I think everyone's lying. I think, I think everyone is
lying to be nice. I do, I truly do.
Because at least when you're pregnant.

(01:06:29):
Like, yeah, you're. Tired, you're uncomfortable,
you're not sleeping well. But I at least when I'm
pregnant, I have more grace for myself.
I don't have like I, I just havemore grace for myself.
Those around me have more grace for me.
Like the bar is low, the bar is touching the floor with newborn
tired, the bar is not on the floor.

(01:06:51):
The bar is like, you know, not on the floor.
You have a kid to. Take care of you.
Have a kid to take. Care of you have to take care of
yourself. Postpartum, you feel like you're
failing at everything. Your house is destroyed, like
it's tough. I think newborn tired is so much
harder, and I think that everybody is trying to be kind
and they're all lying when they say pregnancy tired's worse or

(01:07:15):
my case is completely different than most.
I don't know. What do you think?
Yeah, I've got some like. Weird feelings 'cause.
I was going to start my conversation off with I think
right now. The culture around.
Pregnancy has turned into like we hate when people say.

(01:07:40):
Just wait. Just wait till the baby comes.
You think you're tired now? Like invalidation, right?
We're trying very hard to shift the way we talk to people from
invalidating to validating. Pregnancy tired's the worst.
Like it gets better. Everybody says it's not better,
it gets better. Newborn tired's not nearly as
bad as this. I in ways disagree.

(01:08:03):
Right? Because yes, pregnant, you can
take a nap. When you're pregnant or.
Pregnancy tired only effects you.
Newborn tired effects you. Your husband, your partner, your
new baby, your old baby, whatever.
However, I ran on adrenaline forso long when I was newborn tired

(01:08:25):
that there were very few days where I felt tired, right.
I don't think I took a nap at all in the newborn phase.
I was just like, good to go. I was tired, but I was like
rolling with it. I think there was maybe one
night, one or two nights where the next morning I cried because

(01:08:46):
I was so exhausted. But those were like the rare
time. I mean, given I woke up like 4-5
times a night, it was a lot. But I was, you know, running on
adrenaline, had to do stuff. So it wasn't as terrible
pregnancy tired. I think I cried almost every day

(01:09:06):
in the beginning because I was so exhausted.
And I didn't, I chose not to drink caffeine.
I know you can drink up to 200 milligrams.
I chose not to. So I would like would cry
because I was so overwhelmed with how tired I was and trying
to work and not showing enough for people to validate like why
I was so tired. I was still early on, so I

(01:09:29):
really hated pregnancy tired. Pregnancy tired was worse for me
because the hormones associated with it.
I just cried all the time because I was tired.
Yeah. That's tough.
You make really good points too.Like you're exhausted.
And you're. Also going to work and like

(01:09:50):
you're trying to put on a face that life is normal, even though
like internally life is not normal at all.
Your entire world's changing. But like, you know, for a
certain period of time after youfind out you're pregnant, you're
still going to work. You're still having to show up.
You're not even to the point yetwhere you're starting to like
offload certain processes. Like you're kind of just hanging
out. You do make very good points.
I definitely agree and had similar experiences.

(01:10:16):
I guess I guess I'm thinking when I gave my answer I was
thinking more for 3rd trimester.I do like had more grace for
myself. I was like I don't have to, I
don't have to complete all the tasks that I tell myself I need
to complete. But yeah like I mean you're
certainly tired. It's like a whole new world.

(01:10:36):
You make good points, I hear you.
I also feel like they're very different cause pregnancy.
Tired for me felt like physically tired, like my body
felt 1000 lbs. I felt so physically exhausted.
And newborn tired was a lot morelike emotional mental
exhaustion. Like, my body could have
continued to go just fine when Iwas newborn tired, but I was

(01:11:00):
more so, like, had trouble coming up with the words for
things and like, making coherentsentences.
And my emotional reactions were so snippy because I was so
tired. Like my irritability was on out
of 10. It was wild.
So I think they were just very different for me.
It's really hard for me to compare the two.

(01:11:22):
Yeah, they are different. You're right, you're right.
OK, so I added something to our.Agenda that I want to do a new
segment, yeah, a new segment that I want to implement where
at the end of every set, at the end of every episode, I'm going

(01:11:42):
to do a segment called Molly's question for Meg.
And I'm going to ask a question just for Meg.
I'm not going to give my two cents.
It just happens to be like a this or that question.
So it follows with what we did today, but I'm going to do 1
every episode. OK, I'm nervous.

(01:12:03):
I put. On our show notes P or V, which
I know that's what I was. That could be No, I have a story
to go along with this. The whole point of this segment
is so that I shut up and give you a chance to talk.
Yet I have a story that goes with this, so I'm going to tell
it anyway. My question for you is poop or

(01:12:27):
vomit? My kids haven't.
My kids don't throw up. Oh, like.
Spit up, is that what you mean? I mean like.
I mean like. I mean like real.
Vomit but. If you don't have that
experience then go with the spitup thing.
No, yeah, neither of my kids arethrow.
Up knock on wood and they get sick a lot.
Like I said, two week sick cadence, but I don't prefer the

(01:12:49):
other one neither. You just have no experience with
the V. Medium, yeah, thankfully, OK.
Then where this session comes from because of my story.
So yesterday every once in a while Penny and I will load up
in the car and go through Jimmy John's drive through and take

(01:13:13):
Taylor lunch at work because thetown over is the Jimmy John's
with the drive through. We go the town over and then we
come back and go the next town the other way to Taylor's work.
So the whole process and we stopand we get out and we say hi and
then we go home. The whole process takes like an
hour and a half. And of course, I have to stop
and get a Starbucks in the middle of all that.

(01:13:35):
So we drove from our house to Jimmy John's and Penny was being
ultra quiet and she's in her dreaded car seat, so I know what
that means. That means that she's pooped.
And so before getting to Taylor's, before getting to
Taylor's office, I was like, OK,one, I'll just pull over.

(01:13:55):
I have to empty my 15 cup holders anyway because I need a
new. Spot for my new.
Coffee. So I stopped to the gas station,
emptied my cup holders and checked Penny eat.
Lo and behold, she had pooped and it was a blowout.
I was like, dear God, this is a time when I brought the bum bag

(01:14:18):
and I did not bring the diaper bag and I did not have a change
of clothes. Oh no.
So I was like I had to take off the extra cushion on the car
seat because there was poop on it.
Then I was like are we just likeraw dog in it and have her put
like sitting in a diaper? I don't know.

(01:14:39):
Then I realized that she got a gift for Easter with clothes and
I just took a pair of the shortsout of the outfit and I put them
on her. Thank God they were blue because
her shirt was blue and I, you know, first time ever wearing
shorts. However, in the process of

(01:14:59):
changing this baby, I had to take her undershirt off and her
short and her pants and then herdiaper was like an exploded and
right. So like had to take that off
too. And I just threw that stuff out
because what am I going to do with poop filled everything.
So I just do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's a casualty in the middle. Of yeah, yeah, in the middle of.

(01:15:21):
Cleaning up this baby, I looked down and realized that I had
poop right here and I look at mybaby and her legs up and down.
Her legs are all poop like she must have put her leg in her
diaper as I was changing it. I don't know.
All I know is everywhere I looked there was poop poop poop

(01:15:45):
poop everywhere. And I was so nervous that there
was going to be poop on the seats, in my collar, that it was
going to be in my hair. I don't know.
I was nervous. It was poop everywhere.
She's seven months old and this is the first time I've ever
gotten poop on my person. One, I was very proud of that.
Two, it was mega disgusting. And I will never look at the

(01:16:07):
dress I was wearing the same. It was disgusting.
That will always be the dress that I got poop on.
Was there a new change of clothes in the Easter?
Basket for you, What did you do 'cause we're going to see
Taylor. I used baby wipes and like
really? Got to work, but I just made him
come out to the car and get his lunch.

(01:16:28):
Yeah, we didn't. We didn't do much of the stop in
that day, I think. Good as new, though, honestly.
Yeah. Why do they?
Go silent. Brooke does that too.
If Brooke if Brooke is silent it's because she's getting into
shit she's not supposed to get into or she has something in her
pants she doesn't want me to know about.
That's doesn't want you reason she's not talking that is so.

(01:16:52):
Funny. I don't know, I thought.
I thought it was a novel experience.
Guess not. Oh no no, no.
Penny is mega quiet. And there's also usually a
couple grunts here and there that I'm like, I know what those
are. But yeah, it was, I told Taylor
it was the poop splosion of 2025.

(01:17:14):
Yeah, sounds like it. Sounds like it.
So that got. Me thinking and I was like to be
honest, I think I would rather clean up vomit like I would
rather have vomit on my person than have poop on my person.
You're saying on my? Person is really throwing me

(01:17:35):
here. But yeah, I.
No, I would not, I don't think. Really.
I don't think, I don't know, butat the end of the day, I don't
care as much about their bodily fluids.
I'm like, yeah, I. Don't know, but I'll yeah, I

(01:17:55):
don't. Think so, I think, I think
vomit. All right.
Do you have any? Final thoughts.
Like like how I think our secondpodcast went.
Yeah. Well, do you have?
Final thoughts on like the topic, the conversations we've
had, and then we'll get into ourfeedback for ourselves.

(01:18:17):
I do definitely have feedback for myself.
I think that you and I were. Fighting for our life in the
middle of it. It was hard to get into this one
because, yeah, there were so many, like, connectivity issues.
And so we're like answering a question and you're like, you
don't know how much you have to fake that you can hear from the
other person. It was just really tough.

(01:18:39):
So for that reason, it was hard to get into.
And I'm really hoping that AI editing and you're editing, but
like the AI stuff that takes offthe, the fuzziness can can
really work some some miracles. OK, I had way more fun this
time. Good.
Yeah, I had more fun with this conversation.

(01:19:01):
I felt like it flowed so much better.
I felt like it was so much more lighthearted, which I loved.
I feel like people got get to see our personalities a little
bit more this week. I think both of our jitters are
kind of out. But yeah, I'm about to bash my
head against a wall because thisconnection is annoying.

(01:19:23):
Like, I don't know, we've got tofigure it out.
If anybody listening to this hasadvice as to how I can fix my
Internet, because it's me, help me because I have an extender.
It's sitting right next to me. I have a Wi-Fi extender right
here. It's on.
It's working, and it's not actually working.
Yeah, if if anybody's husband works in IT.

(01:19:44):
Have them e-mail us at [e-mail].
Please hit me up. Because this is annoying.
Yeah, that's my only bad thoughts.
Fighting for our life. All right, Help.
US build a culture with moms at the forefront.
By sharing our episodes every week with moms in your life that
could use a little extra girl time.

(01:20:07):
We're the ones that keep the world running, so might as well
have something fun to listen to while we do it.
Meet us here every Wednesday fora new episode in the meantime.
We'd love to keep the conversation going with you on
Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.You can find us there at
Momsense Pod. We hope you have a great day and
don't forget to quarter your kids.
It's too good. I know.