Latest / Pretty In Pink Again / Episode 35: Let’s Talk—Marriage After Kids (From Our Side of the Story | Millennial Mom Perspective)
Transcript
- 0:00I'm Christina and I'm t and this is a pretty and Pink again podcast where motherhood meets rediscovery.
- 0:17Hello?
- 0:18Hey.
- 0:18Hey.
- 0:19It's so nice to see your face again.
- 0:21Oh, it's so good to see you.
- 0:22I haven't, haven't seen you in, it's like almost been two weeks for us, which is like I know.
- 0:27A really long time.
- 0:28I know.
- 0:28But I know you're back.
- 0:30I am back.
- 0:31You haven't been following along with tea, where have you been?
- 0:34I was in Italy.
- 0:35I went the dream, my mom.
- 0:36That's so nice.
- 0:37We've just our family's had two crazy weeks, so we went.
- 0:42From, we had the race and then the next day my little baby sister got engaged and we had a last minute engagement party for her at the house.
- 0:52So exciting and surprised them.
- 0:53And it was just like so cute.
- 0:55And my sisters like, we're incredibly close with my sisters and my little sister.
- 1:00Like our baby, she's 25.
- 1:02Mm-hmm.
- 1:02And her And her fiance, they're are, they're, he's from Rocky Hill, so they've been together since high school.
- 1:08So I just feel like they're like our little babies.
- 1:10Yeah.
- 1:10He's already part of the family.
- 1:11Like he's just, he's so wonderful and it was so cute.
- 1:14So we had our engagement on Sunday and then we like ruled right into Yeah.
- 1:18This Italy trip.
- 1:19I know.
- 1:19So that was just you and your mom?
- 1:21It was just me and my mom.
- 1:22So we had a rough week leading up to it.
- 1:26I didn't even think I was gonna be able to get away.
- 1:28And I'm.
- 1:29So happy that I did.
- 1:30Yeah, I know you needed it.
- 1:32My Nick and I were like at each other's throats before we left because I was stressed.
- 1:36He was stressed with me leaving.
- 1:37He was gonna have to assume all of the responsibilities at home.
- 1:41And even though I made a shared notes page and I arranged for rides and I told him, the schedule, like that's unchartered territory for him.
- 1:51It's a long time.
- 1:51And you were gone for, what was it, like nine or 10 days?
- 1:54Yeah.
- 1:54Yeah.
- 1:54I left on a Friday and I got back the following Sunday.
- 1:57Yeah.
- 1:57That's a long time.
- 1:58It was a long time to be gone.
- 1:59We flew into Milan.
- 2:00And we did Milan.
- 2:01And then the next day we went to Lake Homo.
- 2:03The best.
- 2:04And then the next day we came like back to Milan.
- 2:07And then we went to Venice, which Venice was so cool.
- 2:11Beautiful.
- 2:11Have you ever been there before?
- 2:12Yeah.
- 2:12So I did the same exact trip as you.
- 2:14That was what we did for our honeymoon.
- 2:16Oh my God.
- 2:17So we were closer to St.
- 2:18Mark's Square.
- 2:19So we were like in it.
- 2:21Yep.
- 2:21You're right there.
- 2:22We were in it.
- 2:23So nice.
- 2:23Our hotel was like, like an eight or 10 minute walk away from there.
- 2:26Amazing.
- 2:27But that city was so cool.
- 2:28Amazing.
- 2:29And then from there we went to.
- 2:33We went to Florence.
- 2:35Oh, on the way to Florence we stopped in Pisa.
- 2:37Oh, okay.
- 2:38Yep.
- 2:38Which was like dumb, like all there is.
- 2:41There is like the leaning be tower.
- 2:43Tower that's leaning.
- 2:44Yep.
- 2:45And you're like, okay, is that it?
- 2:47That's it.
- 2:47That's it.
- 2:48Is that it?
- 2:49Yep.
- 2:50Pretty much.
- 2:50Okay.
- 2:51Move it along.
- 2:52And then we went to Florence and then we did like this, like really delicious wine dinner in Tuscany.
- 2:57And then we did the city and my mom and I like shopped till we dropped when we were in Florence.
- 3:02I You have to that's where I did all my shopping too.
- 3:04Yeah.
- 3:05My phone said we did 20,000 steps.
- 3:07It must have been more than that.
- 3:08Yeah.
- 3:08Yeah.
- 3:08Because we walked all day and we ate and we drank and we shopped and it was like so fun.
- 3:14And then we went to Rome.
- 3:15And then Rome was incredible.
- 3:17It was incredible.
- 3:19So we like What was your favorite stop?
- 3:22Oh gosh, I don't know.
- 3:23They were all my favorites.
- 3:24I loved Rome.
- 3:25It's so hard.
- 3:25'cause they're all so different, but then they're all just as amazing.
- 3:28Yeah.
- 3:29As I think I loved Rome because it was like a combination of like my culture, like my Italian heritage.
- 3:36Mm-hmm.
- 3:37Mixed with like my faith, like I'm a Roman Catholic.
- 3:40And so we went to Vatican City, we saw, St.
- 3:42Peter Basilica.
- 3:43We got to see all of the incredible paintings and sculptures from Michelangelo and I'm not really a history buff.
- 3:49Like I thought I was gonna go on this trip and shop and drink and eat, which I did.
- 3:53Of course.
- 3:54But I also really was so immersed in the history of these ruins and the city and the architecture and the beauty of it all.
- 4:02I experienced being present for the first time in probably 13 years.
- 4:07That's really cool.
- 4:07It was so cool.
- 4:10I feel like it was so cool those trips I kept saying to you.
- 4:14Yeah.
- 4:14It was like, it'll be life changing.
- 4:16It was, it sounds so dramatic to say that, but it especially, it's always nice going with somebody that's on the same like playing field as you like that wants to do the same things as you.
- 4:26Yes.
- 4:26So it is nice when you get.
- 4:28A little mix.
- 4:28It's hard when you're just with somebody that only wants to do one thing or only wants to shop.
- 4:33Yeah.
- 4:33It's, but it's so nice when you can get like a mix of it.
- 4:36But I said that, and I said that you're gonna come back from this trip.
- 4:39It's gonna be, there's gonna be so much jammed into those nine, 10 days that you're like, not even gonna fully be able to appreciate all the things that you saw.
- 4:48Until you're back and you're settled.
- 4:50And then you're like looking back through your photos and you're like, wow.
- 4:53You'll have a memory triggered where you're like, wow, I saw that I did that.
- 4:56And it's just one of those life changing trips.
- 4:59It was, that's such a good way of saying mm-hmm.
- 5:01and you did, you said that to me before I left.
- 5:03I was like, you're, I was like, you're gonna just be going.
- 5:05'cause it's such a different pace when you're.
- 5:07On a trip like that where there's just so much to see, there's so much to do.
- 5:10Like you said, you're eating, drinking, shopping, sightseeing, walking all over the place.
- 5:15Like you don't you're in it.
- 5:16But then there's, it's almost like too much, right?
- 5:19It's so sensory that there's m almost like too much to see and do that You can't your brain can't process it until you're back and then you're like, wow.
- 5:28yes.
- 5:29However, but you were saying that you were very present too.
- 5:31I feel like because I didn't have my kids with me and I didn't have tasks that I was checking my phone for and like I wasn't toggling.
- 5:40Yes.
- 5:40So even though it was like on sensory overload,'cause there was so much that I was taking in, I was present in those, you were really dialed in moments.
- 5:48Like I was dialed in.
- 5:49That was really cool.
- 5:51I love that.
- 5:51It was cool.
- 5:52And my mom loves to shop.
- 5:54She shops like it's insane.
- 5:56She was like, oh my god, daddy's gonna freak out when he sees this credit card bill.
- 6:00I'm like, can you not?
- 6:02Like you're supposed to be retiring in June.
- 6:03I know, but where are you from?
- 6:05Like Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I know.
- 6:07But it was just like watching her shop.
- 6:09Like I was like, you're like, this is where it's every time I tried every anything, she's oh my God, you have to get the bag, you have to get the shoes, you have to get the gelato, you have to have two glasses of wine.
- 6:16You have everything was like.
- 6:18It's a must.
- 6:18Everything was a yes.
- 6:20Why not?
- 6:20Why not?
- 6:21That's the Italian way of life.
- 6:22Everything was a yes and I love that for you guys.
- 6:25We had a great time, but I am toast.
- 6:27My mom ran circles around me.
- 6:28That woman does not tire.
- 6:29I she does not freaking tire.
- 6:315:45 AM She'd wake up, ready to go.
- 6:34I'm like, can I like sleep in today?
- 6:36We don't have anything until the afternoon can sleep in.
- 6:38Yeah.
- 6:38You're like, this is a little bit of a vacation to me.
- 6:40And she's we're in Rome.
- 6:41We have so much to see.
- 6:43So one morning she did, she got up and she went to mass and I slept in until nine o'clock.
- 6:47Good for you.
- 6:48I'm so happy that everything worked out so that you were able to go on your trip.
- 6:52Yes.
- 6:52And it's actually like a good segue into our episode today.
- 6:56Mm-hmm.
- 6:56I also feel like it was good for my husband to do my job for a few days.
- 7:02Yeah.
- 7:03Because I feel before I left, I was looking for, I don't know what I was looking for him.
- 7:07I don't know if I was looking for an attagirl or a oh, this is hard, or Oh, this is what you do.
- 7:14I don't even know what I was looking for from him, but clearly I was searching for something and I got it just by me being gone for a couple of days.
- 7:23For sure.
- 7:23Because he had to do everything.
- 7:26And I have to say he did a really good job.
- 7:28Yeah.
- 7:28I was.
- 7:28He did a great job.
- 7:29Was gonna my next question.
- 7:30And then how did everything go at home?
- 7:31He did great.
- 7:32Now he has this shared calendar.
- 7:33Now he has the notes page.
- 7:35Now he knows where everybody has to be.
- 7:37He doesn't have to like ping me to find out.
- 7:40Mm-hmm.
- 7:40He has like access to it all.
- 7:42Yep.
- 7:42And that was what our like he was immersed too.
- 7:45He was immersed too.
- 7:46So last night I got home at nine 30 from hockey.
- 7:48We had tennis and then hockey and after school activities.
- 7:51The kids were home with me yesterday, so we had a putts around day, as I like to say.
- 7:55And I got home late and when I got home he was folding laundry.
- 7:58I go, what are you doing?
- 7:59I'm back now.
- 8:00And he said, I never realized how much laundry there was to be done.
- 8:04I feel so lazy.
- 8:05I don't do anything around here.
- 8:07I'm like, okay, it's okay.
- 8:08Like I, I'll take my rollback.
- 8:10Like I got what I needed from you and I just needed you to like to see.
- 8:14See.
- 8:14Yep.
- 8:15What's done here.
- 8:16So Wow.
- 8:17He saw he got a crash course in, he saw all the things, but he saw That's amazing.
- 8:22I'm really happy for you and your mom.
- 8:24I'm happy that you got through the trip.
- 8:26Yes.
- 8:26And it was everything that you wanted it to be.
- 8:28Yeah.
- 8:28You feel like you had been planning this for a long time too?
- 8:30We have been.
- 8:31Yeah.
- 8:31We have been.
- 8:32So I'm happy that I had the opportunity to go with her.
- 8:34I'm happy we were like healthy enough to go.
- 8:36I.
- 8:37Was not anxious.
- 8:39I wasn't like anxious that I was gonna be anxious.
- 8:41Like I didn't have any of these like crazy swirling thoughts.
- 8:45I wasn't hungry'cause I was eating constantly.
- 8:47Of course.
- 8:48Like I was thriving.
- 8:49Good for you.
- 8:50In Italy.
- 8:50I love it.
- 8:51And then I got home and I like had a stomach ache the second the flight landed because everything you eat there is just so fresh and good.
- 8:57I know.
- 8:58And it just doesn't land the same here.
- 8:59No, it doesn't land the same.
- 9:01That's the perfect way to explain it.
- 9:03It's just, and for some, for bread, pasta, the wine, you can eat all of those things.
- 9:07You feel good.
- 9:08You're also just so much more active and moving and just I don't know.
- 9:11It just, it doesn't land the same, but it also doesn't sit the same.
- 9:14No.
- 9:14Like in your body.
- 9:15It's insane.
- 9:16No, there was no grab and go while we were there.
- 9:20We sat and ate like a chicken parm grinder.
- 9:23On the step.
- 9:23Like on these steps.
- 9:24One day when we were waiting to go to St.
- 9:26Into St.
- 9:26Peter Basilica and I like ate a very large, like the sandwich I was just making for my kids.
- 9:32Just now that you saw me making like my mom and I consumed that on the steps of St.
- 9:36Peter Basilica.
- 9:37Yeah.
- 9:37You probably felt great.
- 9:38You felt light as air.
- 9:39I bet I was fine.
- 9:40Followed by a gelato and some wine light as air.
- 9:43I did.
- 9:43I was so tired that day.
- 9:45I was like, mom, can you go get me gelato from the corner stand?
- 9:48She was like, sure.
- 9:50Like you're so lazy and useless.
- 9:54This is my time, but so we had been wanting to get into this conversation before you left.
- 10:00We kind of batched a bunch of them.
- 10:01Yes.
- 10:02Before you left, knowing that you were away for a couple of weeks, but.
- 10:06We had been wanting to get into this topic for a long time, and we teased this on one of our earlier episodes that this has been like a highly requested topic.
- 10:16Mm-hmm.
- 10:16From the Pippa's.
- 10:16Just about marriage.
- 10:18And we're we're saying it, we're like titling this, let's talk marriage after kids.
- 10:23And we're saying it's from our side of the story.
- 10:26Our point of view, because we don't really think it's fair to have a marriage conversation unless me and you are gonna talk about our work wife relationship.
- 10:35We can't, it's not really fair to talk about a marriage when it's one sided and when it's.
- 10:41Just from one point of view.
- 10:42It's also, it's our side of the story.
- 10:44It's our side of the story.
- 10:45This is how things have changed for us.
- 10:46Yeah.
- 10:46This is our side of the story.
- 10:48So it is a personal one.
- 10:49We're obviously talking about how things have shifted in marriages in both of our marriages since becoming moms.
- 10:57T has a little bit more experience in that just because you got married and you started having kids almost, or it's over 12 years ago now, and so you've been in this space for a little bit longer.
- 11:09I'm curious to know if it's like ebbs and flows the way everybody says it does and the different kind of, layers to that.
- 11:16Because I've only been a mom for four years.
- 11:19My husband and I were together for 15 before having kids, and so I have a completely different point of view so far.
- 11:25Listeners you met in college?
- 11:27So together since college together since my last year of college.
- 11:31He was already out of college.
- 11:32Okay.
- 11:32But we were together for 15 years before we had Leo.
- 11:36So it's a different point of view because we were together for so long before having this huge shift.
- 11:44I'll just say I don't think it matters how long you've been together.
- 11:48The shift happens and there's no stopping it.
- 11:52So you can get married and have a kid right away, or you can wait 25 years and have a kid.
- 11:58The shift is gonna happen.
- 12:00Because I think before you have a kid, you have each other.
- 12:04You have your jobs, you have your home, but things are very compartmentalized.
- 12:10And yes, you share a life together, but things are still separated.
- 12:13When you have a child, it is now a unit.
- 12:18It's now Yes.
- 12:19This new unit.
- 12:20Yep.
- 12:20And the word mom, really to me just means everything.
- 12:24It is it.
- 12:25It's everything.
- 12:26And this could be like 1950s, or this could be like 20, 25.
- 12:29But I think that no matter if you are a working mom or a stay at home mom, you're still mom.
- 12:34You still are everything.
- 12:35Yeah.
- 12:35You're the primary caregiver of that child.
- 12:37Mm-hmm.
- 12:38In most cases, I think.
- 12:39So then.
- 12:41Then your husband, typically the husband is the worker, the provider.
- 12:45Maybe that role is split, but I still think that the husband still looks for that caretaking from their wife.
- 12:54And now the wife is, at least in my circumstance now, you're split.
- 12:58You're split between caring for a child who will not thrive without your love and attention, and then your husband who you think, oh, he can get by, he'll be fine.
- 13:09But really like that marriage requires the same attention Yes.
- 13:14That the child does.
- 13:15Yes.
- 13:15So I think that's like the start of it all.
- 13:18When you're trying to then figure out how to allocate your time again.
- 13:21And then I think also you layer on that, the huge shift just as a family now that you're going through, there's.
- 13:28Schedule changes.
- 13:30There's responsibility changes, there's responsibility additions, there's navigating, the identity shift that comes with both parents.
- 13:40I think that we always talk about it coming from the mom point of view.
- 13:43Mm-hmm.
- 13:43But it could come from both, sure.
- 13:44There could be identity shifts for everybody, and now you're navigating a partnership with a lot more responsibility underneath you.
- 13:54And like to your point, a marriage and any relationship needs constant nurturing.
- 13:59Yes.
- 14:00And you don't have the time to do that anymore.
- 14:05You have to change your time.
- 14:05You have to change your time.
- 14:06You have to change how you spend your time.
- 14:07You can't spend your time the same way.
- 14:10One thing that I realized was like, I never asked for alone time or me time before I was a mom.
- 14:17What about you?
- 14:18Because you had No, because we had it it wasn't even on my mind.
- 14:21I wasn't like, oh, I need to work out.
- 14:24I don't know.
- 14:24You just did.
- 14:25I just did.
- 14:25Or I need to get in this right.
- 14:27Or I need to go and do my whatever.
- 14:29Like I didn't need anything.
- 14:32And after I became a mom, I needed all this time.
- 14:35'cause I was so overstimulated.
- 14:36But all of that time that I needed took me was even more time away from my husband.
- 14:41So it's like a double whammy.
- 14:43So you're looking for reset time for yourself.
- 14:46That's a really good point.
- 14:47And then because you need it because you're like, you give so much of yourself and then, my poor husband's probably like, well, what the hell?
- 14:55Now you don't wanna hang out with me.
- 14:56But really all it is I was like, oh my God, I need to reset before I can reset with you.
- 15:01Yeah.
- 15:01Yeah, you need to get yourself in good mental space.
- 15:03I need to get before then you can go and put I need to check myself.
- 15:06Yes.
- 15:06And that before you can put anything else.
- 15:08'cause what's the saying about the filling the cup?
- 15:10Like you have to have your cup filled before you can fill anybody else's cup.
- 15:15Yeah.
- 15:15So again, that just adds on like layers and layers of how difficult this is to navigate.
- 15:21Where you need the space to reset yourself before you can put energy into somebody else and your relationship.
- 15:28But we're all dealing with the time constraints, so it's just hard.
- 15:33There's not enough hours in the day and Right.
- 15:35I feel like I used to say that before having kids where I've always felt like when you have a lot going on, you're just like, oh, there's not enough hours in the day.
- 15:44And then when you have kids, you're really like, there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done, to fill your cup, to fill your marriage's cup.
- 15:52I knew that it was on the forefront for me when my kid, like every day like, okay, I need to take care of my kids.
- 15:59I need to care for them.
- 16:00I need to make sure that they're clean and fed and the house is clean.
- 16:03Like the house is clean and fed, and everything on the to-do list is done.
- 16:06And then I need to take time for myself.
- 16:08But I never put on that to-do list.
- 16:11Oh, me and Nick need time.
- 16:13And I think that once that made the list, it almost woke me up oh my God.
- 16:20Oh my God, we don't pay attention to our marriage.
- 16:22I think it's really easy to, we're so busy with every other thing.
- 16:25I think it's really easy to put the relationship last.
- 16:29Because you think and hope it will always be there.
- 16:33You think it's sturdy, you think it's good?
- 16:35Yeah.
- 16:35Because it is, your relationship is sturdy.
- 16:37Everything is good.
- 16:37But just like everything else, even the St.
- 16:40Sturdiest relationship still needs the time and attention.
- 16:43And I don't even think early on before you have kids, you even have to think about spending time together and think about feeding your marriage right.
- 16:51And thinking about doing nice things for one another because you're just doing it right.
- 16:55And it's not until your time is shifted to something else that you realize, oh, I'm not doing that anymore.
- 17:01Yeah.
- 17:01And I think that the interesting thing is realizing how fast that shift can happen.
- 17:07And what I mean by that is like you hear people's marriages falling apart, right?
- 17:12And you're like, they just had a kid.
- 17:13How did it fall apart?
- 17:15There you go.
- 17:15And you're like, in your mind, you're like, wow, that was quick.
- 17:18And you don't realize how fast things can crumble because of how big of a shift this is.
- 17:25So until you're living it and then you're like, wow, I can't see how fast, if this isn't something that you're working on and paying attention to, it can crumble very fast.
- 17:36Yeah.
- 17:37Because it's such a big thing.
- 17:38So why don't we talk about the identity shift?
- 17:42I feel like that's a good place to start.
- 17:43Mm-hmm.
- 17:44We gave like the base layer of what we wanna get into today.
- 17:48Yeah.
- 17:48That, you become a pa, you become parents, and the first thing that sort of happens is this, the identity shift for sure.
- 17:55What does that mean to you?
- 17:57I think for me, like where I can get personal with this is that the identity shift has happened in two layers.
- 18:04It's the personal identity shift, which I've talked about a million times on this podcast.
- 18:08Just having to take a step back from work and really like peeling back what it meant to be me before having kids.
- 18:15I felt like I lost a lot of that when I had kids just because I wasn't able to work the same way.
- 18:20I wasn't traveling, I wasn't socializing the same way.
- 18:24I didn't have that me time.
- 18:25So I really did feel that I was losing myself and coming into a new identity.
- 18:30But I think also what happens is you shift as a couple and it's almost like your marriage experiences that same cycle.
- 18:39Yes.
- 18:39Because it's not traveling anymore.
- 18:41It's not doing any of these things anymore.
- 18:43And I also think it's so easy, to your point before, it's easy for.
- 18:48Your partner to see you as mom.
- 18:51And I don't mean that I am now his mom.
- 18:53I mean that you're like the mom of the family.
- 18:56And so I almost felt like I was losing my identity in that sort of relationship scope too.
- 19:03Mm-hmm.
- 19:04Where it's just, it's a different like viewpoint, if that makes sense.
- 19:07I hear you.
- 19:08And I think it's so easy to look back and really miss yourself before kids and miss your relationship before kids.
- 19:16And so it's just a whole identity as like you and your partner, plus you, plus them.
- 19:23Like everyone's having an identity crisis right.
- 19:25At this point.
- 19:26I think when you become parents, your sense of self expands.
- 19:31Yes.
- 19:31But it also fractures at the same time.
- 19:33Mm-hmm.
- 19:33Because you're not the old you.
- 19:36You're the new you, which is the chauffeur, the chef, the tutor, and then.
- 19:42Sometimes the side of you that was like your husband's friend and your husband's date, like that side doesn't really shine through very often.
- 19:50In the presence of a family.
- 19:52Yep.
- 19:52And you're it's hard that side of you, that was so important, that was such a big piece of you, isn't even shining through.
- 19:58Yep.
- 19:58Because you're taking on all of these other roles, like you said, like your caregivers, your providers, your protectors, your teachers, it takes so much emotional and mental bandwidth to play all of those roles that you need for your kids.
- 20:13I feel like it's really hard to look at each other again in that, in the same light that you did before, right?
- 20:21Yeah.
- 20:21Before that responsibility shift.
- 20:24Yeah.
- 20:24In life.
- 20:25I love prepping myself for conversations, but how could you prep yourself for this before you have.
- 20:32A child?
- 20:32That, my thing that I always wanna say is, could you even change?
- 20:35I wanna shake everybody that had a kid before me and be like, why didn't you tell me?
- 20:39And it's because you can't, there is no way to really prep for it.
- 20:43You can say things, but I think until you're living and breathing it, it just wouldn't even register to the other person.
- 20:49No.
- 20:49It's like really one of those few experiences that like you don't know until you're in it.
- 20:54You can prepare and you can talk somebody's ear off about it, but like they won't get it until they're living and breathing it every single day.
- 21:03I was definitely one of those people that like heard all the things, but nothing ever registered really.
- 21:09Like I truly didn't understand it until I was living it.
- 21:12I agree.
- 21:13I guess another big piece of this.
- 21:16This could be age, or it could be just having a parent is like the physical change that occurs when you become a mom.
- 21:25And that, and the emotional changes that occur.
- 21:27So it's obviously the physical and emotional change due to pregnancy and delivery of the baby and your age, you're getting older.
- 21:34Mm-hmm.
- 21:34Things are changing, that always goes back to, again, something that I didn't understand before having kids was like, what the exhaustion really meant.
- 21:43And I would always kind of think oh once you get out of the sleepless nights, maybe that exhaustion starts to go away.
- 21:49And it really doesn't.
- 21:50It just transforms into different exhaustion.
- 21:54You know what I mean?
- 21:55It's it doesn't go away.
- 21:56The exhaustion is always there.
- 21:58It's just, it takes a new form.
- 22:00And right now we're in that where like the kids are super young and.
- 22:05We use the word like overstimulated and exhausted.
- 22:08Almost to the point where I feel like they don't even mean anything anymore.
- 22:11We like overuse them so much.
- 22:13It just goes back to not having anything left at the end of the day.
- 22:18And at the end of the day, that's when you're supposed to connect with yourself, connect with your partner, your spouse, at the end.
- 22:22Like typically that's when it happens at the end of the day.
- 22:25Yep.
- 22:25That's the worst time of the day.
- 22:26It is.
- 22:27At the end of the day, it is.
- 22:28Like you wanna catch me in a good mood, tap me on the shoulder at 6:00 AM Yeah.
- 22:33Like I, that's a great time.
- 22:34It's not a great time to connect in any sort of way at the end of the day when you're just so burnt out and over it for the rest of the day.
- 22:43That's the time.
- 22:44Again, going back to like when you need to take time for yourself to reset, to relax, to come down from the day.
- 22:51That's a struggle.
- 22:53I know, but if you think about it, and I'm generalizing.
- 22:57Again, this is just how things work in my house.
- 22:59It's the end of the day I wanna decompress.
- 23:02What do I do to decompress?
- 23:04After my kids are asleep.
- 23:05Mm-hmm.
- 23:05I go and I scroll on my phone.
- 23:07Yeah.
- 23:07Oh, guilty.
- 23:07And then I ignore him.
- 23:08Actually, Nick just sent me an article about this the other day and I sent it to you.
- 23:12Yeah.
- 23:12It's called Fobbing.
- 23:13Fobbing and it means phone snubbing.
- 23:17Yep.
- 23:17So when you're on your phone and you're not giving attention to the person next to you.
- 23:23Yep.
- 23:23So my husband will wait patiently for me to take my 15, 20 minutes on my phone because you need that mindless time.
- 23:30'cause I need that mindless time.
- 23:32And then by the time I'm done scrolling, he's snoring.
- 23:35So if that happens seven nights a week, like then when are you supposed to reconnect?
- 23:41Then I'm like ignoring him.
- 23:42It's such a bad cycle.
- 23:43I know.
- 23:44And I know I'm not alone in that.
- 23:46No, I know.
- 23:47And I'm admitting it, that I'm like right there with you.
- 23:49That is something that we both do.
- 23:51I'm definitely guilty of it and I wish I wasn't.
- 23:55I wish that I could be like a Oh no.
- 23:58Phone time, at the end of the day.
- 24:00But honestly, that's how I sometimes decompress, which is so sad.
- 24:04I wish, I feel like I need to, it's like an escape where you're just like, I wanna just look at something funny or watch something mindless, something that has nothing to do with you.
- 24:15Something that has nothing to do with me where I'm not feeling needed.
- 24:18I have to mentally participate.
- 24:20One you don't have in one other thing.
- 24:21Don't Exactly.
- 24:22I know, but.
- 24:24What it's doing it's like pushing you and your partner apart from one another, even though you're probably physically very close by each other.
- 24:32Yeah.
- 24:32So I'm just, again, I'm just pointing these things out.
- 24:35Yeah.
- 24:35I am by no means a relationship expert.
- 24:37I am just going through the list of things that, again, you have a kid, you need more time to yourself.
- 24:43So now you're picking up your phone.
- 24:44Now you're on your phone more, and all of these things that you're doing, and now reset yourself actually is having you pushing your partner away further and further away from your partner.
- 24:51Yep.
- 24:51It's just, yeah.
- 24:52Interesting that, that has a name now.
- 24:54So I would be curious and my husband sent me the article.
- 24:57I know.
- 24:57Of course.
- 24:57Like wink, hint, hint.
- 24:59That's you.
- 25:01You're fobbing me again.
- 25:02So yeah the article was funny.
- 25:04It was like, fobbing the silent Separator.
- 25:07I'm like, oh my God.
- 25:07It is because you're mean it.
- 25:09I wish that I could not only think differently about it, but I wish that I could actually take into action and not do it, but for, it's probably a mix of just a terrible habit.
- 25:19And it's also goes always back to my joke that I make about myself, that I am such a bad texter and communicator.
- 25:27And it's because I feel like I come down from the day and it's not only do I have texts to respond to, I have emails from work that I didn't, it's like there's always like a running list.
- 25:38And so sometimes yes, you are mindlessly scrolling, but then sometimes I actually am like, oh no.
- 25:44But like when I was thinking about this today, I'm actually like sitting down to do some of the things that mentally were taking up space.
- 25:52In my head.
- 25:53And I just always have a tough time with the time management of how when do you have time to be mindless about something?
- 26:00Because that's the time that you need to disconnect.
- 26:03And then.
- 26:04There's actually, sometimes there's just a million things to do, where you're like, this is now my time where I don't have somebody that's needing me and now I wanna just sit and maybe not even mindlessly scroll the memes.
- 26:16It's oh, I wanna look for a dress for family photos.
- 26:19Or I wanna, do you know what I mean?
- 26:20Yeah.
- 26:20Some of it's like productive, mindless, if that makes sense.
- 26:24Like no, it makes mindless productivity where you're like, it makes total sense.
- 26:27Like you're not always just down a rabbit hole.
- 26:30'cause I sometimes feel like that's also a bad misconception because we're on our phone so much that we're always just.
- 26:37Not doing anything productive.
- 26:39And it's no, we do our lives are lived on our phones now, so it gets very tricky.
- 26:44I know.
- 26:46I guess if the nighttime routine is for you to unwind and whatever that means mm-hmm.
- 26:51to unwind.
- 26:52And also the it, the nighttime routine is it's the expected time for the couple to reconnect.
- 26:58It almost seems like it's a choice.
- 26:59So what, which one are you gonna choose?
- 27:01Are you gonna choose you, it's the phone or are you gonna choose us?
- 27:04It's the phone for whatever the reason is, or it's the relationship and it is, it's really hard.
- 27:09But when somebody says it to you like that, like still, matter of fact, who are you gonna choose?
- 27:14Of course we wanna, you wanna choose your relationship.
- 27:16Yep.
- 27:16You wanna choose your relationship, but it, unless those words aren't said to you, you're not gonna make that choice.
- 27:20I know.
- 27:21So I would wonder if anybody has, that people make a no phone rule after the kids go to sleep.
- 27:28Or you put your phone literally like away from you, like away in a different room.
- 27:33Or it goes to a part of the room where you don't have access to it, to just pick it up and Right.
- 27:39Start ignoring each other again.
- 27:40I wonder if that really does make a difference, or even if you just did that like a couple of times a week, and just, I like that better than just saying no phone.
- 27:48I think maybe a couple times a week is better.
- 27:50Yeah.
- 27:50Okay, on Tuesday, like tonight's gonna we're gonna watch our show right together and we're gonna put the phone on do not disturb.
- 27:56Yeah.
- 27:57But no, we don't have a No, we don't play.
- 27:58No, we don't either.
- 27:59We don't play any of those things.
- 28:00We don't.
- 28:00I know.
- 28:01We wing it.
- 28:01We totally wing it.
- 28:02Yep.
- 28:02I know.
- 28:03And, but it sets a lot up for you guys to get mad at each other.
- 28:06And same thing with us, because you're like there's no boundaries around this.
- 28:10One night it's him picking up the phone too many times.
- 28:13One night it's me picking up the phone too many times.
- 28:15Yeah.
- 28:15And then we get into those too.
- 28:16I know, but it's so funny how everything else can be so regimented.
- 28:19The kids have to read for 30 minutes and they have to brush their teeth and they have to be in bed at 9:00 PM but then it's a free for all in our room.
- 28:25True.
- 28:25There's no rules.
- 28:26It's every man for themselves.
- 28:28So now for you, you shared that logistically you and Raj sometimes have some overlap because you're both working parents.
- 28:34So do you feel like sometimes you are playing like tag your it?
- 28:38Yes.
- 28:39Or you're like just working okay, you're on now.
- 28:41I'm on.
- 28:42Yeah.
- 28:42We do that a lot and I think it's good because it becomes fair for both of us, but it also gets, I think when your roles get slippery.
- 28:53It's not as organized, right?
- 28:54It's not like this is your task, this is my task.
- 28:57Because there is like a tag, okay, you're doing drop off today.
- 29:01Maybe I'm doing drop off tomorrow.
- 29:04Maybe you're doing drop off all week.
- 29:06And so it just, it just depends on what we have going on in our schedules for the week.
- 29:12And you're not doing it together.
- 29:14No.
- 29:14So it's not oh, we're gonna drop off together and then grab a coffee.
- 29:16It's no, you drop off.
- 29:18So I'm working now.
- 29:19You have more time today.
- 29:19I have.
- 29:20Like I have something to do this morning.
- 29:22I have to film something.
- 29:23So that's like all business.
- 29:24It is it's a lot of business.
- 29:26It's a lot of logistics.
- 29:27And a lot of the times we can get caught up in those types of conversations too.
- 29:33Where it is like you're running hate, hate business talk.
- 29:36It's like you're running not sexy about business talk like, ugh.
- 29:38Yep.
- 29:39And we are guilty of that.
- 29:40But it's also just because that's the reality, right?
- 29:43It's there's so many moving parts and.
- 29:48I wish that it was different, but it's, that's what we end up talking about a lot of the time now.
- 29:53We're still very much in the thick of it with both of the kids.
- 29:55You are being super young, but.
- 29:58We've done a couple of little tricks, I would say over the last year that have helped.
- 30:03And it's just a matter of staying consistent with them.
- 30:07But when we can stay consistent with them, they really do help.
- 30:10And for us, we like to say that we wanna have a date night once a week.
- 30:15Okay.
- 30:15So would everybody, does that actually happen?
- 30:18I would say, I would love to have a date night once a month.
- 30:21That was, that's how infrequent that actually was taking place.
- 30:25But a lot of the times it comes down to going back, we're so exhausted at the end of the day that's not the time of the day that we're feeling liveliest, that we have the most energy that we want to have.
- 30:37That kind of like reconnection.
- 30:39It's a lot of pressure to put on yourself at the end of the day, right?
- 30:42You're like, all day you should be at this time in your life, at this time in our life, at this time in our life, or the best utilization of childcare'cause because we're tired, right?
- 30:50And and then it becomes extra childcare.
- 30:53And so what we've started to do is take little date either days where we will go out to lunch.
- 31:00We've done that a couple of times where we'll take a lunch in the middle of a Friday and we'll actually, while we have somebody with the kids, or while somebody's in school, we'll be like, okay, we're like, we can actually go out on a lunch date and.
- 31:15That is a much better time of day.
- 31:17A much more lively, I'm much more, I don't know.
- 31:20I feel like it's just a, it's like you're catching me at the right time.
- 31:22It's a better version of you, both of you.
- 31:24Yes.
- 31:25And what we've started to do is if that kind of seems to interfere with work, which sometimes it does, sometimes we literally can't pull ourselves away or we have too much going on to be able to do that.
- 31:35We've taken like little happy hours where we might extend childcare by one extra hour.
- 31:42Have a quick bite to eat.
- 31:44And those where you don't just have to talk logistics where you can, yeah, just where we just get to hang out a little bit.
- 31:49And that has been great because again, that kind of goes back to it's a better time of the day.
- 31:55It's before the chaos of the evening, and then we come back.
- 31:59Refreshed and ready to take on the rest of the evening together.
- 32:04Because we just had a wonderful hour and a half, two hours together, and now we're gonna go home and do bedtime altogether.
- 32:10And it's not super, super consistent where it's every week, but it's easier to do that than to plan a date night.
- 32:18Especially as we get into the winter where it gets dark early and it's cold.
- 32:21It's like that I'm not motivated to go out after the kids go to sleep or even late.
- 32:25It's like I, because I wanna come home and I still wanna have the time to decompress.
- 32:30Because that the time after the kids go to bed is important Time to.
- 32:36Reset ourselves to reset the house.
- 32:38Like we clean and have everything ready for the next morning.
- 32:41If we're get coming in and it's late, like we're not gonna get that stuff done.
- 32:46And so this is just, it's so much more productive this way.
- 32:49So your microburst is supposed to reconnect you and reset you.
- 32:53And if you do that microburst earlier in the day, then you still get, it feels like it really does.
- 32:57Then you still get your own time too.
- 32:59Yes.
- 33:00So you still get Yep.
- 33:01It wins for everybody.
- 33:02That's a great tip.
- 33:03That's, that has been our little trick that I will say has been working for us and it's been great.
- 33:08Good.
- 33:09I love that.
- 33:10What about you guys?
- 33:11So I guess similar to that, Nick will randomly get outta work early, like on a Tuesday or a Thursday, and I would get annoyed with him when he would be like, do you wanna go for lunch?
- 33:21I'm like you can't ask me last minute.
- 33:23You can't just spring it on me like I have work.
- 33:25Sometimes I have to do two.
- 33:26And then I realize you can't be so inflexible, you have to be more flexible.
- 33:30You have to be able to meet him for lunch.
- 33:32If he's asking you to meet him for lunch, otherwise he's gonna call somebody else and meet them for lunch.
- 33:37So I started meeting him for lunch.
- 33:40On these random Tuesdays and Thursdays.
- 33:42And then we'll get coffee after and then he'll drive and do all the pickups and all the drop offs with me.
- 33:47And then we like hang out in the car and sometimes I'm like, oh my God, you're so annoying.
- 33:52You drive fast, you make me car sick.
- 33:54And other times I'm like, oh my God, this is so fun to be together.
- 33:57I love hanging out with you.
- 33:58I know.
- 33:59So that's like our little microburst, but I like that microburst.
- 34:03You, nick.
- 34:03Our kids are a little older now.
- 34:04So we've been leaving them home alone and going to dinner.
- 34:07I know.
- 34:07That's dream without a babysitter.
- 34:08What a dream.
- 34:09Because the oldest is Yeah, babysits.
- 34:11Yeah.
- 34:11So we don't go far.
- 34:12We go to dinner like in town.
- 34:13Yep.
- 34:14But we do that.
- 34:15But I spend a lot of time with Nick.
- 34:16We have a lot of hobbies that we do together.
- 34:19I know that's, you guys are and I'm big on shared experiences.
- 34:22I realized through doing this podcast that's like my love language.
- 34:25So we'll do things like, play tennis or we'll go golfing or we'll just do anything where we're like Nick and t and not mom and dad.
- 34:32Yeah.
- 34:33Because when we are just mom and dad, I shouldn't say just, but when we are mom and dad, we're not like friends flirting with each other and like hanging out.
- 34:40It's all business.
- 34:41It's oh my God.
- 34:42Did you see what the kid, he got on his like math test?
- 34:44Oh, he hasn't brushed his teeth.
- 34:46Oh.
- 34:46Can you believe oh, the mess.
- 34:48Oh, the dog.
- 34:49Like all of this stuff and it's not.
- 34:51It's not fun.
- 34:52It's not light.
- 34:53It's all business.
- 34:54Imagine if the relationships you had with your friends were all business.
- 34:58You wouldn't talk to them anymore.
- 35:00No, it's so true.
- 35:01When you talk to your friends, like you wanna tell a funny story, you wanna laugh, you wanna obviously cry and connect and tell them what's going on in your life.
- 35:07But it's not all business like that.
- 35:10That would suck.
- 35:11Yep.
- 35:12And like the relationship with my husband half the time is all business.
- 35:16Ugh.
- 35:16Yeah.
- 35:17I don't want that.
- 35:18I know.
- 35:19But we have that sometimes.
- 35:20I know.
- 35:21There's no way around that.
- 35:22It's just that then you have to put in the extra effort to make those conversations, not about what's going on inside of the household.
- 35:32I know Nick said to me like, Ugh, you hate it when I ask you questions.
- 35:35I'm like, it's, I just, when I talk to you, I just don't wanna talk business.
- 35:39Mm-hmm.
- 35:39I just wanna like talk.
- 35:40I wanna hear about your day.
- 35:41I wanna tell you about my day.
- 35:43I like the very little time we have.
- 35:46I don't wanna spend it with you asking me questions about the schedule.
- 35:50Can that just live on a notes page?
- 35:53And can all the other fun stuff be between us?
- 35:56But I also need to maybe be a little softer sometimes because I can sometimes be a little snippy with him when he asks me questions.
- 36:06I think the next hot topic is this communication gap.
- 36:11I think after you have kids, you're not just communicating to somebody about yourself, you're communicating to them about other people.
- 36:21Your children, your dependents.
- 36:22There's just a lot more to communicate about, so you have more to communicate about.
- 36:25So I think that if you ever struggled communicating to your spouse beforehand you're really gonna struggle communicating to them effectively and respectfully.
- 36:36Yep.
- 36:37When you're talking about another person, my nick and I pretty much are aligned, but we don't always agree on stuff with the kids.
- 36:44How could you always agree about things with your kids?
- 36:46Because you're always gonna see a little piece of yourself in one of your kids and a piece of your, your spouse in one of your kids.
- 36:54And there's gonna be things about them that you like and don't like.
- 36:57Just like there's pieces of yourself you like and don't like.
- 36:59Yeah.
- 37:00And I think that for, at least for me and Nick, is one of something for us that was like, oh my God, we are not communicating well about this.
- 37:08When the kids came, everything else with us was always really like communicating about he and I.
- 37:14A touchy subject could be like in-laws, right?
- 37:17Because those are like extensions of you.
- 37:18But next to that, the biggest extension of you is your children.
- 37:22So I think that we, being together for 15 years, I think looking back like we must have been good communicators.
- 37:30Sure.
- 37:30I feel like we would always like work through any disagreements or any, alignment, right?
- 37:36Mm-hmm.
- 37:36Issues where you're like, okay, we're not really seeing eye to eye on that and we would always be able to work through all of those things without a lot really being a big thing.
- 37:45And I feel like.
- 37:46When you have kids.
- 37:47I don't know.
- 37:48I feel like it, again, that's just like another huge shift.
- 37:51I do think that you're right, like it's probably because there's so much more to communicate about.
- 37:56And it's not just from your point of view, it's not just oh, I feel like this and I need this.
- 38:02It's so much more layered than that, it's I think it also goes to that, going back to the topics of like, when everything is business and logistics, Not only is that just not fun it's that you then don't really check in with each other's feelings.
- 38:19Yeah.
- 38:19What do you need?
- 38:20What do I need?
- 38:21The communication is like more task oriented.
- 38:24So you forget to check in.
- 38:26Yeah.
- 38:26On a non, we're calling it business, but it really is like surface level, right?
- 38:31It's like you're, now we need to go beyond the surface level chit chat and how are you feeling?
- 38:37What's going on with you?
- 38:39I feel like those conversations become so much less and less if you let them, and I think that over time that could build a lot of resentment.
- 38:48And a lot of disconnect.
- 38:50Even simple check-ins are important.
- 38:52Like a daily check-in.
- 38:53And I think that this all goes back to what we've been talking about throughout this episode.
- 38:57Why like those mini micro dates are important and why maybe putting your phone down a couple of nights a week and having those check-ins at different points throughout the day.
- 39:08Like I guess whenever it is best for you to have a little bit of a conversation it's not just about the surface level business.
- 39:16Who's going where, who needs to do what, it's, how are you feeling?
- 39:20What do you need?
- 39:21And it's not in the middle of the chaos, it's actual check-ins.
- 39:26Yeah.
- 39:27With your partner.
- 39:27But I also feel like as far as communication goes, I thought I was a decent communicator because I don't necessarily hold a lot in I've never been somebody that.
- 39:39You're not a silent treatment girl.
- 39:40I'm not.
- 39:40No.
- 39:41I'm not a silent treatment girl.
- 39:42We've never done the silent treatment really with each other.
- 39:45Sometimes we'll take a break, if like we're getting a little overworked about something it's okay, let's take a pause and not talk about this right now, or let's cool down a little bit.
- 39:53But we don't go like days without talking about something.
- 39:57And we were one of those couples that like never went to bed angry.
- 40:00That was like our motto at the beginning so then I would argue that you were a very good communicator.
- 40:05I was.
- 40:05You were a very healthy communicator.
- 40:07I was.
- 40:07Before having kids, I used to be a much better communicator and I think that.
- 40:12Again, sometimes you're just so mentally burnt out and exhausted and all of the things that we've been saying, that even if there is something that I want to talk about, I don't have the mental energy or capacity to always address it.
- 40:27So I find myself in this like stage of life in our relationship holding a lot more in because.
- 40:36I'm just burnt out instead blurting it out or because there's no good time to talk about it.
- 40:41You're like, I don't wanna have this conversation in front of the kids.
- 40:43I don't wanna have this conversation before bed.
- 40:45I'm too tired.
- 40:46I don't wanna have it first thing in the morning because I don't wanna start our day like this.
- 40:50And so a lot of it where I think before we used to be able to just address whatever we had to talk about, whenever we wanted to talk about it, and now there's a lot of holding back.
- 41:00I think sometimes that could be good because sometimes when you take a second to come down from something, you're like, maybe that doesn't even need to be a conversation.
- 41:07Like always back to my thing doesn't always doesn't have to be a thing.
- 41:10So sometimes I'm sure it saves arguments when you're just like, you know what?
- 41:13I'm not even mad about that anymore.
- 41:15Yeah.
- 41:15But you know, If it's a trend, but if it's that you're too tired to even talk.
- 41:18Yeah, I think that could be problematic.
- 41:20It's not right.
- 41:21That's not a good thing.
- 41:22That's not a good like pattern to keep repeating.
- 41:25I think the more time we spend together, the more quality time we spend together and.
- 41:31Getting those little like bursts where we can actually speak to each other, not about logistics, not about the kids.
- 41:38That helps some of those things.
- 41:39And if there is something that's you and it's a better opportunity.
- 41:41Yes.
- 41:41It's the opportunity.
- 41:42Then you feel comfortable and safe enough to say it.
- 41:45Yes.
- 41:45But it is, I think communication definitely gets tricky for so many reasons when you add a family into the mix.
- 41:52Just because it's like time constraints, energy constraints.
- 41:56Do you remember when we had Courtney Cecil on the podcast?
- 41:59And she kept saying to us like, what are your values?
- 42:01What are your values?
- 42:01I like really made me think like we, I fill, Nick and I fill our time with activities for our children and like lots of work commitments our goal and our value is ourselves and our relationship.
- 42:14So when you keep reminding yourself that's your goal, you'll do different things to funnel your goal.
- 42:21I loved that.
- 42:22I thought that was like one of the best takeaways we've ever had from anybody on this podcast.
- 42:27Yeah.
- 42:27And I shared that with him.
- 42:28And I just feel like it's almost like this mantra without my husband having a mantra that we say to ourselves our goal is to have this as a family, as a unit relationship.
- 42:39Like for me and you to have a sturdy relationship.
- 42:41So when we're filling our schedule, we need to feed that goal.
- 42:46I loved that advice, and I'm glad that you brought that up because I do even just to remind myself and then remind our listeners, if you haven't listened to that, we'll also put a link to it in the show notes.
- 42:57That was such a episode.
- 42:57That was a great episode.
- 42:58Episode.
- 42:58Episode.
- 42:58And it was one of the earlier on ones.
- 43:00Yeah, I thought that was just a piece of advice that kind of came out of left field, of,'cause I feel like you always hear a lot of cookie cutter advice, and again, that one was taking it back to what are your values as an individual and as a family, because I think that you have, a lot of your values as a person, but for you to have a conversation with your spouse and with your family, if your kids are old enough what are your values?
- 43:27What are your goals as a family?
- 43:28And then she said that if you really know that, then a lot of decisions are very easy to make, right?
- 43:36Because.
- 43:37You say, does it align with our kind of mission as a family?
- 43:42No.
- 43:42Okay, then no.
- 43:44Yeah.
- 43:44It's easier to say no to.
- 43:45It's easier to say no, and I really liked that.
- 43:47And that's also that.
- 43:47And also maybe easier to say yes, saying yes to your relationship.
- 43:50And I think that a relationship is work.
- 43:55I think even a good relationship it is work.
- 43:58I think I have a pretty decent relationship with my husband.
- 44:00I think a lot of it is rooted in like a lot of, mutual respect for one another.
- 44:05I think that Nick wants to spend time with me.
- 44:09I think that's how he resets.
- 44:10I have to, be respectful of that and he has to be respectful that I need to reset alone first.
- 44:17And then I can reset with him.
- 44:18And I think that requires communication.
- 44:21Because otherwise if we didn't communicate that I would be like, ah, you are annoying.
- 44:26And he would feel right.
- 44:27And he would be like, neglect, oh, you're so distant and neglecting.
- 44:29And those are like.
- 44:31Really simple needs.
- 44:32I guess to that point, we talked a little bit about I guess tips and tricks of things that we've done that kind of help even a little bit.
- 44:41But are there any other things that you guys do that help you feel connected and just help you through this chapter of Yeah, so I think when I give Nick half my time, it makes it worse.
- 44:57So when he calls me and he wants to talk and I'm trying to talk to him as I'm trying to mitigate multicast a situation around the house and also like text or cook dinner or whatever, he feels ignored.
- 45:08I might as well have just not even taken his call.
- 45:11So I find that with Nick, if I can be present and give him my full attention, he's not even looking for a lot, he's not looking for like long periods of time.
- 45:23So a few mornings a week, I will wake up early with him.
- 45:27I'll go downstairs, I'll have coffee with him.
- 45:30We'll talk for a few minutes and I will send him out the door.
- 45:32It does not take a lot of time, but I feel like if I just can give him my full attention, it's like quality over quantity.
- 45:39It's really nice quality time.
- 45:41And I just feel like that's one example of how to do it.
- 45:44But if I can give him quality time where I'm like very present in it, it goes a very long way.
- 45:50I like that.
- 45:50And I feel like it doesn't need to be this big grand gesture.
- 45:53Like it could be something as simple as I sit next to him at a hockey game and I like rub his back.
- 45:58Or I'm just with him.
- 45:59I'm not like sitting with the group of parents or whatever it is.
- 46:03And I don't know, sometimes I think it's nice for our kids to see that too.
- 46:07Vincent comes up from behind me and like smacks my ass and I'm like, okay, is there something wrong with this?
- 46:13But he sees his father doing it, so maybe it's not so bad.
- 46:17Yeah.
- 46:17So that would be my tip is if I can do it.
- 46:23Do it in a microburst of it and just give him, give my full attention.
- 46:27But yeah, I was gonna say, you're like really in it.
- 46:29Like, when you're in it, you're really in it.
- 46:30You're focusing.
- 46:31'Cause if I'm not, and I'm like half-assing it it's, I almost make it worse because then he's like coming back for more.
- 46:36Yeah.
- 46:36He's looking for more.
- 46:37And then I'm like, oh my God, leave me alone.
- 46:39Yeah.
- 46:39Yeah.
- 46:40And I hate when those words come out.
- 46:42Because that's like the opposite of what I'm trying to do.
- 46:44Yeah.
- 46:44I definitely agree with that.
- 46:45I feel like the quality time is so important for us.
- 46:49Again, it's the little micro dates, like where we can fit them in.
- 46:52I really liked your tip about doing activities together.
- 46:57Because that's honestly something that I miss so much that we don't do a lot of, we used to spend so much time together, but we actually used to do a lot even just like grocery shopping together or doing just very simple day-to-day things together.
- 47:12We don't get to do that.
- 47:13All the time.
- 47:14I think that kind of taking it back to doing things together, like you guys play golf together you guys try to do things together.
- 47:21We try to do things together, like activities that get you out of the house.
- 47:25I think that's super helpful.
- 47:27'cause I think sometimes even when you say, and I know this is dependent on situations, but sometimes when you're like, we could just have a date night in.
- 47:34There's something about getting your ass out of the house and like getting yourself into a different situation.
- 47:41Yeah.
- 47:42That makes it a little bit better.
- 47:43I know that that's not always the case.
- 47:44I know you have to work with what you have sometimes.
- 47:47Like you have to have a date night in because that's the only way it's gonna happen.
- 47:51But I think that when you're around the energy of the house, it's like, are you really gonna.
- 47:57Is it gonna be the same?
- 47:58You know what I mean?
- 47:58I've never enjoyed a date night in at our kitchen table.
- 48:01'cause at our kitchen table, I'm mom.
- 48:03Yeah.
- 48:03But I do remember during COVID, we went down to the bar and had a drink at our bar.
- 48:08And I'm like, all right, I can roll with this.
- 48:10Yeah, you need to.
- 48:11Okay.
- 48:11So it's just about changing the environment.
- 48:13You need to change the environment because if you go to the same environment, you're gonna play the same role.
- 48:18Which is mom and dad.
- 48:19And you're looking to play a different role.
- 48:20You're looking to play like husband, wife, yes.
- 48:22Or friend or whatever.
- 48:23Yes.
- 48:23I like that.
- 48:24'Cause I do feel like that happens.
- 48:25If we're sitting at the kitchen table, it's gonna feel like every other night that we're sitting at the kitchen table or if we're sitting in front of the tv.
- 48:32But like even going to a different corner of your house and being like, we're gonna have a drink here.
- 48:37And it just like changes the environment and it gets you feeling like there's a day night.
- 48:41So I like that.
- 48:41Like just doing something together for me.
- 48:44I think and for us, I was thinking back a little bit more about the communication piece and something that has helped me a ton that then in turn, I think has helped us is the phrase I feel and I need or I want.
- 48:59Starting conversations with that instead of, you're not doing this or,'cause you're, it's you keep it on you, you keep it on you and it's soft.
- 49:09By saying, feel it's softer.
- 49:10I feel soft.
- 49:10It's a much more approachable way of communicating.
- 49:14And so that has helped even me frame what I'm trying to say in a moment of chaos when, when you have such a quick window to be able to communicate and you're trying not to come across the wrong way, I do.
- 49:27It's a softer approach and I think it's for the person receiving it too.
- 49:32It's a softer.
- 49:34Feeling I think this whole conversation is rooted in we love our spouse and we want our marriages to last.
- 49:41We want them to last.
- 49:42We want them to be good.
- 49:43We wanna enjoy time with them.
- 49:44There's a reason why we chose them.
- 49:46Yep.
- 49:46So we're trying to be selective and respectful when we talk to them.
- 49:50Yeah.
- 49:50That doesn't mean you're not gonna have an outburst and be like, oh my God, I hate your freaking guts right now.
- 49:54Mm-hmm.
- 49:55Like That also happens, of course.
- 49:56But you want to have a good, healthy relationship.
- 50:01And you're trying to figure out how to do that.
- 50:02I know on very limited time and sleep and resources.
- 50:06It's tricky.
- 50:07I actually just came from my ob.
- 50:10I had like my annual appointment and we were just catching up because obviously this goes back to last year when she saw me for my last annual and I was not in a good place.
- 50:19And.
- 50:21So we were just catching up.
- 50:22I love her so much.
- 50:23And we were talking about just how the importance of the relationship and just like, how are you guys doing?
- 50:30And I said, oh, we're, we're so much better now.
- 50:32The kids are, as they're growing, it seems to be getting a little bit easier.
- 50:36Easier, it keeps some of the strain off of the relationship.
- 50:38Yes, I get it.
- 50:39And she said The best way to tell is if you're spending quality time together and you remember how much you like each other, then that means that like, when all of the other stuff around you is not there, you're okay.
- 50:54Yeah.
- 50:54That's really good advice.
- 50:55And I was like, yeah.
- 50:57So when we've spent any sort of quality time together it's like you pick right back up where you left off.
- 51:03If you're really.
- 51:05Making an attempt to spend that quality time and not letting all the noise get in and the business and all of that.
- 51:11Yes.
- 51:11Like the liking each other is so important.
- 51:14And I liked that she used the word like and not love.
- 51:17'cause it's like obviously you love your spouse, but do you like them?
- 51:20There's a difference.
- 51:21There's a difference.
- 51:22And yes.
- 51:23When all of the other stuff is lifted away, we very much still like each other and wanna be around each other.
- 51:29It's just finding the time.
- 51:31Allowing you that time.
- 51:32To like each other.
- 51:33And I was like, what a good way.
- 51:34And I liked the intentional use of the word like,'cause I was like, yeah, how important is that?
- 51:39You had a little, you need to like that person therapy session and your OBGYN today always So one other tip that I will share is that Nick and I.
- 51:48Go away.
- 51:49We travel.
- 51:49Yeah.
- 51:50We get the hell outta Dodge.
- 51:51You do?
- 51:51And it's getting harder as the kids are getting older.
- 51:54I know.
- 51:54It shocked me, and somebody told me this when the kids were young, you told me and then you told me.
- 51:58They said to me, do it when they're young.
- 52:00Because the older they get, the harder it is.
- 52:02And what I, that shocked me, took away from that was like, because they're gonna throw parties at your house.
- 52:07That was what I took from that.
- 52:09Maybe I was just projecting because when my parents left me when I was in high school, the second they pulled down the street, like the keg was being delivered, actually while I was on vacation this past week, I told my mom about a few of the parties that I had and she was like in stitches.
- 52:24She was like, I cannot believe this.
- 52:27And I'm just hearing about it now.
- 52:29But anyway, so that's what I took away from it.
- 52:31Go away when they're younger.
- 52:32It gets harder as they get older.
- 52:34But when your kids are young, it's so hard to leave.
- 52:39But they don't necessarily.
- 52:41Need you.
- 52:42As your kids get older, they need you at least this is our experience.
- 52:45Yeah.
- 52:45I could see that they are so much more specific that they want you.
- 52:49Like when my kids and they can vocalize it, they vocalize it and it's very clear.
- 52:53And yes, there are some easier parts because then like anybody can drive them when they're older.
- 52:57Like when they're little, like nobody can drive them.
- 52:59Like you, like mom and dad, maybe grandma, grandpa, maybe one trusted sitter.
- 53:04If you're lucky you have that, team behind you.
- 53:06But when they were little, it was easier to leave them.
- 53:08Yeah.
- 53:09I know I, you told me that they would go at 7:00 PM and that was the end of it for the night.
- 53:12Yeah.
- 53:12I can totally see that now if you are a young couple.
- 53:15Mm-hmm.
- 53:15And you can get away for a night or two.
- 53:18I encourage you to do it because it gets much harder to do it as they get older.
- 53:22Yep.
- 53:22And then I think to that point, not overcomplicating it, which we've definitely talked about in other episodes too, where it's don't underestimate just going down the road and doing a staycation somewhere.
- 53:35Don't overcomplicate it.
- 53:36Don't let social media, or don't let your own wild imagination make you feel like you have to do something extravagant.
- 53:44Make it easy on yourselves.
- 53:45But just the change of scenery is huge.
- 53:48And yeah, because maybe a flight and a train and a car rental and this and that, it's going to exhaust you more.
- 53:56And what you're really looking for is just and escape to connect and have fun.
- 53:59Yep.
- 54:00Laugh, create a shared experience.
- 54:02Enjoy some food.
- 54:03Remember why you like each other and then you can come home equipped to handle the mess that you will be returning home to.
- 54:10Of course.
- 54:11But, and your cute kids.
- 54:12I know.
- 54:13That is great advice..
- 54:14So we can get into our last segment.
- 54:17Which is our pink spot.
- 54:17Right.
- 54:17So, Okay.
- 54:19So mine is Chachi pt, but it's how I've been using it.
- 54:23Okay.
- 54:23So I used it a lot when we were on the trip.
- 54:26I used it more traveling.
- 54:27Ooh.
- 54:28Than Google Maps.
- 54:29For instance, when we were in Rome, I had gotten recommendations for every city that we were traveling in.
- 54:33So when I would arrive to a city, I would insert my travel recommendations.
- 54:38These are the restaurants, I would put the whole thing into chat, GPT, and I would say, this is where I am.
- 54:42Yep.
- 54:43This is my current location, what's near me.
- 54:46And it would say, okay, this is walking distance.
- 54:49This is a taxi ride, this is a water taxi, this is how you get there.
- 54:53And my mom and I used chat chip tea to map out our whole day.
- 54:56We would type it in the morning we wanna go to this museum.
- 54:59Where do we get tickets for it?
- 55:01What's a non touristy place to eat in that location?
- 55:04Oh, good idea.
- 55:05And it would spit it all out at you.
- 55:07It's so much better than a Google search, right?
- 55:09And then it would give you directions how to get to places, and then from there you could click onto Google Maps to walk.
- 55:14Oh, I love it.
- 55:15It was so amazing.
- 55:17We used chat GPT, the entire trip.
- 55:20I should rephrase that.
- 55:21I used chat, GPT.
- 55:22Yeah.
- 55:22The entire trip.
- 55:23My father made it very clear to me, do not.
- 55:25Follow your mother.
- 55:26She has a terrible sense of direction.
- 55:29That's great.
- 55:29I like that idea.
- 55:30I never even thought to do it for traveling like that.
- 55:32It was great.
- 55:33I would just dump the whole thing into it and it was amazing.
- 55:36So I know it really is becoming like a Google search, which is, it was like having a little personal assistant.
- 55:41Yes.
- 55:41Yes.
- 55:41Telling me where to go and that.
- 55:43And even just like you're saying, like mapping out like what makes sense so that you're not all over the place.
- 55:47Or like how do we get from here to here?
- 55:49What makes the most sense to do?
- 55:50One day we went to the Vatican and va, I didn't realize that the Vatican isn't like a place, it's a city, and then there's multiple places within the Vatican.
- 55:58People use like the term the Vatican, right?
- 56:00It's like Vatican City.
- 56:02So I had put into chat GPT, we wanna go here and here.
- 56:06This is the times of our tours.
- 56:07And it told me like, have the Uber drop you off here.
- 56:11Oh wow.
- 56:11Go here.
- 56:11And I, it was perfect how it mapped it out for us.
- 56:13'cause otherwise, how was I supposed to know?
- 56:15Good tip.
- 56:16Yeah.
- 56:17That's a really good tip.
- 56:18I love that.
- 56:19So mine is two products that I've been using for a really long time, I'm obsessed with Colleen Rothschild Skincare.
- 56:27Mm-hmm.
- 56:27It's like my favorite skincare line, just because I use so many products from her and.
- 56:34The two that I, it's the second longest relationship.
- 56:37You've been the second Tara Raja.
- 56:38It's it, like she's just, she's my girl.
- 56:41And but the two products that I love, and now that we're entering the season I'm bringing them back into rotation like almost every single day.
- 56:49Is the extreme recovery cream, which is like the most luxurious.
- 56:55Moisturizer ever.
- 56:56It is so amazing.
- 56:58My skin like misses it when I don't have it on.
- 57:00It's like that moisturizing.
- 57:02I use these at night and then I mix in her face oil number nine into it and she calls it the Colleen cocktail.
- 57:09So it's just like moisturizer and then you squirt a little bit of the face oil on top of it and mix it in all together.
- 57:15And it is incredible.
- 57:18My skin everything is getting dry again.
- 57:20I'm like, wow.
- 57:20Like my skin just, it happens so fast.
- 57:23One makeup get dry, things get like crinkly.
- 57:25Yes.
- 57:25And then your makeup doesn't, yes.
- 57:27Like your makeup doesn't set and sometimes during the summer I feel like I don't need both.
- 57:31I don't need like the oil and the moisturizer, but like now that it's getting dry, I'm like, oh, I'm bringing it back.
- 57:36And I have this series on Instagram where it's called Every Lash Drop because I actually, oh, empty jars share empty.
- 57:45Jars I'm using these things and I'm not actually just like trying it out for the first time.
- 57:51I'm actually using every last drop of them.
- 57:54So sometimes I will save my empties to show you guys the receipts that I actually love these things.
- 57:59And both of these have had multiple empties.
- 58:01I'm obsessed with them.
- 58:03And so yeah, that's bringing back my favorite moisturizer for the fall and winter.
- 58:09So I'll make sure to link those for you guys.
- 58:11And they're available on Amazon too.
- 58:12That's a great, that's a great tip.
- 58:13I wanna try them.
- 58:14What are the price points?
- 58:16The Extreme Recovery cream, it depends on what size you get.
- 58:19It is better for you to get the jumbo size if you end up liking it.
- 58:23I try to get the jumbo size of the cream, but it's like 75 for the cream.
- 58:27I go through that much faster than I do the oil.
- 58:29The oil's 85.
- 58:31Okay.
- 58:31And you can get them together.
- 58:33So if I'll leave a link.
- 58:35'cause they have she like a bundle.
- 58:37She makes like a bundle.
- 58:37Oh.
- 58:37Which she intends to use them together.
- 58:39Oh, I wanna try them.
- 58:40Yes.
- 58:40They're great.
- 58:41So I will leave the link to the bundle because you can get a little bit of a discount and I'll see if my code still works.
- 58:46I don't How did you find her?
- 58:47How did you So I actually met her at an LTK conference probably like 10 years ago.
- 58:53Wow.
- 58:54And I started using her glycolic peel pads, which I really loved.
- 58:58And there was one other product, it might have been her eye cream.
- 59:01And then I was always like a SkinCeuticals girl.
- 59:04And I don't know, as like my skin, as I got into my mid thirties, I just started noticing that the skincare I was using wasn't working anymore.
- 59:12And so I was like, I think I need something else.
- 59:15And I happened to have something from her and I, it just clicked like as soon as it was like my skin, the second it hit your skin was me.
- 59:22Yes.
- 59:22The second I hit my skin, I was like, this is the line.
- 59:24Every product.
- 59:24You had to change it up.
- 59:25Nope.
- 59:26Every product it's just like one of those things.
- 59:27Oh me, I To try it, maybe try this cocktail.
- 59:30Yeah.
- 59:30Post the link.
- 59:31It's great.
- 59:31I'll post the link.
- 59:32But I love it.
- 59:32I love it so much.
- 59:33All right.
- 59:33And you know what else we love?
- 59:35We love Nick and Raj.
- 59:36We do.
- 59:37We love you guys.
- 59:38They're, even though we give a har, even though we give you a hard time.
- 59:41I know.
- 59:41Pretty much every day.
- 59:42I know.
- 59:43Sorry.
- 59:44But maybe one day we'll be able to convince them to come on and sit with the pink microphones.
- 59:50But.
- 59:50Today was not that day.
- 59:51Maybe we'll do it in the bar downstairs.
- 59:53Yeah, that'll be a little bit more fun.
- 59:55Drinks.
- 59:55It'll be more playful.
- 59:55Oh my goodness.
- 59:57Oh, all right.
- 59:57I wanna hear from our listeners don't leave us hanging here.
- 1:00:00I know we're not the only one.
- 1:00:01We putting our ourselves out there on the line, right?
- 1:00:04Come on, give it back.
- 1:00:05I always love getting the comments and everything.
- 1:00:07And then we also have to have a shout out because we haven't talked about the viral video.
- 1:00:14We had a viral video, guys like, no.
- 1:00:16And not a viral video.
- 1:00:18Look, we had a fucking viral video.
- 1:00:20Like, all right, so I'm gonna give a quick quick recap.
- 1:00:22Recap in case you guys don't know what we're talking about.
- 1:00:23So pretty much every day, every other day, something ridiculous happens in our life and we send it to each other.
- 1:00:30It was like a Thursday on Thursdays.
- 1:00:32Usually one of us will do like a quick recap of the episode from that week.
- 1:00:36So the episode that week was about postpartum anxiety and depression.
- 1:00:40So the kids were off from school that day.
- 1:00:41So I put the phone down on the kitchen island, propped it up to myself to talk about how I had postpartum anxiety after I had my children, especially, I'm not very vivacious daughter.
- 1:00:52I'm not laughing at that, Camilla.
- 1:00:54So she.
- 1:00:56Jumps into the camera, knocks me on my chin, and literally the whole video, we cut this part out.
- 1:01:02Like she literally knocks me on my ass.
- 1:01:04Because you're like literally Hey we guys, we're talking about postpartum anxiety and depression and like here, and we each are sharing our experiences and Camilla just gets her little face in the frame and then she goes, I'm Camila and jumps and hits T Square in the jaw.
- 1:01:20Like you actually hear like a crunch sound.
- 1:01:24And so she sends this to me like, stand my ass.
- 1:01:27And you hear in that part of the video me being like, Ugh.
- 1:01:31She's like whimpering in the background.
- 1:01:34And so she sends me the video and then she's like, we have to post this, right?
- 1:01:37I'm like, yeah, we have to post this.
- 1:01:38So we also send it to our assistant Angela, who helps us with all of our social media and.
- 1:01:44She was like, no, we have to slowmo this.
- 1:01:46This is, and also no one cares about what you're saying before.
- 1:01:50No.
- 1:01:50So we end up, cut that shit out and just post this in.
- 1:01:53So she ended up doing that iconic slow motion where T gets knocked in the face like three times.
- 1:02:00If you don't know what I'm talking about, go to our page right now.
- 1:02:03And so we were we post it and it started gaining traction as it should.
- 1:02:09And then I remember me, you and Angela were on a text message and we're like, wow, this might hit a hundred K views and that, wouldn't that be crazy?
- 1:02:1912 million views later.
- 1:02:21We're like, I know.
- 1:02:22Wait, what is happening?
- 1:02:24It's up to 14.
- 1:02:24Five.
- 1:02:24Is it 14?
- 1:02:25Oh my God.
- 1:02:25This, its up to 14, five.
- 1:02:26It's just the gifts that keeps on giving.
- 1:02:27People are still watching it.
- 1:02:28And then the best part is some of the comments are like, this is ai.
- 1:02:32I'm like, no, I wish it was ai.
- 1:02:35This actually happened to me.
- 1:02:36I have a broken jaw.
- 1:02:38And also the comments are like, they're amazing.
- 1:02:41They're amazing.
- 1:02:42And also people are like, I have broken a nose, I have a black eye.
- 1:02:46I chipped it you with.
- 1:02:47And I'm like, okay, this is literally universe.
- 1:02:50Motherhood is not, I know for the week.
- 1:02:52It is not for the week.
- 1:02:53And yep.
- 1:02:54So cheers tea to your viral moment.
- 1:02:57Oh God, you are so big, big time right now.
- 1:02:59Oh my.
- 1:02:59And my daughter is like loving this.
- 1:03:01She's mom, how many views do we have?
- 1:03:02I know how many views.
- 1:03:04Thanks Meals for oh my god.
- 1:03:05For that one.
- 1:03:06'cause so good thing we're laughing through it.
- 1:03:08Yeah, we're laughing through motherhood and so there you go.
- 1:03:11So congratulations on our most viral video ever.
- 1:03:17I dunno how we're gonna top that one, but we're gonna try so we're gonna try.
- 1:03:20Gonna try so much.
- 1:03:20Thank you guys so much.
- 1:03:21Hopefully nobody will get injured in the second.
- 1:03:22I know.
- 1:03:22Oh my goodness.
- 1:03:23Second, stay safe out there moms, and we'll talk to you guys next week.
- 1:03:28Bye bye.