Witness my brain being exploded by progressive mom coach, community builder, and writer, Graeme Seabrook. Graeme shares what she sees most as a mentor to mothers, and what’s really at the center of all of it. We also talk about dads, how they are the wardens of their own prisons, and how they deserve - and are capable of - so much more. Graeme helps answer my question: are moms more essential than dads? And we go DEEP there. So join us as Graeme lays down some much-needed wisdom, advice, perspec...
Jun 29, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 38
What’s a midlife renaissance? You’ll have to listen to find out – but I can tell you that it includes rule-breaking, and sex. Sometimes with people other than your spouse. It may sound scandalous, but Nora reveals why changing her marriage helped her achieve true happiness, growth, and radical acceptance. She also talks about breaking out of the “good girl” role, and how the loss of her father gave her unexpected clarity. So join us for today’s episode which looks at one woman’s choice between f...
Jun 15, 2020•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 37
Seasoned author, Emily Liebert, joins me to talk shop about writing, supporting other writers (or not), motherhood, friendship, and Real Housewives. She shares the greatest piece of writing advice she ever got, what she didn’t know when her first book published, and her refreshing take on the illusion of balance. Together, we give a candid, behind-the-scenes look at the glamourous writer life (ha!), even the stuff we’re not supposed to talk about.
Jun 01, 2020•56 min•Ep. 36
My normally private husband transforms into an open book as he talks about fatherhood, marriage, surviving childhood trauma, and what it’s like to have a wife who openly talks about (and writes a book about) gender inequality in parenting, dad privilege, and marriage after kids. Join us at our kitchen table for an intimate conversation with laughs, real talk, and surprises - along with the telling of one of his most humiliating moments while wearing our son in a Baby Bjorn.
May 18, 2020•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 35
I’ve been holding onto this story and these words for what feels like forever, and I am excited to finally share with you my heart spilled out onto pages, and all the TMI that goes along with it. In this super professional “interview,” I answer personal questions about my book, its characters, my writing process, my life, and more, along with a sneak peek excerpt.
May 04, 2020•53 min•Ep. 34
I’ve been meaning to cover this topic for over a year. It focuses on one of the most impactful parts of our parenthood journey – our baby’s birth, the story, and what we tell ourselves about that story – the meaning we give it. My guest, Virginia Bobro, offers her expert insight into the nuances of our birth events and stories, and the potential pitfalls of sharing these raw stories with others. Have you ever shared your birth story and felt worse after doing so? You’re not alone. Virginia and I...
Apr 20, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 33
This episode is not for the faint of heart as me and my sex-therapist guest, Jo Robertson, leave nothing to the imagination as we discuss the importance of talking to our kids about porn. We cover Jo’s TED Talk that shook me, the likelihood of early exposure to porn in the internet age, how this wires our kids’ minds about what is normal, and Jo offers lots of practical things we can do to mitigate the damage. We also talk about ethical porn, the messaging around pleasure that our kids are (and ...
Apr 06, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 32
Learn from the bravery and heard-earned wisdom of my guest and close friend, Mary, as she tells us all about how she handled the unimaginable - a cancer diagnosis for her son. Full disclosure, there are a few breakdown moments in here, but also, we laugh so much, my god, especially at the beginning and then at the end when she reminds me of one of the funniest moments we had together. We also talk about that one time she betrayed me, how her son’s diagnosis completely changed the way I parent, a...
Mar 23, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 31
Learn about a four-step anxiety response technique by Barry McDonagh called “DARE” (which I have had huge success with in my life), as I explain its out-of-the-box way of defusing anxiety that works wonders! This episode serves as a mental health check-in, and provides validation, education, laughs, and dare I say, optimism?
Mar 20, 2020•47 min
Real talk about mothering during a pandemic, including commentary, analysis, and validation. I cover panic shopping, what I’m flabbergasted by, what we all need to be doing (not doing) to keep each other safe, how women cannot bear all the burden of this crisis, why you shouldn’t keep your kids quiet for your working spouse, how I’m handling schedules, the rule I had to make one day one, and why business cannot be as usual.
Mar 15, 2020•39 min
Today’s guest gives us a little bit of everything. Sara McNally, owner of the cutest card boutique on the Seattle Fisherman’s Terminal, opens up about personal topics such as infertility, adoption, being silenced, watching her son experience racism, and more. She talks about the tricky logistics of becoming a mother just a few months after opening her store, the gender-based double standards of it, and her own pain as the catalyst for her authentically-worded cards. Sara also shares a life-chang...
Mar 09, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 30
Today’s guest will inspire you, for a lot of reasons. “Sarah” (not her real name) tells us a raw and relatable story about losing herself in marriage and motherhood, honoring who she really is, and the sacrifices she made to choose her own happiness. Her story is one of survival, religious extremes, divorce, and taboo. “Sara” talks about what happens when you realize your spouse and religion are incongruent with who you are, the moment that gave her the clarity she needed, and her rebirth back t...
Feb 24, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 29
Join me for a doozy of a show where me and my guest, Jennifer, talk about the big D. Jennifer is a no bullshitter, straight shooter who has been through a divorce herself, has a popular podcast all about it, and has written books on the subject. She’s here today to unpack divorce – and marriage – to help save us from any unnecessary pain and suffering, and also to help those who might need some clarity (whether they know it or not). She tells us all about her truly unique story, her regrets, her...
Feb 10, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 28
Today we’re getting real about parenting (and living) with chronic illness. Fellow podcaster, Monica, stops by to tell us her unbelievable story and what she’s learned the hard way as a parent with multiple health conditions. I share my own struggles, and the two of us talk candidly about humor as a coping strategy, shifting our parenting standards to really low, and how we feel about having to do that. We also discuss marriage guilt, sex life changes, upswings vs. downswings, the insanity that ...
Jan 27, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 27
Buckle up for a passionate discussion with Beth Berry from “Revolution From Home,” as we do a deep dive into what needs to be burned to the ground in modern motherhood. I absolutely love Beth’s honest and progressive take on how us moms are being brainwashed (and how we’re complicit… shit), the consequences of continually saying yes when our body says no, and why our isolation is so problematic for us as women, but not for the powers that be. You’ll also find out if she agrees with me that being...
Jan 13, 2020•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 26
In this validating, relatable, and just funny episode, my family friend and dad of two, Jim Bialick, stops by to give us an inside look at his quick education in stay-at-home parenthood. Jim and his wife recently swapped roles, with Jim trading in his high-level job in D.C. for cleaning up vomit and shuttling his girls to ballet. One day, I got a private message from Jim that said, “I have a new perspective as now the stay at home parent. Nobody needs this many snacks and kids are more full of s...
Dec 30, 2019•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 25
In this episode, we discuss a topic that is so necessary to our mental health as mothers: what to do with all that pesky rage? Author, Hunter Clarke-Fields, explains what is happening to us when we lose it, and how we can be less reactive. She talks about the importance of assessing our own baggage from how we were parented, in combination with improving our communication skills, and how that can rewire our brain – and its response to anger. She also opens up about inheriting her father’s temper...
Dec 16, 2019•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 24
In this “very special” episode, we talk about grief and motherhood with someone who has a pretty heavy story about losing her own parents. With lots of dark humor and openness, Caity speaks out about what it’s like to parent without your own parents in hopes that others dealing with loss amid motherhood will know that they’re not alone in the bittersweet messiness that is grief. Just so you know, we laugh quite a lot and we also discuss other important topics such as Chick-fil-A vs. Raising Cane...
Dec 02, 2019•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 23
The Ghost of Christmas Future, a.k.a. Kathie, stops by and gives us her mother-of-seven-grown-kids perspective about intricate family dynamics at holidays, boundaries she’s set, and the cost of choosing yourself and your family over what you’ve always done. You know, stuff that no one really talks about publicly. She and I quickly go from deep and serious, to laughing and heckling each other, to disagreeing, to both being moved by Kathie’s exceptional vulnerability. Sorry for the whiplash, but i...
Nov 18, 2019•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 22
Podcast favorite and professional declutterer, Rebecca Mezzino, comes to discuss how to give yourself the gift of sanity this holiday season. I admit my biggest holiday struggles and we come up with lots of tactics to avoid the exhaustion and frustration so a joyful holiday can be had by all, namely us moms who are worn down from all the magic-making. Rebecca and I sort out how to specifically delegate tasks to your spouse (and she has a whole system for this), how to limit the work that doesn’t...
Nov 04, 2019•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 21
Today’s guest is here to shake us out of the confusion around how to handle our kids’ screen time. The podcast welcomes its first dad/man, Jordan Shapiro, who wrote a super helpful book about how to navigate this new era of relentless technology as a parent, The New Childhood: Raising Kids to Thrive in a Connected World. It’s got facts, research, history, and other sober analysis, along with plenty of parental anecdotes that aren’t fear-based, and dare I say are oddly comforting. In this episode...
Oct 21, 2019•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 20
Join mother and author, Laura Mullane, as she unapologetically speaks her truth of “reluctant motherhood,” and she and I talk about all sorts of deep mom topics. I talk about my biggest fear when becoming a mother, and Laura and I explain why motherhood sometimes feels like living with a gun to your head, and also what changes inside us as the toddlers grow into teenagers (it’s actually positive). Laura tells us what it was like to write such a personal and taboo book – and what people’s reactio...
Oct 07, 2019•57 min•Ep. 19
Join me and my wise and hilarious friend, Jennifer, for a conversation with lots of laughing, swearing, self-deprecation, and truly life-changing concepts, as we talk about alcohol and parenting, specifically her path as an alcoholic mother. Even if you don’t personally have an issue with alcohol, nor does anyone in your inner circle, this episode has so many gems about parenting and making mistakes – basically, being a human. We talk about how our mothering instincts can and cannot thwart alcoh...
Sep 23, 2019•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 18
Today’s episode is in response to my first two podcast episodes. A few of my lesbian and queer listeners were like, “What the shit is this hetero life and marriage you talk about??” Their shock and disdain made me want to know more about same-sex marriages, and how much of our hetero marriage and parenting issues are gender-based. Today’s guest, a lesbian mom, so graciously lets me dig into her private life to seek the answers to my burning questions. It turns out that I had a lot of varying fan...
Sep 09, 2019•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 17
Some of you need today’s episode. Some of you may think it’s a little extreme. If so, it will give you a look into an experience that many other moms are having, that luckily you didn’t. So either way there is something to be learned, or a new perspective to be gained. My guest, Marissa, a licensed marriage and family therapist, talks about broadening the postpartum depression diagnosis, and even abandoning it in some cases. She talks candidly about her own transition into motherhood as a therap...
Aug 26, 2019•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 16
Today’s guest, Deidre, is so unbelievably gracious, even though she didn't have to be. Deidre agreed to answer my questions and educate us all. I wanted to know things like: How are we white women getting it wrong? What do black mothers experience that white mothers have no idea about? And, what do you wish we’d do to help you? What she delivers is more vulnerable and enlightening than I even imagined. We also talk about why the “I don’t see color” thing is problematic – for all races, the frien...
Aug 12, 2019•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 15
Author, Darcy Lockman, discusses how even egalitarian couples fall into mini patriarchies after kids. You'll be surprised at all that's at play.
Jul 29, 2019•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 14
A quick, practical meditation for frazzled moms to do anytime, anywhere, with lots of LOLs. We cover the non-annoying whys and hows of meditation, including its importance with setting boundaries with our kids.
Jul 15, 2019•57 min•Ep. 13
Someone in the motherhood business (who isn’t a mother herself) drops wisdom about why millennials aren’t having kids, what she thinks is the hardest part of the Mom job, magic she sees that parents can’t, and much more.
Jul 01, 2019•58 min•Ep. 12
Nod your head along as four hilarious and honest moms admit their favorite and least favorite parts of being mothers – some taboo. Recorded from a writer’s retreat.
Jun 17, 2019•53 min•Ep. 11
