Hey, what's up y'all? So on this midweek mom chat, I was kind of thinking, like, what do I want to talk about? There's always so many things racing through my head. At this point in my life was sunny and life and balancing um, motherhood and balancing a career that you're loving and trying to grow and feel called to do, and also we all need to make money. And when you have a kid, I don't know, it's like something happens where you just feel like this burn.
It's like it's not that I didn't have a burn before, but it's like, now I have a kid, it's like, Okay, I gotta get focused and like I got a zero in on what I'm doing and making sure that I'm on the right path and everything is the line, and just kind of cutting out um bullshit for lack of a better term, It's like you don't have time just to I'm sorry, I like cussing, but you don't have time to dick off anymore, you know what I'm saying.
Not that some of y'all probably haven't ever had time to do that, but I didn't have a kid until I was much later in life, thirty six years old, and Michael and I got married when we were I was thirty and he was twenty. No, I was thirty one, he was twenty eight. Yes, I'm a puma, you guys. I am three and a half years older than Michael. A cougar is when you're ten years or more older than your spouse, your husband, and a puma is when you're five years or less. At least that's what I
have decided it to be some in puma um. And so Michael and I had a lot of time together, just like we started dating when he was twenty one and I was twenty four, so we had a lot of time to grow up together, like figure stuff out. If y'all have followed along, you know, we have our story. We broke up for a little while, and we really press suit our passions and our dreams and figured out ways to make money and have jobs doing that for
a long time. But when it's just you and just you and your significant other, the heat's not quite as on. You just need to figure out how to make it happen, survive and pay your rent and your bills. But now that Sunny is here, I'm like, she's gonna have school and I gotta get her clothes, and she's about start eating and diapers, and I mean, I don't even know
what all is going to be coming on. Eventually, she's gonna want to do after school activities like swimmy, well, I want to teach her swimming because that's very important to me, to give her swim lessons, so they'll be like swim lessons and if she wants to do gymnastics, and who knows what she's gonna be into. She might love acting or sports or something scholarly, not like her mother or her father. Neither one of us really love school that much. But I totally support school and I
think it's awesome and you should definitely learn. Um, So I don't know, just a spy gets put under you where you're like, dang, I gotta make this happen. I gotta provide for my little babe. So where am I going with all this? So I always have something I'm thinking about, and I'm always having pressure, um, a little bit more pressure than I had before to just make
it happen. And that's why I'm loving this podcast. I don't even know if I just made sense right then, I don't know why I started this podcast, what I was even talking about, and if I circled back around if it's making sense or not. Hopefully that made sense. Um, But I want to answer you all's questions today because I want to know what y'all want to know, like
what I'm going through. If there's anything I'm going through that I can share with you guys, to just like let you know how I'm navigating this season of my life. I'm happy to share with you all because I think that's all on my phone still on. That's all that anybody is doing right now, is just navigating. Right Who texted me? I have a friend stopping by? And see that's another thing, Like I'm so grateful, Like I don't
ever leave my house anymore. I'm so thankful to have friends that want to come over and see me because I have. I mean, it's just so hard to leave the house. When we leave the house with Sunny, I literally have to pack up her carcy toys, several bottles just depending on how long we'll be out, my pump because I gotta pump because I can only go a few hours ut pumping. Um, so you gotta put all that in the bag. A blanket, all of our diapers,
like everything, like you literally stroller. It is a process to leave the house. So I'm always very grateful and friends want to stop by and say hello. But I just want to know what you guys want to talk about right now, because we're all in the big middle of this together. Like, no matter where you are in your life, whether you're single and you're looking for love and you're wondering if it's out there, or whether you are in a new relationship and you're wondering, is this
the one? Are we gonna get married, We're gonna get engaged, And or if you are pregnant or just had a kid it or you can't have a baby, or you have older children, or you are dealing with loss of loss of a spouse or loss of a loved one, or loss of a career or just starting a career or all of it. We're all in this wave of life. We are all just rolling through this life. I want to share something with you guys that my friend Lady Crown or Crowd or ground Er Lady Crowder talked about
the other day. Um she started a little Bible study for some of our girlfriends in Nashville and I just love it. She felt it on her heart to really start this just to like not to be preacher or anything, but just like let's get together and and claim God, like we don't have to. We don't have you know, it doesn't have to be this like holier than the all type thing. We can just get together and talk about God because why not? She said, What did she say?
She said, I'm not gonna Oh, I'm not gonna quote her, right. She basically said she's not going to shy away from speaking up about God in her life because I feel like I've done that before, like in the past. That you don't really want to, like pray all the time
out loud in front of people. You don't really want to like say God has blessed this situation, or like bring God into moments or pause and like take time to like send a prayer to God when you're going through something or something great happens, Like a lot of times we just don't acknowledge God in the midst of our lives, in our daily lives. We only acknowledge God like at church or on holidays or when we're desperately
in need of a miracle. You know, it's like, but I want to Laney encouraged me to do this, Like I want to acknowledge God all the time, and the good and the bad, and to see Him working in my life through everything, because I feel like that is the way to get rid of anxiety for me. And I told you all this year, I am not going to deal with anxiety. I am actively working to get rid of anxiety. And I have tried every different way
to get rid of it. Exercise, UM, get partying UM, hanging out with friends all the time, being super busy, career pursuing career UM. Back when Michael and I were before dating, like dating a lot and then with Michael, like we've just had such a fun life traveling and getting to explore and do all sorts of stuff. But like, you can't run away from your anxiety. You know, if it's there, you can like push it down, but like you've got to figure out how to look it in
the face. And for me, the only way that I can get rid of my anxiety is having God active in my life at all the time and knowing that He is guiding my life and knowing that my life is blessed and no matter what happens. If even if it feels like it's something bad that's happening, that's still a part of the plane. It's going to lead me to blessings. And so I have to believe that or else this life is too much for me because I
am a fragile soul. I am I get so affected by everything, and I'm just tired of being affected by everything. So I just want to know that my life has purposed. And that's not how everyone wants to go through their life. And listen, I'm not here to preach anybody. I'm just telling you what I'm doing because I am over having
anxiety and I love having God in my life. Like it makes me feel happy, it makes me feel light, It makes me feel like I can follow my calling with confidence because I know that it's coming from a bigger place and I'm not doing it for myself, Like yes, I want to reap the benefits of it and enjoy it, Like it's fun to follow your calling and experience success and fulfillment and things working out. Like I'm definitely not saying I don't want to enjoy that, but I want
to enjoy They're all the rewards of working hard. Towards something because I feel like it's what I'm supposed to be doing with my life, and by listening to God, that's how I do that. And so I listen to
God by following the open doors. When I feel stick in my stomach about something, or I get a not in my stomach, or if it feels resistance, or if it just like I cannot make a decision about something and I don't feel clear, or if I feel weird about it, or if I feel like I'm forcing something, then not to me is I need to stop, I need to pause, I need to wait, and like that's
not time for me to move. For when something feels easy, even if I have like fear about it a little bit because it's like a new chapter scary, or like WHOA, what's going to happen? As long as I feel good about it and easy and light and peaceful and everything's falling into place, then I pretty much roll with it. That's my governor these days. But Laney, and getting back to this, she said, to get to the harvest, you like,
we're always in a season of abundance. I think about that, We're always in a season abundance because everything we're doing is working as towards abundance. So say, what we think we're trying to get to is the harvest, where like we have this beautiful field of wheat that is just healthy and growing and ready to be harvested by us. That's what we think the goal is. And that's what we think, that's what we think is. That is what we think matters in life is getting to that harvest,
and nothing else matters. And like, we just got to get to the harvest. Like the harvest is where it's at. If we're not in the harvest, we're struggling. Well, okay, all of that is a part of the harvest. Like she laid this out so beautifully and I love it, y'all follow Laney. Her instagram is Laney Crowder l A N E Y c R O W d R. She's really inspirational. Um. But it's got a rain first. You gotta go through the rain to even get the ground
ready to start to plant. So you've got to go through that weather in the beginning before you're even ready to start your journey. So there's that that's essential. So here we are in the rain. Then now the grounds we went through that weather in that rain, and now the ground is ready. Now you gotta go plow the field. That is labor and you don't see results of that plowing for a long time. So now we're plowing the field. We're out there, it's hot, we're sweating, we're tired. There's
endless fields that have to be plowed. It feels like we're never going to get to the harvest, but we're doing it. You're plowing. So then you finished plowing. Guess what, Now you gotta wait for the rain to come again. I mean, holy cow, now the rain is coming again. So you just wait. You went through the weather already once. Now you plow the field. Now you gotta wait for the rain again. And then sometimes it doesn't even harvest, like you don't even get the good crop, and you
have to start all over again. I mean, it's unfair. But then you finally go through all that process and you get to the harvest. And I love this too, because Laney said, even the wheat like bows down when it's ready to be picked. Like if you look at wheat when it's ready to harvest, it looks like it's bowing down. And that's really kind of like a metaphorical for even when you are on the harvest, do not forget to realize who who has got us, who is
in control, and it is God. Like take a bow, like you have gotten to your harvest, but get on your knees and thank God for it, because we're blessed to be in a harvest and you should enjoy it and you should reap the benefits of it. But it's still hard work. When you're in your harvest, you still have to work hard. It's not like, oh, I've made it. Let me kicked back by my pool with my robe and my san Gria and my pool boy and live
my life of leisure for the rest of my life. No, once you're in your harvest, you gotta work even harder to like maintain that harvest and get that crop and reap the benefits of your hard work and enjoy it. Like you gotta get out there and work. So it's like you're never really you know, you never really arrive
or make it. You're always working and there's always something you've got to go through, and you always have to remember that God is taking us through these seasons because there's a point in every different phase you learn something,
So make sure you're open to what you're learning. Make sure you're open to the lesson, Like, don't get so upset that you're not in a harvest season that you're missing the lesson you're supposed to be learning in the rain, in the raging season, because that's just as important as the harvest season. So I'm sorry if I'm like beating a dead are repeating myself a lot, but it is
all necessary for abundance. So whatever season you're in, take a step back, try to get that three hundred foot view, like space view, like pertinct you're in an airplane, and like zoom out of your body and out of your life, and try to look at yourself from a three foot view from above and take a look at your life and see where the lessons are, see what you're learning, and be thankful, Be thankful for the season that you're
in because it is all a part of abundance. And so I hope that you received that message, because when Landy spoke that message, I received it and that made a lot of sense to me, and it made me really appreciate all the different seasons of my life because if we're just in constant harvest and life is easier. We're in our leisure by our pool, with our sangria and our pool. Boy, you can't live like that forever.
That's just not how it isn't. If that's what you think happens when you reach success, then wipe that thought out of your mind, because that is not what success is. When you reach success, you couldn't away the fruits of your labor, but you still gotta work, and you have a responsibility once you have success to take care of all the people who are working for you and with you and believing in your vision, like, you can't let
them down. You got to maintain your energy high. You got to maintain your focus, you got to maintain your drive, you gotta maintain your momentum because now when you hit that level, you have people who are relying on you and you can't let them down. You can't slack off. So it's actually like you got to even just stay better and better and better the more that you achieve. And that's why I just think you always got to remember what am I doing this for? What is my
bigger purpose? And if you're only doing it for yourself and for gains for yourself, you're not gonna ultimately get to that great fulfillment because we are here on this life, even if you're just serving your child, or even if you're just serving your parents, or even if you're just serving a friend or your husband or your wife or your spouse, or if you're just serving someone. Lauren Aikin said that I always say your name ros Atkins Aitken's Adkins.
She's married to Thomas Raett and they she just has a a Stuart Uh servants heart, like she's got just a heart to serve. And she is very involved with children, orphan children in Haiti, and that's a big part of her mission. And I interviewed her and they adopted a girl, a little sweet girl, Willow Gray from Haiti, and um, she was talking about how life is fulfiling when you're
serving others and that's how she has true happiness. And I just thought that was really profound because here she is married to Thomas Rhett, one of the biggest country stars on the planet right now, and she's talking about serving others when she could be living a life of pure leisure if she wanted to, but she's not. She's using her life to help the world and make a
difference and change change the world. And she's one of the most joyful people that I personally know, and she's one of the most inspiring people to all of us. That's why the world's in love with her and Thomas Rhett because they're in love with what she's doing with her life. And it's beautiful to see someone in the spotlight who's really helping others and really making a difference. And so I just think that serving others wherever you
can serve someone in your life is really great. And I need to work on that because I've been getting snappy with Michael lately. Sorry, I'm just rabbit trailing all over the place when you have a new baby and you're running your career by yourself, Like I don't have anyone helping me with my podcast. I do now that I'm partner with Bobby Bones and My Heart, which has been such a blessing to be on his network, the Nashville Podcast Network. He has a producer, Mike d who's awesome,
who has a movie podcast, U Mike's Movie Podcast. It's such a great podcast. Mike is really a smart guy, Like he's very awesome. He's he just is very talented, can do a lot of things, and he loves movies and he like breaks down movies and gives you explanations of why you see this movie, what you shouldn't, what's cool about it, and like really good. It's a really good review of movies and stuff. And then he has cool like podcasts about old movies and he's very creative
with it. So check it out. Mike's movie podcast Mike d Um. Ever since being partnered with Bobby and It's Not work, it has been awesome because Mike's helped me edit and like brought some commercials to the podcast, which has been great because I've been able to align with brands that I believe in that I like to support and incorporate them into my podcast because this is a real podcast and it's great. Mike will shoot me nim and be like, hey, do you like this brand? Like
check this out? And if I don't align with it, I won't talk about it. But if I do, I do, And so I love that. I think that's been such a blessing. Um So, but besides that, I'm completely on my own. Everything about this is self motivated, and I've loved having Bobby is a springboard because he's been able to give me great advice about like where to just like what moves to make next, and to help me like come up with a game plan. But I don't
have an assistant or anybody doing anything. So between running my podcast, booking my interviews, making my videos, just doing like writing descriptions, and then I do a lot of other like brand work and just I'm writing a book. I started writing my book. Um, I wrote all of the foreword out, I wrote all the chapters out, I wrote everyone who will be featured. I'm gonna write a
book based on my podcast. It's gonna be called Get Real, I think, Well, I don't know what will be called eventually, but I'm gonna write a story about lessons learned and stories told from boss babes before their boss babes on how they achieved and maintained happiness and success. And I'm gonna feature a lot of stories told on this podcast. It's gonna be like a chicken suit for the soul, but stories based from from amazing women from this podcast.
So between doing all that, taking care of Sonny pumping four times a day, which takes like literally almost four hours a day, Um, getting meals ready, thankfully. Michael Cook's a lot sometimes taking a shower, which doesn't really happen that often. Sometimes I just get so burnt out of inner gene that I forget to be gentle with Michael instead of just being more like getting the business done that we need to get done in the day because we're now we're both like and he's like, he has
a new single out, Drinking Song. You've got to check it out. It's awesome. It's been getting a great response. Check out a Thousand Horses Drinking Song. It's out everywhere. They have a new album coming out. He has a new record deal on Warner Brothers and Electra. Dave Cobb is one of the best producers at the of our time right now. He produced Chris Stapleton, he did The High Women, He's done Um, Jason Isabel, Brandy Carlyle. He's
freaking epic. I'm missing a ton of people. But he's done A Thousand Horses all their albums and this one is the best one they've ever done. And their song, Drinking Song, is getting great momentium. Michael is about to go to Europe for three weeks, so it's like between all the things that we're doing and having a baby. Sometimes I just get like a little snappy with Michael.
And it's not fair because I'm just out of energy and it's easy to just be kind of like not thoughtful as thoughtful as I need to be with him. And I've been noticing it lately, and I don't like it. I don't like feeling that way with him, and so I need to serve him better and not like, oh, I need to be a submissive wife who's like a like a housewife who just stays at home and waits
around for her husband. But I need to take care of him better and I need to be more considerate, and I need to not be so reactive and not get so annoyed quickly, because that's no fun. Nobody wants to be married to somebody like that. And I gotta get it, even if it takes a little energy to step up my game to make sure I'm being sweet like he's the one who need to be the sweetest too.
He's my best friend and my partner and my lover, my baby daddy, And it's easy to take it for granted, I guess, And I need to get better at that, so putting that out there, thanks for thank you all for making me realize that you don't even know you made me really realize that, Yeah, a really good accountability. Thanks friends, Appreciate y'all. Um. But I just this is a rabbit Trail podcast. I hope this is helpful. I
don't even know what I'm gonna call this one. Caroline rabbit trails and just talks and talks and talks about whatever is her free flow in her mind. And I hope that it's okay. But I guess and I'm trying to get at is we have to be intentional. We have to give our lives up to God. For me, I don't want everyone to say, have to this is what I have to do. I have to be intentional. I have to give my life up to God and surrender it over my life, Michael's life, Sunny's life, my career,
all of that. Like, I have to trust the callings that I'm feeling and what feels right. I have trust it fully, and then I have to let God lead the way and I have to just go for it and do the work. You have to do the work. But I'm done forcing my agenda. I told you all that already last podcast. Um serve someone. I love serving Sonny.
I love serving her like it takes a lot to serve her, Like I'm always pumping her, breastfeeding, always feeding her, always putting her down, always doing her a laundry, always we're going anywhere, packing up all her stuff, like she consumes the majority of my thoughts and time. But I love it, and I'm grateful that I get to serve her, and I do it joyfully, and I wanna not forget
to joyfully serve Michael too, and joyfully serve myself. It just takes a little energy to stay joyful, because it's easy to go to reactive and bitchy because we're tired, and we can and we don't have to be in a good mood all the time, so why should I. But really, we can just choose to rise up our vibration a little bit higher and make the effort to not just respond because you're feeling snappy, or respond because you're tired, or responds since snappy because we've had a
long day and they should have done this in our minds and they didn't do this, and blah blah blah blah blah, we just gotta step up. And so that is what I am aiming to do. That's my goal.
And I'm holding myself accountable. Oh in this book, like I'm trying to write this book because I'm holding myself accountable, not just to dream about it that I want to write this book and I want to go on a podcast tour and a book tour because I really want to take this podcast on the road and I want to have live guests that I do interviews with, and I also want to have this book. I wanted to
all go together. So I'm just holding myself accountable and doing the work to get to where I want to go. But then I'm putting no pressure on the outcome. Is any of this making sense? That is my goals for this year and where my heart is right now. And I my friends just pulling up right now, my friend Jackie. I love Jackie. She's so cute, oh my gosh, and a Leopardson jacket. She's so hot. And I'm just appreciate to have friends who are loving and supportive. And we'll
come over to my house. I wanna answer a questions and just a second hold on. Okay, So my friend Jackie Camember, Jackie Tigue. She's awesome. She is just the best. She's a yoga instructor and one of the coolest girls I know. I love her so much. It's so nice to have her come over. And her friend Natasha was with her and they just came over and hanging about the baby and played and chilled. What sweet friends. So I'm going to talk to you about some of these
questions that you guys set how to be productive. This is from Taylor, how to be productive with a newborn. Okay, my baby's crying right now. I don't know if i'll canna hear that they're turning the volume on the monitor down because I just put down for naps, so she'll go to sleep soon. Um. Okay, I am super productive on naps when it when it is naptime, I am getting stuff done. I make a list. I got a calendar this year, and I put down everything that is
like do on the calendar. So like, I know, I'm posting a podcast every Monday. I'm posting a midweek mom chat every Thursday. I know I need to write descriptions for them, I need to make introductions, I need to edit a video. Um. So I just know I have
to get that done. And then like when I work with different brands, like I put down when those those deals need to be completed by and I write all that on the calendar I put on my travel down and then I write at the top of the calendar like what I need to accomplished this month, and then like and then on the next so then I know I need to get through all of these checklists this month. And that has really helped because I have realized I
need to dump my brain. If I have all this stuff swimming in my brain on top of just like everything with Sonny, I lose it, like I can't, I can't grasp it. So I just have to write it all down. And the calendar has really helped me. So that's how I keep myself organized. And then daring her and then I'll then I have like a notebook, and on the notebook, I have a to do list for
that day. Like I'll make a to do list either the day before or that day, and I'll do like what is pressing what I need to get done today, and even if that's errands that I need to get run today, like figuring that out, like even if it's like getting grocery stores the groceries done that day. It's like, I'm a full time stay at home mom and a full time person working for my podcast and trying to grow this business, so I have to plan all the things.
So I'm just very organized and that's how I do it. So I would suggest getting encounter and then having a notepad of your to do list that day. Um, when did you know you're ready to have a child? From Sarah, That's a great question. I didn't want to have a kid for a long time. I was so busy in my own life and like the thought of having a child was super overwhelming to me. Freaked me out, scared me.
I didn't know if I could handle that responsibility. Um, I probably didn't know I was ready to have a kid. And when I was twenty nine, I started thinking, Okay, I want kids. But not until I was like thirty four, was I like I have a burning desire for a kid, Like it was a fire. It was just had been lit in me, and I didn't I knew that I wanted to have kids, and so for me, I didn't want to wait past thirty five. Even though you can
definitely have kids past thirty five. I knew that I wanted to have a child, maybe two, and so I wanted to go ahead and get started. But I pushed it as long as I felt comfortable pushing before having a kid because I was enjoying my single life and I was enjoying pursuing my career and not having to have a responsibility of a child. And so I just think for me, I waited until I had that burning desire,
and that was thirty four years old. And I don't think there's any right or wrong time to have a kid. And you know, sometimes people get pregnant and they weren't planning for it, and that's always a blessing. A child is always a blessing, no matter if we feel like we're ready for it or not. I truly believe that if you have a child come into your life, you will be blessed by that child in your life will
only be blessed. Um. If you do have the choice to wait until you feel ready, then wait until you feel ready. If a child blesses you, then congratulations, you got blessed. So I don't know, Oh, hold on phone call, Okay. Someone asked Travel Journal how to be confident with pregnancy body changes and still feel sexy when you leak milk all day. That is a really great question. Um there.
I think I feel more confident in my body right now than I did before, just because I'm in awe of what it did growing a baby and being able to watch your body just create a child and then birth it out of you. I don't know. I think just always staying in touch and in tune with the miracle that happened is what really gives me confidence in
my body right now. And I've just decided to go easy on myself because, like you said, leaking milk all day, like, our bodies are providing food and nourishment for our child and keeping them alive. And I just focus more on the blessing that my body is providing for me right now and for Sonny than I do on how like certain clothes don't fit anymore, and how you don't you know you have more stretch marks and loose skin and
all sorts of stuff happening. But it's like, what a gift we got because having that happened to our bodies gave us his child and is giving us the ability to feed our child so that's what I focus on. I just try to focus on the blessing of it, because it truly is a miracle to be able to have a child, Friendships after motherhood, relationships with spouse, and how it changes from renee friendships have I mean, I
have so many great friends. I do a lot more phone conversations now because whereas I used to be able to go hop out and go have lunch or happy hour, now leaving Sonny, I mean, I'm not gonna hire a babysitter and leave her. And taking her is a event. Y'all know how it is to leave your house with the baby. You gotta really, you gotta really pack up your whole life. So I schedule certain like friend hangs, like mommy groups where we bring our kids and get together.
UM do that less frequently, maybe once or twice a month, but really prioritize it when we schedule it so you really enjoy it. It's like, you know, if you eat chocolate cake every day, do you really love chocolate cake as much as when you just have it a couple of times a month. So when you really plan to hang out with your friends, it really means a lot. And everyone is grateful for that time, and so I think it makes you appreciate it more so little mommy
groups I like to do. I go for a walk or play dates and you know, everyone have lunch or just chill. I think that's how I've been handling my friendships lately. And talking on the phone, because phone conversations are great. Actually, it's fun to talk on the phone, and I you know, sometimes you have a better phone conversation, better conversation on the phone than you do if you're
just running around seeing someone quickly here and there. It's more intentional, um okay, dealing with close family members trying to parent your kids or tell you how to without offending you know. I think we Michael and I don't have family that lives near us all the time, and we have really great people in our family. I think when people are trying to parent your kids, they're trying to just help you and share wisdom that work for them.
So I just try to take all advice and stride and what works for Like, if someone offers a suggestion or some advice that I agree with, I'll pick it up and use it, and if not, I just won't receive that advice. And you don't have to do what somebody tells you to do. It's your child, you're the boss. And so I feel like if someone in my family is offering it. And now, if you have someone living with you or around you all the time, you might
have to have a conversation on boundaries. But for me, I don't feel like I have over bearing relatives or family members or anyone in my life who's like telling me how to do it. So if they offer suggestions and I don't have an agree with it, then it's no big deal. I just won't receive that. But if they might have some great advice, I mean, I always listen to everything because I don't know. I'm new at this, so people have gone before me. I always wandn't hear
what they have to say. But I just don't think you have to take advice if it doesn't agree with you. But if someone is in your life on a regular basis and they are overbearing, then you probably need to have a loving conversation about boundaries, and um, yeah, I don't. I don't really have advice on how to do that other than just approach it would love. Um, yes, that's that's what I would say, let's see intimacy with while pregnant with a newborn. I'm thirty two weeks pregnant and struggling.
I mean, I definitely think intimacy changes because when you're pregnant, it's hard to move that body around. But definitely always worth keeping up your intimacy and even though it can be hard, especially when you're so pregnant. Thirty two weeks pregnant, I remember how I felt at heartburn, like my back hurt, game my stomach around was like impossible, But you know, just make time for it and then you always enjoy it once you're in it, and I think it's always
great to keep that healthy in your marriage. Listen to the if you listen to this UH episode with Land and this week she talks about that how intimacy is really important in a marriage, and I totally agree with her. So if you're super uncomfortable and you literally like are dying of pain and you're pregnant, then obviously take care
of yourself. But I think making time for that is a good thing, and just realizing it'll it'll make you close with your spouse and once you get into it, you're not going to probably feel as terrible as before, because I know, like when I would just lay down, I could barely breathe. I don't know. That's hard though, at the end of the pregnancy, you just gotta survive. Um, let's see Sunny's development developmental milestone. She seems so good
at tunny time and smiling and playing. You know, we smile at Sunny all the time, Like if she is looking at us, we are smiling at her. We are laughing with her, we are tickling with her. We are trying to just show joy all the time because we want her to be happy and to feel happy and feel loved. And so my encouragement is and my brother in law said this to Michael and I both. He said, smile at your child all the time. And I just think that is such good advice. Just smile because smiling
makes everybody happy. It puts a good energy in the room, it creates laughter, and there's nothing sweeter than seeing a baby smile. So we smile at her all the time. We laugh at her all the time. We tickle with her, and we put her on her tummy um until she could lift her head up. And then once she started rolling over, she rolls over on her tummy, and she is strong and she loves to be on her stomach, so she kind of, like naturally, just started getting on
her tummy a lot. But in the beginning it was very intentional, and every time during playtime, we'd put her on her stomach for like at least five minutes each time, or three to five minutes to build that strength. So she didn't like it, she would cry, but we would do it anyway just to get her neck strong. So um hmm. Getting over the hump of the fourth trimester, this is hard. I agree this from Erica. The fourth trimester. For me, this three months after Sunny was born were emotional.
I was a wreck. I was crying all the time. I didn't know how to leave the house. I didn't know who I was anymore. Like you're losing my kind
of coll just told me this. It takes you ten months to get all those hormones built up in your body, and you lose them within six to nine weeks afterwards, and so you are just having a surge of hormones leave your body, and you've also just brought this child into the world, and it's emotional, and your whole life has to change, and so I say, don't even worry about anything those first three months to survive, get to know your child, give yourself grace. If you need to cry, cry.
I cried every single day, every single day I cried, and just let it out and don't feel bad about it because you're going through so much and it will start to get better. And however long it takes you just to level out, is how long it takes you. And don't beat yourself up over it. Start doing things for yourself. That's another question, so and ask self care why momm ng Landon also said this on the podcast
on Monday. When you're a new mom, try to just do two things a day, like if that's just or one that's just going to the grocery store, great, you did something today, or if that's running one errand great, or if that's just even just like picking up your house and doing laundry or doing the dishes, Like don't overwhelm yourself in the beginning, but definitely like do something that makes you feel good, whether that's going for a walk or taking a bath or just taking a shower,
or cooking something or ordering something that you are enjoying eating, do something nice for yourself every day on whatever level and whatever scale that is. But don't push it and don't feel like you have to do all the things that you did before you had a kid. Like take it easy, give yourself grace, get through that hormonal surge and that fourth trimester of just feelings and emotions, and be nice to yourself because we get so hard on ourselves to be someone else. Ask me that, pretty how
do you be productive with a new worn um. I think already talked about that with my schedule and stuff. But like, we get so hard on ourselves to get back to how we were before, but it just takes a minute. So we gotta give ourselves grace. So I hope you all enjoyed this podcast. I was all over the place, but I think it all made sense. I love you guys, I appreciate y'all, and hope you'll have a great west of the rest of your week. I'll see you all next week.