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EP 11: Mom's Favorite Things
2.4k Plays2 years ago
Cue Sound of Music… These are a few of our favorite things. Join the moms as they share some of their top tested and approved parenting gadgets and resources. Categories include must have items for baby, mom and feeding. The moms also share their fave books, mom-fluencers, and splurge and save items.
Keep up with the Moms and join the conversation on our socials:
Instagram: @momgroupchat
TikTok: @momgroupchat
Questions/comments/need to vent? Email us at momgroupchat@gmail.com
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Transcript
Introduction to the Mom Group Chat Podcast
00:00:07
Speaker
There's no right way to do it. Oh, we're gonna get into it.
00:00:14
Speaker
What up, my favorite moms? This is Whitney and I'm here with my two best friends, Shannon and Candice. And we are the mom group chat podcast. Hello, girlies. I'm excited for today's episode. This is another one where there's a little bit of like interaction. We're going to do a mom's favorite things episode. Yeah, I'm excited. I love listening to these types of episodes from other
00:00:41
Speaker
content creators and I like seeing lists of things. So I'm excited to hear what y'all have put together.
Chore Preferences and Vacuum Mishaps
00:00:48
Speaker
And I hope it's good enough. I like my favorite things. I don't know about y'all. I mean, I definitely like this list, obviously. I think that this is going to be really good because moms are hungry for fixes and information about things. And I feel like one of my
00:01:09
Speaker
I mean, I know we're talking about our favorite things as like items and things, but one of my favorite things to do is to scroll through Instagram and find other people's favorite things and to try them. So I agree. There's one topic in particular on this one that I'm like, I can't wait to hear your answers and maybe we can get some audience feedback as well, because I think when you're going through the
00:01:33
Speaker
motherhood journey there's always like new phases and your kids are growing and I'm always like okay what's like the number one thing you have in your car that makes driving easier like I want to hear it from the source
00:01:44
Speaker
what people's favorite little gadgets and tips and tricks are. So hopefully we'll provide you guys with some good ideas here today. But as we were thinking about this and I was preparing for it last night, I realized that one of my favorite things was compromised yesterday and I had to share it with you guys. I mean, I would never put this on my, well, I would put it on my list, but
00:02:11
Speaker
I love my vacuum. I have a Dyson vacuum. I got it when we moved to our house.
00:02:20
Speaker
in North Carolina that had like actual square footage for the first time in our lives. And we have a dog and I used it all the time. And then once we had baby, I was like, I'm literally running this thing three times a day. I vacuum so much. It's my favorite chore to be honest. It's my least favorite. I'm okay with it. I'm okay with it. You hear that crackling when it gets picked up some stuff.
00:02:43
Speaker
Ooh, I love that. I might well have got something good. I got a bobby pin. We have totally different things. My favorite thing is the dishes. I know. Crazy.
00:02:52
Speaker
Dishes are fine. That's why we worked well together living together. You'll vacuum. I'll do the dishes and that's fine. I hate that. I'll move back in. I feel like you guys have probably heard me say a few times on this show that like I need Vinny to come live with me for a little while because he's like super handy and knows how to do stuff.
00:03:14
Speaker
My husband Andrew knows how to do things. He is a smart cookie. He is intelligent, but when it comes to household related items, he has no common sense. I am so curious what's happening. I had to show him a lot of things and teach him things, but sometimes this man does things and I'm just like, what is going through your mind? You've lived on this earth for almost 41 years.
00:03:44
Speaker
What happened? Yesterday, I get the vacuum out for one of my thrice daily vacuums, and it is so dusty. It's just covered in dust, and I'm like, oh my gosh, Nikki may be the nanny. I don't know. There's nowhere in my house that's that dusty. She took it to the attic? Yeah, what could she have done?
00:04:06
Speaker
But then literally my heart sank because I was like, oh shit, I have an idea of what happened here. So to rewind before I lay that punchline down, last year at my old house, we had a koi pond. So you guys remember the koi pond incident? Yes, I do.
00:04:29
Speaker
We had this koi pond and we inherited it and we inherited the koi that came within it when we bought this house. And I was like, not that excited. And Andrew was like, this is my passion. These koi are my passion in my life. And I was like, thank God, because I don't give a shit at all. Big hobby guys. Loves water features. Koi and golf.
00:04:52
Speaker
He was in charge of the quite pond and we would have issues with the filter all the time. It was like this big filtration system that needed to be changed like once a week. It was crazy.
00:05:02
Speaker
We were having issues and Andrew like very proudly comes in one day and tells me that he has fixed filtration issue. And it was just, it was a air bubble in the filtration system. And I was like, okay, well, how'd you fix it? He was like, oh, I just, I use the Dyson to create suction within the filtration system. And it sucked everything right, right back into place. And there's no more air bubbles. And now it's like working. And I was like, I'm sorry.
00:05:30
Speaker
Do you mean to tell me you took our $2,000 vacuum and stuck it in a pond? You literally thought this electric machine should be used. This is not a shop vac. It was a whole thing. I had to take it apart piece by piece.
00:05:49
Speaker
It smelled like fish for months. Every time I vacuumed, it was like fish in the house. It was a huge ordeal. I was like, Andrew, use your brain. Don't use the Dyson to fix.
00:06:03
Speaker
water filtration issues in a pond full of fish shit. That was a year ago. So the advice didn't stick, I'm assuming. So yes. So that's why my heart sank because there's been a item on the honeydew list for months that's been to clean out our fireplace. We have a wood burning fireplace that's gorgeous in the winter, but it hasn't been cleaned out yet. And it's been smelling like smoke in the summer with the whatever. So it was like, Andrew, please like clear out all the ash, whatever.
00:06:32
Speaker
This is a full winter's amount of ash. I'm talking like six trees have been burnt in there over the winter.
00:06:43
Speaker
And he did it and he used the Dyson to vacuum out the ash. And what do you know, it broke last night and wasn't working. And I was like, honey, did you use the Dyson to suck the ash out of our fireplace? And he was so humbled. He was so scared of me. I was like,
00:07:12
Speaker
No, no, no, no, no, no. So we almost got divorced. Yeah. Father's Day is like coming up very, very soon. And I'm going to just recommend that you get him a shop vac because all of those things you just talked about can all be done with a shop vac. That's actually a really good idea. This is your vacuum. That'd be really funny, actually.
00:07:34
Speaker
Honestly though, like what was he thinking? And I was, I was talking to him to like a toddler. I was like, when you stuck this into our fireplace full of ash, did you not for a second think about the koi pond incident? And he said, I did think about it.
00:07:52
Speaker
He was like, I'm really sorry. I did think about it, but I just wanted to get the ash out of the fireplace. I was like, oh my God. I'm going to put you on blast on the podcast. Because you've never seen Mary Poppins. You got to get one of them brooms up there and chimney sweep and then you sweep it up. Andrew doesn't seem like a Mary Poppins guy, if I'm honest. Oh, you don't think so? I don't know.
00:08:21
Speaker
I don't know. He lived in Boston. Of course he knows this stuff. He doesn't. He doesn't know this stuff. Oh, well, I mean, rest in peace to Andrew, but... Yeah, I know. I love being happy. Look, is this your way of saying you don't want to have to touch the vacuum? Because just don't touch it. I'll do all the vacuuming. It needs to have a thumbprint. You have to scan your thumbprint in order to use it at this point.
00:08:52
Speaker
So I have to take it to the vacuum hospital this weekend so it can get treated. I'm so glad you're spending your weekend to do that. Have fun. That should be Andrew's job, to take it to the vacuum hospital and to fix it. That should be his job. I'm going to be like, tell him what you did. Tell him what you did. It literally is like a toddler when you're like, tell the nice man what you did.
00:09:17
Speaker
All right, I guess that's on our list for this weekend. But yeah, I love Dyson. Shout out Dyson if you want to send us any products. Dude, for real though, I love my Dyson. I got it when we got married. I don't have a Dyson, so I'm out of this conversation. You're about to get one from our sponsors.
Favorite Things Categories Overview
00:09:35
Speaker
I really...
00:09:37
Speaker
I really need one, honestly, because I didn't I was like, I am too cheap for this. I'm going to buy the Bissell pet whatever, which is like probably like three hundred dollars is still still. Yeah, still not cheap. And that thing lasted us.
00:09:55
Speaker
less than a year. Like it broke within a year. I'm so happy to hear that. I mean, I'm sorry, but it makes me feel very justified in my own job. As soon as like that is in the cards for us, like a Dyson will be purchased. I have two dogs. So I was like, Oh, this Bissell pet it's made for. And also I have Frenchies. It's not like they have long hair or anything, but they do shed.
00:10:14
Speaker
And I was like, I am going to get this Bissell pet. It'll be great. No, the thing fricking sucked. Sorry Bissell. And, um, it was not great. So I should have. And since then I've purchased another vacuum that is also not a Dyson, although that one's doing well so far, but it's only been a couple months, honestly. And.
00:10:35
Speaker
I should have just bought the Dyson, honestly. As long as you don't use it for any water or fire purposes, it'll run like a champ, even after those issues. Do you have the handheld one as well? Well, no. I have the classic one, I guess, or the one for pets. I got both. You can take the extension off and it kind of becomes handheld.
00:11:03
Speaker
Mine were all gifted though so thank you friends and family. Yeah if I could if I could go back in time to my wedding time I think I would have been like this is my number one thing I want this Dyson. His grandmother bought it for us. You know what?
00:11:18
Speaker
That's what I want for Christmas or my birthday. Write it down. I need to. I always forget. I mean, that's like literally six months from now, but you know, whatever. Speaking of things we want, do we want to get into our list of mom's favorite things? Yes. I was going to explain a little bit. So we basically split this up into categories.
00:11:39
Speaker
So the categories are for baby. So our favorite general baby or kid item for mom. So this is anything that you, that we like for personal could be home, beauty, fashion, whatever. And then feeding baby. We feel like this is a topic that everyone struggles with. We've gotten a lot of questions and that's.
00:12:04
Speaker
feeding baby favorite thing, and then accounts we follow, and then books, a splurge item, and a save item. I think we should try and keep it to one per category. Oh yeah, I only did one per category. So you as a listener will walk away with three items for each of these categories.
00:12:26
Speaker
I wonder if we have any double ups. We'll find out. Well, the only thing I'm pretty sure we probably have a double up on, I think is the book. Shannon and I, I think probably put the same book. Oh, how to quit like a mom.
00:12:41
Speaker
You're sober lifestyle that you guys are living. I did parenting book, by the way, not like just my. I did too. I did too, which is why I think it's the same. Let's get started with baby. What are your favorite baby items? Okay. I put the love every subscription. I knew you're going to say that. I knew it.
00:13:05
Speaker
I'm a big love every fan. I think that their toys have been so good. And it's just nice to get a book every three to four months that tells you exactly how to use these and what they should be working on. I love the videos that come with it. If you look on their site and put in the like whatever kit you got, there's videos associated with those. Those are super helpful. And honestly, like those are the toys that Alice is drawn to the most almost always. So
00:13:35
Speaker
We have loved them now if I ever know someone who's pregnant. It's a definitely a gift thing for me I'm like, okay I'm gonna give them the love every subscription because I've loved it It's just so nice to like have good toys that are delivered without you having to think about it and also it teaches you a lot developmentally, so That is my favorite thing. I love those too Shannon
00:13:58
Speaker
Mine is the miracle swaddle. I don't know if either of you used them. I know swaddles are
Favorite Baby Items
00:14:06
Speaker
very personal and there's a lot of good products out there, but I feel like TJ is super strong. He is a strong baby and I feel like even as a little kid, he was strong.
00:14:18
Speaker
I just picture him like baby Hercules from the Hercules movie. If you have a baby Hercules who is busting out of all of their swaddles, may I recommend the miracle swaddle my sister-in-law Megan. Thank you, Megan.
00:14:37
Speaker
gifted us two of these and we tried all of them and he was busting out of all of them except for the miracles waddle. So I tend to get these as like a little extra for baby shower gifts. Basically they have this extra flap where you really just like secure those arms in. There's basically like an extra flap option. And as soon as we started using the miracles waddle, he was napping better. He was sleeping better. He was not busting out. So,
00:15:07
Speaker
miracle swaddle. Anything that helps with sleep, I'm in. Yeah. Mine is the Baby Bjorn Bouncer. And I feel like it was such a love of mine because I had Graydon at home.
00:15:24
Speaker
the first nine months while I was working and that kept him kind of occupied while I was on my laptop. It made him happy. Like as he was getting older, he was rocking the fucking house with that thing. Like I thought he was about to launch pad out of there and he had so much fun in it. So definitely recommend getting that for sure.
00:15:46
Speaker
That was one of those things that you told me after having graded and it was true. Like Alice lived in that thing until she like was absolutely too big for it. And I was like, okay, I guess we should put this away.
00:15:59
Speaker
It was so cute. I remember propping it up in front of the Christmas tree and turning on the lights when he was like two-ish months old and him being like, Oh my God, this is the most magical thing ever. Like things like that, that he was able to sit up and see. So it was very helpful for me. I love that. Okay. Next category for mom, Shannon, what you got? My product is the color science tool.
00:16:27
Speaker
This product has such a long name it is the color science Total i3
00:16:50
Speaker
Okay, hang on. Okay. It's an under eye product from the company Color Science and the name of it is Color Science Total Eye Repair.
00:17:05
Speaker
three and one renewal therapy SPF 35. My uncle or Andrew's uncle out here is our neighbor and he does my Botox. He's a plastic surgeon, but I got it from his clinic, but I think you can order it online. It's an under eye product. Okay. Sorry for that giggle fest. Holy shit. That just came over me. Um, but I've been using it for about six months and I usually don't wear makeup, but this is like a very sheer under eye.
00:17:34
Speaker
product with some color, like color corrects, but it's not really a concealer and it has SPF and anti-aging as well. I have noticed, you know, when you wear concealer and you look at your eye at the end of the day and it's just like, it looks like a river Delta. It's just like creasy, creasy, just natures. The Nile.
Top Personal Items
00:17:55
Speaker
Yes. It looks like the Nile.
00:17:56
Speaker
When I wear this stuff, it plumps me up under there. It looks really nice all day long, and I have noticed that a few times recently, so I recommend that as my product. I wish I would have written it down, but my God. Color science. Total eye repair. Just Google that. Three in one. 35.
00:18:22
Speaker
Okay, I got it. Oh my God. Okay. What's yours? What? Um, since I am pregnant, I found that I, I mean, I love Nike shorts. Sorry. I went to college when Nike shorts were all the rage. Um, but I found shorts on Amazon that were super similar to that, um, called posh glam women's maternity shorts. You should, because they are.
00:18:49
Speaker
So comfortable. They actually have like a liner inside. So if they do ride up, like your line are still like squeezing onto your legs, almost like a biker short, but then it's like a soft over short hang thing. But, and then the stomach thing goes over your belly and it just feels so good. I feel so comfortable.
00:19:08
Speaker
in it, especially for summer. Love that. Thank you. Love that. That's a good one. Okay. Mine is Maren Costello jewelry. So Maren Costello is a jewelry designer. All of her stuff is super trendy and cool. It's like lots of classics, like gold hoops of all different sizes, really cool gold chains.
00:19:34
Speaker
It is, my favorite thing about it is that it's waterproof, sweat-proof, it won't tarnish, you can bathe in it, you can swim in it, nothing will happen to it. It's amazing quality, but at a really good price point, and drum roll please, I reached out to Maren Costello and told her that I was going to mention this, and she gave us a code. Our first code! It's our first code, everyone. Yay!
00:20:03
Speaker
Right now you can use the code momgroupchat in all caps and you will get 20% off the entire site, which is a pretty amazing code. So that's my favorite thing. And I genuinely didn't choose it just cause of the code. Like genuinely the stuff is so cute. I'm going to post on our Instagram some of my favorite pieces and I'll tag them.
Best Feeding Products
00:20:27
Speaker
So I looked it up and it's all very classic and I, I'm really into gold. So.
00:20:32
Speaker
I will be purchasing some earrings. Thank you. Yeah, it's good, good, good stuff. And also she's just like the nicest person ever. She's so sweet. We love that. We'll support you, ma'am.
00:20:43
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Thanks, Marin. Yeah. Okay. Next up, Feeding Baby. I can go first on this one. I know I just went, but this is one of my favorite things. So my favorite thing is the 101 Foods Before One site, which sounds weird, but they have all sorts of guides and stuff. But the best thing is they have an app.
00:21:07
Speaker
that is through Mighty Apps. But if you go to their website, 101beforeone.com, you will find the link to their app. It is incredible. It has like every week they release a basically like a menu plan for the week. And it's stuff that not only you can eat, but your baby can eat. If you're like me and you just like sit frozen thinking about what to feed your baby,
00:21:33
Speaker
This app is incredible. It has meal ideas, ways to make things you would eat, like toddler friendly. I am obsessed. It has made, it also includes like shopping lists with the meal plans. It is game changing. If you are about to start feeding your baby solids or even have a toddler, like highly, highly recommend a hundred foods before one.
00:21:56
Speaker
That is so smart because that's another thing with the mental load trying to pick all the meals all the time. It is so hard. So that is smart. I love that. One more thing. I was going to say the recipes that you've sent through Candice, like you sent pictures of stuff you've made through there and it's like delicious looking. Yeah.
00:22:16
Speaker
It's everything that we've tried. Like it's so good. Like even my husband who's kind of picky, not he's just like, he likes what he likes and likes to like stick with the same like things I make. Um, but he has loved everything and it's been awesome. One of the, also the good things I like about that, even outside of the meal plan, you can look up a certain ingredient. Like let's say I have like a.
00:22:41
Speaker
a bowl of blueberries in the fridge. And I'm like, I need to use these. What can I do with them? You can search blueberries in the app, and it will tell you all of the recipes that include blueberries. And it's a good way to use up some stuff that you already have in your kitchen. Amazing. Love that. Mine is once upon a farm pouches. Yes. We love that. Yeah, for real though. It's like the opposite of Candace's. But I am definitely going to look that up, Candace.
00:23:12
Speaker
Yeah, I just trust that brand. I feel like they have really clean ingredients, minimal ingredients. And I just love to be able to throw TJ a pouch when he needs a quick snack and I get the ones that have vegetables in it so that I know at least
00:23:29
Speaker
he's getting like a serving of vegetables through those once upon a farm pouches. And they, I also like their frozen meals. They have like little toddler friendly frozen meals. You just heat them up in the microwave for a little bit. I usually mix those with other things for TJ, but that brand in general is a definite kind of nutrition hack for me with feeding TJ. Did we eat those all the time? We love those too. Yeah.
00:23:56
Speaker
We are at that age where Graydon's getting picky AF. So my go-to meals are, and top sponsor of mine, Annie's Mac and Cheese, if I could ever pick a sponsor. Graydon loves it. And dino nugs, shout out to dino nugs. Definitely aren't good right now. That's my dream meal.
00:24:18
Speaker
Honestly, they're pretty good. I love eating TJ's toddler food. I'm always like, I gotta make sure it's the right temperature. Okay.
Must-Follow Instagram Accounts
00:24:32
Speaker
I'm excited for this next category accounts. We follow.
00:24:35
Speaker
We're just picking one, right? Yeah, I just picked one. This was hard to choose. I'll go. I picked Amanda Vaughn. I don't know if you guys follow her. She's so cute. I like her because she's a mom of three. She has an older son, toddler, and then she just had twins. She lives in New York, and she is just so fashionable. She works for Over the Moon, which is a wedding.
00:25:00
Speaker
bridal website so she is just so cool and entrepreneurial and everything she does is fascinating she did a lot of this getting this new job while she was pregnant so I think anyone that can get a new job while focusing on family like praises to you like you're just a boss babe so she's just very impressive to me and I think her style is so fun so I love
00:25:24
Speaker
following her. She's my friend, Betsy's friend. I think I've told you that before. Yeah, they went together. Oh, we have a connection. Hi, Amanda. Okay, she, um, mine is, I've mentioned this before, mother untitled. Uh, my friend, Lizzie shared her with me. Her name, the girl who runs the account is Niharush. I think is how you pronounce her name, but
00:25:53
Speaker
It's going to be super relevant to people who are like me and taking a break from their career or they're pivoting their career after having a kid. It's a lot of inspiration around basically being ambitious and being a mother at the same time. It really doesn't matter if you have a
00:26:14
Speaker
like what your career scenario is. The content is all about like women supporting women through motherhood and like showing compassion for all the ways that it's done. She has a really beautiful way of writing. Like she's such a good writer. She's actually coming out with a book I think soon. So congrats Nia. I'd love to have her on the podcast at some point. She's amazing. There's also like a great blog with resources. If you're,
00:26:43
Speaker
looking to get back into the workforce and you need a mentor, they have people who kind of help you work through how you explain your career pause or use it to your advantage. So it's a very like, happy, connective,
00:27:00
Speaker
like uplifting account to follow. I love that. Mine is the PT parent. Her name is Leah Turk. She is someone I found like in early days of like probably like right after the newborn phase when like you start to really think about those like developmental things like
00:27:20
Speaker
learning or teaching Alice how to like roll over. I found her and I just absolutely love her account. It has been so helpful. So it says in her bio, she's a doctor of physical therapy. She's a mom. She just had her second girl and her account really is around developmental activities and play ideas. Um, but I swear everything I learned
00:27:45
Speaker
about helping your child stand or crawl or all of the physical developmental milestones. I learned from her. I love this account. I think she also has great toy recommendations that are developmentally great.
00:28:05
Speaker
Yeah. She's another one that I'm like, she's definitely on my list of having on as a guest. Um, so these always be such a dream. Yeah. Like in the beginning, you're just kind of staring at them before they start moving, crawling or walking. And you're like, so what should we be doing right now? So I love accounts like that, that gave you play ideas that were also developmentally helpful.
00:28:30
Speaker
I also like, she has a lot of it like organized to where she has like highlights that say like walking or crawling. So it's really easy for you to find all in one place, like what you're looking for. Like I remember literally being like, okay, my child needs to roll over, but like, I don't know how I get her to do that. Like it's, it's nice that everything was organized and I can go on there and be like, okay, here are all the videos about that.
Recommended Parenting Books
00:28:56
Speaker
Love it. All right. Books. Mine's mom's on call.
00:29:00
Speaker
Oh, the Bible. Yeah. The Bible. Yes. The first, you know, 12 months of their life. It is the Bible. It's the sleep training, the feeding, how much they should be eating during the day. Highly recommend purchasing that.
00:29:14
Speaker
My zero to six months one is like so lovingly beaten up. You know, there's like coffee stains and milk stains and I referenced it constantly. I love mom song call. Yep. Tabs all over that. Yeah. Yeah. This, this whole, us doing this whole episode is making me like wish like, or maybe this is something we could put together for our followers. So like.
00:29:39
Speaker
If I were to give a basket to new moms who had never done this before, that is one of those things that would 100%. No one gifted that to me. I just got that from looking it up online and other moms recommending it to me. That wasn't on my registry, but it's one of the things you really need.
00:30:00
Speaker
I got it as a gift from Sam. Me too. Yeah. Damn. It's so good. But remember that for when someone new is pregnant, you can be that person. Yeah. So Candace and I probably have the same one then, which is.
00:30:15
Speaker
Expecting better slash crib sheet. It is. Yep. Well, I was going to say I debated between putting this under book or putting Emily Oster's account under people that I follow the author. She has a great Instagram account to follow as well. But I feel like most of our listeners have probably read expecting better. And if you haven't, I recommend next time you're pregnant. It's scientific based.
00:30:43
Speaker
It's like an update to the typical advice we get around pregnancy based off of actual data and research. I learned so much about how scientific studies are done reading that book and how different evidence is collected and some of the terminology there.
00:31:01
Speaker
And then crib sheet, I need to reread actually. I've read it once, but it's a follow up from expecting better about having a, it's like a baby through starting school. And yeah, I'm due for a reread. I was going to say, I actually think I read crib sheet too early. I think I'd actually get way more out of it now. So I think I'm going to do the same.
00:31:22
Speaker
But my favorite thing about expecting better and about Emily Oster in general is she does not give actual advice. Like she doesn't tell you what you should or shouldn't do. She is just giving you the scientific fact about
00:31:38
Speaker
what the actual outcome would be if you did do that thing. So it's like eating deli meat. People tell you all the time, you shouldn't eat deli meat while you're pregnant. And she goes into the actual studies that have been done and behind.
00:31:55
Speaker
So it's great because especially when you're pregnant, especially when you're pregnant for the first time, I think you're just trying to absorb all of this advice and information. And it's really nice to have someone that's not telling you exactly what you should do and instead just telling you the facts behind that advice.
00:32:15
Speaker
highly recommend. That was also what I put down. I did put down a backup just in case, but it's not really, it's not necessarily parenting related. I just wrote down Atomic Habits by James Clear, which is like one of my all time favorite books. I read it way before I was ever pregnant. And then recently I reread it because I was like, I feel like my habits need to be different now that I'm a mom. They just, my life looks different.
00:32:40
Speaker
So I also wrote that down just in case because I kind of thought Shannon and I would both write down expecting better. The other thing on Emily Oster and her platform and her message, she also has a newsletter called parent data.
00:32:56
Speaker
I find she helps with kind of like de-sensationalizing a lot of what we see on the news all the time. So she keeps you up to date.
00:33:10
Speaker
There'll be a splashy headline about like, Tylenol kills kids, something like that. And then she'll be like, okay, there was a study that came out with this data, but here's why that study doesn't actually matter that much. And here's the actual risk associated. She just helps you understand that yes, maybe there is a risk associated with a certain behavior.
00:33:33
Speaker
But it's a very minimal risk and it helps you think about how to make decisions for your family that matter to you.
Splurge-Worthy Items
00:33:41
Speaker
Yeah. So she's a good girl. Yeah. We like her. We're big fans. Next up is splurge item. All right. Whitney. I don't know if I've told you about this, but it's called mother butter. No, this is my splurge item. It's, um, it's a like Lux.
00:34:02
Speaker
body balm for pregnancy, you know, it's like your body. I know I told you about it. It's too late. No, it's not too late. Stretch marks are here. I don't know what it can really do for stretch marks because as we discussed, stretch marks are genetic, but I use every product on the market and I had, I have bad stretch marks.
00:34:24
Speaker
It's basically just like a really delicious moisturizer, body moisturizer. So I used that when I was pregnant and I got it as a gift, but it comes with a butter and an oil. And it was just such a fun way to like connect with my belly and like feel like I was in a delicious spot. Like it smells so good and it just feels so nice in your hands. Um, so I used it after pregnancy. I used it all up, but.
00:34:54
Speaker
It is kind of a splurge, so I'm gonna have to wait till I'm pregnant again to reorder it, but it's delicious. Mother butter. That's easy to remember. I have like two-ish months to use it, so I better hurry up and go buy it. You gotta get it. Mine is, since I'm into doing my daughter's nursery, I decided to splurge on this heirloom-type quilt,
00:35:22
Speaker
that I wanted her to have and that I can picture us like sitting outside with and it's so beautiful. I just purchased it from Project Tiny. It's from the UK. It's literally like going to be here on Tuesday. And I'm so excited I can just like
00:35:39
Speaker
picture her being so cute and beautiful on this little quilt. And I know that it's like very random and kind of materialistic, but it's bringing me joy, like thinking of seeing her and like playing with her dolls on it. It just, it's this whole vision I see. You don't need to explain yourself. This is like this splurge item. It was a big splurge that I just felt like this is going to be cute for her to have for a long time. So.
00:36:06
Speaker
Love that. You find the cutest stuff like that. Whitney has really, you have such a good eye. And I'm like, I feel like I'm so basic in the place that I look for like items and you find these like crazy like niche things that I'm like, this is so cute. Yeah. I can't wait to share it because oh my God, I'm excited to see it. I'm excited. OK, mine is actually a gift that I got from Whitney that I have repurchased.
00:36:35
Speaker
And it is the Serena and Lily Priano kids towels. Yes. Okay. Whitney gave me these for my baby shower and they are the nicest towels. I put them on the swerge because they're $58 per towel, which is very expensive for a towel. Let's be real.
00:36:56
Speaker
but they are worth every penny. When I tell you I don't reach for a single other towel, I'm dead serious. We have four of them now and I got rid of all the other baby towels. They're also thin and small. These ones are larger. They've lasted her as she's grown. I am obsessed with them. I will repurchase them for our next baby, obsessed.
00:37:22
Speaker
I like their Serena and Lily Priyana crib sheet, too, because it's like that muslimy cloth. And when he was really drooling and teething, it helped with the baby acne because it was soaking through the bed and not sitting on top and affecting his skin. That should have been my mom hack. Like that helps so much. But yeah, Serena and Lily, thank you. Yeah.
Budget-Friendly Tips and Finds
00:37:45
Speaker
And she gave me the matching Priyana
00:37:50
Speaker
Washcloths too. Those are so good. Like I, so glad you liked them. That's that makes me happy. Yeah. Great gift. That's another thing. If you're looking for a good gift for someone, those towels and washcloths are. Primo so beautiful too. Yeah, they're really pretty freaking cute.
00:38:06
Speaker
Amazing. Okay. I'll go first for this one. It's the save and it's not, my answer to this is probably like not like what you thought I would say, but whatever. It's more of like a general save tip and that, and that is Ikea. Okay.
00:38:26
Speaker
If you are, okay, all of the- Just Ikea. Just Ikea. If you, first of all, we got an amazing stoke stock or whatever it is, high chair. We do love that high chair, but genuinely the one at Ikea that's like $35 is the same thing. That's the one my mom has and I like it just as much. And then they have so, so, so, so cheap plates, spoons, forks, a whole bunch of toddler eating things.
00:38:54
Speaker
My favorite bibs that we have for Alice are from IKEA and they're like 78 cents each. They're so cheap. Another thing that I used to go to IKEA with Alice all the time if I needed to get out of the house and it was too hot here in the summer. There's so much to look at, so many colors. It's huge. It's fun for you. You get to walk through all the rooms. You can get a cinnamon roll. I mean, it's just a dream.
00:39:24
Speaker
Item is I guess IKEA, the IKEA high chair. Oh my God. It's called the Antelope. I just looked it up. The IKEA chair. Yeah. It's $29.99. Oh my gosh.
00:39:38
Speaker
I'm devastated. I don't own that, actually. I don't love my high chair. I don't love mine either. Do we all have the same one? I don't want to like shout out something. Yeah, no, I think I have this. Yeah, I don't love it. I don't have the trip trap. I have this. I have the other one, the other Stoke one, which I like, but I'm when I'm telling you like that IKEA one that's twenty nine dollars is the exact same thing. Like that is such a good dupe.
00:40:07
Speaker
Hot tip. Thank you. You're welcome. Yeah, welcome. I said TJ's clothes. I mentioned on a previous episode, I thrift a lot of his clothes. It's such a thrill. You can find good brands too. Everything's lightly worn or you can find a lot of lightly worn stuff because kids only wear their clothes for like three months.
00:40:26
Speaker
I like to save a buck that way. Love it. Mine is the Modella steam bags that you can steam bottles in the microwave versus buying a sterilizer or running everything through the dishwasher every time. You literally fill it up with a little bit of water. There's a line on these.
00:40:45
Speaker
plasticky bags and you can drop a ton of bottles in there and it sterilizes them. It was so quick. That's also a serious travel hack to bring those bags with you when you travel. Whitney, you're the one who influenced me to buy those. Those things are awesome. They are awesome. I use those way more than I shouldn't have even bought a sterilizer at that point because that was just so much quicker and
Dream Celebrity Guests
00:41:10
Speaker
easier.
00:41:10
Speaker
OK, that's my side. I have a bonus, a bonus one that I'm putting you guys on the spot. It's not really a favorite thing, but it could be, I guess you could phrase it like that. But we're going to post this on our Instagram to ask our our followers. So who would be like your favorite mom? That would be your dream guest on mom group chat.
00:41:39
Speaker
Like a celebrity? Yep. Or anybody? I think celeb. Let's do celeb. That's fun. Okay. Oh God. Is Emma Stone a mom yet? Yeah, wait. I'm going to say Jennifer Lawrence. I know she's a mom. I love her so much. I feel like we'd be buddies. I feel like.
00:42:02
Speaker
I don't know if she doesn't talk that much about being a mom. I don't know if she's a mom influencer. I just want to get to know her and say what's up. Yeah, she's relatable for sure. I'll just say Beyonce. I feel like I wouldn't be able to talk to Beyonce. She's just like... I know. That would be like meeting the mother Mary. I just don't even know. I would just sit here like...
00:42:26
Speaker
Just because I love her music and she is so inspiring. Oh, my God. Did you guys see the video of Blue dancing on stage? Oh, I've watched it a million. It made me obsessed with her and Blue. I just like she's so nonchalantly like she is. She's so good. Yeah, I can't imagine being her like. Yeah. OK, I think my answer is stuff.
00:42:56
Speaker
But I think it's Kristen Bell. I love Kristen Bell. She's like a ray of sunshine. She also is a badass entrepreneur starting Hello Bello. And I love her and Dax's relationship. Shannon and I, or maybe you are too, we're arm cherries here. So Dax is my husband. So we're and I share a husband. Didn't they buy a house here in Nashville?
00:43:18
Speaker
Yes, they are getting it in Nashville House or they already have one. Well, I'll introduce you guys to her when I meet her. So yeah. OK. Yeah. Love that. But yeah, I think she's my answer. And she just seems like a ray of sunshine, sweet baby person. Like I just want to. She is funny. I feel like she'd be warm and honest.
00:43:36
Speaker
I feel like she'd be a good guess. She did. She had that YouTube series for a while. Like, I feel like she was one of the first people to kind of put on a mom show. I can't remember exactly what it's called, but I know I've seen clips of it. Remember they talk about needing your husband to suck on your titties if you have a quad duct.
00:43:55
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I remember that. Oh, my gosh. I don't remember that show, but I remember that from. Well, she explains how Dax needed to help her out, which I'm sure he was more than happy to do. Shana, that sound effect.
00:44:16
Speaker
We'll have to talk about that during our breastfeeding episode because I think some of us might have some stories.
Episode Wrap-Up and Future Plans
00:44:24
Speaker
Some of us.
00:44:28
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Okay. Well, this has been so fun. So we are going to create lists that have all these things linked. We'll make a Shannon's favorite things, Whitney's favorite things, Candace's favorite thing, like slide for Instagram stories so that you guys can see all of our answers. But this has been so fun. I'm sure we'll do more of these with even more recommendations in the future. You're my favorite
00:44:53
Speaker
Uh, podcast co-hosts. Yeah. And also, yeah, this is my favorite podcast. Obviously that wasn't our podcast. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. All right. Well, love you guys. Have a great rest of your day. Love you. Bye. Thank you so much for being a part of our mom group chat. New episodes drop every Tuesday and don't forget the group chat is blowing up on our Instagram page. So make sure you're following along over there. All right. Got to go. My toddler just put something in her mouth.
00:45:23
Speaker
Bye!