The Motherhood Trenches

We are going to dive into our parenting strengths and weaknesses. First we talked about things we would like to improve on when it comes to parenting, and now we are moving on to things we feel we really excel at! As a little bonus, we share with each other observations we have made about positive traits we each have as moms. Follow along with us on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com!

We are going to dive into our parenting strengths and weaknesses. First we talk about things we would like to improve on when it comes to parenting - everything from small issues to the bigger things that we would like to tackle. Follow along with us on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com!

Join us for our absolute favorite topic - a birth story! We talk about how the newest crew member came into the world. We also reflect back on our past births and process through some feelings. We also touch on what we might do differently if we had another go at it! Links: The most amazing bralette - https://www.ae.com/us/en/p/aerie/bralettes/seamless-bralettes/aerie-seamless-strappy-padded-bralette/2693_3279_121?menu=cat4840006&ip=off&cid=PLA_Aerie_Brand_Womens_Bralettes&utm_source=google&utm_medium=pla&utm_content=aerie&utm_campaign=nogender_bralettes_general&utm_term=brand&gclid=CjwKCAjwybyJBhBwEiwAvz4G7zODz5fx901AQ40lJFD0DVAB92nLsPZDcJF49RxPec0HhztAXkToEhoCkJMQAvD_BwE Follow along with on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches! We also love to hear from you in our email as well - send any questions, comments, or suggestions to TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com!

We are back with the start of Season 2! In our first episode of the new season, we are giving a quick update on what's been going on during our hiatus. Lots of big changes that we are excited to catch up on! Follow along with on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches! We also love to hear from you in our email as well - send any questions, comments, or suggestions to TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com!

This episode is all about our favorite ages and stages! As parents that are early in our journey we didn't have 18 years of material to choose from, but we feel like there is a LOT of nuance in these early years for us to dig into! Listen in as we touch on baby milestones, hearing your toddler put together a sentence, the delight a 4 year old finds in life and having deep conversations with your preschooler. We also get into our LEAST favorite ages, but we are guessing there are no surprises with our choice

This week we are talking about our most embarrassing guilty pleasures! Guilty pleasures take on a new role in our lives post kid when there are so few things that are just for us! We have some doozies like eating candy in bed, listening to pop punk from 2005, watching the same tv shows over and over, and reading threads about the Duggar's on Reddit

We are talking all about internet mom's groups - the good, the bad, and the ugly! We are both in many different mom's groups on Facebook, and we love them overall but there are some pitfalls that we wanted to discuss. So we dive into the pros and cons and everything in between! Follow along with us on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com, we love to hear from you!

A mixture of Covid and being very tied to our little ones in this phase of motherhood has us dreaming of destinations far, far away. In this weeks episode we are talking about what components make up our dream vacation; including who we are traveling with, what the food scene is like, and whether we are relaxing or hitting the pavement for some intense sight seeing! Follow along with us @themotherhoodtrenches on Instagram or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com - we love to hear from you!

In this episode, we give a general update about what has been going on with each of us over the past few months. With young kids, time flies fast - so it feels like a lot of big changes have happened since our last update! One of us is wrapping up breastfeeding, and the other is moving! We have lots to talk about in our Winter Life Update.

In this episode we are talking about our second go round of the postpartum experience! We tried to incorporate some lessons learned from our first experiences (Setting up lots of visitors! Latch the baby whenever you can! Ditch breastfeeding altogether for your mental health! Leave the stupid nightgown at home!) but of course each experience creates unique challenges. Listen in for how we handled newborn formula feeding, a COVID hospital stay, and introducing your new baby to your first born. Follow along with us on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com!

This episode focuses on our postpartum experiences after our first pregnancies. We talk all about our time in the hospital, breastfeeding, baby blues, and all the ins and outs of our time right after we had our first babies. Disclaimer: the sound is off in this episode because our mics were messed up and we didn't realize it. We fixed the issue so future episodes will not have this same problem! Follow along with us on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com!

This episode is inspired by some body image sensitive phases of life that we are both in - pregnancy and post partum. Listen in as we talk about our personal experiences and journeys with body image, how we work to maintain a positive view of ourselves, and how we try to drive body positivity in our own homes.

We are taking a trip down memory lane and recapping how we met, and how our friendship has evolved over the years. It was so fun to reminisce over years past and all the fun we have had while becoming best friends and sisters. Friendships as an adult are so valuable, and even more so when you find a mom friend who understands what life is like with kids and can be a great support during a difficult season of life. You can follow along with us on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com. We love to hear from you!

In this episode we are talking chores for our littles! We have both attempted to implement a few chore systems with varying degrees of success. We touch on the challenges of finding age appropriate tasks for toddlers and what is the right age to “start”. We also get into our current systems, things we've tried in the past and what we think went wrong, and rewards systems. Follow along with us @themotherhoodtrenches on Instagram or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com - we love to hear from you!

Our first episode of the New Year is all about our goals and outlook for the upcoming year! We are ready to say goodbye to 2020 and welcome a brand new year that will hopefully be a little more bright, happy, and productive. We also plan to check in periodically on our goals throughout the year to see where we are at and how we can work harder to achieve our goals before year-end. You can follow along with us on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com. We love to hear from you!

In this episode, we talk about health, fitness, and food! We discuss the times in our lives where we have felt our best, and different workout routines that we have tried - what has worked and what we would like to change to our routines now. We also talk about our journey with Whole30! Follow along with us on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com!

We're back for part two of our labor and delivery stories! In this episode, we each talk about our experience with our second deliveries. With one us being induced and the other delivering during the early days of COVID-19, these deliveries were certainly different than our first. However, there were some similarities as well. Listen in as we talk about our favorite part of pregnancy - labor! Follow along with us on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com. We love to hear from you!

This episode is on one of our absolute favorite topics - birth stories!! We talk about our labor and delivery stories with our first babies. We both had hospital births with varying degrees of amniotic fluid, meconium, pitocin, and pushing. Follow along with us @themotherhoodtrenches on Instagram or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com - we love to hear from you!

Just in time for the holiday season, we are talking all about gift giving! We discuss how we handle buying gifts for our kids for Christmas, and also how we handle extended family buying for our kids as well. The holidays are such a stressful time for parents especially, so we try to keep gifts for our kids as minimal as possible while also taking time to enjoy the season with toddlers. Follow along with us on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com!

In lieu of a full episode this week we are focusing on spending time with our families, as we hope you are able to as well! This year is probably going to look a lot different, so join us for a quick chat about our plans for this year and a couple funny stories about past Thanksgiving mishaps.

In this episode we talk about our 2nd and 3rd(!) pregnancies! We touch on back pain, kicks, hiccups, contractions, more SPD, more vomiting, and a little thing called coronavirus. Please excuse our continuity error in this episode - we talk about Baby L's anatomy scan in the intro and then as an upcoming event in our pregnancy chat - we got too excited about celebrating the positive results

In this episode we are starting a new series all about pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum. We kick it off by talking in detail about our pregnancies. We each go through our first pregnancies in this episode - what our experience was like, things we enjoyed, and things we didn't enjoy. Follow along with us on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com, we love to hear from you guys!

In this weeks episode we are giving an update on our kids and lives so far this fall. We talk about speech therapy, school adjustments, big sister transitions and starting solids with the littlest in our cousin crew. Sometimes these kind of updates don't fit in with our regular format or topic so it was really fun to have an information conversation about everything we have going on! Follow along with us @themotherhoodtrenches on Instagram or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com - we love to hear from you guys!

In this episode, we talk about sleep training! We both chose to sleep train all four of our girls. So we talk about the journey with each of them, and also go over some lessons learned. Sleep is such a struggle when it comes to newborns especially so listen in as we talk about our ups and downs with sleep training, and maybe it will help you out when you are running on very little sleep with your baby! Follow along with us @themotherhoodtrenches on Instagram or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com - we love to hear from you guys!

Felicia and Molly talk about our favorite and least favorite things to do and play with little ones. From reading, play places, legos, cars, forts, and more, they talk what they love about it and what activities are best left for dad or a visiting relative. Visit us @themotherhoodtrenches on Instagram or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com. We love to hear from you guys about anything!

We are talking about potty training! We detail our experiences with each of our kids and how we handled potty training each time. Every kid is different so we had a lot of lessons learned, but we ended up with three successfully potty trained kids! Please share your experiences potty training your kids with us @themotherhoodtrenches on Instagram or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com. We love to hear from you guys about anything!

Felicia and Molly celebrate 10 episodes (!) by having a “getting to know you” episode. They came up with a list of their most burning questions, that even through 14 years of friendship they don't know about the other. Despite Felicia's best efforts to turn it into a travel episode, they discuss deep topics like bucket list vacations, dream jobs, biggest fears, favorite gifts, and more! Let us know your thoughts by leaving a review or follow along with us @themotherhoodtrenches. You can always send us an email at themotherhoodtrenches@gmail.com with any questions!

In this episode we are talking about our recent vacation, or as we like to call it - parenting in a different location. We talk about things we felt we nailed while on vacation with our kids, and a few things we wish we had done a little differently. Please share with us your thoughts on vacation - even if you enjoy it more than we do! Follow us @themotherhoodtrenches on Instagram, or send us an email at TheMotherhoodTrenches@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you!

Molly and Felicia touch on their favorite things to do when they are “off” mom duty. They discuss the best tv shows to binge watch when they are burnt out and low on mental energy, niche rabbit holes they've fallen into (Hallmark mystery channel and Yale history classes?), and relaxing activities they are looking forward to again someday soon! Visit us on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches or email us at themotherhoodtrenches@gmail.com!

In this episode we discuss all of our favorite gadgets we have used with our girls. We also talk about apps and items we wish existed that would make our lives as parents a little bit easier. Companies we discuss: Snoo Bassinet (@happiest_baby) Infant Optics DXR-8 Video Monitor (@infantoptics) Moby Wrap (@mobywrap) Lillebaby Carrier (@lillebaby) Amazon Echo (@amazon) The Boppy Company (@boppycompany) Let us know your thoughts by leaving a review or follow along with us @themotherhoodtrenches. You can always send us an email at themotherhoodtrenches@gmail.com with any questions!

In this episode we talk about gender biases and preferences.   We touch on: Whether we found out the gender during our pregnancies and how we revealed "Hoping" for one gender over another Other people's opinions on your kids gender and comments you get Boy vs. Girl specific worries We are both #Girlmom over here, so our #Boymom listeners - reach out via Instagram (@themotherhoodtrenches) or email (themotherhoodtrenches@gmail.com) and let us know how things are on the other side!

Episode 006 - Parenting Memes/Tropes/Advice Felicia and Molly talk about parenting advice, memes, and tropes they have seen or heard since becoming parents. Some resonate with them, and others don't. They talk about how they handle seeing or receiving parenting advice that is not helpful for them, and different perspectives on each topic. Links talked about in the show: Note from baby to mother: https://community.whattoexpect.com/forums/july-2018-babies/topic/i-came-across-this-on-facebook-so-beautiful-71439748.html Visit us on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches or email us at themotherhoodtrenches@gmail.com!

Felicia and Molly talk about the process of starting solids and how that went for each of their kids.  Between the two of them they have tried purees and finger foods (Baby Led Weaning) with their girls.  They discuss the following topics: The methods they followed and how they chose it Lessons learned Picky eating and how to manage mealtimes with a picky eater Parental emotions around picky eating Valuable eating resources (instagrammers, bloggers, and books) Links mentioned in this episode: Baby Led Weaning Gagging vs. Choking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYJLL9foFHQ Coping with a Picky Eater by William G. Wilkoff : https://www.amazon.com/Coping-Picky-Eater-Perplexed-Parent/dp/0684837722 Kid utensil and knife set: https://www.amazon.com/Curious-Chef-30-Piece-Caddy-Collection/dp/B00FGKROWG/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=curious+chef&qid=1596820067&sr=8-2 Social media resources mentioned in this episode: @theleangreenbean @mamaknows_nutrition @feedinglittles @kids.eat.in.color @naptimekitchen Visit us on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches or email us at themotherhoodtrenches@gmail.com!

Felicia and Molly talk about their experiences with breastfeeding and formula feeding.  We have both done both types of feeding (and some combinations in between) and we talk about our thoughts about each prior to pregnancy, our feeding journeys, and our favorite and least favorite aspects of each method. Visit us on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches or email us at themotherhoodtrenches@gmail.com!

Molly interviews Felicia on her experience as a working mom.  Questions include: How did you decide to keep working?  How did your husband feel about it? What does an average day look like for you? How do you coordinate drop off and pick up between you and nick? Do you feel differently about your decision at all after having a second child? Did it make you feel more confident or less confident or the same? Tips for other working moms for balancing life at work and life at home What is something you feel you really excel at as far as working full time and being a full time parent? How do you and Nick split the responsibilities at home and with the kids since you both work full time? How are sick days handled and days that childcare is closed? If you could start over your journey as a working mom now knowing what you know, would you change anything? Talk about the benefits of your children seeing you excel at work and having a life outside of them and home life. How did you feel returning back to work after maternity leave? How long were you off? Was it long enough? Pumping while at work - struggles, tips, things you will do differently the second time around? How do you make time for yourself and how do you make time for your husband? Links mentioned in this episode: Kellymom article on pumping rights at work:  https://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/employed-moms/your-rights-as-a-breastfeeding-employee/ Visit us on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches or email us at themotherhoodtrenches@gmail.com!

Felicia interviews Molly on her experience as a full-time Stay at Home Mom.  Questions/topics include: How did you decide to become a SAHM?  How did you approach that with your husband, was he immediately on board? When were some times that you felt validated in your decision and loved being at home and times that you thought the grass was greener on the other side? What does an average day look like for you?  How do you maintain a routine?  How has this changed with 2 kids and older ages? How do you account for mealtime burnout and how you make breakfast/lunches easier for you and the kids? How do you  make time for yourself? What are tips/hacks you have found for yourself? What does your future look like (will you always stay at home, do you plan to return to work? School involvement?) Visit us on Instagram @themotherhoodtrenches or email us at themotherhoodtrenches@gmail.com!

Welcome to the Motherhood Trenches! We're your co-hosts Felicia and Molly. We became sisters by circumstance and friends by choice. Now between the two of us we are raising four girls, while trying to keep our sanity and support each other along the way. Join us as we bumble our way through the ups and downs of parenting newborns, toddlers, and little people. Listen as Felicia and Molly introduce themselves, their motivation for starting the podcast and their vision for content.