The Mom Hour

What’s a mom to do when one kid feels left out of outings his younger sibling gets to do while he’s at school? A listener about to move to a new city for just one year wants tips for finding mom friends quickly, and another listener’s question about how common it is for moms to feel the need to keep spirits up in a family with moodier characters really gets Meagan and Sarah thinking about their own families. Finally, a newer listener is curious about Meagan’s backstory of young motherhood and journey to becoming a mom of five. In Episode 374 we take these questions from our community and – for the first time! – include words of wisdom from members of our contributor team in addition to our own advice. Enjoy!LINKS MENTIONED:Meagan is struggling with a fly infestation in her sunroom! Has anyone dealt with this before? If so, Meagan would love to know how you solved it! Reach out to her on Instagram.If you’re struggling to find mom friends like our listener Annie, our contributor Catie recommended joining Meet Up and our Contributor Stacy recommended finding a MOPS groupHow To Make Mom Friends on the blog has some great ideas for finding mom friends, too!MORE HELPFUL LINKS:Visit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we’re talking about advice: asking for it, giving it, and consuming it in general. Things have come a looong way since the days of Dear Abby (we’re looking at you, Facebook crowdsourcing!), and in this fun More Than Mom conversation, Meagan and Sarah share how we individually show up when it comes to receiving advice, whether we’re comfortable giving advice, and how it all has changed for us over the years. We also discuss our mutual fascination with advice-column culture and parse the difference between seeking wise counsel from trusted friends and looking for quick answers from the Internet hive mind. Join us!LINKS MENTIONED:New York Times Ask the Ethicist is a current advice column that considers readers’ ethical quandaries.Here’s a link to Megan Leahy’s On Parenting Advice Column with The Washington Post.Our Facebook Mom Hour Listener Community is a supportive place to crowd source (if that is your thing!)More Than Mom: Meagan & Sarah As Kids And Teens is a good pair to today’s episode if you missed it earlier this summer.MORE HELPFUL LINKS:Visit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We get dueling messages from our culture: On the one hand, come as you are! Accept yourself fully, imperfections and all. On the other hand, you deserve better! Here’s what to do (and buy) to sleep better, eat better, look better, and feel better. It can be confusing to navigate a genuine desire to live your best life alongside the necessary self-acceptance it takes to feel like you’re doing enough today. Do we have this figured out? We do not, but today we’re here to talk about it. Meagan and Sarah share what self-improvement AND self-acceptance look like for them in the reams of wellness, career, mental health, and leisure – plus we reflect on what this balance has looked like at different seasons of motherhood. Join us!LINKS MENTIONED:Meagan mentioned her interview with Rachel Hughes on Mother Of Reinvention is an inspiration for this conversationMeagan is trying out Parsley Health for her own wellness curiositySarah mentioned our 2022 Goals & Intentions episode (and if you like that one, don’t miss the six-week check-in we did here)Sarah is reading Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant (affiliate link)MORE HELPFUL LINKS:Visit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Meagan’s first baby shower was – wait for it – twenty-five years ago this summer. To bring her up to speed on how things are done nowadays and what’s new in baby gear, gifting, and registries, Meagan is joined by Kia and Katherine from our contributor team. Both are seasoned moms who have seen trends evolve, and both have had babies much (much) more recently. Join us as we talk about the pros and cons to today’s baby product landscape, what’s changed and what hasn’t, and what we’d do differently when registering for our very first baby shower. Kia and Katherine also share their must-have product recommendations and registry favorites while Meagan puts it all into context for us. Enjoy!LINKS MENTIONED:Read How To Make The Most Out Of Your Baby Registry by contributor Sarah LimbergKia and Katherine both mentioned Babylist as a go-to registry siteKia also loves Spearmint Love BoutiqueThe Snoo was discussed (as was the age-old conversation around automated baby-soothing)Meagan was blown away hearing about the Haakaa pumpThere was much talk about the utility of various slings and babywearing carriers; while the choices are overwhelming the choice is personal, Kia is currently loving the Ergo 360MORE HELPFUL LINKS:Visit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

“How do you know when your family is complete?” is one of the most common listener questions we receive. Meagan and Sarah both now have several years of hindsight separating them from the baby and toddler years, and today we’re reflecting on the idea of a “complete” family unit. We acknowledge that it doesn’t necessarily look like what we imagined it would – and that for many moms there is uncertainty and even grief wrapped up in all of this – but we also find much to celebrate about the current and future states of our proverbial “family tables”. Join us!LINKS MENTIONED:It’s that time again–to send us your Listener Questions! Email us at hello@themomhour.com and be sure to put Listener Question in the subject line. We can’t wait to hear from you.Sarah refers to the recent More Than Mom: Meagan and Sarah as Kids & Teens episode when she compares how her sibling relationships were throughout childhood to her kids’ sibling relationships. We reference the Muscle Memory of Motherhood, however, we’d need a crash course on babies again today being so far removed from having newborns!MORE HELPFUL LINKS:Visit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Not feeling like an expert in the housework realm? Turns out, very few of feel like we know what we are doing. Last week Meagan and Sarah talked about WHAT we do to keep our households in a state of "good enough," and this week's Part Two is all about the feelings that came up as we tracked a week of real-life housework. We dive into some of our insecurities as home managers, the difference between housework and mothering, and some of the really sticky aspects of finding your identity as a mom and homemaker in the 21st century. We have LOTs of thoughts - and we hope you'll join us! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What we remember from childhood helps build our narrative of who we were - even if those memories are fuzzy or slightly flawed. Today Meagan and Sarah get in the way-WAY-back machine and reflect on what we were like as kids and teens. As a child, Meagan was dreamy, imaginative, chatty, and obsessed with balloons (!!), while Sarah was studious, quiet-but-sociable, responsible, and circumstantially prone to tears. We touch on how our personalities developed as we grew up, whether we were “popular” or not, and if we felt clueless or confident come high school. Join us for this fun More Than Mom to get a glimpse into our growing up years (at least the way we remember it!). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Most of us enjoy having a clean and tidy home, but have you ever kept track of how much you do throughout the week to keep it that way? In today’s episode, Meagan and Sarah share what seven days of real-life housework looks like in our homes. We reflect on the tasks we knew went into running a home, and some surprising ones we never thought of as housework before (like picking plums and chasing chickens!). Whether you prioritize deep-cleaning on a regular schedule or tend to tidy as you go and hope for the best, it’s eye-opening and gratifying to acknowledge the work that goes into managing a home full of kids. Join us for Part One, and check back next week for Part Two!LINKS MENTIONED:Sarah mentioned using this Keepsake Portfolio for all things kids’ artwork and school keepsakes.Like the style of the “Week of Real Life…” episodes? Here’s our Week of Real-Life Dinners series:A Week Of Real-Life Dinners (Vol. 5): Episode 336A Week of Real-Life Dinners: (Vol. 4) Episode 3058 Moms Share Their Family’s Real-Life Dinners For A WeekA Week Of Real-Life Dinners (Vol. 3): Episode 254A Week Of Real-Life Dinners (Vol. 2): Episode 196A Week of Real-Life Dinners (Vol. 1): Episode 72MORE HELPFUL LINKS:Visit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If you travel with kids, it’s just a matter of time before a trip goes off the rails in spectacular fashion. Maybe it’s a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, or an expensive vacation spent sick in a pricey hotel room. Today Sarah is joined by Catie, Stacy, Emily and Lisa – regular contributors to the show and seasoned travelers with a combined 13 kids – who share their most memorable travel mishap stories. (Full disclaimer: there will be puke-talk.) In sharing these stories, we hope to normalize that travel with kids doesn’t have to go perfectly to be “worth it” and remind you that you’re not alone if this summer’s adventures go awry. Plus, one of the only perks to surviving stories like these is that we get to laugh about them later. Join us!LINKS MENTIONED:Check out the Family Travel Hub where our contributors share their tips, how-to guides and all things family travelMeet The Mom Hour Contributor TeamFollow today’s guest co-hosts on InstagramCatie Parrish, Brand Partnerships Manager at The Mom HourStacy Bronec, contributorEmily Roark, contributorLisa Payne, contributorMORE HELPFUL LINKS:Visit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As moms, we can be hard on ourselves…and sometimes we just need to hear the simplest, oft-repeated pieces of advice and encouragement to remind us that it is all going to be OK. Join Meagan and Sarah for a reflection on eight pieces of wisdom that have carried us through motherhood struggles at every age and stage. We are offering them to you, to ourselves, and to all of our future selves in Episode 369. Enjoy!LINKS MENTIONED:Don’t miss chicken content on Meagan’s InstagramIf you don’t know what we’re talking about when we mention toddler Isaac and the viral meme featuring Meagan and Isaac, read this or listen to this or watch thisWe mentioned answering a listener question about gentle parenting in this episodeSarah loved this conversation and mentioned it in the context of not being alone in whatever you’re going through: Jen Hatmaker: What We Win When We Lose It All (We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle)Meagan and Sarah originally introduced these “mom truths” in Episode 100. Meagan wrote the blog post “You Probably Won’t Remember This Later…And That’s OK”MORE HELPFUL LINKS:Visit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.