The Mom Hour

How do the things get done? Where does the time go? These are the questions we look at in today’s podcast episode. We’ve got tips for making the most of your time and prioritizing well so you feel your most productive (yes, even in those early baby days where it seems like NOTHING gets done). Whether you’re staying home full time, working outside the home, or somewhere in between, these tips are meant to encourage you. PLUS Katie Addiss joins Sarah at the end of the show for an update on toddler eczema, a donut discovery, and a good samaritan story. Join us!LINKS MENTIONED:The tips we discuss came from Meagan’s 2010 blog post on The Happiest Home: 10 Ways To Manage Your TimeThe Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People’s Lives Better, Too) by Gretchen Rubin (affiliate link)Take a quiz to find out your tendency hereOur episode about Calendar Tips & To-Do List Strategies (Episode 83)How Do I Make Time For It All? The Mom Hour (Episode 60)Our episode about Creating A Healthy Media Diet (i.e., less mindless phone-scrolling)Sarah was a guest on the Both Of Us podcast last week! Listen here.Katie found amazing vegan donuts at Whole Foods and share her other top vegan picks for toddlers in this blog postMORE 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.

By listener-request we’re taking you behind the scenes! We discuss the making of The Mom Hour, our recording quirks, tips for aspiring podcasters, how we work with brands, and more. We also give a little back-story on how the show has grown, how the Life, Listened network started, evolved, and continues to change, and what our goals are for the podcast in the coming months. PLUS you’ll get to hear a couple of fun bloopers, including the now-classic line, “my dog is playing a maraca”. Join us!LINKS MENTIONED:For aspiring podcasters, we have all our gear recommendations on this pageMORE 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.

Sarah has one week left of summer and Meagan has a MONTH. We chat about late-summer malaise, seasonal energy slumps in general, how to (or whether to) get back to healthier habits and routines, and what (if anything) we’re doing to gear up for the impending school year. Join us!LINKS MENTIONED:PickupPlease.org is the donation pickup service that Sarah is really happy with (they even took the car seat, guys!)Sarah’s accordion-style portfolios for kid-art are from Lakeshore LearningMeagan made this Chicken Tagine with Apricots and Almonds from Epicurious.comMORE 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.

Happiness in parenting doesn’t mean mean skipping through fields of daisies with a brood of clean, cheerful, never-whining children who eat their veggies and always put their dirty clothes in the hamper. In reality, it’s a much messier–but totally attainable–thing.In this episode of The Mom Hour Voices, Sarah talks with writer KJ Dell’Antonia about cultivating happiness as a mom in the midst of sibling fighting, grumpy mornings, and endless screen-time negotiations. KJ’s new book, How To Be A Happier Parent, offers specific strategies from both parenting experts and real-life moms and dads for tackling some of the most common pain points that accompany modern parenting. Join us!LINKS MENTIONED:Sarah mentioned Episode 167 of The Mom Hour, where she and Meagan talked about laundryhowtobeahappierparent.com is the place to go to find out more about KJ and her bookBooks KJ used in her research that were mentioned in the interviewHow To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk (by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish)Siblings Without Rivalry: How to Help Your Children Live Together So You Can Live Too (by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish)Peaceful Parent, Happier Siblings (Dr. Laura Markham)#AmWriting with Jess & KJ (KJ’s podcast with friend and fellow author Jessica Lahey)IndieBound.com, a great source for finding indie bookstores or ordering books from independent sellersMORE 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’ve yet to meet a mom at any stage of parenthood who didn’t have to deal with laundry–it’s one of the great equalizers of the mothering experience, no? Today on The Mom Hour Meagan and Sarah take you inside their homes and laundry rooms for a look at how we keep up with the piles, what our routines and rituals are, and how the whole clothes cycle works. Join us!LINKS MENTIONED:On love, laundry, and finding satisfaction in the work of nurturing (Meagan for The Happiest Home)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.

High school bedrooms, college dorm rooms, first apartments, first homes. Meagan and Sarah describe their home décor style through the years in this More Than Mom episode. Join us!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.

The last day of preschool is one thing–poignant, and easy to see coming–but what about the last time your toddler uses your favorite adorable mispronunciation? The last time you step on a LEGO? The last time a kid needs your help in the bath, crawls into your bed in the wee hours, or reaches for your hand on the sidewalk? Those lasts happen without our knowing, and motherhood his filled with them.LINKS MENTIONED:Listeners contributed so many great “lasts” that helped us shape this episode! Here are the Facebook post and the Instagram post where you can read all their comments.You Probably Won’t Remember This Later…And That’s OK (Meagan for The Happiest Home)The Last First Birthday (Sarah for Raising Arizona Kids magazine)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.

Navigating decisions as a mom is hard enough; feeling judged, criticized, or shamed for those decisions? That feels like garbage. After years of practice, Meagan and Sarah have words of encouragement for dealing with criticism, including six things to keep in mind when you’re feeling judged by others about your parenting. PLUS Katie Addiss joins Sarah for an update on her life as a mom of two littles. Enjoy!LINKS MENTIONED:Dealing With Criticism (The Mom Hour, Episode 26)What’s your parenting Achilles’ heel? (Meagan for The Happiest Home, 2012)Pants On Fire Podcast from Gen-Z and PRXKatie mentioned this recipe for fish taco / tuna salad sauce from Simply GourmetKatie used a bin like this for memory keeping, and Sarah uses these Lakeshore Learning keepsake portfoliosKatie wrote up her memory-keeping strategy in a post on the blog!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.

You’re home alone on a rainy Saturday afternoon and that movie comes on that you just HAVE to watch. What is it? In this More Than Mom episode Meagan and Sarah confess the books, movies, songs, and TV that maybe don’t get points for artsy intellectualism, but that we just can’t resist. Much pop culture banter ensues… Join us!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.

Bianca Dottin’s second pregnancy was long-awaited and relatively drama-free. But when baby Tristan arrived at 34 weeks and was admitted to the NICU unable to breathe on his own, it was clear that her life was about to change. In this month’s Voices interview episode, Bianca shares her NICU story with Sarah, including how 6 months in the NICU inspired her to start a community and collection of resources to support other moms with babies in the NICU.A note from Sarah: This episode includes a beautiful and authentic story of infant loss, grief, and healing. We hope you’ll listen, but wanted to give a heads up so that those of you for whom hearing about traumatic birth experiences or infant loss will bring up feelings of anxiety or pain can make the decision of whether to listen or not. If you’re having feelings of anxiety about your pregnancy or your baby’s health, we recommend listening to this interview from last month, and speaking with your healthcare provider to get the support you deserve.  LINKS MENTIONED:Bianca’s website for NICU mamas and those who want to support them: mamasofthenicu.orgThe online support group we talked about happens in the Mamas of the NICU Facebook groupThe Mamas of the NICU Facebook pageBianca’s lifestyle blog is biancadottin.comMamas of the NICU on InstagramPurchase or donate items to a NICU Survival Kit for mamas herePurchase a NICU Mama journal here8 Emotions You Feel After Suffering The Loss Of A Child (BiancaDottin.com)6 Healthy Ways to Grieve (BiancaDottin.com)5 Things No One Tells You About Being a NICU Mom(BiancaDottin.com)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.