Couple Things with Shawn and Andrew - 289 | end of year LIVE Q&A

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

Coming to you LIVE answering all your hot topic questions for us…. Special Forces, life updates, our new house, the past few weeks.. and even more exiting, maybe teasing a NEW project coming next year!! 👀 Drop all your questions below and we’ll cover as much as we can!! Love you guys, Shawn and Andrew SKIMS ▶ If you’re still working through your holiday list, the SKIMS Holiday Shop is officially open now at SKIMS.com/couplethings KACHAVA ▶ Go to kachava.com and use code EASTFAM for 15% off your next order! Omaha Steaks ▶ Visit OmahaSteaks.com for 50% off sitewide during their Sizzle All the Way Sale. And for an extra $35 off, use promo code EASTFAM at checkout. Terms apply. See site for details. Subscribe to our newsletter ▶ https://www.familymade.com/newsletter Follow our podcast Instagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/shawnandandrewpods/ Follow My Instagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/ShawnJohnson Follow My Tik Tok ▶ https://www.tiktok.com/Shawnjohnson Shop My LTK Page ▶ https://www.shopltk.com/explore/shawnjohnson Like the Facebook page! ▶ https://www.facebook.com/ShawnJohnson Follow Andrew’s Instagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/AndrewDEast Andrew’s Tik Tok ▶ https://www.tiktok.com/Andrewdeast?lang=en (00:00) WE ARE LIVE (01:39) house and moving updates (11:30) shout out to the best community (12:43) being proud of andrew (14:35) videos from home and how our family got updated (15:40) the ds on dancing with the stars? (16:48) no cameras on vs. cameras off for the interrogation (19:08) shawn could never do the cold (20:21) we want someone with the last name east to cross the finish line (20:43) how it was reuniting after the show (22:09) details about the mic pack we wore (23:00) andrew’s broken ribs (23:55) the after-show trauma (25:26) did we ever want to vw? (let me know if this should be “volunteer” or something else!) (33:00) our favorite trips from this year (34:26) how we navigate trying to be present in the home (37:30) our manuscript is done (39:13) going from 2 to 3 kids (43:00) how to balance 2 under 2 (46:12) send your baby shower and wedding invites our way :) (47:09) navigating being active during pregnancy (48:30) do we want more kids? 👀 (49:40) staying firm in our faith (50:45) our christmas traditions (53:35) our current 2026 goals Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm so excited for this. These are always so much fun. They are. Good morning. Always goes wrong. You want to hit the normal intro? Yeah. What's up, everybody?

Welcome back to a couple things. With Sean and Andrew. This is going to be fun. It's always interesting to do a live stream. Something usually goes wrong. We usually lose audio. So bear with us. And then we usually lose our cool shortly thereafter.

But today, it's looking. Looking crispy. We got audio live. Let us know if that changes. And we are excited to do this live Q&A with you. We did one a couple of weeks ago when we were halfway through the special forces world toughest test airing on TV. And now we wanted to do an end of show and end of year Q&A. End of show meaning end of special forces. Ander likes to get dramatic. No, actually, it's the end of the show. I actually did not legitimately put that together like it was a dramatic ending of our podcast but now that you say that I understand you love to like where could I be also yeah Kaylee Wheeler says saying goodbye no Sean also Sean also didn't like this okay I'm trying to

game plan saying goodbye to special forces Andrew likes to like capture your attention and the year so here we are really this might be the last live stream we do on any social platform about the Why? About the end of 2025? Okay. Okay, let's start with a life update before we get into all the questions. Let's do it. So things are pretty crazy.

We are living at my parents' house. We have officially moved out of our house. And it's crazy. We have not moved into the new house yet. I know we're only a couple nights in, but does it feel like vacation to you live in at your parents' house? A little bit. A little bit, a little bit chaotic. A little bit, you know, like guns.

certain this feels like an interesting transition the kids are on all sorts of adventures checking out the tools that poppy has in the garage or checking out the backyard and seeing the birds we have 17 animals under one roof which is a lot hilarious i'll share on my instagram stories later a picture of all the animals like at dinner time it's pretty hilarious there's four large dogs one small dog and a cat a lot of animals a lot of animals um Anna and I were talking about this move. We've been remodeling this house for two years. We are so excited to finally move in.

It is a property that we feel we will be living at for the rest of our lives. It will be a project that will continue for a very long time because there's so many things that we want to do. So as of right now, the inside of our house is complete, but nothing else. So like the driveway is not done. You know, it's very rough from the outside, but we love that. We love the idea of living there and having this project be ongoing for a long time. However, it has been interesting, though we are absolutely ecstatic to move into this home that we've poured our heart and soul into the design of, because it's truly like made for us. It's not like, whatever.

This is the very first house I've ever left that I've felt like attached to. A little sentimental. I felt super attached to the house I grew up in. and I remember leaving for college and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm leaving home. And I haven't really felt like that. We moved a couple times. But this house, for sure,

is probably second most sentimental house I've lived in. Just because the first week when we were in that house, Jett learned how to ride his bike before he was even turned two. First week we were there. We had his first birthday party. We brought Bear home there. Our family was like complete there.

Yeah. Anyway, it'll be good. We're going to try out the family compact. vibe and we we talk about family a lot and we're like you know what let's put our money where our mouth is let's do this experiment and see how we like living with grandparents kids maybe grandkids at some point um we're going to do the chicken thing Sean started doing sourdough which is totally a gateway drug to the homestead life I started doing sourdough two years ago I know but now you're like I want chickens I'm like I need eggs I need real yummy delicious eggs um Drew and Jet and Bear

and neighbor friends and stuff have already like called names on chickens and what color chickens they want. So now I got to figure out what's the next step to getting chickens. Do you just get chickens? Do you get them in the middle of the winter? We're going to figure it out on the fly. How many are going to die? I really don't want any chickens to die. I'm also excited because I feel like our kids are old enough now that the adventures they have are going to be a little more appropriate for like the place that they'll be.

And so, you know, I'm imagining boys crawling through creeks and all sorts of things. But anyway, that's going to be an exciting change that's happening here in the next couple weeks. The holidays are here. I was just telling Sean, oh, my gosh. I think the next three years with the kids are going to be like the best years of Sean and I's lives because Bear will be two in a couple weeks. And just like that, two to five is such a good age. But like Drew is in the most amazing phase now too and she's six. I don't know.

I just think it's just going to get better and better. better and better and better. I don't know how that's possible, but... Yeah. We got a lot of questions already about the show, about the house. Let's start with the house and then move into the show. Someone asked when the move-in date is. That's Aspen Lynn asked.

It's happening right now. Like, it's literally in the process of happening. We've got movers, the painters are still there, the contractors. Like, there is probably 60 people at the new house right now getting everything finished. we don't have like an exact date but it is very soon i did i passed our builder he was driving out i was driving in he looked at me he's like a little crazy in there it is crazy let's see it is crazy april geyser asked when are you planning on doing a video showing the new house remodel we will do that soon so we're in the process of showing everything we've been filming everything because it's

been a two-year process it's been really hard to like show every phase because it's been so it like evolves so slow but quickly if it makes sense um so we in the next couple weeks we'll be doing huge shoots to show all of the details and the before and afters um there is a podcast that just went live i'll put it on my story highly recommend you listen to it it's the whole like inspo behind the design process and our team that we used i got to go on um textures podcast it's couture and construction um it was but it it i talked a lot about like all the details but yes we'll be sharing all of it sure has been amazing and planning out the whole sequence of like hey let's move the kids beds to my parents house so then they can feel less you know unsettled

and she's mapped out this whole transition plan and i just want to say great job it's been it's been wild so far so good bear had a rough night the first night i think it was there was so much chaos there were so many movers like in his home like in our home and like in his room and whatever but he did great last night and we're we're settling in alison says happy December happy December to you as well haley says i love that you guys do live stream pods and i've enjoyed them over the last five years it's actually been six years we've been doing this podcast and i just got a notification on youtube that our 10-year anniversary on that platform, which is pretty much what started us in creating all the videos that we do was YouTube 10 years ago.

And it's kind of just fun to see the years stacked together. I've got a few here all around the same thing. Again, the new house. But Andrew, what are you most excited for with the new house and the property? And like what's, again, the other one is like some things you're most excited about with this house. I would say the thing I'm most excited about is the thing I'm most anxious about as well, maybe nervous about, is it's a little more secluded. We have a wonderful neighborhood, wonderful neighbors right now, but I'm excited. I'm nervous because we're leaving that.

We're leaving very close neighbors, like take two steps and knock on a front door. Yeah, which I feel like it's been really good for the kids. Yeah. And I'm nervous that we might miss aspects of that. But I'm excited because I think the effect, I'm hoping the effect of this is that we spend more time just together. Yeah. And like I said, these young years with the kids, I'm really wanting to savor every second. So that's what I'm most excited about.

I am most excited. Again, we're trying to slow down our pace of life with our kids a little bit, have more, like you said, more time at home and on like our property. and yeah less distraction but I'm also really excited for another question is or any other families living on the new property my parents are so we will literally our kids can walk out the front door any moment and just like run a few steps over to Mimi and Poppy's house which is going to be really exciting their house is not done yet so that's like phase two but we're very excited to have a multi-generational property. Yeah.

And maybe, maybe some time down the road when our kids are grown and they've flown the coop, maybe they'll come back and live on a house on the property. Yeah. We're farmers now. Farmers. We're farmers. Sydney says, I'm glad that you plan to stay in the house for the consistency the kids need as a pastor's kid, a P.K., all the moves really affected my older

siblings. Yeah. We have moved twice now with Drew, but it feels we've been in the current house. Someone else asked how long we were in our current house. We were there for three and a half years. So yeah. I will say I have noticed I never thought twice about a move with our kids until this one. This is the first one that has affected a kid and it's been Drew in any capacity. It's not a lot. She's very excited to move to this house. She's very excited about her room. She's in love with the house. She's in love with the property. But, it has come with emotions of like I'm not going to have my neighbors and I'm not going to you know what does this look like so I agree uh Ellie asked if Andrew's mom will ever move over probably not honestly my my siblings I have four siblings they all live in Indianapolis and my mom lives they're all within like five minutes of each other and it's that's probably the only other place Sean and I would move um but we make it up there like once a month so we feel good about being down here.

It's a great setup for the kids. I don't know if it's self-indulgent or justified, like, missionally, that we're down here. But my mom probably will stay in Indiana since all my other siblings are up there. Should we move into Special Forces? We can, but I just want to shout out. YouTube has these little crowns that they show the people commenting. And we have Krista Cochran is the number one fan, it looks like. Wow.

She was a little crown with the number one. Caitlin Oltman has been around Caitlin remember the live streaming audio app that we did yeah that was called what was it called oh I can't remember what it was called

some egg sunny side up sunny side up with no the app yeah anyway Caitlin was always there so what's up Caitlin she's number two

and then Mandy Nolan Coming in a number three. It is so fun to see the consistent faces. And again, we might be doing a tour next year, so maybe we'll actually be live and in person with you all sometime. Yeah, Amazon AMP. That's what it was. That's what it was.

Amp. Okay. All right. We had 400 people with us this morning. Can we hit some likes on the YouTube video while we're doing this? And then let's use that as a transition to talk about some special forces question. shall we? Babe, I just want to say this.

You don't like when I double down on the special force thing, but I'm so proud of you. Hey, thank you. I appreciate that. It was a stressful couple weeks, honestly. It was. And what an experience to do. I am glad that it's behind us.

Fox kind of wants us to do more stuff. I think we should. I just don't know if I got what it takes to be on TV. You do, because everyone loves you, And you're just like, you are such a good human and a good guy. I think the world should see more of that. Thank you. I think we're a good team and I love you.

I love you. MVP, baby. Why do you have sweaty palms? Does that make you sweat? No, freezing cold hands. Is it not cold up here? It is really cold. Okay.

Who's ready for some special forces questions? Got a lot of them. Let's close this loop and move on to the next show. Andrew on Dancing with the Star. As we're doing the questions, can we add names just like as a part of it moving forward? So, Andrew, let's start with, are you feeling any better about the ending of the show?

I am, I am. You are. Yeah. Good. That's good. I got all bundled up in my emotions, but what I realized was it's not about me. You freaking won.

Why are we talking about me? Dude. So he's not doing that. So I'm over it. That's a no. If there's any psychologist or psychiatrist watching, let's just bringing on. I don't like think about it often, but it's like, it's, you did the thing. So I'm just done talking about my part of it.

Really? No, we're going to continue talking about it. Now the show is over. We are able to like speak on every little detail. There's nothing to hide anymore as far as like results and endings. But someone said in the event of one of us going. home before videos from home. Did you pre-shoot any videos like Teresa did for Gia?

So Teresa actually didn't pre-shoot that. She filmed that and submitted it after she was on the show and then got her number pulled. Yeah. That was Tyler's question. She shot that after she got home. Yeah. Like my parents and our kids and Andrew's brother and sister-in-law, they shot those videos. like literally the night before we watched them.

Yeah. It was very last second. Yeah. We were in community, I think we mentioned this in the first episode that we did on the whole debrief, but the people at home were in communication with producers about us the whole time we were gone. So like checking in on different things. That's how they submitted to their videos was through the producer.

It was all good. But let's see. there's another question that says which DS do you think should do dancing with the stars? Only because I say this only because

he's so hard to crack but I'd say Foxy could you imagine just like the humor he's a he's like a big strong guy too so I think watching the dance would be great yeah but like

Rudy Q I don't think Billy would do it Rudy would probably love it the most For sure But I would like to see Foxy do it By the way I was actually thinking

With the help of all the fancy software That we have nowadays Of taking all the audio We've recorded about this Both on the show and beyond And making like a little A little book about it What do you think about that?

Interesting No just like a free Like a little text version summary that we could have on our coffee table or you love the idea so much i got let me move on uh next question were the interrogators really that mean when the cameras weren't rolling okay so this is from tyler as well the hard part to wrap your mind around as as like a viewer or a spectator of the show is this whole like cameras on cameras off like any other reality tv show that you hear about and you see

was no such thing for this one, if that makes sense. There was no like, we're getting ready to film. Interrogators are coming in, you know, there was no active producing of a TV show ever. The cameras were rolling 24-7 with no producers in sight. They were all behind the scenes. Everything was shot basically from like a security camera. So you weren't even really aware that there were cameras. That little black necklace that we wore was a mic. A lot of people asked about the black necklace like what heck was that thing so and we wore that a hundred percent of the time uh so the interrogators yes they were that quote mean a hundred percent of the time because there was never an off so we we didn't get to interact with them after the show was after the course

was like done but yeah we never saw like a nice side no and pretty much anytime we weren't with them that often we were with them before challenges and then wait the interrogators sorry the interrogators gotcha I thought they meant the DS but we weren't with either of them much no whatever you saw I would say that's the one thing that the camera and the edit did show is pretty much any time we interacted with the DS was on TV in some capacity I will say the DS warmed up more and more as the course went on so like between day one and day 10 there was definitely a different demeanor amongst the DS. I do feel, especially at the beginning, the DS have to be that strict and that like forceful to a certain extent because you are doing

death-defying things and they have all these personalities where they don't really know, are you going to comply? Are you going to listen? Are you going to be hazard? Are you going to do something dumb? Like they have to kind of build that trust very quickly. So by the end, we got to see more personal sides of them. Pam asked, would you have preferred New Zealand freezing cold location over Morocco heat desert location. I say this genuinely. I know my capabilities.

I knew going into the desert that like I had the greatest chance of making it to the end. I am not sure. I mean this sincerely, you guys. I am not sure I would have lasted 48 hours in the Arctic.

The cold would have been so miserable for so many reasons. I can barely go skiing. Andrew for my birthday got me a heated vest because going down the ski slopes for two hours, I would literally be in so much excruciating pain. So I would lose feeling in my hands and my feet. Yeah. And I can't survive the cold. And I've heard that it was so hot in Morocco that they actually had to tweak down and even maybe remove some of the difficult physical challenges that they had planned because it was so hot and if you're in the cold they don't have that constraint of like

heat danger so but they have to they do have a constraint of hypothermia though that's true that's true um let's see ashley wants to know if one of you had to leave the show early would the other still stay or would you have both left together we had this conversation before we started we were definitely in agreement that if one of us left the other person would stay yeah We wanted someone with the last name of East to cross the finish line, no matter what. Mandy wants to know if when we were both done with Special Forces, were you standoffish toward each other or no? She's asking because she honestly doesn't think she would be okay, where we standoffish once we reunited after the show. Not at all.

No, it was, I was so, that was the thing I was most worked up about after the show. So if you see like clips of the after I exited interview I had to do, I was so so mad and angry, really worried about Sean because like it was such an unpleasant experience. And I was like, I don't know what she will go through from this point forward. So like when we reunited, I was like, oh my gosh, okay, you're all right. Andrew was the last person on the entire cast to tap out as far as like personality wise. so I think having him be pulled that was really hard but I will say even like as a cast because technically six of us because Randall made it pretty much to the last day because six of us made it to the end when we all got back to the hotel like after everything

was done done we got to reunite as all six and that was like seeing your family we were so happy we had we sang happy birthday to brie it was her birthday like yeah it was fun there was no standoffishness it was like oh i'm so happy to see you all because we can bond through this shelley wants to know did the mic necklace rub your skin during the heater sweat no the necklace wasn't bad but so the way it worked it was like a it was like a walkie-talkie kind of transmitter pack so you had the necklace which was the mic and then what you couldn't really see was the cord that ran from that down to this body strap that they had. That was awful.

And it was kind of like a swimsuit type material, but it was pretty tight. You know those bands that you see runners wear and they put gel packs in them? Yeah. That's what we're wearing and it had a mic pack in it. And it was like waterproof because we did all the water challenges. But it would take hours to dry out. So you're just wearing the soggy cloth around your waist, which honestly I think might have helped cool us down like our body temperature. But you also had, like, pruned skin around your waist for 10 days.

Yeah. How did Andrew find out about his broken ribs and how are they now? Yeah, felt it and then went to the doctor afterward. Legitimately, when that happened, they show a couple clips. I could not lay horizontal because it was putting too much weight on my ribs. So I was, like, really in a bad spot to finish the show. even the workout they showed the day after where it was like the race me versus randall i was just getting i couldn't hardly get down and get back up again so well and when we got home i think

at least a full week had gone by and it wasn't progressing it wasn't getting any better and that was like after being home and having like proper rest and ice and therapy and so we were like you have to go in so he went in and they took it next year and they're like brah broke your ribs yeah um what the heartland asked um if we've worked through like the after show quote unquote trauma at all did we experience that and have we talked to other contestants about it i gia and i talked about this we got the best end of the stick if that makes sense because you go through so much so many hard things hard challenges and like the psychological stuff and your memories in your person like your emotions attached to it for us almost got rewired at the very end because we crossed a finish line and we had all the DS go from super serious to like laughing giggling hugging us saying we're so proud of you.

you like we got to kind of have those very last moments repaint all the picture pictures for us like it was you did it so I don't feel like I had anything to work through at the end because my most vivid memories now are happy ones what about you um no I feel like I've reframed it in a good way So I feel, I just never want to experience that the last 24 hours. Well, I agree. But someone, let's see, Caitlin also asked, was there ever a point for each of you where you thought about VWing?

The tunnels was the one thing where I had the most panic and, like, get me out of here. But the thought of VWing never really crossed my mind. It was more of like an overwhelm and not knowing what to do. was like confusion rather than let me leave the show you know i was no no i'd say the only time i ever started thinking about it maybe was the interrogation but like the very last day but even then i knew it would end yeah i had kind of just set my mind on it's just 10 days yeah I mean it didn't always just feel like 10 days no felt like so long oh man no but there was never like a day where I was like I don't think I could ever do this day again

yeah I didn't feel that until the very last day and then I was like I know I don't have to do it again no matter what so you just have to get through the day yeah uh Krista says that she has to admit she's not seen the season of the show yet but she's excited to sit down and watch it a lot of people said that they'd not seen the show and they watched it because we were on it and they loved it and I think if you watch it like really the the scenery is beautiful the way they film it the cinematography is really amazing and it's kind of cool the whole premise of get to know these people that you are known for only one thing acting or modeling or whatever and then get a totally different understanding of them because they're in a totally different context

but yeah so check it out and let's know what you think we're about to you want to do some ad reads yeah let's do that and before we do that go ahead hit the like button we got now 600 of us with us yeah thank you all for being here good morning happy wednesday Sean you want to take it let's do it ladies skims and gents because there's still great stuff lately we have been on the kick of trying to actually improve our sleep trying and I swear. What we wear to bed has made a huge difference, a lot bigger than I expected. Yeah, key word on trying to get better sleep there. But before this, I feel like I was basically wearing whatever was clean to bed, which was not great. Not great at all, but when we tried

the skims, sleep and soft lounge sets. It was game over. The fabric is unreal. So soft, so stretchy and just calming. I genuinely feel like I sleep better when I'm wearing them. Same. And I never used to wear pajamas to bed ever. Truly. I'm the one asking if we can match PJs, which is a Christmas tradition for us. I even have a favorite set, which is shocking. He really does.

And I have been living in mine around the house, mornings with the kids, curled up with hot cocoa. They have so many cute holiday prints and skims has something for everyone. Women, men, kids, and even pets. Which makes holiday shopping so easy this year. We're basically doing skims for the whole family. If you want to shop the best pajamas,

head to skims.com. And after you place your order, make sure you let them know we sent you. Select podcast in the survey and choose our show from the drop-down menu. And if you're still working through your holiday list, the Skims Holiday Shop is officially open now at skims.com slash couple things. Skims is the best. It is literally the best. Now let me tell you about how I started my morning today, which is with Kachava. We always think the holidays are going to be calm and cozy, and then somehow we end up doing three holiday parties in one day hosting people trying to

pack trying to cook. It's just chaos. I don't know if it'll be like that this year. Hopefully not. Hopefully we'll have, we'll try to have a little less chaos. But last year we literally had a house full of guests, a flight delay, and we still attempted to make a quick breakfast before running out the door, which is not a good idea. Horrible idea. So this year, we've both been leaning on Kachava to keep things simple. Before we go to a holiday party, I'll make my shake and actually helps me just not dive into every cooking in sight. And why we travel, I pack a couple servings in my carry-ons. I don't have to rely on airport food. You got to have some cookies, though. I mean so. And now they have their new limited edition chocolate mint

flavor. It's delicious. It's so good. It's rich chocolate, cool mint, zero compromise. It tastes like the season without the sugar crash. And it still has everything we need to feel human during the holidays. I am still a fan of the strawberry. The vanilla is great and chai. Jett's favorite is chai. I'm not sure he's supposed to have it, but he loves it. Sometimes I will blend mine with frozen fruit or nut milk to change it up. And I generally feel a difference in my energy and my digestion. Thanks to the fiber, probiotics, and enzymes. It just helps keep me regular and feeling great. Same here. I notice the protein and electrolytes help with strength and recovery and the minerals and B vitamins support metabolism and cognition, which I need

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Terms apply, see site for details. That's Omaha Steaks.com code EastFam. All right, shall we? Get back to the questions. Let's do it. We're going to go back to some generic questions. And then if you have any more special forces, put them in the chat. Andrew.

Hit me. What was your favorite trip we took this year? Oh my gosh. Can we just reflect for a second? Sean and I are weeks away from our annual review where we'll talk about everything we did this year from trips to whatever business stuff to all the things we get involved in.

And I'm just reflecting on Park City. Yep. Cancun. The kids learned to ski this year? That was this year. That feels like it was seven years ago. Wow. We did Cancun.

We did Tijuana. with all of our kids in the extended family. Indiana, a couple times. We did Japan, did that thing, Singapore and Dubai. Yeah. If you guys have recommendations, drop them in the chat, please. Because Sean and I usually take one big trip with the family every year, and we want to make it a good one. I would say my favorite this year, though, and it sounds ridiculous to say, and I know we are so blessed to have been able to do this, but all of our kids talk about Dubai more than any place they've been.

Yeah, maybe it's because it's the most fun to say. But we also did camels there. They right down the beach. I would say my favorite was San Diego slash Tijuana. Yeah, that was magical. How do you stay present with kids when so many other things call for your attention, chores, work, etc.? Interesting. I feel like I'm more prone to be preoccupied.

with work or projects or things outside of the home. This question is from Carly, by the way, so thank you, Carly. I don't know what you tend to get preoccupied by. What would you say that is for you? Aimlessly scrolling. Scrolling? I think you also think about the kids' lunches and tidiness. We've talked about this on another podcast,

but my brain moves so fast and trying to organize it all that like the ADHD side of me will just shut down and I'll get locked in on just like being very mindless and so turning that back on and turning that off as hard. How do we stay present though? I have realized that it is so easy to like check out that email or respond to that text message or you know do whatever you're going to do on the phone or computer.

and so I try to hold a guitar in my hands as much as possible or a book and that prevents my hands from being used to hold a phone. So that's been my hack is literally not allowing any space for the phone. I would say two things. One, we do like weekly reflections. Every Sunday night we'll kind of talk about the week, how we did, what we want to do better, which kid needs more attention, whatever it is, just kind of talk through and have an honest like audit of the last week and say, I don't think we should do phones in the bedroom this week or whatever it is. And then two, and we do that every single week. Two, anything that we find to be too much of a distraction, we will remove. And I say that because we used to have a TV in our living

room. And we noticed very quickly it was becoming too much of a distraction, too much of a centerpiece of while you're sitting at dinner, you just like, we weren't having quality time as a family so we literally got rid of it yeah and put a picture there that was meaningful to us we will like design even if it's like countercultural we will we will design our our spaces to encourage more less distractions and yeah we also try to fully commit our calendars not don't confuse that with staying busy all time but fully committing them so like you know heard about our date nights before every Thursday night on our calendar is date night. I'm so excited for it. It's been like last week being Thanksgiving and then whatever with

we did New York City kind of for the media tour, but we haven't had a proper normal date night in a while. But we'll like try to have everything on our calendar so that it's almost like, you know, blocked time in that sense. But also to Sean's point about designing the environment, we did just yesterday finish our manuscript the manuscript for our book you guys i can't wait this is uh it's not going to be this big just to put jetties this is only one one-sided print paper sorry trees but we just submitted the final edits and i'm so excited i love it we it should release next june so you'll probably be hearing a lot about it i actually think it is the perfect mix of you and i there's some like quirkiness to it which is me like the last

little jokes and then like the analytical data is you but truly how we structure our lives and how we try to operate is been put into a book but essentially the book is kind of we wanted to talk about things in our life that have gone well and things that have not gone well and what's the through line that we could share personal stories about and also explore like what other people are saying about that and what we've realized when things have gone well it's when like we're really dialed in and focused and committed to one thing. And when they haven't been, it's when we're kind of like, you know,

fragmented mind and not fully present. And so we talk about what we've learned, talk about our personal stories in it, and then also share some things that we've learned from mentors and elsewhere about, hey, if you design your room like this, it'll actually help. Think similar to atomic habits type vibes.

So it's some self-help, mostly roasting Andrew. story so just the way we like it um Mandy wants us to come to Illinois and do a book signing but that would be fun we will be doing a full book tour so really excited about that oh here's a question from lindsay my husband and I are thinking of having a third baby what's your best advice of from going from two to three I love the connection with her two kids and she's worried about my attention being divided. What are your thoughts, babe? Oh, is your name?

Mandy. Lindsay. Lindsay, Lindsay. Hear me out, okay? This is just straight, honest truth. This is my perspective. I say 1,000% go for baby three. Because it is the coolest dynamic

to see all three of our kids together. it feels very different than two. I do think it is the biggest difference. When you have one kid, I felt like I could control almost everything. When I had two kids, I felt like I could kind of take that control and just like spread it all a little bit, so I still felt organized. Three, I felt like I lost all control. It felt like you unlocked a different level of parenting and chaos that you'll never quite

have it under control so I want to say that and I also feel like I will never have enough time with my kids individually but it's also the most beautiful counterintuitive thought because it's like I adore all three so much that I constantly want to be spending more time with each does that make sense so yeah that that feeling will never go away that I don't feel like I have enough time. It's just I think how we feel as parents. But the third is such a gift. Let me do my overthinking thing real quick. What the, do you feel like you've having that lost feeling of control has ended up being overwhelming or good in the long run? I think it just one, it's inevitable. Like when you have three kids, you do have to give up a sense of control because you can't control

three kids but I also think it's made me a very different parent than I was with one or two and I think it's better I had to learn how to just kind of say it's going to be okay it literally feels like a psychological shift

it is but it's fun I feel like with just having one kid or having two I feel like we could still prioritize and not know it work and other things more

and still say we are prioritizing family now there's no option like family is first because it has to be because there's so many of us yeah I just love it I highly recommend three kids I do feel like it going from two to three forced us to realize that we can't be perfect parents you know and there will be sacrifices made

which then encouraged us to think about what sacrifices do we want to make we want to make sacrifices from our kids in favor of work or do we want to make sacrifices from work in favor of our kids which ended up being a really positive thing and it was like our plate was so full

and I feel like every kid we had we would go into it trying to still accomplish the same things and do the same amount of projects and run at the same RPM's after the kid as we were before and that totally just shattered after the third kid. I was like, no, we have to change some things.

And we got to do less so that we could do more with our kids. Yeah. Let's see. Black Galaxy asked, what advice would you give to a mom with 2002? She's two months postpartum with a 19-month-old first child. I'm struggling because taking care of herself and the kids and she's starting to dwindle and it's affecting the family. Is this a husband?

been asking or a partner? I think it's a it sounds like the mom. I'd say it's normal to feel this way. That's like a phase we go through. I'm not saying just like tough it out until like it's better. But like it's very normal. Having 2002 is very hard. But I would say just rally the truth. groups for her, send a text out to your five closest friends or neighbors and literally say, like this is where I think as moms, we literally have to step down off of our pedestal where we feel like we have to be able to do it all. And you have to humble yourself and you have to say, this is a lot for me. I need help.

And so ask your neighbors or ask your friends and say, is there any chance we could do a meal train for the next couple weeks or anything you guys can do to help pick up groceries or but truly like rallying the troops for help because if you if she is starting to dwindle that means she needs more people coming in yeah it's almost like those first few months after having a kid it's like it's like you're going down in a cave like and you're mining for all the wonderful things

that come with being a parent. But it's, you're like deep in the cave, you know? And it's, you will miss it at some point in the future. But in the moment, you're like, just get me up for air. Yeah. So I think one thing that we learned was really trying to fight and be intentional and structured around, and this is speaking from a father's perspective,

if not mothers, but like, how can we try to get you out of that cave at least somewhat consistently and predictably so that you could say, okay, hey, I know that I'll get Thursday nights by myself and I can just like and have a second to breathe, you know? And I think we also learned that having diligence when you do have like the free time and not creating more overwhelm or creating more distract. and more franticness was really helpful because it kind of allowed us to psychologically reset. But it's a lot.

Know that it is a phase and you're going to do great. So we're rooting for you. And sorry that you feel a little worn down. I know. All right, we got about 15 more minutes. You want to keep ripping through some questions? Yeah. Let's finish out our list.

Where can we, someone asked, where can we send M asked, fan mail wedding invites baby shower invites uh hi at familymaid.com is the email send anything there we love getting all these invites we send out a lot of baby shower gifts and a lot of wedding gifts we should do a look back on what gifts we did yes it was so fun we aren't able to attend all the weddings but we'll try to help with the registry and it's so fun to get like thank you letters Oh, we've done all those. How many?

No way. We have done 40 gifts this year. 40 wedding gifts. That is so much fun. Sorry, wedding and baby. Keep them coming though. So Hyatt Family Made. That'll be a good email address.

And we usually don't share our physical address. So there you go. Carly has asked, did I work out and stay active during pregnancy? And if so, how did I navigate that? I worked out the most with my first pregnancy, less with my second, and almost none with my third. And how did I navigate it?

Just give yourself grace. I mean, I had the most amount of excess time and energy when I was pregnant with my first baby, so I was able to do more. I felt more fatigued with my second. I was severely anemic with my third. There were so many things. and I would just say be very aware of your body.

I, being so tired, prioritized sleep over everything. So I tried to sleep as much as I could and I didn't sacrifice sleep to like go work out. But we would always try to get out and go for walks and get fresh air. And then I just kind of found and got a huge motivation bug to work out. again after my third kid and now I'm back in the gym a lot but yeah I don't think I really worked out at all pregnant with bear yeah um let's see next question is do we want more kids wow who asked that mitzi mitzi you know what life is wonderful And if we end up not having more kids, I'm okay with it.

But I freaking love a little baby. I love it. It's so fun. It's a lot. I would totally have more. But it's, we'll see how it pans out. I know. I would say, no.

I love the idea of more kids, but my body cannot handle having another kid. I've had three C-sections. I have just said this over and over where, like, I love the idea, but if I want to be the mom that's like running, jumping, chasing my children and has the bandwidth and energy for that, after feeling what my body felt like after a third C-section and third pregnancy, it's, it just wouldn't be good after a fourth. Life is good. I feel complete. Danielle asks, how do you continuously stand firm in your faith in this crazy world? I actually, I have been mapping this episode out.

I'm so excited. I don't know if it'll be up by the end of the year or not, but I've literally for years before this interview that I'm about to mention and then for the last couple months, like super intensely, I've been trying to shape an episode out about this. But we sat down with Caitlin Bristow and a lot of people love the second half of our interview with her on her podcast called Off Devine where we talk about, I don't know, God and your question, Danielle, about how do we stand firm in our first?

faith I don't even know like that I don't know if I would phrase it like that you know because I would say we always have faith and then it's like hey sometimes it feels more available than other times but like it's always there you know so anyway we try to go to church every Sunday to kind of reposition us back on the right path every Sunday as the world tries to Siri you away from it. Yeah. But stay tuned for a whole podcast we do on this. I'm excited.

From Andrea M. What are our Christmas traditions? And Marissa. Mm-hmm. We have a lot. We go to Indiana every Christmas. We do the matching PJs. We do the Chris Kindle market.

We ride a Christmas train. We make cookies for Santa. We do elf on a shelf. We have three elves, guys. one for each kid Did you say the train? Yeah Yeah we do this little toy train

It takes you through the North Pole It's epic Our own train Our own little toy train Around the tree Sorry We do have a train around the tree Yes

Which is near and dear to my heart Because growing up My dad actually had this whole Like it's probably 10 feet wide And five feet deep Like a whole display For a model train But then we also

ride a train. Yes. We always wear matching PJs. We always open... I said all these. Re-listen. Oh, I'm just reiterating.

Yeah. Is that okay? Keep going. You got it. Growing up, we used to open one present on Christmas Eve. Yeah. And then the rest on Christmas morning. We don't do that now. And we used to open one present at a time

and then it's way too many people. Mass chaos. We'll always pile up on my parents' bed, which has... evolved as we've all gotten married. Understandably so. Yeah.

You were not crazy about that. I wasn't the first woman to marry into the family. Who thought that was crazy, Andrew? No, I'm not saying. And then we'll open the presents and we'll cook breakfast and it's a blast. And then we'll have extended family Christmas and meal that afternoon and noon. Always ham. Love a good Christmas ham.

Christmas Eve service with the candles, classic. Oh, Christmas play. We do a family Christmas play. With the kids, it's adorable. We're you doing the Christmas story. We always watch the movie The Grinch, and then it's a wonderful life. And Red One now, because... By the way, let me share this with you right now.

Your thank you, you're... What do you say? You're welcome in advance. There we go. There is on YouTube. So you're on YouTube right now watching this. A little short film that's 13 minutes long Called Forever Green

I'm gonna type it It's 13 minutes long It'll make you ball I heard about it Because my favorite artist Josh Geryl's did the soundtrack It's all the vibes, dude And it's so good

So check that out We'll also try to add that to the show notes But I feel like that's a good Christmas tradition too The kids have already seen it seven times And they love it They always talk about the bear Okay last question

Oh we have one more Last question what are some goals for 2026 we haven't done our goal setting so I don't know if we're going to have many answers readily available but I want to go to Milan for the Olympics in February boom putting it out there what you ask for goals dude I'm just sitting it off the cup that's soon she loves it she loves it I love it I love it I love it Love it I want to go back to Tijuana

I got another one while you're thinking I want this to be a New York Times bestseller That's what I want to be I love pre-sale Available soon you guys I don't know I got to think about it I got another one while you're thinking about it

I'm gonna keep riffing until you got one Until I get one I want to Only eat eggs from our little homestead next year i'm only eating eggs next year sorry for breakfast anytime i have eggs i want them to be okay you're not that's not like your soul diet no okay okay okay i'll no i'm excited do it do it do it no no i i just i want to get moved into this house very excited for that which is a 2025 goal but

whatever I don't have anything super tangible at the moment because I feel so incredibly content so I need to think I'd wait you gotta come up with one I got an element I want to get my motorcycle class license endorsement on there I want to finish

my pilot's license there we go the end of 26 so very slow Johnny'd be a great pilot you aren't going to want to fly with me because we operate very different Do you? Really? Hey, thank you for listening. If you're having it hit the like button

and if you're not subscribed, please subscribe. We have some show notes that you can check out, including that Forever Green short documentary. What else are we going to put in there? Whenever I create the kind of little booklet for special forces experiences, maybe we'll share that as well. Sean loved that idea. And then, yeah, what a time. a fall what a year we will be publishing more interviews and more solo episodes uh for the rest this year but this will probably be our last live stream so thank you all for for listening happy wednesday and that's how we got i'm andrew i'm sean till next time