Sex, Love, and What Else Matters - Luke is Back! Where the Heck Has He Been?!

Episode Date: April 27, 2025

Episode 155. After a mysterious hiatus, Luke makes his return to the pod and finally spills the tea on why he took a step back. Buckle up—he's ready to talk, and nothing’s off-limits. Next, Kristen and Luke dive into a hilarious and heartfelt Q&A, answering your burning fan questions: What part of parenthood are they most excited for? Would they ever trust any of the VPR guys to babysit? Why was Luke’s birthday party at Jax’s?! How many kids do they want? And so much more! Sponsors: Spring back into your health and fitness: go to lumen.me/DOUTE to get 15% off your Lumen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Conditions apply to all benefits. Visit pcfinancial.ca for details. Hi, I'm Vanessa from the podcast, Real Moms at Bravo. What happened with Lindsay and Carl? Or what's going on with the cast of Southern Charm? Find out on Real Moms at Bravo three times a week. Listen to us wherever you podcast. Hey, babes. Welcome back to another episode of Balancing Act.

Guess who I got with me. Hey, honey. I got my PIC. I'm back. You're back. And I am sick, so I don't want to hear it in the reviews about how I sound like stuffy because shit happens. And as a pregnant person, I can't take meds. What I would give, I would chop my left boob off for a Sudafed right now.

Well, I'm glad you aren't doing that personally. Both boobs are necessary right now. Yeah, I woke up so early and then I took a little bit of NyQuil, which I'm allowed to do, and then I woke up at noon. So that was great. Not great. We have to go to Costco today. Have we ever gone to Costco together? No, there's no way we have. Because sometimes I have panic go to Costco today. Have we ever gone to Costco together? No, there's no way we have.

Because sometimes I have panic attacks in Costco, but I don't feel like I will today. I could see that, but I'll lead. Yeah, the only person I could ever really go to Costco with and enjoy myself was Katie Maloney. Like she's a really fun Costco partner and she really, really enjoys the activity and the art and like the hobby of going to Costco.

She's so gleeful at Costco. So it's like you can't help but also be in a good mood. But anyone else I've ever gone with, mostly people I've dated, even nice people I've dated, I just like panic. There's too many people, there's too many choices, there's too many aisles. The carts are huge. The carts are huge.

The aisles are just big. They go like floor to like halfway to ceiling. And it's not like there's like cute displays for everything. It's just like boxes of shit. That's the whole point. It's like industrial. You get the big things so you don't have to order six rolls of toilet paper at a time from Amazon.

Oh, you know what I do want to get today? A case of Mexican Coke. Okay. They do have it at Costco. So I don't have to get today is a case of Mexican Coke. Okay. They do have it at Costco, so I don't have to get the four packs. It's going on the list. Thank you so much. Today we're just going to talk about our Costco list.

No, we're really going because I have to get a bunch of alcohol for everyone other than me to drink at the baby shower tomorrow. Yep. Lots. I don't have the exacts on here, but we need wine, beer, and liquor. Yeah, we need all the stuff. So I feel like this weekend, next week are going to be super, super busy for us. And then I think then it's like chill, right? I mean, every time we say that, this is part of being adults is like,

after this week, everything calms down and it never does. That's fair. Let's see, we just finished filming some like after show stuff, which is nice. And I just did Watch What Happens Live, which was so much fun. It was probably like maybe my favorite time, second favorite time doing Watch What Happens Live. I don't know. I really liked one year many, many moons ago, there were eight of us on Watch What Happens Live. I don't know. I really liked one year many, many moons ago,

there were eight of us on Watch What Happens Live. How close was that? Wow, that's like a reunion. It was like me, Katie, Stassi, Sheena, Lala, Brittany, maybe six of us. How would you even have time for everyone to get questions? I don't know, it was really fun, and I don't remember why it ended up being so many of us,

but it did and it was a lot of fun. But doing it pregnant was so fun with Nia and Andy was so cute. Like he's just adorable about pregnant people and he's adorable about babies because he has two kids himself. And he showed me a photo of his son and daughter, Ben and Lucy, and they're six and three now.

And I literally remember being on Watch What Happens Live and bringing him a tiny little onesie that I made from James May to give for his son when he was born. So that's just wild. But Nia and I had so much fun. It's been really a blast to do press and things like pregnant with her. Yeah. And so everyone knows my first

I'm popping the Watch What Happens Live cherry. I will be there Tuesday for episode three. Oh my God, are you excited? I am, I've never been on live TV. So there's, of course, there's some, maybe some butterflies there, but I'm not sweating it. It should be easy. I'll be there with Brittany.

I love Brittany, should be a lot of fun. Yeah, it's gonna be so cute. I wonder who your bartender is. What's gonna be your drink? Oh, geez. I haven't thought about that. No? Like what you're gonna sip on stage? I mean, you're only there for 30 minutes. Right. I mean, I typically just do whiskey rocks.

Andy's a whiskey guy, too. Anyway, yeah, so yay. Okay, well, today we are doing a little Ask Me Anything, and, man, did you guys have some questions. And the first thing I want to address, I guess it's the little elephant over the microphone, which would be, Luke, where the F have you been? You're calling me an elephant now? I have not gained weight.

Anyway. No, you have not gained sympathy weight. Kidding, kidding, kidding. So I think Kristin kind of touched on it when I took a little step back. I did, and I feel like no one has listened to me. I think they have addressed it twice in a small way on the podcast, and yet people are still asking the question.

So they want to hear from you. So yes, please take the floor. Okay, it's not something like some big huge deal. I didn't just quit this on Kristin. There was a point in our relationship while Kristen's pregnant that I felt like there was more fighting than anything between us and the podcasts kept popping up in my mind

that we were trying to record Tuesday. Then something pregnancy wise comes up and then trying to record Wednesday, it doesn't work. And I've had a tea time booked on Thursday for a week. And then when I'm out golfing, Kristen's like, oh my, she's freaking out about doing this. And- Getting it done on time. Yeah, and then things turn into a fight.

I'm like, I gotta have my peace when I do my one thing a week and we agreed I'd take a step back for a while. And initially thought it was a great thing. Now I feel like I'm a little bit needed. Oh, why? I'm not handling it on my own? No. Because the people want you. The people have spoken.

The people have spoken. They want to hear from me. They're like, we're tired of listening to Kristin talk about pregnancy. Guess what? My podcast, that is what's going on. Even if Luke were on it, we'd be talking about pregnancy. Right. And I throw in like a tractor joke or something like that once in a while.

You guys know me. So they're really missing your tractor jokes apparently. Well, you guys can have them. Just kidding, I love tractor jokes. Okay, so that's what happened. I think what I said was like, it became like a point of like arguing and it wasn't because we were doing the podcast together,

it was more like me being like, well, when can you do it, when can you do it? And he's like, well, I am ready to do it. And then timing, it was like, when he was ready, then I was like, no, I'm not. And it was just a lot of pregnancy hormones and me being very indecisive. And just honestly having a hard time juggling

a lot of things at once. And I really enjoy doing this show. And I think for a minute, having nothing to do with the podcast or like, you know, just having to do with my brain, I wasn't enjoying it for a second. Because I was just really overwhelmed with life and not handling work. And really there was no play with sleep and my emotions and whatnot.

So pregnant people, you understand. And my frustration was just with scheduling. I love doing this with you, babe. This is fun. When we're on the mic, it's always good. It is like a time to come back together. But when we're pushing each other away in the days leading up to it,

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and go to lumen.me slash Dodie and get 15% off your Lumen. That is L-U-M-E-N dot me slash Dodie for 15% off your purchase. Thank you Lumen for sponsoring this episode. What part of parenthood are we most excited for? You go first. I mean, I've kind of said this before.

Well, I guess parenthood. I'm excited to like see what her little personality is gonna be like. I'm really excited to see what eye color she has. Eye color, I know. You talk about it all the time. Sorry, eye color she has. I'm very stuffy.

I'm just so curious, cause it could be anything. But yeah, I'm excited about her little personality. And then I'm excited to, I mean, at least in my mind, for us to travel when she's a baby and do things together with this little addition. And I think it's something that I want us to really focus on is getting as comfortable as we can and having our way of things when we travel, whether it's a road

trip or a plane or whatever. But we just get into a groove of things. And I know it's not very easy. It's probably going to be very difficult at times and at first. But I think we're going to find a way to include her in the way that we already live and then obviously make some changes ourselves. But that's what I've heard from a lot of parents is like, add the baby into your way of life, not just stop your way of life and start a new way of life, you know? Yeah, exactly. And I'm looking short-term,

I am super excited about strapping our little girl on my chest and us going to do us things, you know? Like not trying to not let it slow us down, we'll have a diaper bag, I'll have her right here, we'll be prepared. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Yeah, I'm excited to leave the house again eventually. Like, after a few months, you know, maybe like when she's three months old or something like that and like actually start or two, three, two, three months old and like leaving the house and like, even if it's just going on more walks, I was doing it a lot more in early pregnancy,

but like my movement has slowed down a lot. In the days that I push myself, I feel it. Like New York, I really, really felt that in my body. Yeah, I think, I'm hoping it's faster than that because we have some plans this summer. Yeah, we do. Yep. Okay, we do. Yep. Okay, babe.

Would you let any of the Vanderpump Rules boys babysit? Oh, probably not. I think the only one... Shorts is the only one that would be up for consideration. He doesn't have any kids though, and I don't know what diaper experience he has. Maybe when she's a couple years old, he could babysit. Yeah. Uncle Tom would be fun with a toddler.

Yeah, I agree. But otherwise, absolutely not. All right, have we done a maternity shoot yet? No, and oops, need to schedule that. Yeah, that needs to happen ASAP. Well, here goes next week. That's supposed to be more chill. I know, our chosen photographer actually did text me,

I need to write him back, saying like, hey, how's Monday for you guys, I know, our chosen photographer actually did text me, I need to write him back saying like, hey, how's Monday for you guys, but now you're gonna be out of town. So we're gonna have to just shove that in somewhere. We'll figure it out. All right, so why was my birthday party at Jax's? Luke, why was your birthday party at Jax's? So?

It wasn't. At first. So I had an NFL draft party. I'm a big NFL guy. I love the draft, at least the first round. I had 10, 12 friends over. We drank beer, watched football, eight wings, and then after went to Jack's bar. So Jack's has been going out of his way.

He's been very nice to me. He gave me a freezer. He has essentially taken his truck with me to Home Depot to get some landscaping stuff. He's bribing you for friendship. I'm not gonna call it bribing. I did. Maybe, I don't know.

I still, I don't feel like we've gotten much closer through this whole thing. Like I still don't feel like I know him a lot better as a person. I don't think he knows himself. Okay, that may be the case. However, he asked me if I wanted to use his bar and made a pretty

gracious offer and it feels like it would have been a real dick move to be like, nope, I don't want to do that. You know, to be fair, what did you do when you were asked? The first thing you did was make a little phone call, which I thought was so sweet of you. Yes, when I was asked, I called Brittany because I have gotten closer with Brittany and I'm not trying to come in between them. I know things are tough.

And Brittany said, you know, she's not going to be mad at me. She understands. She just isn't going to go. It's the same here. Yeah. And I said I would not go either. Yes. So there it is.

So we had a fun party here and Brittany and Zach and Jasmine also came. We all just hung out in the living room while all the guys, all Luke and all of his boys all ended up outside. Thank God we put a TV outside. I was so concerned with seating in the house. And then I'm like, no one even really stepped foot in the house except to like eat off of the table. Right.

And people also barely sat down on the feet the whole time. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know. I like that you have a positive mentality about it and saying like, he made like a gracious offer and he was being kind to you and all of that because I just think I'm like a little nose in the air

about him right now. Like I'm about Jax, I'm just like a little irritated and I don't know if that's gonna change until I get to like speak my piece and talk it out at the reunion with him. Because I felt like he was using you a little bit to like get people to come to the bar. It's like how it felt to me and I know you don't necessarily feel that way. So we'll see.

Well, I mean, it's kind of like, I don't know, I look at it differently, like a favor for a favor. Sure. If people came in to see me at the bar, he's also done me favors. So I don't have an issue with it. And I think- Boys are so simple. I know, right?

And the other thing that I hope I can maintain this through this whole reality TV journey, but I don't want optics to make my decision for me unless someone does something, I can't even say it like this, truly horrible. I mean, Jax has obviously done some bad things, but I felt like it was more open the fact that Brittany let Jax come to Cruz's birthday party.

Like things were on better terms. So I'm not trying to make his life harder. It's pretty hard as it is. Yeah. Okay, fair enough. You're really nice. All right, babe, this is for you. Why did you take Schwartz's side after the divorce,

even though they said there are no sides? Yeah, I thought this question was so interesting because I'm like, what? So that's why I said I would answer, like I was like, okay, I'll answer this because what the hell are you talking about? Right when Tom and Katie decided to file for divorce and moved out and everything,

I moved into the building that Katie was living in. So Katie, I saw Katie a whole lot more than I saw Tom. And yeah, I actually hung out with Katie a lot more right after they got divorced. So I don't know where that came from. I am closer to Tom now, but having nothing to do with their relationship or their divorce or anything like that.

It's just Katie, Katie's in a relationship. She's hanging out with people that I don't really know that well, which just like different walks of life. But I still have the same amount of love for her that I always have. Okay. What's your favorite movie? What's your favorite movie? You know, it obviously changes over time. That's why I don't want to do this game with the baby shower,

where it's like, how well do you know the mommy? Because I don't know what my favorite movie is. I have a ton. I mean, you need to pick like a decade for me. Almost famous. at the baby shower where it's like, how well do you know the mommy? Because I don't know what my favorite movie is. I have a ton. Need to pick like a decade for me. Almost famous. I watched Grandma's Boy on repeat in college. Are you really going to say Grandma's Boy? I mean, it was so dumb funny.

I loved it. It would just be on repeat. I also love Gladiator, the original. I think that's just an all around excellent movie. And recently the movie Hitman on Netflix. Gladiator, the original. I think that's just an all-around excellent movie. And recently, the movie Hitman on Netflix. Is that a funny one? It's funny, yeah.

Who's in it? Oh, I can't remember his name. Is it Gerard Butler? No. Wait, is it Glenn Powell? I don't... Okay, look it up. I don't know, I'm gonna say almost famous.

Yes, Glenn Powell. Glenn Powell, okay, I know what movie it is. Oh, it's really funny. He plays like a... It's like he's a different... When he goes and meets people at the diner to like discuss. Okay, yes, yes, yes. That's a good movie. I like it. Definitely not favorites, though. I don't know, it's like... I love Disney movies.

I love rom-coms. Moana 2 was really good. Yeah, it was. Almost famous. I'm thinking of movies I can watch on repeat, but I own so many. It depends on my mood that day. If I'm like, oh, I'm gonna watch an animal movie, like a dog movie, then I'm gonna watch six dog movies,

like when I'm sick. If I'm gonna watch a rom-com, I'm gonna watch every Reese Witherspoon movie ever made. Or every Kevin Hart movie that day, you know? So it's impossible. But I would say if I had to pick one, Gun to Head, almost famous. All right.

Are you nervous to give birth? Absolutely. And I hate when people ask this question. That's why I decided to address it. Yes, of course. I don't want my Vigene to be a hole to tear or be cut. And my sister told me this awful story last time I was home from my other baby shower that when she gave birth

to my niece like 29 years ago, I guess this still happens, but like as if that were like back in the day. I'm like back in the day, but they gave her a mirror so she could see like the baby, my niece like coming out of her and she was like, don't do it. Do not do it because she saw the head like, they're like, she's crowding. You know, the head starts coming out

and then the head went back in. And she was like, oh no, oh no, that head, it went back in. And she's just full panicking because she's like, get it out of me. And it's like a really big mind fuck. And I was like, I don't want to see that. Yeah, I can't imagine anybody is not nervous giving birth for the first time.

Yeah, it's just so unexpected. It's daunting. So for me, it's mostly the whole tearing thing, the aftermath that I'm afraid of. But also just, I don't know what to expect. I can't tell you how many times I've Googled, what does a contraction actually feel like? So when it happens, I know.

And it's not helpful. Google's not helpful. No, it's probably something that's difficult to describe. All right, how many kids do we want, babe? Ideally, if we have our way, two. Two, agreed. What is the weirdest food craving you've had? I don't know.

What do you think it is? I don't think it's food. You want to crunch ice 24 seven. I think that is it. And do you think it is? I don't think it's food. You want to crunch ice 24-7. I think that is it. And then you have totally gone from, I don't like cake, I don't like sweets. You know, only sugar you want is Mexican Coke. To every cupcake looks good. Every cookie you got to try. I'm so over it.

Ice cream, everything, all the sweets. I know I'm over it. I said last night, I was like, because your birthday we have like donuts and cupcakes and we have all these sweets. And I'm like, fuck, I really want that. I cannot wait until I don't feel this way anymore. But I still like healthy stuff too. I think it's like stages of my pregnancy.

Like in the beginning, I was so hyper focused on like eat all the protein, eat the best, eat the cleanest. And because I felt okay enough, I could really do that. And now I'm just like, whatever I want is what I'm gonna have. Yep, pretty much. I just need to have food. All right, honey, what are the best and worst things

about being with a Taurus or being with me? You've dated Taurus before, right? Absolutely not. Oh, okay. No, my brother's a Taurus. That's the closest I've ever been to a male tourist. And your brother and I don't have a ton in common. Personality-wise, you do.

You think so? Absolutely. Okay, I mean, I love Ryan. I mean, okay, let's take like my brother, because my brother's super funny and he can be kind of like charming-y, salesman-y, kind of whatever, but if you take that away, like you guys are both very grounded,

like very earth sign, very grounded, very like you're both go-getters, very like committed to, you're not flighty, like you're very committed to like when you start something, you're going to finish it, very earth grounded, you, the worst thing is the stubborn, like it rings true, you're so stubborn. And I know I am too, but like, you're just like so bullheaded. And that's the only hard part. But it's not that hard. Yeah. I mean, you got to know it's eased up. Even when I know I'm right, I don't have to prove to you that I'm right. Because I know.

Anyway. All right. But Luke's an angel. I'm an angel. Favorite show that we've binged together. Oh, Severance. That wouldn't be number one for me. I love Severance. It was good, it just, I don't know.

What do you think it is? Dexter, like when we rewatched Dexter. Obviously, I mean, I've seen it a few times though. Same. The Blacklist, I really got into that for like five seasons when we watched that together. Yeah, I had already seen that, but yeah, that was good. But then like we did have like a moment when it was like Deal or No Deal Island and Traders were on at the same time.

But we weren't binging. Oh yeah, you're right, because we were just watching it week to week. We do way more movies. I feel like we've seen every movie that's on streaming right now. Yeah. I feel like Severance was just a really good binge and I don't know what our next one is going to be. I have a list that people have given me to do, but I'm on the fence about some of them. Okay.

I don't know. If you have any suggestions, let us know. Yeah, let us know. When is the due date? June 17th. For a while, I was trying not to say it. I don't really know why. I guess, just because I didn't know if we were going to go like early or what was going to happen.

But then you said it in an interview or something. So then I was like, okay. No, I think, no, you said it after you heard Nia say hers and you, because you've been saying you were a weak Nia. Yeah, that's how it went down. Anyway, have we been fishing together yet? Yes, I did not wait very long to put a fishing pole in Kristen's hand. Yeah, that's how it went down. Anyway, have we been fishing together yet? Yes, I did not wait very long to put a fishing pole

in Kristin's hand. I caught seaweed. She caught seaweed and a largemouth bass in Michigan. I felt really bad about it. My friends have a private lake and it's like you stick the fishing pole or whatever, the line in the water, and a fish comes out. Like there's so many fish in this private lake,

so it was like really easy to do. It was, yeah, it was pretty easy. It was a, if anyone out there actually fishes, the reel was a bait caster, so I didn't let her cast it because they would have just all gotten jacked up. So I casted it, handed it to her. Does that mean throw it, like throw the line? Yeah.

Yeah, I don't, I won't do that. I have this like thought in my head that if I do that, I'm gonna hit something behind me, like a friend's lip. And it's gonna like hook onto their lip, like in a weird cartoon or something. And then, yeah. I mean, it does happen, but in this case, I was just trying to save their fishing pole.

Yeah, I break shit. All right, so this is a question for me. Have I watched Vanderpump Rules and what do I think of Kristen's storylines? I've seen season one and like three episodes of season two. And that's it for anything Kristen was in. What do you think about any storylines I had? I think you are a different person than you were, what, 15 years ago or whatever that was.

People, did you hear that? That's how long it's been. But I also think that if we had met back then, this would not be a thing. Oh, for sure. It's all about timing. Yeah, 100%. Okay, how did you start James May? So James May, for once and for all, guys,

come on, write this down. It is named after my nephew and my niece. It's their middle names. I liked that it was kind of, it was just very simple, you know, like my nephew's middle name, my niece's middle name, something that really meant something to me. And I started it because I'm such a t-shirt wearer. And on Vanderpump Rules, we are not allowed to wear certain, certain, we're not allowed to wear certain licensed things like band t-shirts, or sports t-shirts, or things that we don't own.

So I was like, okay, well, I'm sick of going shopping for cool t-shirts and not seeing something that I like that's kind of band-mergy, so I'm just going to start making things. And it took a long time to get good at it. But now I feel like we're really thriving. So, yeah. Hell yeah. All right, honey, I know you've been asked this before. What's the first cocktail after you give birth? I change my mind all the time.

Yesterday, when I was with someone in production, I was talking about it and I'm like, I really want like a bourbon, like a really nice bourbon, just like a sip of it, you know? And we were talking about bourbon for a while, but I don't know. Then yesterday or the other day you and I were talking because we have this really nice bottle of Dom

That we've been saving and so I know it's not a cocktail but nice champagne sounds good But probably if it's a proper cocktail a really good margarita. Okay, that's where I thought you were going I'm thinking we cheers really good margaritas. Okay after we pop the champagne. Okay, so we'll have to like Have somebody like when I was on Jackie Schimmel on the bitch Bible Margarita after we pop the champagne. Okay, so we'll have to like have somebody, like when I was on Jackie Schimmel on the Bitch Bible, she said she had her husband's best friend bring in like a little bar kit and he made her like bruised dirty martini.

But we were talking about that and she was like, I wouldn't go dirty martini for your first one. That doesn't sound good at all. She also had like a really big, like she was like, what is it had like a really big, like, she was like, what is it, like a 40 or 60 ounce, but like a beer. And she's like, I just wanted one drink

of like a really cold beer. And I'm like, that does sound good. I kind of want like a little sip of a few things, you know? Well, I can bring a cooler. Okay. So growing up, money wasn't exactly something I was taught, and I wish someone had shown me how to save and manage it better. I mean, I didn't learn it until way later.

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and invested over $22 billion with Acorns, head to acorns.com slash doty or download the Acorns app to get started. Pay on time, compensation provides incentives. Positive from Acorns, zero on compensation provided. Investing involves risk, Acorns advisor, LLC. And SEC registered investment advisor. You can point to the Acorns dot com slash doty. How did you get the green dress back?

So the green dress, the evolution of the green dress, I purchased it from Lulu's back in the day, which is a website if you don't know. I didn't realize how tiny it was until I was packing it to give to Andy. But then, yeah, I had it for a while. Also guys, I did not realize I used to wear it in my confessionals on Banner Pump Rules.

So I guess maybe that's why also it became so iconic and it probably looked like I didn't own any other dresses because I wore it so often. But I had given it to Stassi's sister, Georgie, many, many, many, many moons ago. Stassi and I were cleaning out our closets and Georgie just so happened to have held onto it when I asked her for it like a year ago.

So Zach and I could do some TikToks. And then I was gonna give it back to her and she was like, I'm good. And so then last time I saw Andy Cohen, he was like, oh, we really need that dress in the clubhouse. So I'm like, you know what? I'm pregnant, turning over a new leaf again,

new Kristen, mommy Kristen. Let's retire the dress once and for all. In its rightful place. It absolutely is. Okay, babe, would either of us do Traders or Dancing with the Stars? I want you to answer first. I would absolutely do Traders. Would you do Dancing with the Stars?

You know, if I was asked, I don't think it's something you apply for. If I was asked, I wouldn't expect to do well. My hips are like too tight. I mean, I feel like my athleticism, I could do okay, but I'm not a running back or, you know, some of these athletes that do really well on there. I would do it. I wouldn't expect to get far, but I would do it. Okay.

Love that. I would definitely do traitors. If you would have asked me a year ago if I would do Dancing with the Stars, the answer would be yes. Asking me today, no. Fair. Because you're definitely not doing it while you're pregnant. I just don't feel like myself right now, yeah.

Have we considered adoption? We haven't talked about it a lot because, I mean, like, me personally, I've always considered that as an option if nothing else was working in our favor fertility-wise. It's not not on the table, I'll say that. It's definitely not something personally like I'm focusing on because we were, you know, fortunate enough to have this little rainbow baby and I would like to think that there's another baby in the cards for us that can be, that can just be like ours genetically.

But it's definitely like not off, it's not not on the table. Yeah. I mean, it is an option. We want to very bad. And I think if it doesn't play out for us, but my gut isn't wrong very often and it's going to. I think so too. In the next two years. Yeah.

And I have so I have actually adopted like half brother and sister, I guess, like my dad and my stepmom have two kids that are like adults now, young adults, but they were adopted from Russia. And I know that it is a very tedious, very long, very difficult process. But I do feel that every child deserves a home. So yeah, we'll see. All right. Are you friends with anyone from other Bravo shows? Oh, yeah. From other, so I used to be, I think more when I was like in the Vanderpump rules mix

and I was a little bit younger, like we used to really hang out with people a lot, but I still have a friendship with some of the guys from Southern Charm. I really want to be friends with Molly from Southern Charm because I think she's like so much fun. And then yeah, some of the Summer House peeps like Lindsay, Kyle, Amanda.

I don't know everybody from summer house, but like, I just think we would all vibe really well. And then a couple of the younger housewives. All right, do you ever see Ariana? Because it doesn't seem like it. I thought this was so funny. Not very often. We do not see her often.

She's a busy bee. She's in New York a whole lot. Just, again, this goes back to, like, I think just different walks of life. Like, we're pregnant right now, definitely gonna plan a wedding at some point, dealing with just baby brain and, like, the house, and we're filming and we have our own stuff on the side.

So it's just really two different, like, walks of life. But I did run into her at an NBC, Emmy luncheon, and she will be at the baby shower. Awesome, so we'll see her tomorrow. We will. Would you write another book? I totally would write another book. I have something that was being worked on before we did,

He's Making You Crazy. It didn't feel like the right time for it, but Michelle, my co-author and I, we still have all of that. So that could be the next thing. But to be honest, what I would love to do is still make our book into television or movie.

That'd be awesome. One day. And I am going to write a children's book. Yes. Or two or three or who knows. Yeah. Okay, how do your clothes fit if they aren't for pregnant women? I thought this was super funny too.

Because I did say like, I don't do a lot of maternity clothes when I was asked. And the reason is because I'm only gonna wear them when pregnant and maternity clothes can be expensive and for something I'm only gonna wear for a short period of time. So I found it a lot easier to just size up in just dresses I would normally wear

and wear really like shit that's really stretchy. And I wear leggings basically every single day. You do, every day. I wash them all. Luke's the laundry boy. Well, I'll post a picture at some point of what it looks like when Kristen does laundry and what it looks like when I do laundry.

I don't like wrinkles. I just throw shit on top of the washer and then go, oh crap, I forgot, I'm so sorry. He's like, that's okay, I'll fold it. If I'm folding it anyway, I like to fold it warm. So I do the laundry. You're so good at it though. Like you would think that you worked in retail,

you fold so well. Okay, okay. And you're just buttering me up because there's a full laundry basket right now. Okay, are you friends with any of the newbies from Vanderpump Rules Season Eight? No, I don't even know. So that is Dana, Max. Okay, then yes.

Brett and Danica, I think we're the four. But yes, so Max, I haven't seen Max in a hot minute, but I always consider Max a friend. And yeah, and Dana will also be at my baby shower tomorrow. Our baby shower. Love, Dana. Yeah, I like Dana too. Met her a couple times. All right, did you try letrozole or any other fertility meds currently trying to conceive our rainbow baby?

I did not try letrozole. I'm not even really familiar with it, but I wanted to talk about this because thank you for the question, sending you all the question, sending you all the baby dust and love in the whole wide world. But we did do IUI, so we tried right after our loss because I'm told like you're really fertile and it's really possible.

It did not take, then we tried for a while and we were kind of like trying and not trying super actively. Like we tried for a while. We were kind of like trying and not trying super actively. Like we were never not trying, but we weren't like focusing on ovulation every single month, but a lot of the months we were. And because nothing was really working, that's when we went the fertility route, which you will see that journey on the valley. But we did do IUI, that was a lot of hormone shots and that's really what helped us the most. And Luke had really good sperm.

I've got the swimmers thinking about entering in these new sperm races. I don't know if you've seen Oh my God. Can we talk about the sperm races for one second? Sure. Zack wants to compete with me. I can't believe it's real. It's real. Microscopic races. Yeah. Like how? Did they already do it? Yeah. They've had, I think one, I think they've had one race or one like series of races so far. I need to read more about this because I'm just trying to be like, how? Like, where does it race to and from?

I don't know how they, they make a little track and they just get to the finish line faster. That is just, it's blowing my mind. I don't know how you make something at that time, microscopic scale. Could you get a Guinness Book of World Records record for having the fastest sperm? Yes, I would say yes because Guinness, they're all about making new records. You could be the Usain Bolt of the sperm world. I don't know if I'd go that far, but I'll give it a shot in a cup and let them decide which one's going to swim.

Yeah, you know how to give a good sample. Look, if I have 90 days, I learned a lot in trying to get pregnant, how to increase volume, motility, morphology, how to make all these things better. So you know what? Now it's just speed, baby. Now it's all speed. Yeah, I need to do a little more research. Fast and the Furious.

It's so funny. All right. So this fan remembers you saying that you didn't want to get married. How did I change your mind? Yeah, I read that and I was like, when did I say that? But I think I did start saying that it wasn't like I don't want to get married, but I was kind of like,

it doesn't matter to me anymore. But I just wanted to be a mom and like whatever about marriage. And that's what you say when you're single or with someone that you don't like very much. So that's why I said that, because it didn't feel that way. But then after Luke and I started dating,

I was like, oh, just getting changed my mind. It's as simple as that. Just me, I guess. It is. Will any cast mates be bridesmaids? Or groomsmen. Or groomsmen. We don't even know what we're doing.

So I don't know if we're gonna even have a wedding party, but I will say if Zach is not involved in some way, he'll force himself. Like he's already sent us like wedding photo ideas where it's like Luke and I, but then Zach's always in the background. I think Zach is going to be your planning mate in this, and Brittany too.

And Brittany of course, yeah. Yeah, you guys can handle it. Just when you're ready to be like this one or this one, I'm ready to go. All right, is Colorado on the table? So, hey, I wanna just clear this up. Luke is not from Colorado. I'm from Indiana.

His family is in Indiana. And Kristen's family is in Michigan. Yes, we are both Midwest, born and raised. We do own property in Indiana. I don't know what we're doing with it yet. I kind of let Luke take the reins on that because it's his hood. He's the real estate person. He knows all of this kind of stuff about what buying land and whatever. Colorado is where I met Luke, where he has had property for,

what, like a decade or something? It'll be 10 years on June 7th, yeah. That's wild. And you're so young. Look at you. Just such a go-getter, you know? Hey, I didn't make a name for myself on my own, I guess. I ended up here.

You're so cute. So Colorado is a place that Luke was living. He has property. He has a house. So Colorado is like, at least in the near to distant future that I can see, Colorado will always be there. It's just not a place for us to like live permanently. It's not. It's not where we will set down roots. However, we will probably always have that place.

Or at least for the foreseeable future. It's not going anywhere in the next decade. Right. Did you stay on meds throughout your pregnancy? So assuming we're talking about, well, we'll just talk about all the meds. Fuck it. But my anti-anxiety and depression meds, and yes, I did.

I was on Wellbutrin before pregnancy. My doctor and I, my psychiatrist and I discussed that. When I was about to get pregnant for the second time, we're trying to, and Wellbutrin was working for us. Then I got back on Lexapro in my second trimester, which was just such an incredible help because all of the anxiety that I was experiencing. So yes, obviously always just talk to your doctor,

but it's been very safe and great for me. I am diagnosed with ADHD. I decided to end with my doctor to stop taking Adderall in my first trimester. It was still safe, according to my doctor for my body, but it made me feel extremely anxious in my first trimester. I don't know if that was just me, if that had to do with all the extra hormones that I was taking, the progesterone, whatever it was,

I didn't want it, need it, it wasn't doing me any favors. So I chose to go off of that for my pregnancy. But always talk to your doctor. But yes, I think it's pretty safe. And I think honestly, if you are on like an SSRI or something, it's better to stay on something like that than to like take it out of your system because there's going to be a lot of other shocks

to your system during pregnancy. What traditions do we want to create or recreate with our family? Oh, you answer first. I don't know. I think there's something we've talked about before that I'd really like to do. I want to, with our children and our family, make Christmas more about experience than about gifts.

And it'd be awesome if we can travel somewhere warm every year and hopefully some family, extended family can make it. Yes. But make it more about an experience. Obviously there'll be a gift involved, but ideally we tie it into something like goggles and snorkels or get them a surfboard.

Because we're going to Florida. Or get them a surfboard because we're going to Hawaii or whatever it is. Something that has to do with doing something, learning something, a new experience. Yep. 100%. Good call. Can you talk about navigating social life slash drinking when pregnancy? Yeah, this was really interesting.

I thought too, well, obviously there's no drinking during pregnancy, but navigating just like being around people who are drinking or going out to bars, things like that, I kind of cut a lot of that out of my life. Not because it was difficult, because honestly, it got kind of annoying. Like, pregnant or not, when you're sober around a bunch of really drunk people,

not so much fun, you know? And drunk people are annoying. Even me, when I'm And drunk people are annoying, even me when I'm drunk. Like I know I'm sure I'm pretty annoying too, but it makes it more difficult. And I kind of got social anxiety during pregnancy, so I didn't want to be around a lot of people. We were also keeping the pregnancy under wraps, you know, for the first few months,

except for with close friends and family. So I didn't want people to notice. I didn't want people touching me. I didn't want people asking if they could touch my belly. So for me, it was like, I just didn't really want to. Now, of course, there were times that I did have to go to events or wanted to go to like birthday parties and things like that. I just didn't stick around very long.

And that was mostly because you're just tired. So I didn't really think it was that difficult, to be honest. You just wanted to stay home and the things you need to go to or want to go to, you leave early. Yep. Before people get too drunk. Yeah. Pretty much it.

Yeah, it actually was something I thought would be difficult, but you just don't want to be there. I want to be home and nesting. How do you manage, or how do we manage, being a strong couple in the public eye? I think we, our roots, our foundation, the bones are strong, so I'm not worried about it at all. Thank you for the compliment, first of all.

And I'll say the best thing is not reading the comments, focusing on us instead of what the public eye means. You can't care about these random people's comments from whatever country, whatever place they are. They don't know us. They don't know us. But I mean, I get nasty things about Kristen, people saying you can do better, a bunch of wild stuff. You just ignore it. And you just don't read it.

Sometimes they pop up at the top of my notifications. I'm like, well, that's cool. Put that at the top. You're like, go to hell. Yeah. Don't acknowledge it. Don't respond to it. And focus on us. Can you please do a spinoff show with Rachel O'Brien at the ranch? I loved this. I was like, oh my gosh, Rachel's actually here right now at the house

because she's here for the baby shower. That would be so fun one day. One day down the road, I think it would be really fun to film something showing the lives at the ranch. It's really interesting. It is. This comes up a lot. And Rachel and Greg are very opinionated. And I think, honestly, they would make great TV.

They're our best friends. And there's enough natural things going on out there that the drama would be built in. It definitely could be a show. Maybe we'll start it on YouTube one day. That's a good idea. How many weeks were you pregnant at the baby moon? I think we were about 26 weeks, maybe.

25, 26 weeks sounds about right. So, and that's what I kept reading. Of course, this is just like me Googling and like going on my mommy apps and like forums and stuff. And it said the best time to go was like end of the second trimester because you're like still kind of feeling good. You're not uncomfortable yet, which is also true.

Like I felt pretty, like around the best I felt during my pregnancy was like around the baby moon time. Now I'm starting to feel really uncomfortable and we still have like a month and a half left, a little more than that. We still have, I mean, it feels like we have no time, but I think those six weeks, seven weeks are gonna drag on. Yeah. Yeah.

It does, it's like, so for me, the end of my third trimester feels very similar in a different way, but like the beginning of pregnancy, like the first seven, eight weeks, like we're dragging on. Obviously I wasn't physically uncomfortable, that's what I'm feeling now, but I do feel like these last seven weeks are just gonna slow poke on by.

Yeah, I can see you're more uncomfortable than you've been like at any point physically. Yeah, just big and like pressures and her feet are everywhere and my ribs and just stuff like that. Okay, need more of me in season two. Thank you, whoever said this. I agree.

Was I more comfortable shooting last summer compared to season one? Yes, by a long shot. I was such a fish out of water in the first season. I didn't know what I was seeing. I mean, I'm starting to get a handle on it. I understand what's going on now because before I'm like, what the hell is this?

It was weird. It wasn't necessarily that the cameras were on. It was how some people were so performative, how people got defensive about things that wouldn't matter in real life. But because there was a camera, they lost their shit. I didn't, and I don't know. It was very weird.

It was not fun. And you weren't, you didn't have, I think, my opinions that you didn't have close friendships. You were just getting to know a lot of the people I was friends with in this group, or like, quote unquote, cast, you know? Right. In season one, like, you were just getting to know some of those people, and now you have a relationship with them.

Exactly. That's a huge part of it too, is I wasn't part of the guys group, and I didn't, I wasn't friends with Jax. I just met Jesse and clearly we weren't friends. We wanted to rip each other's heads off. Got to know Dani, I known Zach, but Zach and I didn't do much together that first summer. But you'll see more of me this summer. Or this summer.

You'll see more of me in season two from last summer. I can see like watching like with the viewers, the first couple of episodes, like, you look a lot more comfortable. Okay, well, good. Thanks. Well, your personality's, like, finally getting to show, you know? Right. Yep. Shine, baby, shine. Shine, shine, shine.

Okay, I'll do my best. Gotta make the most of our time in California. Yeah. What is your favorite thing about me, and I'll tell you my favorite thing about you? Um, your patience, your ability to about me? And I'll tell you my favorite thing about you. Your patience, your ability to make me giggle, even though you have a weird sense of humor,

a different sense of humor than I do. I feel very protected and I feel very supported, very safe. And you're very lovey and very sweet and always show me that you love me. I love your beautiful face and body as you know, it's not the most important thing obviously. Even when it's huge. I mean, yes, she can't keep me off her.

And she's like, don't touch me. I'm like, babe, but you're so sexy. How do you not see? I'm very grateful for that. Cause it would be very difficult to not be, not feel wanted while I'm not feeling like myself, even though I push you away because I don't feel like myself. If you could just see yourself through my eyes for one day, it would put a smile on your face.

Yeah, and I don't feel that way. I feel like Shallow Hal's lens, or like before he had the lens of the the cute pretty skinny girls, you know? I feel like his normal ones right now. Not even close. Like bigger than usual. Not even close. But no, really is just you're my down girl. Like we've done some things that I didn't think you'd be down for between our road trips. Some of our times in Colorado going up into the mountains to a casino.

I mean, we do a lot of cool things. And Kristen is just, I don't know, she's very giving, very loving, your emotional swings are fun. You never keep me. I'm never bored, we'll put it that way. That's true. I love you. I love you.

Well, that's it, babe. Okay, good. Look at us. We did such a good job. Now we're going to run to Costco and then I'm going to take a very long nap and get over this cold. Sounds good to me. I'll handle it.

Sleeping is so much fun pregnant. It's the one thing I'm very grateful is that like I do have a tough time. Like last night was really rough just because I had to pee like every five seconds. So that can be difficult. But for the the most part I'm like pretty damn comfortable sleeping Highly recommend a wedge pillow guys. It's heaven. You have to now. I know I do Alright guys. Well, thanks so much for listening. We love you. Yay. Luke is back today and we will talk to you next week Thanks, everyone Make sure to follow us on social media. You can follow me on all

platforms at Kristen Doty and follow Luke on Instagram at Luke double underscore Broderick. Be sure to click the subscribe button so you can stay up to date with new episodes. Thanks for listening. See you next week. So, growing up, money wasn't exactly something I was taught, and I wish someone had shown me how to save and manage it better. I mean, I didn't learn it until way later. So now, with a baby on the way, I'm thinking a lot about how I want to teach my kids those lessons early. And that is why I am so excited to tell you about Acorns Early.

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You set tasks and automatically pay them when they're done. Parents, you can track spending, set limits and automatically pay allowances. No more scrambling for cash. It's simple, it's fun. I feel great knowing that my baby will have these skills and with her on the way, it just feels like a perfect time to start. Ready to help your kids grow money skills that will last a lifetime? Just head to acornsearly.com slash doty or download the Acorns Early app to get started. Sign up now and your first month is on us. Acorns Early is issued by Community Federal Savings Bank. Remember FDIC, pursuant to license by MasterCard International TNC Supply. Monthly subscription fees starting $5 per month and less canceled. Hey everyone, it's Kelly from Beyond the Blinds. And I'm Troy. And we're about to head on

tour and would love to see you there. We'll be starting in Dallas on May 13th, followed by Austin, Nashville, and Boston. And Detroit, Toronto, Orlando, Charlotte, and Phoenix. Grab your tickets today at xoneentertainment.com slash Beyond the Blinds. That's x thenumberoneentertainment.com slash Beyond the Blinds. See you there!