The Bossticks - Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt - Family Dynamics, Balancing Parenthood, Boundaries, & Fertility Advocacy, & Pregnancy

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

746: On today's episode we're sitting down with Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, a New York Times best-selling author and podcast host of "Before, During, and After Baby". From misconceptions around fertility and the importance of examining sperm, to embracing Motherhood, and nurturing family dynamics as a growing family. In this episode we will discuss boundary setting, prioritize family time, and healthy habits to influence a positive impact on Parenthood. This episode is brought to you by Neocell  To connect with Katherine Schwarzengger Pratt click HERE  To connect with Lauryn Bosstick click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE To Watch the Show click HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential Head to the HIM & HER Show ShopMy page HERE to find all of Michael and Lauryn's favorite products mentioned on their latest episodes. Produced by Dear Media

The following podcast is a dear media production. Mouth tape. It's so fucking cute. You've never seen cuter. I definitely would say if you are not using mouth tape, you are missing out on so many benefits. It's absolutely changed my life. I cannot say enough good things about it. So what I've noticed is that it's made my jawline stronger because it supports your tongue posture all night.

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And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you alone for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her. You watch these videos that are going around and also you reflect on your own childhood. Your parents weren't distracted. And that is what I strive for my kids to feel, too. Yes, mommy and daddy have to do work. And also, when I'm present with my kids, I want to be present with my kids.

It's not the easiest thing all the time. But it's very important, I think, to figure out what those boundaries are. And as your life evolves, I think your boundaries will evolve, of course, like as your kids get older, if they have school or activities. But trying to figure out what that is and how that works for your family, I feel like are good conversations to have. Third time on the show, Catherine Schwarzenegger Pratt is back. nurturing family dynamics, pregnancy, balancing motherhood, setting boundaries, and fertility advocacy. These are some things that we discuss. She's very open.

She's real. Michael and I even have a little group therapy on this show. Catherine is a New York Times bestselling author, a fertility advocate, and she's also the podcast host of before, during, and after baby. On that note, let's welcome Catherine Schwarzenegger Pratt to the show. This is the Skinny Confidential. and her. Okay, the last time, you know, you've been on twice. The first one was episode 87. And to give you context, we're on like 760 now. Okay. So it was a long time. Yeah. And then the last time you were here was in 2020, March of 2020, before the pandemic. Yeah, March of 20, I was very newly pregnant.

Very newly. It was March 3rd. So were you very, very newly pregnant? Very new. I mean, newly meaning like four months pregnant. But nobody knew I was pregnant. I was about to go on my book tour for the gift of forgiveness. That was the book tour. It's like literally I called the title the gift of forgiveness. Yeah, because that week, my book came out on a Tuesday and that Friday, the whole country went into lockdown. Yeah. And before we go much further, I need you to get in touch with your mother because she did invite me to a dinner the last time she came on the show. Sunday family dinner. I've been waiting on the Sunday family day. Well, it happens every Sunday. I know. I've been sitting around. Just feel free to get it. Your invite got lost. Tell Maria to

no. This is what happens with Sunday family dinner. It's a standing invite. So we're there every Sunday. Do I just show up? No, you just say, hey, I'm in town this Sunday. Oh. I'm in town this Sunday. I'm available. Great. Come over.

Okay, so don't just like show up out of nowhere. I'm going to send you by yourself and you can go and you can go do that and let me know how you're received. Here's what happens. Catherine. Lauren is not the best at like picking up the social cues that people bring. It'll be like they will invite her to the Sunday dinner and then she will not share that. And then I will be like, where are we going to the Sunday? dinner and it just doesn't happen. Yeah. Yeah, well, just schedule it with me. Okay. I'm very interested

in scheduling. I love it. If you're listening, I've been waiting for like two years. I just been sitting around. I know, because you had my mom and my brother on it. Yeah, it was fun. It was fun. It's fun. It was like a family affair. I know. Okay. So let's back up because the last time we saw you, you had not had your first baby and now you're pregnant with your third. I know. Wild. And I feel like just by following you on Instagram, you've really embraced motherhood beautifully. Oh, thank you. What was the journey to get pregnant with your first one if there was one? My husband and I, we met, it moved so quickly because we were just like very sure about we wanted to get married.

We wanted to start a family together. We got married, got pregnant the same year, and we had our first daughter. And he has a son from a previous marriage. So I was able to see him in his element as a dad, which I feel like was, everybody always says like what was that like and I feel like it was the greatest gift to me because I could see he's going to be so hands on as a dad he's an amazing dad I have always known that I wanted to have a lot of a big family I come from a big family so I was kind of just like ready to go so when you get pregnant was it a shock you said you liked being pregnant and you like being pregnant yeah I mean it's definitely different though the third time like I mean each time is different anyone who's pregnant the first time I'm like this is your spa pregnancy very relaxing. You don't have little children to run after. You can watch shows. You can pick up your feet. You can be relaxed. Your postpartum is like a spa retreat. Then every pregnancy after that, you're worried about another kid. You're trying to split your focus as we were just talking about.

You're trying to share yourself. You want to give your attention to your kids and to your partner. So there's a lot going on there that makes it very different each time. So I'm anticipating this third time that there's going to be that same feeling of wanting to be with the baby, wanting to be with my other two kids, wanting to be with my husband, wanting to also be with my siblings and my parents. Like I always, you know, I love to be with everybody. So I feel like that's the biggest adjustment. I also think too, I'm someone who really likes to be alone. Like I like being by myself. And like what I've noticed as I've become a mother is there's a lot less time to do that, which is it's fine. It's like, you got to like be selfless.

Yeah, there's definitely less time to be by yourself. And I think with each kid, that gets eliminated a little more. And that's hard too. Yeah, I was actually talking to my mom about this because she has four kids. You know, there's, it's, I'm the oldest and then I have three younger siblings. And I, when I, I've always had a huge amount of respect for my mom, always. Since becoming a mother, it's a totally different level of respect. I'll say actually since becoming a wife, totally different level of respect. Then since becoming a mom, then every child, I'm, I go to my mom for everything. And I always say to my mom like, when did you get your alone time? And she's like, now, this is when I have my alone time. When you guys are grown up, you guys are doing it. And it's a different form of parenting. It's, you know, very involved. We're all super close in my family. So my mom and my dad both parent us differently now as adults. But it's, it is a huge commitment. And if you are, you know, very invested in it and very focused on parenting, it's also, you know, it requires a lot of time. And it's the best.

investment that you can make. My mom's like, you know, nobody talked about me time when I was raising you guys. Nobody, that wasn't a conversation that we had, which I feel like probably made it a little bit better because there wasn't that idea in your head of like, oh, I'm not having enough me time right now. I'm failing in that area. You kind of got it when you got it. There wasn't Lauren Bostic on a mic telling everyone that they should have me time. Lauren is the type of person that cannot make peace with the reality. She's like if we are traveling and it's a 5 am. flight and we're going through, she will complain and act shock like that is going on the entire time.

Like she can't like she can't do the place where she just accepts like, I have to have like space to myself where I feel like I'm not. Do you get what I'm saying? Like something annoying or bad or what will be happening. And like she cannot face the reality that that's just the reality of what's going on in that moment. Yeah. I mean, I feel like you're like a routine person. Yeah, I'm a routine person too.

But I'm also a scheduler and a planner so I can anticipate what's going to happen. Oh, so you're like Michael Moore. Yeah, but I also like my routine a lot. So you're a mix. Yeah, I'm like a combo of you too. She, like, she can't believe, like it's, we'll be in a situation and she like can't believe. Like I'll have 20 minutes to pack and I'll be like, okay, I'm going to go in the sauna for 10. 20 minutes to pack is just not even a thing.

She, we have a, the other day we had a five, we had to go speak. We had a 5 a.m. I'm like, we had to be at the airport at 5.30. She set her alarm at 4.45 and was not packed. And I was like, why? You mean 6.45? No, 4.45. So you're like, Chris. That's how he does.

He'll wake up and he'll be like, are we, oh, we're going on a plane today. That's exactly. No, that's exactly. Like, I have to live. Do you want to pack the night before? Like, let's just throw a couple things. What do you do by your kids? Um, I, I, I, like, have it planned.

Like, I'll tell, I'll tell, like, the help that I have around me. Like, this is what they need. This is the outfits I want. This is how many. diapers we need. No, everybody in the house, everybody's organized. It's just her.

I feel like it's a way to kind of like control it and make it still about like her. Oh, interesting. That's interesting. I like to control it in the other way. Like I like to control it that I'm going to start packing two weeks in advance.

She likes to control it the opposite way. She's like, let's see if we make it type thing. And I'm like the whole family's on. That is so unnecessarily stressful. Why? I mean, and you're still doing that with children. Aren't they unpredictable enough? Do you need the added stress?

It's just like a little drama. I'm sweating profusely by the time we get out of the house. Oh, no. I would not do well with that. I know. He's dripping. He's dripping sweat. You know what?

I think about your mom all the time when I can't get my kids to sit around a table because she said on the podcast that you guys used to have dinners without phones all the time. Do you still do, by the way? You still do that? And do you do that at your house? No, at her house. But do you do it in your own home? Oh, yes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. At five o'clock. Yes, for right now because my kids are little. But yeah, we do that. So every single night you guys have a family dinner. We sit down with the kids and have family dinner, yeah. But what I find strange, and I don't know, Catherine, if this is similar to Europe, but you're like, I had to be, I had to ask my parents, like, may I be excused?

Like, can I, like, you can't just, like, I don't get this concept of kids are just allowed to do whatever they want at the dinner table. I don't know. I don't like that either. I just, I'm admiral. It's very amazing that you guys. do that every single night. I mean, some nights were just trying to get by. Listen, if Chris is filming late and then I'll wait up for him, I'll still sit with the kids and

have dinner or I'll be in the kitchen and I'll come in, you know, depending on what the day is like. But we sit down at the table, some version of that every single night with the kids. And that could be with toddlers. It could be five or ten minutes and it could be 20 minutes. It's a great meal situation. So it changes. It's fluid. It's fluid. But we still make the, you know, the effort to sit down together as a group, as a family to connect and and have that time. Because then during the day, you know, everybody has a different schedule. Things are going on and it's harder to do that for lunch, let's say. So we do that at dinner. And we did that my entire life living under my parents' roof. That's what she said. She said,

always family dinner. Always. And by the way, always with my parents with their crazy schedules as well. I mean, my dad would fly back from Sacramento to have dinner with us as a family a lot of the time. My mom was home pretty much every single night that I was in my parents' house. She was home every night for dinner, no matter what she was doing. And all four of us kids sat together. We went over what was going on in the world. We went over what was going on in our family with each other. And it was a way for us to connect because as we got older, you have more activities, more after-school activities.

you have friendships, you get your first boyfriend, your first girlfriend. So things happen in life that will take you away from connecting with one another. And that was very important to my parents and to my mom when she was growing up as well. I mean, I was just back east with my entire extended family. We had family dinner every single night. How important is it not to bring your phone to the table? Very important. Uh-huh, I agree.

Why are you looking at me? He's a culprit sometimes. And you're not? You know what's happening with the phone? let's get real. He's been playing backgammon. Oh, my sister does that with Soltair, but not at the table. I'm not at the table.

Lauren. What did you do last night at the table? The fake table. We're in a hotel for two weeks. So what? It doesn't matter. I played some backgammon. I don't lie.

At the table. We don't have we. I would say right now we're thrown and around a hotel. It's a tray table that they bring you at the hotel. Oh, okay. And I caught him and I thought, wow, this is the perfect podcast to bring this up on. With Catherine. I'm happy.

Maybe this will change it. Okay. All right. I don't know. Listen, I'm going to put your own blast in a second. Just keep going to bring the topics. Let's do it.

I'm going to tell on you. I love it. Talk to us about your individual fertility journey and why it influenced you to create your podcast before during and after baby, which advocates for women's fertility journeys. Yeah. I mean, the podcast is really to go back to when I had my first daughter, Lila. So I was coming on. here talking about, you know, life, the whole world went into a lockdown because of COVID. I had Lila

in the thick of COVID and I was, you know, isolated with myself, Chris, and the baby. And we were at home. And it was such a crazy. I mean, you guys remember this. It was such a weird and crazy time and also a very isolating time and not at all what I had envisioned my entrance into motherhood being like at all. I kind of, I've always known I wanted to be a mom. I am the oldest in my family. I have treated my three younger siblings like they're my own children. Like I, I'm so close to them. My youngest brother's eight years younger than me and was like my practice baby growing up. So I've always known I wanted that to be a big part of my life and fantasized about it. And then it came and it was just very different than I had imagined. And I felt like there was so much going on in the world and there were also so many people becoming parents for the first time. COVID in this crazy time. And we all had these questions about different things. And we didn't have that community or that village there to support us in the way that they say is so important for a mother's mental health is so important for the experience for both parents to get a break, to have someone show up with food or with helping with the laundry or watching the baby while you hop in the

shower. None of that existed. And so I found myself on Instagram a lot and just on social media trying to find a supportive community at this phase of new parenthood. And I remember talking to Hillary one day and we were just like, we're both looking for this. She was pregnant. I was a couple months into motherhood. And we just decided to invite people on Instagram live at the time and just have conversations about parenthood. And we got such a great response to it that I just continued to do it four years later. I did that with you. Yes, you did. Oh, my. God. You guys had kids of someone. Zaza was born in January of 2020. Yeah, and Lila, August of 2020. I did that with your, I just remembered that. Yeah, you did that with, yeah, I talked to some,

because you were all on lockdown. We were all home. So we were all kind of having these conversations about parenthood and you were, you know, whatever, seven months, eight months ahead of me. So I was like learning from you. I was learning from people I didn't know, people I did know. So it was a really wild experience. And to me, as I, you know, go on in the journey of motherhood, it's still so fascinating to me to talk to people who are at different phases of motherhood and parenthood, whether it's fertility struggles, if it's breastfeeding, if it's picky eaters, if it's screen time. Like all these topics are so interesting to me. And we just recently switched platforms to make it not Instagram Live anymore because that was wild to still be doing.

It's amazing. I love it. It's such a great way to connect with the parenthood community mothers all around and be able to also include them in the interview process to get their questions because so many of these topics don't necessarily apply directly to me, but they apply to somebody that I know going through a specific journey or someone who wrote in a question who wants to know about something specific and talk to an expert or a person who's experienced something or struggled with something. So the goal is really to have everybody be able to share the journey, be a part of the journey, watch episodes when it applies to them, go back and rewatch episodes when they're dealing with a picky eater, when they're struggling with their fertility,

and connect with moms, dads, caretakers, aunts, uncles, grandparents. I talk to my mom on this series a lot, my siblings. So it's really a overall well-rounded variety of topics to kind of include everybody in this journey that I'm four years into. What's something that surprised you and shocked you that you've learned about pregnancy or fertility through doing this? About fertility, I would say just how much information we have now and how people as young as the beginning of college or end of high school are thinking about their fertility. I would say that's very surprising to me, but great at the same time.

and I would say about my own experience what your body can do as a woman. Like that to me, I've always known that the human body is incredible and the woman's body's amazing, but to experience it and to go through it and then also watch other people go through it. I'm one of those people that's weird and watches like birthing videos in my free time because I love it so much. I don't think I've ever watched. Maybe one I've watched.

I just, I'm like, I'm constantly. in awe of what women can do. And then, you know, get up, go to work, take care of their family, take care of their partners, show up. Like, it's, I mean, it's a lot. What do you think about Michael telling me that his hair hurts when I was nine and a half months pregnant? I didn't tell you that.

By the way, I was saying my head hurts. I was actually just reflecting on this recently because after I had my first and second daughter, Chris slept a solid 11 hours. And he was like, it was exhausting. It's stressful. I was like, was it. Well, listen. It's so tiring.

You know, it's, it is incredible what you guys do, but there's this couch that these hospitals bring us. And it is really flimsy. And we have to lay on that the whole time. And it's tough to get through. I'm not going to lie. So unfortunate. I brought a whole, like, a camping setup. And I stayed there.

I remember actually watching Lauren in her whole birthing process and journey and how. Because I was like, I'm not going to get caught on this thing again. You guys had like a doua in there. and the doula was there for you. Yeah. I needed her. I needed her. It was a sheet mask on him.

I brought the nurse's cookies. We had a lot of laughs. Unbelievable. And then to tell me his hair hurt, no. It was just like, I can't. It feels like read the room. The first time I was so nervous for you,

she gave birth here in Cedars. And I drove to the wrong. I got, you know, I was freaking out. I was drumming, you know, I'm like, this is the moment. And it was like a Friday. It was like a crazy night in West Hollywood. So everybody was out.

And she, you know, I thought like, she was going to get birth in the car. And I got so scared that I didn't go through the nice maternity entrance. I drove through the emergency entrance. And there was a guy with like a stabbing wound screaming. And the guy had his hands and he's throwing up. And like that they like wield it. It feels very just like exactly what should have happened to you guys.

Don't you feel like that? Yeah. Oh, I was like maybe I'd fuck this up. I can't. What do you think a common misconception is when it comes to fertility and women's journey on it? I feel like that it only involves the woman. Ah. Talk more about that.

Well, you know, when I talk to all these people who are experts in their fields, they talk about, obviously, the woman and how important that is and, you know, growing a family, but also how big of a part the man plays, obviously, it's a joint effort. And we don't really focus as much on that being a huge part of it. So I feel like the shared experience of it not being something that's just the woman's responsibility, but also the man's responsibility or however you're growing your family. So that to me was probably a big area that I feel like needs more attention because there's so much, you know, whether you have a hard time family planning or it's really easy for you or you struggle with it. there's so much blame that women put on themselves for their body not working properly for their body failing them women beat themselves up about their breastfeeding journey about their postpartum journey about motherhood we were talking about guilt before we even started recording it's never ending and so I feel like the you know men they have such a big part in it as well

and I feel like there's much more conversation about that now how men can be more supportive how they can be more engaged and also how they also have such a big part in the fertility journey and growing your family. And medically, it seems like every doctor or expert that I have come on talks a lot about the men's role in that and also preparing their bodies for growing a family just as much as women are preparing their bodies for it. I do have something to add here now.

That is actually not crazy to add. We've had conversations on this show where a lot of women bear the brunt of fertility and they feel guilty if they don't get pregnant or if they're having issues. And a man will go in, And like say I go in and get my sperm tested, they could say, hey, your sperm looks good and swimming well, right? And so the guy thinks, oh, cool, it's not me.

It's like the issue lies with the woman. But a lot of men don't realize that there's this thing called a cap test. And depending on how the head of the sperm is shaped, if it's like blunted and rounded, it can't actually penetrate the egg. So it could swim really well. I can't talk about your sperm like this before, but PM. This is a lot to hear about the spree. I don't need to know about the head of your sperm. It's supposed to be like this cone shape that can penetrate the egg, which will get the woman.

which will fertilize the egg. But if it's not, it could look healthy from a male's, like the report could look like Michael has perfect sperm and it's fine. That's not weird to say. But so then the woman will say like, oh, it must be an issue with her. When it's actually not, it's the man. Right. And a lot of places don't do that test. So everything looks good, but it's actually not.

It's on the male side. And the women bear the maybe brunt or guilt or feeling like they can't conceive. Yeah. I mean, there are so many tests. And we talk about all those tests. some BDA baby of just their tests that you can do if you're struggling to get pregnant, if you have had a hard time, if you are just curious about your fertility at all, all of these things are great ways to learn more about the space. And also, you know, there are people now in their

20s that are like, should I be getting my fertility tested? Should I be talking to my OB about that? And then you turn 30 and they're like, we should probably talk about freezing your eggs, you know, as women. So there are all these different subjects that I really try to focus on. with BDA baby since it's before, during, and after baby. They're all, we're talking about everything that comes into play here before you even think of starting a family and then also when you're 15 or 20 years in because there's a lot that goes on there. I want to talk about the shame and guilt.

And the shame, what I see is I see a lot of women, like Michael said, who have come on this podcast. I know one in particular who did 14 cycles of IVF, which is. wild and it came to find out that it was actually something with her husband but she covered it up because she didn't want to make him feel bad so that's the shame like he didn't know he i think she didn't want to tell other people that it was actually him so she kind of like lied for him don't see and you're looking at me like he's like and there's like a shame when it comes to like the men have you found that you know the couple of

that I know who experience or go through IVF or experience it are so open about the male side of it. So I myself haven't experienced that in my conversations. But I think that, you know, I think all of these things are really challenging on the couples. Yeah. And so when I talk to people who go through those experiences, I always say to them, like, what are things that you do to stay connected? What are things that you do to not make everything about getting pregnant, focusing only on a pregnancy, you know, having sex on this day at this time, you know, becoming, making it become your entire life. Yeah. And people have given really great tips and tricks on that because so many people in their

journey to get pregnant often drift apart and it becomes a wedge in their relationship. So, I mean, it makes sense that people do different things to make people feel good about a situation even though it's not great. Wild. If Michael, by the way, she'd put you on blast right here. I go on her. She's like, this girl's stuff is not good. Yeah, it's not working. How do you personally deal with mom guilt? I've opened up a lot on this podcast that I am constantly having mom guilt. Like, I have tried everything. There is nothing I can do besides stop working, which I don't think would make me feel fulfilled. I don't think that's the right answer. It's also like, you know, you know, know, you have to also think about it for your kids, right? It's, it's, when I think about my mom,

for example, my mom worked my entire life. And I have always reflected on my mom and my dad, but especially my mom as being the most present mother that I know, period. So much so that she was building, you know, built a huge career, continues to work so much and did my entire childhood and still made a huge priority with us kids and with my dad and with her parents that were getting older that she was responsible for taking care of and her siblings and, you know, our home, everything. My mom was on it. She was just, and still is, by the way, like still is working and traveling and just has so

much going on and still makes every single one of us kids feel like we are the most important person on any given day. So I look back at that and I look at the fact that I watched my mom work. I mean, I have vivid memories of when she had my youngest brother and she would be at her typewriter in her office with a breast pump on pumping while my brother was sleeping and she was working and she would get up and, you know, wake up at three in the morning to go film something in Burbank for the Today Show and come back and drive us to school. And, you know, it's, for me, as a mom now to be able to reflect on that time, I loved being able to watch my mom work and then also prioritize us kids and being a mother and also being a wife. I think my mom did that really

beautifully and it's really hard. It's very hard. We had the pleasure of talking to your mom and your brother here. And one of the things I told her, which I admire about her and all of you guys, I've had the pleasure meeting you and obviously Patrick, not your other two siblings. But on the family you come from, a lot of people would say like, oh, like, phone, you guys all are on top of your stuff. You're all productive people. You're all doing stuff. You're all like, it's, it's pretty incredible to witness that, especially because it seems like all of you are like that. And your parents were not, you know, sitting around doing nothing. By the way, they still aren't. Yeah, no, it's crazy. They're out of control, both of my parents. I say to them all the time, like, when are you guys going

just chill? And they're like, we're never going to do that. Like my, my grandma and my grandpa. I remember my grandma going into the office until the day that she passed away. Like, she was working. She was constantly thinking of ways to make the world a better place. Same with my grandpa. And my mom and my dad are definitely very similar in that way. My dad still works out twice a day. My mom wakes up every single morning and exercises. She's so active with both of my kids. My sister turns to me off. And she's like, how does mom have so much energy? She's running across the field. She's playing tag with, you know, both my girls and all her friends. Like, it is, you're so lucky. I'm, I mean, I'm so, I look at both of my parents and I'm just, I'm thrilled to age because I'm

like, this is, they take such good care of themselves. They prioritize, you know, fitness. They prioritize keeping themselves healthy and also family and staying busy, making the world a better place, which fulfills both of them. They're both so active. It's, It's inspiring for me to watch because I think you can look at two parents that have had the success your parents found. And there's a lot of, and I'm not to throw shade at anything, but there's a lot of kids that come from very successful families that go the other direction. Oh, for sure. And I'm sure you know them growing up out here. But like, I look at that and I'm like, wow, like you can, in a weird way, like you can kind of have it all.

Like you can have a career and you can be busy and you can create productive kids that are also giving back and doing things and productive themselves. I think a lot of times people just say like, you know, if you come from privilege like that, or you're setting people up for failure. And it's like in your case, it's not. I think, I think about that a lot, especially after talking to her. I'll say, though, that if you ask both of my parents about that, they would say that it's definitely a lot of work. Well, they also said you guys didn't have a choice. Correct. We didn't. And we still don't, by the way. But I think that there are a lot of people who look at maybe certain members of their family and I have a big family. You know, my parents are, have done amazing things and continue to do amazing things. And I have uncles and my grandparents

and my cousins. Like I have so many people in my family that are doing such amazing things with their life and with their time and their energy that you can look at that and say, oh, that freaks me out. It's not my path. And I'm paralyzed by that level of energy. Or you can look at it and say like, yes, I'm so, I'm so grateful to be a part of a family that is choosing to make the world a better place. And I want to be a part of that. I want to do my own thing, whether it's, you know, having an animal rescue and making that your life's mission and your goal, or if it's starting the Special Olympics like my grandma did and changing the world for people with intellectual disabilities. There's so many different levels and not to compare any of those

things because everybody has their own passion, has their own purpose of being here. And it's about what my parents did really well was allow each of us kids to be our own. own individual people and really nurture each of our passions within us and encourage us to follow those passions individually. And if we wanted to do things together, great because we all love each other and we're so close. And also the importance of working really hard to find what your passion is and make that your life's purpose. And I think that my parents have done a really good job with that. How do you look at parenting your own children? Like what are your sort of like pillars when it comes to parenting? My pillars when it comes to parenting. I would say when

it comes to parenting, I truly want to just do so much of what my parents did. Yeah. I can imagine. Yeah. I look at myself now. I'm 34 years old. I'm living in L.A. I live five minutes from my dad, five minutes from my mom, five minutes from my brother. When I drop my girls off, at school or at preschool or we go to different activities. We drive by my mom's house, my brother's house, wave to them out the window. They help me with pickups. My siblings are super present in my kids' lives. My mom helps me a huge amount. And I am very, very lucky that I have the best husband on the face of the earth who loves spending time with my family and also loves the help from my family. There are a lot of, you know, family dynamics that shift when people bring another

person into the family. And my husband's just like, this is great. Like, let's, the more of the help, the more hands on that we can get with your siblings, with your parents, the better. So I feel really lucky that way. So I would say like pillar-wise, family is probably the most important pillar for me. Faith is a huge important pillar for me. Purpose, for sure. Respect, for sure. That was something my parents really enforced from a very young age was respecting them and the family that they create in the home and tradition, probably. Catherine, what are some of your non-negotiables in your routine that help you feel your best as you age? I feel like hydration. I know everybody says that, But drinking water is super important, especially when I'm pregnant. I am constantly hydrating,

constantly drinking water. I love being able to start my day also with, I have mosh bars all the time in my purse. My mom and my brother made these brain food bars that I have every single morning. My kids eat them all the time. So I love doing that and then doing something that's physically active, starting my day off that way. And I watched my parents. to do that my entire life. They still do it. And I feel like that made such a huge impression on me and how I live my life. What's the workouts that you do? Pilates. I do a lot of Pilates. I do a lot of walks. Okay. And hikes. Being in L.A., you can walk and hike. We're so lucky with the hikes that we have here, the walks that we have here, and also being able to do it as a family is a great way to

knock out an activity. Bike riding, great as well. But I do a lot of Pilates. Love Pilates. What are some tips that you have for people who want to push back on the negative stigma about getting older? I mean, honestly, I would say, look at my parents. I know that sounds crazy. But like I literally look at both of my parents and I am in awe of how much energy they have and how great they look and also how good they feel. They're so present and hands-on with my kids. And as grandparents, I feel so lucky that my kids get to, benefit from them taking great care of themselves throughout their lives and having fun and also making sure that they prioritize their health. So I look at my parents and I'm, I mean, first of all, it's such a blessing to be able to age. I think we should reframe this aging idea and really focus on what a gift it is to be able to get to be older and watch your kids have kids, watch your life change and expand in so many different ways. And also, you know, for me, I look at my parents

and I'm just like, you guys are amazing. Like, you have more energy than I do. And you're way older than me. What are you strict about on a micro level? Like the little things. Like, what do you do with screen time? What do you do if you go out to a restaurant? We don't do screen time. Oh. You know what I said to my friend the other day I go, any one that says that they don't do screen time is either crazy or they're lying. What are you? I think you're crazy. So it's interesting because, you know, I grew up with my parents being so active and also getting us being so active outdoors, doing crafts, doing things hands on, getting outdoors. We live in Los Angeles. You can be outdoors pretty much the entire year. Yeah, that's what I struggle with because in Austin it's so hot. Yeah,

and I get that. That's, you know. How many crafts can I do? I'm a fucking clown at the end of the day. Like put a red nose on me. I'm like, we were just back east and the humidity and the heat. It's a wild thing. So I can't say. No, give me your tips. I'm still writing these down.

I grew up that way and I think it's, it was such a gift to my childhood and also my connection with my siblings to be able to have that time with them that was just free play or dress up or dressing my brothers up with my sister. We're playing Legos with them. Like, we did so much together growing up, and we still do all of that together. And as I said, family is really important to me. So even though my girls are little, I want them to be able to do a lot of that together and also do it without the involvement of an iPad or technology sitting there.

I also interviewed someone on BDA Baby about this because I was so interested in my kids will eventually want to watch a movie. They'll want to know what, you know, the Disney Princess world. It's going to be total recall. It's going to be total recall. It's going to be just launching right into violence. So like when do you introduce that? How do you introduce it? And so like my girls have watched a couple episodes of Daniel Tiger, but they've watched it on a screen away from them because this, the woman that I interviewed said the importance of them not holding a device in their hand, but looking at it on a wall because holding something in their hand gives them a false sense of control. And if you can watch something, it's not only better for their eyes, for their

posture and for their minds, but it also allows there to be separation and also family. If you think about how we grew up, our parents were walking in and out of rooms when we were watching TV when we were toddlers. Like they were able to be part of the conversation. If you saw something, if you had a question, you were able to say like, oh, mommy, daddy, you know, what's this? Or look at this puppy or look at, you know, what was on the screen to be able to make it an interactive conversation between families. And that's where I feel like the singular use technology has, you don't really know or can't be a part of what your kids are watching. For travel, I think that's totally different. Like if you're on a long plane ride or something like that

and you want to give that to your kid, great. But I'm still trying to figure it out. Like I, my, you know, Chris says I'm crazy. He's like, you know, you can let them watch something once in a while and I'm just like, I don't know. Like, what's the, it feels? So what do you do on travel? I travel with my siblings. So I'm like, here we go. So you make, it's like, it's, it's, it's, you're diffusing the energy. Totally. Yeah. I don't travel nearly as much as you guys travel. I, you know, we spend a huge amount of time back home. Chris does a lot of the traveling and then travels back home. Pretty much every single time I travel anywhere, I'm traveling with my family. And that is my siblings. That's their significant others. That's my mom. That, you know, so I, I'm able to make a

two-hour plane ride fly by because I can pass each of them. Mine's like, have you ever been in a sauna and it gets really hot and you start looking at the sand that's going through the hourglass? So my travel is with two kids. I will say, though, it's gotten way easier as Zaza's gotten older and she can like chill out or like color or do things, you know, and she's not, I think it's hard traveling with little kids. How do you, how do you, how do you, go out to dinner? I don't really bring my kids out to restaurants that often. I'll bring them, when we do dinners, like if we do a family dinner, we go to my mom's house, we go to my dad's house, we're going to family members homes. So it's not out to a restaurant. No, I brought them out to a

restaurant a couple of times and to me I had them color. Like I'll bring one, if I'm going out by myself with my sister and my mom or a couple of my girlfriends, I'll bring one of my kids with me and I'll bring a large bag filled a variety of activities to do. But is it the most, you know, calming and enjoyable moment of meal eating? Definitely not. This is a situation where Lauren does not want to face reality. I think it's okay to bring, I bring them everywhere to restaurants. It's good to bring kids once in a while to a short lunch or dinner,

but I don't think it's fair to them or to other people, including ourselves, or to bring kids to sit there through a two-hour dinner or lunch with adults. You know what someone said to me recently about that, which I thought was really interesting, is I was said to, I said to somebody about picky eating and also meal time with kids. I said, how do you get them to just sit at the table for the meal? And you need to have accurate expectations going into meal time for each of your children based off that age.

Is it realistic for a two-year-old to sit at the table for 30 minutes? No. It's not. And you're setting them up for frustration. you're setting them up for being irritated, angry, because you're going to try and force them to sit there. So is it realistic to say, hey, 10 minutes? That's great. And she also said to me, she's from the account feeding little. She said to me, don't sit your kids at the table when the food's not already there. Otherwise, you're losing time. They're little. They don't have huge attention spans.

You got to set them up for success. Make it a pleasant experience, an enjoyable experience for everybody. because if mom and dad are upset, they're going to sense that you're upset and that they're going to, it's going to be a disastrous situation. It's like introducing kids to sports that they're not age appropriate to play. Totally.

Like, they're just going to have a miserable time and get frustrated and then not know why they're there in the first place. By the way, I think it's incredible that you don't do screen time. I think it's,

I think that. Wait, hold on. Don't just glaze over where we're talking about the meal thing. I need to acknowledge. Look at her trying to move off something she doesn't like to hear. Look this girl. Do you think that it's like enjoyable

to go out to dinner sometime? No, it's not. No, not. the kids. Oh, alone. Oh, alone. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Would you prefer to stay home with your kids? I would prefer, no, once in a while, I think in the way that you've described it, it's nice to bring kids. Or like, we were just in Nantucket and I don't know that's kind of like a bratty thing to say. But we're there and there's like, we're sitting on this thing and it's like sand and a beach and they could play on the ground and it's normal and it's not bothering. Yeah. Great. Fine. But like they don't need to go and sit there at a Sunday brunch while people with adults or like sit at a dinner table at 7 p.m. while adults are like having a, like, it's just, it's not, I think it just, it's not, it's not,

you and I feel differently about this. I think it's fine to integrate them into, I integrate my kids into traditions that aren't necessarily, you know, the easiest situation. So like Mother's Day brunch or Easter brunch or Christmas dinner. If we're going out for Christmas evening, we'll bring them and I'm like, we're just going to buckle up for this to be chaotic. But by the way, I'm still going to pass them down an assembly line of each of my siblings having their time to entertain the kids parents are going to hate me for saying this i do not like at all the idea of bringing kids to a restaurant giving them an ipad and a headphone and letting sit the table and zone out and hold a screen i think it's doing who's going to hate you for saying that because i totally agree

no parent people that do that there's a lot and i'm not throwing shade i'm just saying like and don't act like you haven't no i've done it but i don't i tell her all the time i don't judge judy i don't get headphones I don't need that EMF. You just have the volume on loud for the whole restaurant to hear. No, no, no. I turn it down completely. No. I turn it.

This is what I do. This is what I do. I turn it down completely and I give it's a game that they're playing. So they're playing a game. I don't like it. So the brain is working. It's not working. It's not working.

And I turn it on the lowest brightness. And I don't let them set it on their lap and I put it way out so they can barely touch it because I don't want them touching it really. But can I ask you question? Why would you just not leave them at home? Yeah. because I like the little moments that I get out of it with them. Yeah, but it's for you.

It's for you, not for them. I'll give you one specifically. Beverly Hills Hotel, Polo Lounge, the iconic souffle. Yeah. I mean, I love it. My daughter. Do it once. Yeah.

I've done it like 10 times. My daughter loves it. Every time we go there, she wants to go crack it open. She wants to pour the whipped cream. But do you stay at that hotel? Can she just come down for the souffle? Yeah. You just inspired me to have it sitting there.

Yeah. Like maybe I should have it sitting there. Pre-order. She doesn't need a full. Mom was a big pre-order person when we were growing up. No one's ever told me that idea. I don't want them to come to dinner with the iPad. I don't think it does any good for anybody.

And I just think you... You can break the news to them tonight that they won't be going to dinner with it. No, I'll pre-order a souffle tonight and they can have it and then they can scurry on back. Run on back home. Catherine's inspiring me, though, with the screen. I will tell you that. I have another line of questioning of screens with you. I think about this a lot.

We, all of us, did not grow up with the burden of the phone or social or putting ourselves out there. And all of us use this as a method of the work we do professionally. Fine. And I did this speech and I was saying, like, it's important for my children to understand the difference between being a consumer and using this thing as a tool. Does that make sense? Yes. How do you guys think about that in a future for your children, obviously as public people,

but them now too? How do you think about privacy and what you put out and what you don't put out and how you're going to contextualize it to them? I mean, I was so lucky that my parents had us four kids grow up so privately. I mean, they didn't take us to crazy events. We lived a very, you know, relatively normal childhood and normal upbringing. And that's something that's really important to Chris and I as well. So with our kids, you know, we don't put them on social media.

I'm really private about them. I'll talk about my experiences as a mom and, you know, what each one is doing at a certain phase of, you know, their life or their development or what they're into. And also, I think that giving them the gift of having their own identity is really important and was such a huge gift that my parents gave to myself and to my three siblings that it's one that's really important to Chris and I to give to our kids as well. So that's kind of how I feel about it with the privacy thing. They're also so young that I don't know what the thing is going to be by the time they're in high school. I love, I've talked to Jonathan Haidt on my. I want to talk to him. Yeah, he's fascinating.

The anxious generation, right? Correct. And, you know, there's so much knowledge now and you see schools changing policy about technology in school. I have young cousins who are in high school right now. I see how much they are affected, negative. from social media, from technology, and just from not having boundaries with their phones, with devices, with technology in general. And I think, you know, I'm four years into this. I'm still learning about it for sure. What the craze will be when my kids, as they get older,

as all of our kids get older, is going to have to be a TBD. But I think having rules and boundaries and also showing your kids that by leading as an example. So my mom actually, when I was talking my mom about this, it was from actually, sometimes Hillary would call me at 730 to talk about something that was business-oriented or related. And I would be coming out of my second daughter's room, putting, I put my younger one to sleep first, and then I would go into my other daughter's room to put my oldest daughter to sleep if Chris isn't home. And then I would come out, and then I would just go right back into talking to Hillary about work. And I was realized, that that was not setting great boundaries, not only for my relationship as my friendship with

with Hillary, but also just I wasn't coming out of there and then spending time with my husband or spending time going to dinner with my friends or, you know, doing something in my house that I really enjoyed doing or bringing me calm before I go to sleep. It was kind of allowing work and allowing business stuff to never have an end point and to also not set up boundaries for people around me to be aware of and say like, okay, at 6.30 in the morning, I start my day with my kids or at 6 in the morning. I start my day with my kids. And then until I drop them off, I don't want to be distracted by picking up my phone or having to, you know, answer a quick email or answer a quick text. So I think really setting boundaries for yourself

and for your family, whatever works for your family, is really important because your kids pick up on that. They see that. You see. kids say, why are you on the phone? What are you doing on the phone? And when it comes to screens also, like the thing that's also, you know, challenging is FaceTime. I think everybody makes an exception for with their kids because it's how you stay connected to relatives and families and things like that. When it comes to work, I feel like you really have to set up conscious boundaries as a parent and allow your kids to learn by example from you about putting your phone away, putting your device away, allowing you to be present. Because if you watch these videos that are going around and also

you reflect on your own childhood, your parents weren't distracted constantly. When they were with you, they were with you. They were present with you. They were focused on you. They made you feel like you were everything in their world at that moment playing a game, doing a puzzle, coloring something. And that is what I strive for my kids to feel too. Yes. mommy and daddy have to do work. And also, when I'm present with my kids, I want to be present with my kids. It's not the easiest thing all the time. But it's very important, I think, to figure out what those boundaries are. And as your life evolves, I think your boundaries will evolve, of course, like as your kids get older, if they have school or activities. But trying to figure out what that is and

how that works for your family, I feel like are good conversations to have. you guys know how particular I am about my daily habits and one thing I never skip is collagen. I do collagen in water with lemon and electrolytes. It's a total non-negotiable for me. I'm obsessed with the neocell collagen. It's amazing for hair, for skin, for nails and joints. And even Michael is on board. He takes it every single morning too.

Well, I always talk about how a couple years ago I started focusing on my health, getting into the gym, staying on top of everything, especially since we have kids now. It's just another one of those things that we have to do to take care of ourselves. It's also super easy to just add it to your water. It takes a few seconds, so I love it. There's so much negativity about aging. But let me tell you with the right tools, you can feel amazing at any age. And Neocell totally gets it.

So it's just a scoop in my water every single morning, which has tons of beauty benefits. One of my non-negotiables in my self-care routine is Neocell collagen. Seriously, it's like powdered golds. It helps with everything from joints to nails to hair to obviously skin. And you guys know how into skincare I am. So there's really just no excuse not to be taking collagen. It's one of my top recommendations for anyone who's looking to support themselves at any age. And like I said, what I do is I just put it into my water with lemon and electrolytes.

I think being very intentional too about it. Like you can't be sort of laissez-on-faire blaze about the boundaries around the phone. Like for me, I know I don't really touch my phone until 10 a.m. and I want it to go away at 8. Like, I don't want to look at it. I don't want to be on it. And so I sort of bookend my day, but also being thoughtful about the middle of the day, like what you said, like putting the phone away and being actually present. It's so important. And it's, the phone is something like we're all using all the time. If you don't have the boundaries and you're not purposeful about it, it'll eat you. It will. Totally. And you see these kids also, you know, when you talk about seeing. families out to dinner. It's like that. You see parents who are distracted on their phone or you go to a playground. When I take my kids to the playground, there are people there with their kids and they're all on their phone. Yeah. And, you know, I just, I go back to how we all grew up. We didn't, you know, we grew up with our parents, if anything, they were reading the newspaper. It was like their form of distraction or they were stepping away for a phone call on a landline. That's why I still have landlines

on my house. It's like, you know, it's an intentional decision to go pick up a phone and to have a conversation or call somebody. Yeah. So, but listen, you know, I'm, my, my daughter's four years old. My other one is two. So this is a learning process. Yeah. Do you have any set things that you do with your phone besides you mentioned Hillary like 730? There's the cutoff for work. What are your sort of ways that you look about it on a daily basis? You know, all these monitors that are on your phone or, you know, on a device, like if you watch your kids at night or you listen to your kids at night, those I find to be disruptive and challenging to strike a balance with. But I would say that before I touch my phone every morning, like to even see what time it is,

when I open my eyes, I think our reflex is always grab your phone and see what time it is. And I started several years ago before I touched my phone. phone. When I wake up in the morning, I pray first, and I thank God for letting me wake up, from letting me feel good, for my family. And then I kind of ease into my day. I also try to, I sleep with the curtains open. So I wake up with the sun. And if that's at 5.30 or if that's at 5, I try to get out of bed. I ice my face using your ice roller and also ice cubes. And then I do, like, I have my whole quiet routine in the morning. I have my coffee. I have my coffee. coffee, and then I can kind of ease into my day, and then I usually bring my phone downstairs. And when my kids are

done with their breakfast and starting to run around and play, then I will change my clothes, go into my office, or do, you know, take them to preschool or their school or whatever and kind of start the day that way. But I try not to, I feel like it gives you so much anxiety to just pick up the phone and go right to everything that's going on in the world. It's just being reactive to other people. There's no proactivity towards it. Like you're not, you're not moving the needle. And I'm not you. I'm just saying anyone is not moving the needle. It feels like for themselves. It feels like it's more like everyone else's to do list. Yeah, for sure. And also it's like negative news or like Twitter. It's just like, why would you want to start your day like that? I definitely don't even look at Twitter anymore,

but I- It's negative. I would say also, you know, I go to bed really early. I don't know what time you guys go to bed. What's early? I like him just, I could go to bed at 8.30. Listen, I think anyone with a four and a two-year-old, that is, like, that's what, we're trying to be in bed at like nine at the latest. If I could be in bed at 7.30, I would. Yeah, I mean, I would. You do this thing when the sun's still out with the time. It's like, bedtime. Yeah. I know, but in the summer it just stays up.

It stays up. I know. Time to go. Yeah. The kids are like, what are you talking about? Like, I'm staring at the sun. I know. The sun is still up, mommy.

It's daytime. Like, it's not. Yeah. I like it's really bedtime, too. Yeah. What are your wellness, beauty, health hacks, especially when you're pregnant? What are you eating? Are you a meat eater? Are you vegetarian? What are your things? I had a phase of being vegetarian. Okay. It was not right for my body. Like it was not, didn't make me feel good. It wasn't good for my body type or, you know, my brain function. Like it just, I did not feel great when I was vegetarian. I know there are a lot of people who are vegetarian and they love it and that's so great for them.

We don't let them listen to the show. Oh, my gosh. For me, I would say that the beginning, each first trimester of each of my pregnancies, I mean, whatever I can stomach is what I'll have. I'm not super picky about what, if it's a cracker, great. I think that like you, a doctor told me one time when I was nervous that I wasn't getting in enough nutrients at the first trimester of my pregnancy. She was like, you are living a life prior to getting pregnant that your baby's going to benefit from, your kind of routine health, that it doesn't really matter what you're putting in your body as long as you're drinking water, staying hydrated and putting whatever you can in your body. That's fine. You don't need to be like consuming spinach and meat when you're feeling disgusting and nauseous at the beginning. Then kind of as I start feeling better, I just really try to, you clean and healthy, but I'm also not really stressed about it. Like, I'm not somebody who, you know, won't have, I don't know, I feel there are so many people that I've seen when pregnant,

they're like, oh my God, I'm not going to have that cheese or I'm not going to have those crackers or, you know, whatever. I'm also with my kids all the time, so I'll kind of eat whatever I'm eating with them. I eat like a child anyway. I've had two pregnancies, is my second pregnancy in the heat of summer and I just try to eat what's in season. And I don't cook. I'm very open about that I don't cook. Chris cooks. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, it is really nice. Does he have any tips? What does you come over and give you an excellent lesson. Why? I got to focus what I'm good at. I could grill a few things. Cook breakfast. Make breakfast. He's very good at making breakfast. He's great wins at breakfast. And also dinner. I could do steaks. I could do burgers. I could do

that. Yeah, that's great. I'm not going to like, you know, I'm not going to win an award. But, you know. I mean, listen, this is his, from our family, the kitchen is Chris's area. Baking, I kill it. I'm great at it. I can do it the girls. It's so fun. I love it. I have great memories doing, you know, making cookies, baking cakes with my mom growing up.

I still do it. She does it with my kids now. It's great. I love it. Cooking, I made bagel bites for my steps on one time and I lit them on fire. And he was like, oh, these are not so good, Cal there. And I was like, okay, we're done. We don't need to try this anymore.

When Lauren cooked for me, I was like, great attempt. Let's bring it in for something. I think I actually gave you food poisoning. Well, she cooked turkey, but you didn't cook it. Oh, see, that's like my biggest fear. And then I was like, how is it? I'm like, well, I got to go to the hospital. I'm dying.

See, it's just not worth it. And then I'm like, oh, you're so entitled and rude. This is why I don't cook. But Lauren's father, Brad, if you're listening, would, like, she, If Lauren cooks undercooked turkey and delivers it to me, I have to tell her that was great job, great effort, even if I'm literally in the ambulance going to the hospital. So we have this thing where I got to, like, I grew up with a half Japanese mother. So like it was like, right, wrong. There is no effort, right?

Yeah. And I have to battle that in our marriage because I have to be like, this is wrong and I actually don't appreciate the effort. Does that make sense? I can say that in like a kinder, gentler way. And that's half a fourth Japanese. But it's like kind of like if somebody gives you poison and then wants you to thank them for poisoning you. Poisoned.

Because like you should make him big old like. But she didn't intentionally make you. I know, but she also wanted to thank you for it. Does that make sense? Thank you for the effort and we don't need to do this again. You know, that was a really big thing that Chris and I learned in our, we did a, to get married in our Catholic church, you got, did a premarital counseling. And in the premarital counseling, they told us the importance of using and instead of but.

Ah, wow. Tell us about that. That was so helpful. It was like a total, such a simple thing, but also. Thank you. And I wish I got this information 20 years ago. But you know what? You can start right now.

I can start. That's what we hear to show. I just think every man who's listening should just say two words, yes, dear. And everyone's life would be so much. much simpler and they would live happily ever after. I don't know if that's true. I don't think that's true. Catherine, where can everyone listen to your podcast, find you, pimp yourself out? Tell us also your child's book that you wrote, Zaza has it. Tell us about all the things you're working on. That's so cute. I have another children's book coming out next year.

I can't wait. I read that book to her. It was about you and your sister, right? Yeah. So cute. My sister, Christina. Yeah, which is crazy now because I wrote the book before having two girls myself. So it was like. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. Worked out really well. me. So I mean, you can go to Kauffin-Schwarz-Nager. I'm on Instagram. I like hardly go on my Twitter, which I know everybody's going to get upset about me saying. It's called X now. Yeah. Okay, X. See? I didn't even know. I don't even know what to call it. So I mean, we do weekly episodes. Every Thursday is a new episode. Every Monday, we re-air an old episode. So we'll probably have your episode coming up that we did so long ago because we re-put them out there. The whole point of me

changing platforms to putting it on YouTube and also in podcast format. was as parents, we always like to go back and watch things or listen to things when it applies to us. So if I'm doing an episode one day on picky eating and I have a newborn, it's not going to apply to me then, but I want to go back and rewatch it when I start introducing solids to my kid. And this new platform allows us to be able to do that and allows a lot of rewatchability with parents, which was super important to me. So we have YouTube, BDA Baby, and also just my Instagram. is a great way to be able to find all of that. Bookwise, any local bookstore, I love supporting

local bookstores. So my book, Good Nightsteadster, came out last year. I'll have another children's book coming out next year. And then I have three other books that are also available. You can go, I'm sure they're all on Amazon, but I prefer local bookstores. The book is so cute, too. It's really cute. Thank you for coming on. You can come back anytime. You guys go listen to her to other episodes. Catherine, we can't wait to meet the new baby. I guess we won't meet the new baby on social media. Maybe I'll like deliver in here. Deliver on air. Michael will deliver. As long as long as there's a comfortable couch. Thank you, Catherine. Thank you. Thank you.