The Unplanned Podcast with Matt & Abby - Getting a puppy

Episode Date: November 26, 2025

Matt & Abby finally talk about bringing a puppy into the family — what led to the decision, the worries, the comments that pushed them over the line, and how they’re getting ready for life with a dog and two kids. They also chat about grief, a sweet moment from their toddler, and an unexpected HOA drama. This episode is sponsored by Nutrafol, Tovala, Olipop & Square. Nutrafol: Nutrafol is offering our listeners $10 dollars off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you go to http://nutrafol.com and enter promo code UNPLANNEDPOD. Tovala: During Tovala’s Black Friday sale, you can get a FREE Tovala smart oven when you order meals 6+ times. Head to http://Tovala.com/UNPLANNED and use my code UNPLANNED to claim your free smart oven for a limited time. OLIPOP: Get $2 off a 4-pack of OLIPOP: Works on any flavor of 4-pack, including Spongebob, any retailer. https://drinkolipop.com/UNPLANNED Square: To learn more, go support your favorite neighborhood spot and see what Square has been up to in your neck of the woods. And then if you have extra time, check out http://square.com/go/unplanned . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thank you to Cozy Earth for sponsoring this portion of today's episode. When the holiday season rolls around, what's the famous question we ask? Every mom, woman, man, anyone in your life, what do you want for Christmas? And I feel like truthfully what anyone that I'm talking to nowadays just wants a little bit of extra rest to slow down, wind down, and a little extra coziness. And feeling cozy and making home their sanctuary, that's exactly what Cozy Earth delivers. Cozy Earth has some extremely soft, luxurious sheets. actually have them on our bed right now and have been sleeping with these sheets. How long has it been

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way. Like she's bad, you know? I don't know how to process that. I'm trying to use cool hip lingo and it's not really landing. The great thing about cozy earth is that it is a risk-free purchase. There's a hundred-night sleep trial. Try them out if you don't love them, return them hassle-free. But trust me, you won't want to. They also have a 10-year warranty because once you feel this level of comfort, you'll want it to last a decade. Give the gift of everyday luxury this holiday season. Head to cozyearth.com and use our code unplanned for up to 40% off. Just be sure to place your order by December 12th for guaranteed Christmas delivery.

Listening after the 12th, don't worry. Our code unplanned still works year-round for 20% off. And if you get a post-purched survey, be sure to mention you heard about Cozy Earth right here. Give the gift of comfort that lasts beyond the holidays and carries you into a cozy new year. This whole dog conversation has become a big topic. We invited the opinions, but now I'm sick of the opinions. I just got this vision of Griffin growing up with the dog and like going off to college. Are we talking ourselves into it now?

I think I am. Oh my gosh. I kind of want to go get it after the podcast. I want to go get a dog, the dog. I want to get the dog that you want to get. Are you in? Like, are you like prepared for this waking up in the night? I'll wake up in the night.

I'm scared. I don't know. I don't know. Why are you scared? Welcome back to Unplanned. Can we just take a second to recognize how hot Abby looks today? Holy. Every time I get my hair done, you get like all excited.

I'm like, maybe I should get it done more than once every six months. When you look like this, I'm like, gosh, we're going to end up with like seven children. You look so good. Lord willing. How are you guys? Tomorrow's Thanksgiving, if you're listening to this, the day it's posted. And I hope you know, it is not removed from me. mood for me. How big of a time commitment it is to listen to our podcast. Whether you listen

every week or just here and there, like a full podcast episode is a long time to chat and spend with someone. And I just, I don't take it lightly that your time is so valuable and you choose to spend it with us. So like, thanks for being here. Thank you guys. It's such a busy season right now. But I like love this time of year so much. We're hosting Thanksgiving this year. It's going to be so much fun. We got the turkey trot. I was going to ask, are you going to run that? Yes, I am to push the jogging stroller. And I'm going to push Griffin. Oh. Or Augie, one of them. Should I run with you?

How fast are you going to go? I think I want to try to see, I'm trying to get like the same time I did last year, but with the jogging controller. Oh, no. Can you see? I'm not doing that. So I'm going to see if I can do it. My goal is under 25 minutes with a jogging controller, which I think will be tough.

Literally last year I averaged like just under 10 minute miles and I still had a stomach egg all day. Which is not really what I want for Thanksgiving. I want to be able to eat a lot. And I couldn't eat because my stomach hurt. I think I had the poops. I was going to save the shit. No one wants to think.

So maybe I'll walk in the turkey trot this year. Gosh, it still makes me so sad that I was, yeah. Yeah, that you were going to be pregnant on Thanksgiving. Yeah, I envisioned a big bump on Thanksgiving. So that's a bummer. Every time I see a pregnant person, I get excited for a second, and then I remember that that's not happening. And then I'm like, F that, that sucks. But seriously, I do feel so much better.

A lot of really kind moms gave me, like, their timelines, which I think that's actually helpful because it gave me realistic expectations that like this takes a long time to feel better from yeah but all their timelines were like pretty far out so it was also a little overwhelming i was like oh my gosh like i'm gonna have to wait a year or six months before i can feel like i can breathe right again but i don't want anyone worrying about me i i actually feel like i can come up for air again now and i feel like i can like there's no surprise now when i'm like oh i'm not i'm not pregnant I'm supposed to be pregnant, but I'm not. Like, there, it's like I, I just feel like I can, I can breathe and I can think about the future a little bit more now than, like, I thought I would be at this time.

Like, I've made more progress at this point than I thought I would. Why the closer that we get to the date, the due date, do I get, like, does it hit me harder? I feel like that's normal. Like, they say, like, the mom's kind of deal with it really quick and then the dad's kind of like pause. Yeah. And then, and I think what you're feeling is totally normal. And I actually really like when you talk about it because it's like, You spent so much time making sure that I was better, and now you're like, oh, wait, I have, like,

a lot of these feelings of my own to sort through. And, like, it makes me feel really good whenever we, like, talk about it. And you, like, tell me that, like, I don't want you to struggle, but it makes me feel good because I'm like, okay, we are together on this. Like, we feel the same way about this. We are like, we can walk through this hand in hand. Yeah. Like, I, I, I want to do, there's so many things I want to do to remember our daughter because it was just, like, it was so short that, that time with her. And something about what we've been through, though, just makes me want to keep growing our family because I just, I don't know. I mean, when I think I hear you saying, correct me if I'm wrong, is that like it just kind

of like puts your whole life into perspective. Yeah. Like, yeah, I don't want this to be like a particularly heavy episode, but just like seeing a life that ended so, like way too soon. Yeah. I don't know. It just gives you a whole new perspective on your life. Yeah.

And I think it, like, and that I can say is in a good way. It's a really hard way to learn it. Yeah. A horrible way to learn it. But it's a really good. it's a really good thing yeah yeah I was also telling so I was talking to a mom earlier this week about you know grief and loss and like what these next months are gonna look like as we're getting like a couple months out from everything um and I was like in a way I feel like

this really aged me like I'm 26 by the time this episode comes out I'll be like days away from being 27 but I'm like gosh sometimes I feel like I talk to my peers and I'm like you've never held a dead baby before like I don't know it does make me feel like not in a condescending way but it just it gave me a a deeper perspective on life than I've ever had before I mean I mean I'm gonna say this too I've had a relatively very easy life yeah so this was like it's soul-shattering for me it has been so like but I'm also feel so much stronger because of it and I feel like we're stronger and I feel like our family's stronger and just like yeah if I had to think of some good things that came out of such a horrible thing like there has been good speaking of for good yeah yeah for oh oh yeah

i'm thinking about wicked still i never even talked to you about i was thinking last night you were gonna ask me yeah so last night abby and a bunch of her girlfriends went and saw wicked give me your two cents on the movie what's your movie review of wicked so good i had chills a lot of times i had chills i cried a little i surely did and i was just like i was just blown away the whole time like the set is so gorgeous. You can tell they spent so... I don't know what they spent on this film, but, like, so much money

and the set and costumes and the special effects. Like, it is literally, like, basically, like, no notes. How was our girl Arianna's performance? Really good. Really good. Yeah. She seems so talented. She went from pop singer to musical theater.

I know. And I feel like the... I know the theater community. Watching the first one... They're not a... They're judgmental group. Doesn't it make you want to, like, do theater again, watching a musical.

And that intro song starts, you're like, No one moans the wicked. I know, but this was Act 2. Oh, okay. So. Is that song in Act 2? I think they do like a reprise. No one moans.

Yeah. Yeah. There was some, they added a couple songs. No way. Yeah. Elfaba had a song. I don't like know exactly how many songs they added, but there's a couple. I was like, this is not in the soundtrack.

Yeah. There's two main songs. I feel like they gave Glinda and Elphaba each a song that was not in the soundtrack. Because think about it. it like the show is like what two and a half hours long each of these movies is basically that length yeah so they added they gave and i also think like now i just feel like i respect the plot of wicked so much more because you can really see all the details i'm like whoever put this together is so smart yeah and like orchestrating this whole story with wizard of oz and like

how it all works but then also when they tactfully like reveal things wait babe did you cry because Guys, when we went and saw Wicked the musical, like five, six years ago, Abby and I both cried, seeing it live at the Fox Theater in St. Louis. We didn't even cry at, like, the sad parts. We cried at the very beginning because it was just like the nostalgia. Yeah, it was a nostalgia of being theater kids. Every theater kid our age, Wicked is like quintessential. Well, I think for me, I don't know if it was like this for you, but it was also kind

of the realization of like, gave up on that dream. It was like, damn. It was like, I've grown up. I'm an adult. And yeah, I kind of like gave up on that dream, which is sad. The dream that I have now is. you and our kids and that's much better. But yeah, we made the decision in high school. Everything comes at a cost. Yeah, we made the decision in college when we found out how hard the life of

performing is for so many performers. You're on the road. You're on tour. You don't see your spouse for months on end. And so we were like, nah, that sounds. For some people, that's worth that cost. It is worth it for some people, but not for, it wasn't for us. It wasn't worth it for us. And so it's like, I think that's just how you have to, that's just a reasonable way of looking at life in general. Like everything comes at a cost. And if that cost is worth it, then you pay it. 100%. But if it's not, then you don't. want to see you every day. If I'm, if I'm away from you like more than 24 hours, I go crazy. I know. I'm going to miss you this week. That's why it was so hard.

The knee my hair transplant, which by the way, hair's growing in, guys. It's growing in. It looks so bad right now, though. I need to get a haircut. No, honestly, I still think it looks good. Well, not right. You can see. Oh, look at those. They're long now, honey. Yeah, you can see the baby hair. I'm in the ugly duckling stage. So right now they're like, yeah, slowly growing up. I got nine more months until we get the full result. There's nothing ugly about you, babe. Thank you. That's very kind. well sweet so i'm guessing you rate this movie what like a nine or ten out of ten out of ten ten out of ten yeah i mean i have a couple notes but i'm like i'm not even going to say them because like that's so critical at this point like i mean it's it's like fantastic 1 000 percent yes like it's literally one of the best movies i have ever seen no way we need to take the kids to zootopia too i was going to actually say next weekend when your parents are in town they love taking the kids to movies and they would love zootopia too and i also kind of want to see it so we

might need to rent like a whole row i seriously want to take griff to the Zootopia world in Shanghai, China. I think he would lose it. Why is Griffin? I guess I could take Augie too. Yeah, what the heck. Can we all go? I guess we could all go.

Do you want to go with us? I'm scared. I'm scared of that flight with Augie. What's the weather like? Maybe that's why Augie doesn't get to go. He's just a little bit. He hates, like, honestly, it's like, okay, the trip is so fun. He would love it.

But like, what, he hate the journey there so much, that man hates being buckled down. That man literally needs to just run free and shirtless all the time. He's your son. Yeah, he is my son. He came over to me at preschool yesterday. he goes take my shirt off and I'm like nobody we wear our shirts right now yeah at homeschool preschool he's fun he keeps things interesting I guess at homeschool preschool you can take your shirt off I love how passionate he is because he's usually either like so just like belly laughing belly laughing

or he's mad and it's just like he's raging yeah and I love it like I think it's hilarious yesterday or no two days ago in the car I was like uh hey Griffin it's really nice when you like ask people I'm telling them to, like, check in, like, ask how people are feeling? It's really nice to ask the question, how are you feeling? And so he was, like, inspired and he asked Augie. He said, how are you feeling? And Augie was just totally fine as far as I knew. But then he just goes, angry.

And I was like, oh, my goodness. No, my favorite thing is when you asked our boys what they're thankful for. The first thing, Augie said. Bad guys. Bad guys. Bad guys. We made, like, a thankful turkey. And, like, on each feather of the turkey, I had, I wrote down for them what they were thankful for.

Augie couldn't think of anything but bad guys. And then Griffin was suggesting things for him. He was like, maybe parties. And he was like, yeah, bad guy parties. We didn't make it on the turkeys. It's all good. I think they love us so much. They weren't even thinking about us because they just, that's assumed.

You know, it's like assumed that they're thankful for us. Yeah, let's hope that's the case. Yeah. I am dreading the day when they no longer think we're the coolest people in the world. That's never going to happen. I could be away from them for five minutes. Come back in the room. Honestly, I do feel like you've been the favorite a lot more often recently than me.

Really? Yeah, I'm feeling like I kind of got the shaft already. I think they still are a huge thing. Hands of Mama though. No, Griffin was crying in the middle of the night last night. I went in the room and he goes, he was calling for you first of all. He's going, Daddy. And then I walk in and he goes, go. I didn't know he said that to me. I was like, wait, are you okay? Well, I forgot that he even woke up in at this point. Like, I just sleepwalk to his room to check on him. And then he goes, go away. Leave. And I was like, wait, are you okay? I love you. Like, and he's like, yeah. It was just when he, when you didn't walk in, he was just like, I want nothing to do with you. That makes me sad for you. I know he loves. I know he loves me. He loves you so much. I know he loves me. Yeah. I swear though there was a time.

He used to be such a mama's boy too. I'm like, why are you turning on me? Which low key, you know, I think in the moment the initial reaction is like, oh man, does my kid like not like me? No, I know he loves me. As a parent, you just have to remind yourself. Like they have all these emotions and sometimes your emotions lied to you, which we learned from Dr. Arthur Brooks, Harvard professor, happiness expert, which we had on the podcast,

guys. That's actually going to be. Oh my gosh. I can't believe it's taken so long for that episode to come out. Yeah. I still think about that. every day. Yeah, if you guys don't know who Dr. Arthur Brooks is, he's a Harvard professor, he's a New York Times bestselling author. That's an episode coming out. He's a happiness expert.

Yeah, and he's written books with Oprah. He's been on some huge podcasts. He has a podcast of his own. This was one of the best conversations we've had on the podcast, and we both learned so much. He's just so full of knowledge in the way that he combines, like, actual science-backed research with seemingly abstract concepts, like happiness and the meaning of the meaning of life like all the end love oh my gosh he's just he's incredible well that's why i learned so much and we keep referring to it and every day we're like yeah arthur brooks says this and it's like oh what an honor it was to get to meet him thank you to neuterful for sponsoring this portion of today's episode you've probably seen a million ads for hair growth products and thought does that

actually work and the thing is neuterful does it really really does yeah i've always told this story but when i was getting my haircut at the hairdresser the last time they were like abby we haven't seen you in six months but but your hair has grown as much as we would expect if it has been like over a year. What are you doing? And I was like, well, I take Nutraful. And they were saying, oh, that stuff truly works. Our clients that take Nutriful have significantly thicker, stronger, faster growing hair.

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And you can set up automated deliveries and free shipping to keep you on track. See thicker, stronger, faster-going hair with less shedding in just three to six months with Nutraful. For a limited time, Nutraful is offering our listeners $10 off your first month subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutraful.com and enter promo code unplanned pot. Find out why Nutraful is the best-selling hairgo supplement brand at NeutriFle. Nutraful.com, spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L.com promo code unplanned pod. That's Nutraful.com promo code unplanned pod. We have some exciting news. There's something happening behind this wall that... And the room right next to this one, there is a million packages probably.

Yeah, this room behind me just got painted. It's currently yellow and red. It's all like colorful. Can I say that? It's like, it's kind of a fun vibe. It is a fun vibe. I like it. It's really exciting. What can you say about this new project you're working on, Abby? I mean, I don't like secrets, but there's other people involved in this project, so I just want to make sure that we all, like, touch base on, like, how we want to go about this, but I can say that there's a lot of camera and audio equipment. There's funky paint, funky furniture. I'm also, like, a little nervous because this is the first time I've ever done a big project. Essentially, Obviously, you're helping a lot, but like kind of, and it's not independent, but like a little bit more on my own.

I'm spreading my own wings and- I'm excited for you. Wait, okay, tell me about this, babe. This is launching beginning of January, this new project you're working on. The very, very, very beginning. So is that going to be Friday the second that people will get to see what's going on? Yeah, they'll know before then. So, yeah, I guess just like be paying attention to our podcast, be paying attention to, you know, your Instagram, have notifications on for our show

because as soon as we get to go ahead from the other person that's in on this project with Abby, we'll share with you guys exactly what's happening. But yeah, we've got to get all of our ducks in a row because this has been a very thought out

so many meetings, so many, like, this has been very planned, honestly. And like very intentional. We have a mission statement. Like, I'm so excited about everything that's happening with this. And I also just want to go about it

very intentionally because that is how we've been going about it. And I feel like we have such a vision for it that I want to make sure that everything is cohesive at that point. I think 2026 is going to be a really good year for us, a really good year for you. I'm like just manifesting good things, good vibes. We actually have two big launches in the beginning of 2026. Yeah, I guess I'm becoming a career girl. I know. Yeah. How do you feel about that because like you I'm uncomfortable with it I think your whole life you thought you would be a stay-at-home mom yeah um and you you're like a part-time stay-at-home mom yeah and I'm like a part-time stay-at-home dad

which I'd never thought I would do I know but I love it I love it and so like do you like having the balance of like you're working part-time but then you're at home part-time like is that is that a good balance I'm really happy with it yeah yeah it's so good too because like I feel like we're equal players on the business side of things for our company and equal players in the parenting side of things And it's so good because, like, our children are the most important thing. Other than you, because like you're number one in my book, but it's like other than, other than you, our kids are like, you cannot put any price, any value, anything on that. Like that is our job as parents is our most important thing that we do on this earth. I know.

And I'm really grateful for we, this is far greater than anything I could have ever imagined or dreamed of for our life. So I'm just, I'm so grateful. I've been surprised at this direction that I've moved like having might more putting more work in on the career side of things and who knows what that'll look like even a year from now. But for this season of life just with all the unplanned things happening, it's been a really good outlet for me. Yeah. Like it's been a really good outlet. I'm proud of you. I think you're crushing it and it's fun to see you like be a career girly while also.

still prioritizing your family and your kids. Yeah. Could it be more proud of you. Thanks. Yeah. We'll see how long this lasts. Yeah. I could dip out at any moment.

You never know. Abby, do you want to tell people what I currently am holding in my hand right now? Is that the freaking HOA violation? It is the HOA violation. Yeah, I mean, I'm not surprised. What are your thoughts on HOAs? Are you a fan of HOAs? I'm a fan.

Are you sick of them? Because I'm kind of getting sick of HOS, if I'm being honest. I'm a fan. You can be a fan. Why are you a fan? Because it protects the name. neighborhood helps everyone keep their home values. Yes. Yes. And I feel like it keeps everyone like, it's nice to have a standard so then you don't have to just be like, why did our neighbor

freaking do that? But you can't really do anything about it. Yeah. Sometimes it does feel like it encroaches on our rights as homeowners. Yeah. Like our freaking play set for our kids joy. Yeah. This was our own fault, though. Yeah. This was, this is on me, guys. I didn't really think through the fact that putting up a play set in our backyard for our children would need to be run by our homeowners association but apparently it does it's your backyard yeah it's our own backyard and we own it's our property it's a very it's honestly it is nicer than a nice place set that's a problem it's too nice it's too tall we kind of really sent it with this thing and you know actually I I felt so like validated and buying this play set for our kids when I talked to my parents

about how much our playset was when I was a kid because I was talking to my parents and they were able to get a discount on on the placet but they said the one that we had his kids was uh was $5,000 and my parents were my parents were frugal 15 years ago my mom has always shopped to Aldi she shops the clearance section at marshals like this is a frugal queen okay but they sent it on a play set because they knew how important like child play is for kids yeah um so anyway like Playing outside using your imagination. And we're talking about 25 years ago when they bought this thing. Oh, it was 25 years ago.

Yeah, roughly. But anyway, so like do the math, do some inflation and like five grand today, 25 years later. Like, what is that? Like 15, maybe? Whoa. I don't know. I haven't run the numbers. But anyway, so the place that we got was on the Pricter side.

We did get a discount in exchange for us, like, telling people about it. So if you guys haven't seen our Instagram or TikToks, it's called a roughhouse play set. and we are you FFF yeah and I also love them too because they're not like this massive corporation they're just a very they're a local Arizona business our neighbor and Hawaii is friends with the person who started it oh that's so cool yeah yeah so it's like it's a local business so it's definitely not the cheapest option for play sets but like they're very nice very well made and our kids are obsessed you can tell it's going to it's built to last but we but we get an HOA violation which you can see it I guess from the street so or something like yeah you can you can see it if you're really looking I guess I guess you're really looking I guess you're Yeah, and so- You're really peering over our foliage. So here's the violation we got. It says, dear Matt Howard, notice a violation. It says, and then, like, sites are our section of recreational.

You mean you didn't read the whole handbook? I did not read the whole HOA handbook. But it says, no jungle gyms, swing sets, or similar playground equipment, which would be visible from neighboring properties shall be erected or installed on any lot or parcel without the prior written approval of the design review board. So I'm thinking that we're fine as long as you get this approved. Yeah. So I think I think the main thing is I didn't get approval beforehand, which like comment down below. If you live in a neighborhood with an HOA, did you think to get your play set for your kids like approved by your HOA first? I just never even thought about that.

Yeah, we should have thought of that. But I also think about like. Because it's also not our first violation. Yeah, that was for the pergola. But the pergola was we built it exactly to code. And And that's approved. Okay, perfect. I ran it through, I ran it through them. Is your skate ramp approved? The skate ramp isn't above the line of the fence. So we're good.

Oh yeah. By the way, guys, I also build a half pipe in our backyard. Just casually. And when he says a half pipe, it is. It is every bit of a half pipe. It's very legit. Yeah, I've dreamed of having a half pipe in our backyard since I was like a little kid, probably 10 years old.

I used to want to be a pro skater. And so now I'm skating out there literally every day. It's been so much fun. That's cute. The only days I haven't skated were days that it's rained. which randomly yesterday and the day before it rained. More than that, it's been raining for like a week almost. Yeah, which is rare for the desert.

It never rains here. But the boys are actually obsessed as well. They come out and they watch me skate and they cheer me on. It's cute. And hear you skate. They're like, I'm going to go out and skate. Yeah. And then whenever I fall or I need to take a break, they treat the half pipe like a slide and they just slide down it.

So that's kind of cute. That's cute. I think Abby mentioned this a couple weeks ago. We're thinking about doing skateboarding lessons for our kids and all of our friends. kids because we hosted swimming lessons after our pool was built and that was just fun having people at our house yeah we had weeks of swim lessons just you know it's like the whole neighborhood was over at our house getting swim lessons um and with the with the skate ramp now i'm like dude we could we could really teach our kids to shred you know especially if we hire someone that just

hired an instructor to come at the house and all the kids can be little yeah they could do like 10 to 15 minute private lessons per kid or we could just do a group lesson be so cute if they got all like elbow pads knee pads this skate ramp guys i thought it was going to take us a day to build it because it said eight to 10 hours to build this thing or no six to 10 hours that's crazy i got my buddy joe who flips houses to help me and paid him for his time because i was like i cannot do this by myself so i need a friend i need help and it took us joe tracked his hours it took us 37 hours to build this thing so it was over the course of five days my gosh yeah yeah i mean it makes since the guy unloading it from his truck. It's literally just lumber was like the last person

I delivered this to as a professional. It's like a huge half pipe. Yeah, it's a half pipe that like a pro skater would have in their backyard. It's pretty cool. You look like a California guy. Really? I do. That's my dream is to like indoctrinate our kids into at least one of the sports that I like so that we can share that common interest. But no matter what they like, I'm going to, I'm going to participate, whether it's like fishing or tennis or football, whatever it is. I think that's going to be, I'm hoping that we can hopefully grow up skating together, which I think will be a blast. Wow, we just got like, we were talking about the HOA violation we got on there.

What are your thoughts on our backyard? Our backyard is now essentially complete. I think we have a few more finishing touches, but it's like 99% of the way there. What are you thinking about the backyard, babe? Oh my gosh. I feel like we can't fit anything else back there. Yeah. It's not that.

I mean, it's a decent size. It's not that big, but we have made so much use of the space, which is so fun because I want our kids and I want us to be outside as much as possible. We live in like an amazing state for enjoying the sunshine and like the fresh air. And so I want to like you be out there as much as possible and it's perfect. There's like so much to do. We have people over all the time. It's great.

Matt got some citrus. Matt just randomly got this vision of kids of our kids coming inside with like their own fresh citrus from our backyard. So he just installed some new citrus trees back there. Orange. We have an orange tree, a lemon tree and a lime tree. And correct me if I'm wrong. Citrus season is in the winter. I think it is.

And the trees that we bought... Can't we grow anything here in the summer. They're pretty good sized trees. And they came with fruit already on them, thank goodness, or else we would be screwed. But I have to remind the boys not to pick the fruit off because it's like green. It's not ripe yet. And they keep ripping the fruit off the tree. They're like sweet.

They just think it's cool. They like that we have a fruit tree in our backyard. So that's fun and nice and just feels so like idyllic for childhood. Thank you to Tovallel of sponsoring this portion of today's episode. I think we've all been there where we've just opened up our fridge and just stood there, staring, and hoping that everything in our fridge. would just magically turn itself into a delicious meal that is hot and ready for you. Well, Tovala might just be the answer to these prayers because Tovala is a smart meal delivery

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Remember, with Tavala, dinner is taken care of. I'm going to miss you this weekend. I know. I'm actually going to F-1 with my brother this weekend. I'm so glad you guys are doing that. There's a race in Las Vegas, the Vegas Grand Prix. My brother's obsessed, and so this will be a great memory for us to experience. I need to make it up to Josh though because my little brother is like

he needs some sort of gift. I need to take Josh somewhere. Maybe every five years you guys do a trip or something. I know. I know. I'm stoked to go to F1. I know. I'm going to miss you too. I don't want to be away from you. It's okay. Me and Abby are just going to hang out with all the kids. Really? We're going to take the kids to see Santa tomorrow. Are they going to come hang out at our house? Yeah. Are they going to bring over Lewis their dog? I think they're bringing Lewis. What are your thoughts on having Lewis at the house? I think Abby's going to vlog it. So there might be a video of that Two of us, like with all the kids. Wait, that's so funny.

My thoughts with Lewis being at the house, I mean, I hope she brings the crate. Oh, yeah. Because I just don't know that, like, I feel like him in another house. He's going to be so curious and he might get into stuff, but I'm totally fine with it. Yeah, we, uh, my brother has had Lewis for, gosh, is it like six years now, five years? Yeah. And he's, he's like six. He's such a big dog.

Yeah, no, it'll be good. We can see if we actually like having a dog at her house, even though I feel like we're probably not going to get a dog. Yeah. Yeah, that's like, ah, the dog subject makes me... Everyone told us not to. Well, okay, what is... Why does getting a dog bring out so many conflicting opinions? Because, like, I'm not even getting you guys.

My parents have drilled it in my head since I was, like, a little kid that is a, that is a very bad idea to get a dog. See, I was talking to someone yesterday, and I was like, yeah, Matt never grew up with a dog, so it's like, he's really hard to convince of this. Yeah. And they were like, that just doesn't compute in my mind, like, growing up without a dog. Like, childhood and dogs are just like... I know, and that's your childhood.

You grew up with a dog. We invited the opinions, but now I'm sick of the opinions. I know. This is where we messed up, guys, because we should have just made a decision between us, never told any of you about it, never told any of our family. I know them giving their opinions is fine. Okay, it's okay. You guys can give your opinion on the dog.

It's the internal opinions. From friends and family. That you invited. I'm not mad at them for giving their opinions. You're like, should we get a dog? I thought we both did that. No, I didn't invite it. That was only me.

Well, I think at the early stages, I did invite it. Okay. And then when I was like, okay, this is a lot of feedback. I cut it off. But then you kept inviting it. You have diarrhea of the mouth. So then everyone told us not to. And so I guess we're not going to anymore, which is a bummer.

But also probably wise, they probably had good reason for giving us that feedback. There's not a single person that has told me, let's do it, do it. That's not true. Wait. Adi and Blake are literally like, get a dog. You're right. They're the only people that have said that. But they also are huge dog people.

They love their dogs. They're obsessed with their dogs. It is a big decision, though. Like, it's crazy how, like, you're committing to, like, 10, maybe 15 years. But I learned so much as a kid having a dog. And I also just think it is, like, it's so comforting to have, like, a little sweet furball. Just like, that's always excited for you to be home. Yeah.

So, I mean, we probably still will get one eventually, but I think it's off the table for now, which is probably for the best. I'm manifesting this right now. I don't know if this is legit, but like, picture this with me, Christmas, 2026, newborn, dog, what, what are your thoughts on that? Like, having a, having, like, a puppy essentially, because I think they're in that puppy stage the first, like, year or two. What do you mean? Like, how do you feel about having, like, yeah, like a new, you know, we'd have, what, we'd have a three, we'd have a three and a four-year-old, a newborn, and then a puppy. How does that feel? Is that good? Does that feel stressful? You can't get a puppy when you have a newborn. Oh, yeah. Not at the same time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we would either get one before we have another baby or we get one after we're done having all of our babies. Or maybe think about this. Like, talk about how would it be having a puppy during pregnancy? How would that feel?

I don't know. That's what's scary. I've never done it. I know. I've never been pregnant and had a puppy. I feel like with most things in life, you kind of just do whatever you have to do. Like it's like, because sometimes you ask people like, man, how did you get through that? And it's like kind of just had to.

Like, it's not like I had a choice to not. Well, that's how I feel about having kids back to back. And they were like, how did you nurse your entire pregnancy? I'm like, well, I had to. Yeah. Well, I guess I didn't have to, but I felt like I had to. I feel like a lot of moms relate to that feeling with breastfeeding. It's like, you certainly don't have to do it.

Yeah. But you, on your own conscience, for some reason, I literally think it's biological, hormonal, something. Yeah. It just makes you feel like you have to. And I don't remember it being especially difficult because I was like, well, I just, in my mind, I had to. So I just did it. And you make peace with it and you make it work. Who knows what 2026 will bring?

Who knows what the. year my 27th year on earth will bring we're just hoping for good things but i know that i'm prepared better than i've ever been for to face hard things this is one of the top comments from our q and a episode um from a few weeks ago and this person is giving their advice on a dog they said as someone who has lived with dogs my whole life i've had five to six dogs so far currently living with two dogs and now also a mom to a six-month-old. I really believe this. Get a dog for you, not for the kids. A dog needs your presence, your guidance, your time. Get a dog because you want to spend time outdoors. Learn together. Move, play, explore, build a bond. I've seen many family

dogs become sad and disconnected because no one is truly involved with them. My dogs are the reason I stay grounded. They're my companions, not a gift to the household. Dogs need their humans. They need connection, routine, and quality time every day. I think my big whole hold up right now is like the idea of travel because like if it was completely up to me right I feel like we'd be traveling four months out of the year and spend like a month in Europe spending a month in Hawaii like I feel like if it was just all what Matt Howard wants that's what I would choose and I wouldn't feel right as an owner that way yeah that's fair unless we had like a friend or family member that's like very invested in our dog and has a relationship with

our dog that would want to watch a dog when we do longer travels so that's And I know we have friends that have dogs and they have a set up like that where their dog will go to like their parents' house or their siblings' house and the dog knows that person and they have a relationship. And they're not sad there. I would never want a dog to be in a situation where they feel sad. Yeah. Or they have a house sitter that like it has a good relationship with the dog that's a friend

or family member. So I think that could be a really good way to go about it. If we want to travel is just like having that set up. But yeah, that's cool. I love that, though, because, like, we are home a lot. No, I would not get, my, our kids are two and three. I would not get the dog for them. Yeah.

Because they, first of all, don't even know what that commitment looks like. They don't, like, they have no frame of reference to, like, consent to that. You know what I mean? Like, I do think that they could benefit a lot from having a dog. But ultimately, the dog would be for us, for us, our family. And I think there are ways, there are ways to make it easier. Like, we can get the dog professionally trained so that the dog is like. talking yourself back into having a dog. I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm trying to I. It's not happening. Don't say

that. Don't say that. It could very well happen. Maybe we record this whole episode and then you by the time you are watching this, we have a dog. Who knows? Here's the thing. This is what you should take from this. We would never make this decision lightly. We've been discussing this at length for months now. Here's the problem. And we still can't arrive out a conclusion. So I think that means that we just need to pump the breaks until we have like sorted out every what if scenario and like made. sure that we would be welcoming this dog into a happy, loving, well-supported home. Thank you to Ollie Pop for sponsoring this portion of today's episode. You guys, listen to this.

That right there is the sound of pineapple deliciousness. Ollie Pop just came out with a new SpongeBob flavor, and we are loving it. It is Pineapple Paradise, and it's the first of its kind, actually. It's a limited edition flavor inspired by SpongeBob's iconic pineapple home. Let me give you guys the flavor profile for a second. It's juicy pineapple sweetness with a splash of mandarin. It's basically pure liquid joy, just like SpongeBob himself. This new limited time flavor comes in five collectible SpongeBob can designs, hidden inside four packs.

This one right here, we got SpongeBob. Honestly, just having a grand old time. His arms are up like he's on a roller coaster. Our kids also think these are really fun, but what we love about Oli Pop is that almost every American has some sort of relationship with soda from their childhood. Some people grew up drinking it all the time and then quit. some people are still addicted in trying to quit. Olipop offers a delicious alternative to traditional soda using a functional ingredient blend to support digestive health. And the thing I love about OliPop is there's so little added sugar compared to other soda brands.

For instance, this can in particular only has three grams of added sugar. And some Ollipop cans have as little as two grams of added sugar. Here's the thing, you guys. You got to trust us when we say OliPop is actually delicious. Sometimes when people are like, oh, I don't really like. sparkling water. It's not like sparkling water. It's basically like a delicious soda and we are major fans in this household. The whole top shelf of our fridge is literally just designated for lollipops and it's our favorite thing when people come over. We're like, let me hook you up with an

olipop. So get $2 off a four pack of olip at drinkollip.com slash unplanned. This works on any flavor of four pack, including SpongeBob at any retailer. Alipop is sold online and available in almost 50,000 retailers nationwide, including Costco, Walmart, Target, Publix, Whole Foods, Kroger, and H.E.B. Let me say this, though, I make decisions, especially big decisions, over a very long time. Like, I have to really think through it and verbally process things out loud and think through every single scenario. I think that's wise. I do that. Like, if I'm, especially, if I'm making, like, say, a big purchase, I don't do it right away. Like, it takes me sometimes months, sometimes years to think through a big purchase.

I think that's where people can misunderstand you. Yeah. Like you seem so spontaneous. Yeah. And like in ways you are. Yeah. But when it comes to decision making, you're not at all. Yeah.

Well, because like with the half pipe, right? Like everyone was like, how, why is there like all this wood that's getting delivered for this half pipe format to build? Because I just like bought it about a month ago. That's what seems spontaneous. It's because like once you've made your decision, it feels like, it feels fast. Yes. But it's like you've actually been contemplating internally about it for years.

I actually, I wanted it as a kid, could not afford to buy it as a kid. And it wasn't until we owned a house. I was like, oh, we could do this. But I didn't buy it right away because it was still like, oh, that's a lot of money. Do I actually want to make this purchase? Almost bought it a year ago. But then we moved. So I was like, I'm going to hold off until that.

And then our backyard was getting finished. So, yeah, we're just honestly, we probably shouldn't invite this many opinions in real time. us talking about this on the podcast is probably a bad idea i know yeah well it's it depends like i think a dog is a little bit more yeah i don't know even with a dog though i think i think it's probably wiser just to not share that i think you should ask people's advice but honestly i think at the scale in which we're receiving advice it's maybe too much that's true no that's valid i would say that that's really good yeah that's i think that's i think that it's really hard to have clarity with that many voices and I think and so now we're just we have cold feet and we're frozen well I think another

reason like I think about my parents right why do my parents always drill into me that getting a dog was a bad decision and I think back to you know there there were times that finances were tight growing up and if finances are tight and you're spending money on like your dog's medical expenses and their food and then you want to travel but then you have to pay for the doggy hotel like it can be a lot it can be a financial burden on a family um so I I think that's a big part of it. I also think just like my mom has allergies to dogs. So that was another reason too.

I want to say though my allergies to dogs have has like gone down, I think. I think yours is more so towards cats. It's really bad with cats. So then I'm like maybe that was because we did talk about a cat also at one way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

We're basically we're just paralyzed at this point because we've gotten so much feedback. We're just paralyzed. And so who knows what will come of it. What's that called? We're not trying to dangle it because trust me, we are just. Just as conflicted. Is it called decision paralysis? Decision paralysis, yeah.

Yeah. This whole dog conversation has become a big topic in our family amongst our friends. Even in the comment section of our latest solo episode, we have another top comment. We have a golden and she's incredible, all caps. Amazing with kids and so chill. Stella just turned 16. Holy crap. She's definitely on the downhill climb, but just so precious and loyal to our family.

We've had her longer than we've had kiddos. wow oh that's actually gonna make me cry because when my grandpa's dog riley who was a golden when he was on the decline the saddest part was when he couldn't jump in my grandpa's truck anymore because they loved going on truck rides and he couldn't he just put his paws up there and he just like looked at my grandpa like help me it was sad but i mean here's the thing the joy that that dog gave me and the love that he had like it was so immense so oh we just have too many opinions guys i feel like if we had like literally just internally decided yeah we probably would have made a decision but because there's just such a scale of opinions and we don't want to do anything carelessly ever

and like especially i feel like here's my fear a lot of people impulsively get a dog and then they're not prepared to actually like support that dog in their house i absolutely never ever ever want to do that well let me say i don't take it lightly because i mean we've had dogs before we know what i know what this commitment looks like you know what it's like i never ever ever want to take it lightly. So it's like, that's why we've just been thinking about it and mulling over it for so long. And it's not as big of a commitment as having a child. Like we've already had two children. We're planning on having more children. A comment, this is actually another top comment. This has 107 likes. It says, as someone who didn't grow up with the dog, but desperately wanted one,

I would just wait until you feel like your oldest can take ownership of feeding the dog or letting the dog out of the backyard. That way you're sharing responsibility and teaching responsibility. So that's, I really like that comment. But I think what people don't realize is like three-year-old. are so independent already. Like our son is already able to go to the bathroom on his own. He's he's getting dressed. He told him the other day I said go take a nap. And he just did. He went in his room all he was already sleeping in there there quietly. I watched on the monitor. He quietly shut the door climbed out to his bed, pull up his covers and took a nap. I was like wait a minute. When did you become an adult? I just got this vision of Griffin growing up with the dog and like going off to

college and stop. I don't know because if if we got a dog now and the dog loves to be 16. Griffin would be 19. I know. So I just see this like sweet relationship, the sweet bond. Because think about Griffin like he's old enough to put food in the dog's bowl. He's old enough to let the dog out to go potty. I just see, I see him building so much confidence from. We have a finished backyard now that's safe for dogs and kids. Yes. I don't want the dog pooping and peeing on the turf, but I think I could just bring in some gravel. Are we talking ourselves into it now? I think I am. Oh my gosh. I kind of want to go get it after the podcast. I'm not even kidding. You're freaking me out. I'm too scared. I'm down. Are you okay to take care of it while I'm at F1? You'll be by yourself. I'm

okay to go get it. I'm just so nervous. Did we just talk ourselves? We don't tell anybody. We just leave and go get it in our car, right after the podcast. I'm going to throw up. Why can we just go? I'm too scared. We've talked about this forever. This has been, it's this classic Matt Howard move. We've talked about this four years. We almost got one years ago. We didn't. In Hawaii, we were out to get one. I know. We almost got a golden retriever in Hawaii. Then we got pregnant with our first kid, but we were also in the process of buying a house, the newborn stage was hard. Like, I think now could work.

This is another one. Agreed. This ended up being what my parents did unintentionally and took a lot of care along with them. It's less of a burden on a young family. Dogs are amazing, but I learned it took away my time with the kids, which can affect how well-trained the dog is. What I didn't learn was to wait like my parents did.

Oops. I think that what that person is saying is they didn't think about how the dog could take away time from their kids. But I think it depends on your kids' ages, right? Because with Griffin right now, like, if I'm cleaning the backyard, he wants to hose off the, you know, the travertine with me, right? So I'm like actively teaching him how to do chores and responsibilities because he's so interested in like doing things with me, whether it's cleaning or sweeping. He's even, I gave him an attachment on our dice and vacuum. Oh, yeah, he can vacuum the car with me.

He likes to vacuum. Like, he's learning all these things and he's excited. He can shred cheese. He's good at it too. He's really good at it. He's more than capable of letting the dog out to go potty and more than capable. But we can't put that burden on him. We can't, but I think like...

If he wants to participate, he can. Yes. I think if anything I've determined from this, it's like, we can't make decisions for our kids. No, but I think they're like, okay, well, that's not, that aren't necessary. Yes, but I think like there, you say that, but then it's like, you need to teach your kid how to go to the bathroom. You need to teach your kid how to put on their clothes. Like, no, I totally think there's a lot of responsibilities they can make, but we can't get this dog being like, you're going to love this so much and have such a close bond and feel so happy that we have this. No, no, it's going to be, like, here's how I approach it.

It's like the dog is my responsibility, but Griffin's like my apprentice in a way. And I'm going to like every time I go to feed the dog, give the dog water, take the dog on the walk. I'm going to bring Griffin with me so he can learn the process of what it is. And I've learned that doing that, they end up wanting to help. Exactly. I just see it bringing so much joy and happiness into our family. Is it going to be too stressful though? We got to wait.

No, I'm down to do it right now. The problem is here's what happened, guys. There was a golden retriever that Abby really wanted and then someone bought the golden retriever. Yeah. And now there's a new golden retriever available. that Abby really wants. No, don't put this on me. Don't put this on me.

I'm out. I'm out on this decision. I'm too. I don't trust myself. I want to make this decision together. I love you. I love you. Okay.

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Stop, breathe this up. I'm scared. Can we just call and ask if the, if the Golden Reserve? is available? I can tell if it's available. Why am I nervous right now? I know. Don't do it if you're nervous because I'm scared. But I'm, but I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm scared. I'm going to puke. I'm going to go right with you right now. I'm out. I'm out. You look so hot. No, stop. Don't do that because I'm hot. Leverage your beauty and let's go get a dog right now. Come on. It's so out. Why is this? See, we're literally like, we're going to have boundaries and we're

not going to talk about these things. What the heck? We've broken every rule. Okay, let's talk about something else let's talk about turkey trot i are we running i want to go get a dog right now oh my god is that okay not a dog the dog the dog i want to get the dog that you want to get this dog is so cute and i loved holding it and petting it it was so chill is that a good thing do we want a dog that's like really chill does that mean she's going to be very well behaved pretzel's going to be well behaved let's go get her someone told me the test to do with puppies obviously they're going to get burst of energy yeah what is to see if you can cradle them and if they'll let you cradle them because other ones like flip out she let us hold her she let us cradle her should you go hold her

right now don't do this let's go let's go i'm ready right now you have a call we're filling a podcast i can take my i have a stomachache i have a call with the lawyer in 20 minutes but i can take it while we're there let's go let's go come on if we're doing it we're doing it together are you in like are you like prepared for this waking up in the night i'll wake up in the night here's what we'll do i'll do the nighttime stuff with the dog and you do the daytime stuff with the dog cool sure can do nighttime too we'll just work as a team we'll work as a team with this dog i'm scared i are you scared why are you scared because i feel like it's a big commitment i'm like i don't want to just do this impulsively your brother and our sister-in-law already said that they want to watch the dog

because they love dogs well we're going to be watching it all the time it's just like if we we have a couple if we have a couple things already planned yeah like our europe trip in february so that's that's when they could watch the dog well when we go to silver dollar city in december yeah Are they going to be out of town? No, they'll be in town. Okay. They'll be here. So maybe that's what we do.

We need to talk with everybody. Do you want to bring... I want to make sure that the trips that we already have planned, just a couple short trips that we have planned, that there's a home that is good for them. Well, because the puppy stages is tough. They wake up in the night. They need to go potty. They need to be trained on all that.

But I know we know a lot of dog owners. We know a lot of dog people. We need to do some more research, I feel like. I mean, here's honestly, something that eases my brain is our sister-in-law, who is literally our assistant for like yeah our business she's a huge dog person so if we ever need like support as far as that like she's the emergency what do we do about this she knows what to do she grew up with dogs she has dogs also my friend that showed me this puppy knows a lot about like we have we have the support we have the community that we need for this she could also maybe

potentially watch here's where i feel guilty is like because i'm not necessarily a dog person i don't want to accept all the help and then feel the feel like i need to watch watch everyone else's dog because I don't necessarily want to do that so then I'm like more on the side of let's just like pay for the puppy hotel when we travel and stuff oh gosh wait why not don't do that well first of all they can't even go into a hotel until they have all their shots oh which they can't get until they're three months old oh see I don't even know all this stuff I know nothing but you you clearly know this stuff and you're so excited about it and I want you to I just I love seeing you happy and joyful and no I don't I don't trust myself why don't you trust yourself because I'm an emotional roller coaster

I don't trust myself to make a good decision. I'm married. I'm an emotional real close, and I love you. I love you just as you are. This is where we got in trouble. We freaking named it. That's why I just want to go now before we get, I get cold feet again.

I don't, I don't want to like, I just want to go. We'll come up this podcast then. Okay. Should we bring Addie in here to see. Go get Addie. If she can watch the dog while we're in Silver Dollar City. This is so off the rails. Everyone give it up for Addy Biswell.

Woo. Hello. What's happening? I'm here. Okay. Do you want to just ask her if she, or, We're not pregnant. Oh, yeah.

Let's just say that right now. Okay. You're going to tell her about Syrily and ask the question. No. What is happening? We're trying to debate if we should get a dog or not. Of course you should get a dog. You know what I'm going to say that, Addy?

Here's problem, Addy. So everyone has told us not to do it except for you. But here's the thing. I want to do it now before I get cold feet again because I'm just so excited and Abby's so excited. And I think they have. We don't want to do this naively. Like, we're going to be waking up in the night with a puppy. Yes.

Okay. Here's my thing. I've only had a dog in an apartment. You have a house. You can just let your dog out in the backyard. Doggy door too. And we did that with an apartment. So easier. I don't think you need a doggy door. That's a little. You have to redo your door. Oh, yeah. It's a lot of work. Okay. But the reason I said yes is because I love dogs. I really do. I really, really do. And I love my dogs. Everyone says you're going to hate your dogs after kids stuff. I still love my dogs. Okay, well, we're going to Silver Dollar City mid-December. You're asking me to watch your dogs. Yes. That's what Madge. It's asking. Yes. Okay. Because isn't that bad to put your dog in like a, oh yeah, we can't do this. We can cut this out too. No, no, no, it's fine. I'm thinking logistically because we have two dogs and a baby.

Yeah, that's a lot. And I'd love to watch your dog, but I'm trying to think you also can get a dog sitter. True. I have plenty of dog sitter. That's true. And they know how to deal with puppies. But is that sad for the puppy if we just get the puppy and then they have to watch a dog sitter? Okay.

They don't know who you are. No. You think it's not rude to them? No. No. So we can get, we can pay for a dog. I think for a little dog, they don't know. We're only going to be gone literally three days. Thursday through Sunday, I think is what it is. It's literally three days. I think it'd be totally fine to get a dog sitter. And I have people I could recommend to you for that. But if I didn't have a baby, yes. But also I'm like, could a puppy even be around big dogs though. That's what I was more. I was like, I don't want to bring my dogs over. I also don't necessarily want to bring your puppy into our house to pee on our stuff. Because the puppy could get hurt by your big dogs. No, she just said pee on our stuff. They can pee on your stuff. Yeah. My dogs are potty trained.

So. How long is it going to take us to potty train this puppy probably? I mean, like a week or two if you're like dedicated to like taking it out every time and getting on to the puppy. Thanksgiving is next week. Is that bet, does this make this better or worse? When are you getting the puppy? Maybe today. We might go right now.

I'm scared. They, we're pretty sure they still have the puppy. If they have the puppy yet, we're going to go get it right now, I think. Max showed us a dog. Should we? A little bold retreat. Don't tell anyone else, I'll don't be the one that says supposing. Are you crying right now?

Oh, my God. I don't know if we should do this. I think we should. I think we should. Let's just send it. It's a cute little golden retriever. Can you teach us everything? You don't have to teach us everything.

We've done research. But like I need your, I need you to just like, if we need to call you and be like, what do we do? Yes. Here's where I feel guilty, which I think if we just pay for a dog sitter, then I'll feel less guilty because I don't want to ask like other dog people to watch her dog. Listen, we always get a dog sitter and we always pay a dog sitter. We don't ever have our friends or family watch our dogs. And they stay at our house.

We'll just do that then. Yeah, because I don't want to make the dog sad. And you don't want the dog to go to a new place either. And so we keep our dogs. I'm texting a dog sitter right now to come over and meet our dogs today. Oh, no way. You know, so. Okay.

Yeah, because that's the thing like I don't want to be, when we travel, I want the dog to feel safe and loved. And I just want to be mindful of that. And then also with our friends and family, like I don't want to, because I'm not really a dog person but I'm going to know I'm going to love this dog so I don't want to be like oh come watch our dog but we're not going to watch yours so if we pay for a sitter then yeah I think a sitter is fine because even if you had family watch the dog you'd probably still want to pay them like it's like I've watched other family members dogs and they've still paid me to do it you know

doing that but I think the best thing for your dog is keeping it at your house yeah and so then you have someone come stay at your house watch the dog spend time with them do that and so be smart anyway because we get a lot of packages I feel like yeah and just just a house sitter while you're gone, too. How do we keep this dog from pooping and peeing on our turf? Should I just, like, put in some gravel and convince it? Or maybe we make a turf section. Yeah.

They're going to poop on the turf. I think they need to. But you can clean it, though. Yes, and you can have people come and clean your turf. Okay, we'll have to do that. So I think doing that. And I think it's a good skill to, like, teach the boys how to clean up the poop. And, you know, like, then that's a chore for them.

Like, they can learn how to feed the dog. Like, then they're starting to, like, learn how to take care of something. Are they too young? No. Because Griffin, they may have so much fun with it. Oh, I think they'll love it. And Griffin can, you're so cute. Are they hurt it? No, no. Because Griffin, you've seen them with our dogs and they're fine. But your dogs are big. It's a puppy. They'll love to play. Like, the puppy may like nibble on the boys. That's what you have to like be like, be like, be like, he's not hurting the kids, you know, like teaching him that. I kind of want to go get the dog like right now. Let's walk this through. We have a lot of stuff going on this week. And the puppy.

Is Abby coming to stay with you? Should the puppy meet Santa tomorrow? Cute. But you're not going to... I'm so in love with you. I'm scared in this episode. I feel like we're having another child. I feel like...

Oh, my gosh. You have to get stuff. Yeah. You have to go get... Let's go buy it up today. Here's a thing. That's exactly what Blake and I did. We found a dog.

We went and got it that day and then we went and bought everything for him. We actually drove two hours to get Wrigley. You have to go get a bed, get a crate, get food. Just watch, here, go back. I'll plug it. Go watch the video of you guys watching Wrigley when he was a puppy for a day. And that's just what it's going to be.

It's going to be so fun. Yeah. That's fine. We have a lot of peeed on our carpet. We need a leash. We're going to get a gate so that it can't go upstairs because we want to keep it on the hard place. So if you get the puppy today, we need to find something to block. You could just even put like a cardboard box or something at the end of the stairs.

And then they can't go up the stairs. And so you just have to keep doors shut. But I feel like the dog needs to sleep with that. sleep with us for a little bit like in our room so they know that they're safe yeah we we let him sleep in our we have to put it on your bed you can have them sleep in there what we did what we did with rigley is we fed him in his crate so it was a safe place for him he's like oh I get food in my crate so then he like liked his crate but you make the crate smaller so that way they feel safe because if it's too big they'll poop and pee in there oh because they'll go to one side of it

and do their bathroom stuff and then the other side this is the master bed this is I'm so, can you screw over? I'm so glad we have our sister-in-law, Addy, who knows all this stuff. Well, are also your brother and owns a dog. We all have a dog. But my brother told me many times not to get a dog. But we're just to say, screw you, Caleb. We're doing it anyway.

So everyone who's telling him not to get a dog can blame me. Everyone comment. Everyone comment down below. Screw you, Caleb. Oh my gosh, I'm scared. Are you scared? Yeah, it's a big commitment. I don't want to take it lightly.

I don't want to just be like, oh, This is so cute and fun. You've been thinking about it. For months and years. You have been thinking about what people might say. You've been thinking about this before you were ever even pregnant too about like getting a dog. Oh yeah. So I feel like that's something that like people might be thinking that like you're doing it at this time for this reason. This is the perfect time in between your kids. And we both work from home, which is the perfect thing. We're home all the time. You do travel a lot, but if you find a good dog sitter, they're going to be happy. My dogs jump on our dog sitter when she comes. Like, they hate when we're leaving, but they love her too.

Yeah. And they can stay at their house. Yeah. And they stay there and they can take care of them. They can take them on walks. It would be better than having even a family. And I don't think he knows it yet, but I think Matt Bezwell is going to freaking love this dog. Oh, Matt Bezwell loves dogs.

Yeah. He's just, we just don't always trust him with ours. Yeah. I think well, Abby's dad like goes on runs literally every day. I guarantee you he's going to start taking our dog on runs. He doesn't take our dog on runs. Oh, okay, maybe not. Maybe not.

Maybe I'll be the one to hear of runs. Dogs are, yeah. My dogs don't walk in. straight line you guys just saw us make this this decision in real time people wow let's just go do it now i don't want to look back let's go ready do you feel confident about this to come in and you guys tell him okay he won't come on the podcast let me see if he will yeah blake come on the podcast he's not going to do it he'll be off camera okay blake guess what i think we've decided that we're getting a dog oh we're gonna go on the podcast we're gonna go buy the dog no right now yeah is it a bad idea

No? You don't think so? Are you excited to us or no? You think we can be trusted to be good pet owners? I think so. The puppy looks pretty chill. Unless we're traveling, we're at our house 24-7. Yeah, you guys are home a lot.

We're home all day, every day. And if we're traveling, we'll just get a dog sitter. Dogs are definitely easier than babies, so. Yeah. Done babies twice. Yeah. That baby's twice. So you can do dogs.

Oh, yeah. Okay. There we have it, people. Blake. Here's the thing. Blake is not the type of person to just tell me what I want to hear, so I trust you. Do you want to go meet her? Yeah, sure.

Let's go.