BABY NAME VIBES

Welcome to the Carpool podcast with Kelly.

I'm just gonna speak my truth for a second.

I'm so over private accounts

telling people how to use their platforms.

You have a platform.

So like if there's a,

and I mean this with my whole chest,

if there's a topic that you're super passionate about,

go public and Liz.

I like very, very, very few names.

And I feel like I've heard all of the names

and nothing is sticking with me.

Your mom time off starts now.

Welcome back to the Carpool podcast with Kelly.

And Liz.

And it's Friday.

It's another Friday.

Another Friday in the Lints, another fish fry, Friday.

Very exciting.

I'll tell you what,

I'm feeling so much better than I was on the last episode.

Yeah.

I was like, here's what I've done

to prepare myself for today.

Cause like I woke up feeling so sick

and I couldn't do that to you guys again.

So here's what I did.

I ordered door, I door dashed breakfast.

And I took a, what's it, what's Zofran?

Whatever medicine my doctor gave me.

And I'm drinking my, I didn't try and have a coffee

cause coffee has not been sitting well with me.

So I'm having one of these gorgie energy drinks,

which is like a green tea energy, which for me-

Oh, I got those.

I got those too.

Did you get the orange ones?

No, I got my cans are blue.

I don't know what I got.

I like, I like an orange twist.

It's a green tea caffeine, which feels healthier.

So I got those.

And first of all, being sugar-free, it's, it's,

I was not prepared for the level of mental gymnastics.

It would take on me because that can says no sugar,

no aspartane.

So I'm like, so it's sugar-free.

But then go to the ingredients.

This isn't something called like sugar clus

or sucrose or something.

It says no sucralose.

Filtered carbonated water, citric acid,

natural orange flavor, another natural flavors,

potassium citrate, caffeine from green tea,

stevia glycosides.

Oh yeah, stevia.

It has stevia, which is, which isn't added sugar.

But like, so it's just so confusing

because they're like sugar-free, but then it has that.

But maybe that's okay.

And then I'm just, I'm just, I'm finding it's really exhausting

with all the mental gymnastics.

It is to just figure out like what is technically sugar-free.

And it's also like, you know, I'm kind of a,

since I'm kind of choosing my own adventure,

I'm just also trying to get organized

with what that adventure is.

Yeah.

And I have, I have a three-nager here.

Fred, just say hello for a second.

Just come on, say hi.

Hi, Fred.

This is Fred, how old are, how old are you?

A three.

He's three and for those,

since you can't say if he is holding up the number three.

He's kind of going through it.

Like he normally, Fred is like the most happiest, luckiest,

like just super easy guy.

And he turned three in January.

And he, I would not have described Fred

as like a terrible twos.

I will have described him as a three-nager.

Like just almost, it's a light switch.

It's a light switch and it's actually like really,

Fred, now I love you so much, but it's a little bit annoying

because like James was a full blown terrible twos.

And now, and Fred was the sweetest.

And now like James is getting sweet

and like Fred's a three-nager.

And so now they're like still arguing

and it's like, can you guys just be on the same page?

Yeah, I'm hoping that this,

I don't know, I mean, his speech has gotten a lot better.

Like we did a little speech therapy for him

and he really like connected some dots.

And I think there's a level of like now that he can communicate

and he knows that he can communicate.

He like doesn't understand how words

don't get him exactly what he wants.

I think like that's a level of it.

He's also home now instead of like the other kids

were a daycare at this age.

So maybe I'm just seeing more of that.

That could be.

So sweet.

It's like, and I'm always just like trying to,

when he's sweet, he's so sweet.

And when he's sour, he's so sour.

It's like, the ups and the downs of Fred Stumpy

on a daily basis, it's just, it's a lot.

No, and I don't think that's unique to Fred Stumpy.

I just think that's how they are like this age.

So it's so funny because like I had boy, girl, boy, girl.

And I, George and Hattie are the same distance apart

as Fred and Libby.

So my biggest gap is between Hattie and Fred.

So I have bigs and littles.

And Tyler and I always talk about like how blessed are we

that we basically get to experience it all twice.

Like a sweet brother sister relationship twice.

Well, the other day I took Fred and Libby to Aldi.

And I was like, this is not George and Hattie.

This is, what is this?

Like these two, Libby is trying to jump out

of the shopping cart and Fred is running around the store.

And George and Hattie would have just sat there

and enjoyed being out of the house.

Fred and Libby, not good enough for them.

And it just goes to show that when you have toddlers,

if you have a well-behaved toddler,

it's not because you're a good parent.

Like, no, and it is, and it is because you're a good parent.

But so much of it is luck.

And like I say this, if Sloan would have been my first child,

I would have been like, oh my gosh, parenting is so easy.

I am so good at this.

Like everyone else is a sucker.

Like I'm an amazing parent naturally.

Because she's so easy.

And James was, has been hard at like every,

he's given me every barrier.

And I just, there's so much to their personality.

I mean, you raised, you had the identical,

like you're a better mom than you were

when you had George and Hattie because you know more.

It should be easier.

You should be better.

And there's so much to it that's just their personality.

And like nothing you can control.

No, it's kind of like, it's kind of like my previous

experience is making it worse.

Like it's making it harder on me because I'm like,

wait, this isn't right.

Like this is not, but.

Yeah.

They are also so much, I don't know.

Fred and Libby, it's just gonna be,

it's just gonna be fun because they're gonna be,

they're gonna have a totally different relationship

that George and Hattie.

And it's just so fun to like have my kids

grouped like that naturally.

It's the bigs and the littles.

And then I told Tyler, it's the boys and the girls.

It's the middles and the bookends.

Like we just have all these fun little combinations.

And it is fun.

I mean, for as challenging as Fred is some days,

it's so fun to see his personality.

And like Fred has so much personality.

Like he is going to be, he, I can't believe,

and I feel like maybe some of you guys have kids like this,

like the sense of humor that Fred has,

like before Fred could talk,

when Fred could say three words,

he was still making a joke.

Like if we were to ask Fred what his name was,

he would say, Dada, and start laughing.

Like he got humor before he got speech.

It's like, it's just very interesting.

So he is so funny and no one makes me laugh

more than Fred in this house,

but he's a little wild right now.

So Fred's in the house.

So if you hear anything, it's Fred.

It's Fred.

Thank you for joining us, Fred.

We're happy to have you.

And I do have like our nanny is here,

but would you rather hear like Fred playing Legos

in the background or would you rather hear Fred

screaming upstairs because he's not allowed to be in here.

So it's kind of like a choose your own,

like choose, choose your background noise at this point.

I'm choosing the Legos in the podcast studio.

The classic, you have not mastered the sneak away

in the way that I have with the nanny.

We have a nanny too.

No.

And you just have to, if you're a work from home

and you have a nanny, you just simply have to

find an opportunity, sneak away and then hide in a room

until things have settled down.

Yeah, no, my house is just kind of set up differently.

Like I don't have an upstairs, I don't have an office.

I'm just kind of like everywhere all at once.

Well, actually this is, we're kind of like going so out of

order, but once we're talking about nannies,

we did have a childcare advice question.

And I wanted to answer this question

because I wanted to get like our two cents.

But then also I think that this would be such a good

conversation in the Carpool Facebook group

because I think there's probably a lot of opinions

and I'm kind of curious on everyone's situation.

So this comes from Jen.

I'm needing some advice on how to find a sitter

and or good childcare.

I have three kids and have been a stay-at-home mom forever,

but I'm dabbling in a new career mostly from home.

How did you find your nanny, Liz?

What about date night setters?

What does that normally cost?

I'm only needing two to three days for my youngest two,

who will be one and three.

The grandma's aren't around much and no village

to be found, so I have no clue where to start.

So here's what I know.

Number one, I found my nanny on CARE.com.

I think I got, I think there's a lot of goodnannysoncare.com.

I also think I got like incredibly lucky.

She is wonderful and we love her.

My advice for finding a nanny on CARE.com

is like always check the references first

because literally the reason I went with this girl

was because I called her reference

and she gave like the most glowing review of her.

So definitely always call the reference.

And I originally thought when I hired my nanny,

I wanted someone like older than me,

like maybe like more of like a grandma age,

someone who's been through it

because my kids were really young at the time

and the 15-month age gap is just hard.

So I almost hired like a 60-year-old woman,

but then she like ghosted me.

And so then I was back to square one

and found my nanny who's young, she's in her 20s,

and I didn't realize how much for me

that just really works well

because she's like on the playground with my kids.

Like she's crawling through tunnels with my kids.

Like it's such a physical and active job

and to have someone who is young

has been beneficial for me.

I never ended up hiring someone who was older,

but I am happy that I hired a young girl.

And like we just connect.

Like she's just like having another sister.

What do you like date night centers normally cost?

I think you're like you're in the $20 to $25 an hour range.

Yeah, I think you're in the...

Is my experience.

I do 20.

Yeah.

So I mean, you can like ask them,

but like that's what I would expect.

I think you can also kind of depend on how old they are

and what their experience is.

And I think like what like they're expected to do.

They're like, when we do date nights,

like I try to make sure, unless it's like a longer event,

like if it's just like a true date night,

like I try to make sure kids are fed,

baths are done.

And like we just like leave a little later in the night

because like I think that's chaotic

to ask someone to do like baths and dinner

by themselves with your four kids.

So I try to be like, you know, like let's say they come at,

like let's say we leave at six.

I just do, you know, dinners done,

kitchens cleaned, baths are done.

Let them watch TV and then they go,

but in two hours, just try to survive.

Okay, that's a good hack.

I kind of do the opposite.

And I say, if I'm leaving at six, come here at 4.30.

So I can go upstairs and get ready.

And like you can...

Well sure, no sure.

And I might, sometimes I do that, but then like,

but then it's like, okay, you're just,

I'm going to get ready and then I'm going to help you

do these things and we're not going to leave the house

until bath and dinner are done.

Or at least until you're in a good spot.

Yeah, that's a good point.

And then the other thing, this is not my experience,

but I have had friends who do this because she said

she only needs childcare two to three days a week.

There are things called nanny shares

where you share a nanny with another family.

So if they only need a nanny two to three days a week

and you do too, you kind of do like,

you get her these days and him or her,

and they get him or her these days, that is a thing.

And that's effective for some people.

So anyway, that's like just my experience.

And I know that there's a lot of opinions around childcare.

So I think we should move this over to the carpool group

because I would love to know what people's hourly rates are

and just like what your experiences are

with finding childcare and all that.

Well, I'd like it to be done in a very positive manner.

In a very positive manner.

Some people are being a little mouthy

and I'm just saying, you know,

I have a zero tolerance policy for mouthiness.

Yeah, we're all just trying to figure it out, guys.

Come on.

I will tell you that my nanny experience

is a little bit different

because I actually have a no pair,

which I've never talked about.

That's why I'm like...

Only because, and honestly, we've recorded a podcast

and then I like went back and deleted it

because I just like, I don't know.

I just feel like who takes care of my kids

is letting no one's business.

It's a private thing.

You don't need to share.

It's a very private thing.

But we have had our au pair for over a year

and she is absolutely the best thing in the world.

She is a total member of our family.

If you don't know what an au pair is,

it's like someone from a different country.

So ours, I really just don't want to give a lot of details.

I don't know why I feel weird about it,

but ours is from a Latin country and she's in her 20s.

She is unbelievable.

She lives with us.

That's kind of like what an au pair does.

So there's someone who lives in a different country.

They come here, they go to school

and then we of course pay her.

We of course pay her for the childcare,

but then you also get the exchange

of I pay for her food, we order a car,

we pay for her phone and she lives with us.

And it's like just like having like a college student

live with you who like literally becomes part of your family.

And it's been like such an amazing program for us.

I like the flexibility of it.

I like that it's like, hey,

because I live far away and I work a flexible schedule.

So it just, I work a flexible schedule,

but also a demanding schedule.

So it just like made sense to be like,

hey, like I need two hours in the evening.

Now, okay, now I'll take this kid to do that or whatever.

So it's worked really well for us.

People like really want to know more about it.

Like maybe I'll consider talking about it,

but it's an incredible program when it's done right.

I think it can also be the program

that can get done really badly.

And I think sometimes girls can get taken advantage of

and families can have bad matches.

Our experience has been,

I mean, she extended for an entire year.

The program's two years.

No, she's lovely.

She like spends Christmas with us like she's literally,

I mean, she's a part of the Stumpy family also,

but she's also like very much kind of a part

of the Greater Sunshine family.

And I would say like, if you're like,

oh, I should consider that.

Absolutely do not consider it

unless you're going to make them a member of your family.

Because like it is not, they are not employees.

Like they need to be treated as,

I mean, they're so far from all any of their family.

You are, yeah.

Like you're literally like you're fully responsible

for this young girl.

Almost like when it first, when we first got her,

I was like, okay, this is actually not helpful

because now I feel like I have a fifth child

because I'm like so worried about her all the time.

I know.

It was like, what's she doing?

But the program that we went through,

they do a good job of like helping the girls

like connect with each other.

So like she has a lot of friends.

Like she actually has a very,

like if she's not working, she's gone.

Like she's with her friends.

Yeah.

It's just been really, it's been really fun.

Yeah, she's wonderful.

So that's a little bit.

Wow, I like didn't expect to like share that.

And I'm probably, I'm totally over the year.

Like I know it's like not that big of a deal.

Like I know it's not a big deal.

I'm even hesitant to, I was like,

I was hesitant to share every,

I don't really like talking about my nanny either

cause I just don't like people knowing

about my childcare situation.

Cause no one's, it's private.

Like whatever.

Have you guys seen the internet?

It's the worst.

Yeah, exactly.

I'm really sassy at the internet today.

I'm not sassy at the carpoolers,

but I'm sassy at some people on the internet.

I'm over it.

Me too.

I'm over you.

I'm so over people.

People just like shaming people at every corner.

I'm so over, like here's what I'm really over.

I'm just going to like speak my truth for a second.

I'm so over private accounts,

telling people how to use their platforms.

You have a platform.

So like if there's a,

and I mean this with my whole chest,

if there's a topic that you're super passionate about,

go public on Instagram, go public on TikTok

and you start making content around that specific issue.

Like if you're that passionate about it,

then why don't you do,

and like prior accounts with no followers go viral all day.

So like if there's something that's seriously on your heart

and on your mind that you want to raise awareness for

or show your perspective on it,

just because you don't have any followers

doesn't mean people aren't going to see it.

And that's my real truth.

Yeah, I am with you.

We're getting sassy, sassy.

I know.

Today's episode is brought to you by Newly.

You know that feeling when you're invited to a wedding,

a birthday party, a work thing all in the same month,

and suddenly you realize you have nothing to wear?

Now, at being pregnant to that,

none of my regular clothes fit the same.

I don't want to spend a fortune on maternity pieces

I'll only wear for a few months

and I still want to feel cute.

That's where Newly comes in.

Newly is a subscription clothing rental service

that lets you pick any six styles every month for just $98.

You can rent for whatever you have going on,

dresses for events, elevated everyday pieces,

or fund trend forward looks without the commitment.

They have thousands of styles from hundreds of brands

like Free People, Reformation, Hill House, and Mother.

They also offer inclusive sizing with options

for plus petite, tall, and maternity,

which has been huge for me during this pregnancy.

I love that I get to wear more while spending less,

skip the nothing to wear spiral,

and try new styles without the impulse buying.

Plus, there are no late fees, damage fees,

or fees to the pause or to cancel.

Shipping and returns are fast and free

and everything comes professionally cleaned

and if you fall in love with something,

you can buy it at a great discount.

Newly is of great value at $98 a month for any six styles,

but right now you can get $28 off your first month

when you sign up with the code CARPOOL.

Just go to N-U-U-L-Y dot com and enter code CARPOOL

at sign up to get $28 off your first month.

That's N-U-U-L-Y dot com.

Newly with two U's in code CARPOOL

for $28 off your first month.

Newly subscription clothing rental, change your clothes.

Today's episode is brought to you by Skylight.

I have had my Skylight for over a year now

and I really like it for my family.

It works well for meal planning.

I can schedule our meals and our grocery lists

all on the app and I can see it.

So it reminds me on the calendar.

I also like it for the shared calendar

and most of the time though,

it is just running as like a picture frame.

So we have pictures that pop up all through the app,

all controlled through the app.

The Skylight calendar is just so great

to keep my family organized.

It was designed to connect the digital

and non-digital worlds while bringing families together.

It's a Wi-Fi connected digital display

that showcases your family's schedule

with clarity, color, and brilliance

in either a 10 or 15 inch HD touchscreen.

This all in one smart calendar

syncs seamlessly with Google Calendar, Apple Calendar,

Outlook, and Morgan.

You customize customizable views

for daily, weekly, or monthly planning.

This is really nice for me and Maddie

to keep our two calendars all organized.

Your happiness is Skylight's happiness.

So if in 120 days you are not 100% thrilled

with your purchase,

you can return it for a full refund, no questions asked.

Right now, Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off

their 15 inch calendars

by going to MySkylight.com slash Carpool.

Go to MySkylight.com slash Carpool

for $30 off your 15 inch calendar.

That is MySkyLight.com slash Carpool.

I wanted to totally go in a reverse,

get back into the lane we were going down

because I totally jumped into an advice question.

We're so random today.

No.

Something that I wanted to share mostly

because, again, Carpool Facebook Group

sound off because I had no idea

what I'm gonna name this baby.

I ask her every time I talk on the phone,

I'm like, so where are you at with the baby names?

You need to stop asking me

because you are stressing me out.

These I have no idea

and I don't know.

But I wanted to share the name,

kind of like the vibes that I like

because I like very, very, very few names.

And I feel like I've heard all of the names

and nothing is sticking with me.

So Sloan, I always knew I wanted a daughter named Sloan.

Like there was no question about it.

It could have been the number one

most popular name in the world.

You could have, anyone could have looked at me

and been like, Sloan, what is that?

Would not have mattered at all.

My heart was so set on it and I still love the name.

I do not feel that way about.

I mean, there's names that I really love

like maybe Maddie's vetoed,

but I do not have that attachment.

So that's why I'm even afraid to tell you names

because I'm so not confident in it

that I can't even like say it

because I don't know.

So anyway.

Before you share your names, here's what I'll say.

And I've told you this, I'm the same way.

It was always George, it was always Harriet slash Hattie.

Like those were always my two names.

I never felt as confident with Fred and Libby ever.

Okay, so I might just not get there.

You just might not get there.

Like I think it's, and I felt so weird about like

using my backup name,

because my backup name for George was Henry,

but then I felt so weird about like

using my second favorite name.

And like my backup name for Hattie was Virginia, Ginny.

I just, I don't know.

I felt weird about using like my second favorite name.

So I was like, no, I need to come up with new names.

Like, so something totally new.

So I was even more sure about Fred.

I literally was Libby.

I mean, I guess I'm sure about it now, but like,

I mean, I just kind of made it up.

And mom was kind of the same way.

Like it was always like, Kelly, Elizabeth, Craig goes for set.

Sydney and Grace, like you just kind of,

they could have gone, it could go so many directions.

So I just, I'm wondering if other people feel that way.

Like, normally it's not,

normally it's naming a kid with a name

that you still weren't 100% sure about.

And just kind of moving on with your life.

I moved on.

Yeah. So here's what I like.

It's like all of this is like subject to like change.

Like again, I could, I have no idea what we're gonna name this baby.

But I have found that I tend to like more like masculine names

for girls.

I don't like very girly names.

So like, I would say like beautiful popular names is like Amelia,

Ava, Emma, Olivia, Everly, like Evelyn.

Like I don't like those.

I don't know. Those don't like that.

Kind of like the some of those were kind of like grandma chic,

but like I don't really like the grandma chic names.

And I don't like very like feminine names.

I don't know.

Like Sloan is not, I would say is a more masculine name.

I would agree. I would agree.

Like you don't really like when they end in like an eye.

Yeah. I don't really like a vowel ending necessarily.

So, but, but maybe, but maybe, but I like Sophia.

So like, but I don't like Emma and Olivia.

So, I don't know.

Sophia is the girliest name I've ever heard in my life.

I know, but, but I, but actually I only kind of like it.

Like I don't like Sophia.

I like Sophie, but anyway.

And Sophie's more masculine.

I'm following. I'm following.

I think I'm following.

So here are some names that I have liked that have gotten vetoed by my husband

just so you can get a vibe of my, my number one most liked name is Gwen.

Oh yeah. That's so masculine.

Okay. I get, I get the vibe now.

It reads, it ends with an N.

It reads very Sloan.

Maddie said no to Gwen for the most crazy reason.

He goes, I just feel like it is too, he was,

I just feel like it is too traditionally Welsh

that it would be like I'm naming my son Hans.

And I'm like, I understand the Hans example.

I think you're so crazy to say that for the Gwen.

Yeah. Your husband, see, it's, he knows too much.

I know he knows too much.

Like he's almost worse than like, like, you know, the, the trope

that are not even the trope, but like the fact that like school teachers

sometimes have a really hard time naming their kids because like they've just

had bad students who they're like, I could never.

Maddie's that way about like history and like, uh, genealogy.

Like I couldn't tell you the origin of the name Gwen for a million dollars.

Like I have no idea.

I was like, I didn't even know it was Welsh.

Like, okay.

Also, what is Welsh Scottish?

Question from Wales.

I don't know.

Right. Don't don't know.

Anyway, that one got me to, but I do love that name.

Cameron, Maddie, Maddie doesn't really love while I like masculine names.

Maddie doesn't really like traditionally boy names for girls.

I like Cameron Cameron.

I like Ryan.

Like I like those types of, um, oh, that's so funny.

We know brother's name Cameron and Ryan.

Those were just, I just really happen to like, both those names for girls.

Um, okay.

Daphne.

I don't like that.

Blair.

Love Blair.

Obsessed with Blair.

I think you should find a way to put it back on the list.

Maddie says he can't do it because of gossip girl.

I'm like, why have you seen gossip girl?

What? Blair water?

Blair is one of the Blair is a great character.

I know.

I know he needs to rewatch it.

Maybe he'll sing a different tune.

Maybe you should, Liz, maybe you should rewatch it.

Well, you know, that's what we did leading up to Sloan, because I named her Sloan

after the character in entourage.

We rewatched entourage and we like fell in love with the character all over again.

Okay.

Um, Margo, just everyone loves Margo.

Yeah, that's a good one.

And this is like a total wild card, but Cleo.

I like Cleo.

Okay.

I get the vibe.

Yeah.

So, um, do with that.

What about Edith or is that too grandma chic?

That's too grandma chic.

Okay.

Here's a girl.

Here's a boy named that I like for a girl a lot.

Okay.

What about Spencer?

I don't like Spencer.

Okay.

Let me think.

It's not for me.

Again, like that's going to read like that's going to read to boy.

For Maddie, for Maddie, he does it.

He doesn't like that.

What about Maddie?

Now he did.

He does like Madeline, but I think like having two Maddie's is annoying.

Yeah, I think it's kind of annoying too, but there's also, but I like,

you could just call her Madeline.

Yeah, it's just like, yeah, maybe that's fine.

See, I don't know.

So anyway, take all of that information.

My kid's names are James and Sloan, which is kind of like preppy.

So I kind of like the theme.

My, my, the one name that we have in our back pocket is another boy.

And that kind of follows the same trend.

Are you open to like, are you open to like another S or another J name?

Yeah, I don't care.

That doesn't bother you.

No, it has to work with the middle name Kelly, right?

No, no, does not.

That is Kelly just keeps throwing that out there thinking it's just going to

stick. Have you thought of just the name Kelly, Kelly St. John?

It's kind of dark, you know, honestly.

Kelly, no, it ends with a vowel.

Yeah.

And it's just crazy because like I named my daughter Elizabeth, but yeah,

it's like, yeah, but after our grandmother and you've never once called,

you've never once called her Elizabeth in your entire life.

That's not true.

Um, when I go to the doctor, I say, I have Elizabeth stop here.

So anyway, if anyone has any good baby names, let me know.

I'm really anxious to see what the carpoolers come up with.

Yeah.

Do you think like, if you pick a name, what can we do?

Like clues and stuff, like we did with our previous pregnancies.

I mean, I don't think I'll do that because I don't,

I don't foresee ourselves being confident until we leave the hospital.

Okay.

Okay, you guys.

So that's my baby's update.

See, I don't have anything.

I just like, I don't have that much, I don't have something

that exciting going on.

Um, okay.

So my, I don't really know what like segment category this fits in.

Like is it a fast line philosophy?

Is it a base model luxury?

I guess it's a base model luxury.

Okay.

So I have been loving my aura ring.

I've had it since I got it on block Friday.

So I've had it for a couple of months and I really enjoy knowing,

well, I love tracking it for my cycle.

First of all, that's really helpful.

I love knowing how much I'm sleeping and I really love knowing my steps

because I, I've never tracked my steps before.

I'm just, I'm not an Apple watch person because I don't like

any of the notifications on my, on my watch.

But I, so I just, I was relying on like my phone to tell me how many

steps I was taking every day, but I don't always have my phone.

So like there was a discrepancy.

So I've been averaging about 8,000 steps a day, which I was actually

surprised it was that high.

Some days it's 7,000, some days it's 8,000.

But I really want to try to start getting 10,000 steps a day.

And you can like change your activity goal in the aura ring to make it like

an, you can either do like active calories burns or you can do a step count.

So mine's a step count.

So like if I hit 10,000 steps, I like achieve my goal for the day.

So it's just, it's very motivating.

And like I'll get a notification when I'm like close to my goal.

So I can be like, okay, I just like got to do a little bit more.

So it's 8pm.

I was like, oh, I wonder how many steps I've taken today.

Log on.

I was taking, I had taken 9,000 steps.

It was a pretty active day for me.

And I was like, I really want to get to 10,000.

It was 8pm.

Like Libby was already asleep.

The big kids were settling down, like finishing up a movie.

And I was like, can I just like walk around my house for like 30 minutes?

Yeah.

I was like, what if I just walked around my house?

So I kind of like, I mean, I just kind of walked around, but I was also trying to be

like, also like, I was trying to habit stack.

So I was trying to get some stuff done too.

So I would like go to my, like I was in Hattie's or I was in the boys room and I

was like taking things down the stairs, but I was taking like really light loads.

So I would like constantly have to go up and down or I would like go to my closet

to the laundry room and I would take like one item at a time.

Anyway, I walked for 30 minutes and I got my thousand steps.

That's amazing.

And sometimes it's like, just looks like that.

Yeah.

And you check the box.

Oh, I just like to be able to track it.

So yeah.

I love being able to track.

I love being able to track my steps.

I haven't done it in a while because for some reason, like an

O-ring or an Apple watch, like makes my finger or my wrist burn.

Like, yeah, watch.

I hate that.

I know.

Grayson has the same experience.

So like, I don't know, neither one of us can really wear it.

I might put it back on and just like wait till it starts to burn again and then take

it off.

So I don't feel that way at all.

Like, I don't even notice mine anymore.

No, I know, like, I know, like I would wear it.

It's so weird.

I thought it was just the Apple watch.

I'm like, maybe I have like a, like a bad Apple watch.

Maybe it's like fritzing or something.

But then the same thing happened with or I just think like a, like a Bluetooth or

EMF or whatever the heck it is.

It like messes with me.

I don't know.

Might have to just like risk it for a little bit because I love knowing my steps.

It's so motivating.

I know.

So all to say is I've just been enjoying that.

I'm ready for the weather to break because I would love to like just do some

walking outside.

Totally.

I think we're all aligned on that.

And I think I'm going to sell my Peloton.

Yeah.

And maybe get a treadmill.

I think it's a good call.

I loved my Peloton, but ever since Libby, I don't know.

It just hurt.

Why are the seats so small?

That's the, but there's no reason for the seat to be that small.

There's no reason I could get the same amount of, I could still be moving my legs

at the same pace with a more comfortable saddle.

Yeah.

And like, you do have to get used to it.

Like I used to cycle like quite a bit.

And then when I like stopped doing it and got back to it like that first time

you ride a bike, there's no greater pain.

Yeah.

Then like the next day after you have done like a 45 minute Peloton, like after

not being on it for a while, I don't understand.

I don't know why they're so small.

No.

And I know that I like, I think when I ride a bike, I feel like I have to be doing

like more of like a hit workout.

Yeah.

Like I'm just not like casually like biking, but I would like casually walk on

the treadmill.

Yeah.

Like so order your groceries and like, maybe I don't know treadmill.

Yeah.

I'm just, it's something, it's something I'm to win around with.

Okay.

I like it.

In the meantime, I'll just walk up and down my stairs.

In the meantime, that's free.

So true.

Let's talk about the fact that like our Merrick series totally went viral.

If there was ever a thing to go viral, I'm so happy it was that.

I am happy it was that I was so, I don't know why I was so nervous to post this

because it was a four part series.

So like A, you have to put like your pot committed to four videos.

And like I'm we're stretching them out over a number of days.

Do you have to assume people are going to stay hooked?

Like I was like butterflies in my stomach, nervous to post.

And I haven't felt that way in a very long time about posting anything.

Well, you just don't know like what people's attention spans are anymore.

I'm like, can people handle a four part series of a two minute long video?

Can they handle six minutes of content and not get bored?

Right.

I don't, apparently.

It was so, it was, I thought it was so fun to watch.

So I want to do another one.

You've got to be local to St. Louis.

I want to do like a more like 30 to 40 K budget.

Hit me up.

I'm kind of like looking, I'm kind of like on the hunt for that.

OK, yeah, I think it was really fun.

And I also just like loved again, like the story that was told.

So it's like Kelly has never, when we were recording, I was like,

Kelly, I've never heard you say to anyone like,

oh, I don't want to drive a bus.

OK, well, a not extended version of a full size SUV is not going to drive

so much like a bus, like maybe that's just been your experience in the past.

And I thought that was just like, I know Merrick had an luxury budget,

so it didn't seem relatable in some ways, like that anyone can take that.

Yeah, I do want to go over like one of the controversies

or when I like the questions people have is why I suggested

the escalate over the navigator and I would like to cover that.

I would like to speak on that truth.

Please.

So first of all, of course, I talked to her about the middle hydra straight,

like, duh, have you ever watched any of my GM vehicles ever?

Like I always am pointing out how they don't have the middle hydra straight.

What? So you didn't point out the middle hydra straight?

Yeah. Oh, because it we had like hours worth of content

and we had to cut it down to two minutes and I just thought the horse has been beat dead.

Like I just want to have like said, I told it to Merrick,

but like I just feel like I said that enough.

But she assured me like that wasn't really a problem.

If most they're carrying around like two friends and like her two

olders can sit in the front seat.

So like it was like if that wasn't a concern, her boys are big.

No one's going to be sitting back there in that middle seat.

Secondly, she doesn't have car seats.

No one's in a car seat.

And the drive is really important to her as we kind of figured out

like she wanted a luxury car.

And there was also just so much like context

that like wasn't able to fit into the series.

But I mean, I just want to be clear.

Like if you don't need car seats, the Escalade to me is the better buy.

I think the Escalade has better tech.

I think it looks better.

I think it drives better.

I think it's a better if you can use the words value, I will.

Like I think the Escalade is the nicer car.

Now, if she was like, I've got three across.

I want a luxury full size SUV.

Then I'm like, the navigator is amazing.

There's nothing that I don't like about the navigator.

But like when it comes down to just pure aesthetics and not functionality,

I think the Escalade is a better car.

So that's why I showed her that one.

Escalade has such a great name because I'm like, I'm looking up the navigator

and like, yeah, a navigator is a hundred, one hundred and twenty thousand dollars.

And when you say navigator, like when you say Escalade, you're like,

oh, that's bougie.

The navigator does not have that same.

But I rara rara rara to it.

And I'm telling you so much of it is like, I can just go off the vibes

really well of people.

Yeah. And I it's not really something I could like teach or learn.

But like, I can't tell you how many times I like look at someone and like,

I hear some situation and I'm like, I don't know, you're just like giving Alice.

I'm like, you can go look at whatever you want.

But like, I really think you're just going to end up back with an Alice.

And they always do. Yeah. Yeah.

You know your craft, Kelly.

Thanks.

OK, we have an advice question.

Let's make this auto podcast a little bit more auto related.

This is advice for an indecisive mom.

Hello, I'm in desperate need of advice.

My husband and I have a two year old and another one on the way.

We are currently driving to 2014 Subaru Forester.

I love the car and I love that I don't have a car payment.

However, from the beginning, we feel like it's too small.

We drive a lot to visit family each year, anywhere from one hour to six hour road trips.

We also bring a dog, a large dog with us every time, hence the lack of space.

Because of this, we have been looking for three road vehicles.

I'm someone who likes to keep their cars for as long as humanly possible.

I get very attached to my cars.

I'm struggling to pick which vehicle we should go with

because I want it to be a responsible buy.

We've been seriously considering the Atlas,

giving it could be three across in the next few years

if we end up with a third.

I also really loved it when we went for a test drive,

but I will miss the loss of trunk space using the Atlas.

I keep wondering if the true responsible buy is to jump to a minivan.

We don't feel we have the budget for a full size SUV right now.

And I also don't really want to drive that big of a vehicle at this point.

I listen to your advice all the time,

but I think I need it directed to me to make a solid decision.

I'm feeling so lost.

Any and all help would be wonderful.

So she has an outback right now.

She has a forester.

A forester.

And she thinks that the Atlas is less trunk space.

Well, she said with a third row up.

But she got the bench seat, she got a third row down.

Yes.

And that would solve all of her problems.

Question mark, because they said they might do three across.

They might not have a third, though.

They might not have a third and then they have their dog that they travel with.

So he would be in like the I guess the trunk or the third row.

OK.

It's a good question.

I mean, I think the Atlas is an excellent choice.

I think it is.

I think it would give you guys a lot more room in the right ways

without being too big.

I think it's a good value.

I think it's a fun driving car.

I think you get squishy with the trunk space.

I mean, I would I would say get the bench

because the Atlas bench is worth getting.

Like it's a three across machine.

If the third row up, if you want to put the third row up,

whether that's to keep the dog or like to take someone else

or you're just more comfortable that way.

If that's not enough trunk space, I think like, you know,

a cargo carrier on the top can kind of like fix a lot of those

like once in a while situations.

You know, I should really mind all about like not making

our decision just based on like the couple of times a year,

you might take a road trip because like you're driving the car every day.

That being said, though, I don't think a minivan is a bad buy at all.

I mean, I know people who have I know people have one kid who drive

a minivan for the space, for the drive, for the versatility

and the flexibility.

So part of me thinks like if you think you might have three,

I think you might and you're going to also like have this like lifestyle

that requires travel and the dog and like kids activities.

I think maybe the minivan is the more versatile option.

You know, the thing with a minivan is like, you just go buy a used

Honda Odyssey and you just don't worry about the year because they're all the same.

Yeah. And that's my advice.

Like that's like, you know, I would to go tell you this.

I would say your budget at twenty five K and see what kind of odyssey

you can get for that and just buy that one. Yeah.

You know, whereas like if you're going with Alice,

I would tell you to like probably go 24 above if you have the budget

because 24 is when they changed it.

So it's the updated body style.

It that's that's the year it was qualified to become the IHS top safety pick.

The pre-owned outlaces don't have the best reliability.

So like I think if you go atlas, which is like definitely the MSSV,

I'd recommend I would like you to be 24 above.

I think if you decide to go minivan, I would probably tell you to go

Honda Odyssey and probably just tell you to go back as far as you can find low mileage.

OK.

No, I think I think that's I think that's good.

Yeah, if you've got to have that have that have that third row up

all the time and like you need trunk space for trips, then like.

I mean, even like a minivan, like, yes, it's going to be like good.

It's good. I guess like deep trunk space, but it's still not like.

It's not like a truck bed, you know, when you have that third row up, like it is deep.

But I'm kind of with you on like why like cargo cover or cargo

top cargo cargo carry was just like kind of a good hack.

I mean, that's like five hundred bucks for like a nice one versus like, you know,

price out how much much more a car with a bigger trunk is.

Right. You will need to be thinking about that more.

Yeah. And just pack strategically.

So like I've been kind of toying around the idea of like possibly

getting a new car, like I'm just like lightly thinking about it.

And I think I have decided that if I do end up getting a new car,

like a new expedition, I don't think I'm going to get the extended wheelbase,

which is like this is interesting.

You told me this the other day, which so I.

And this is, you know, we also talked about this America lot.

I think the difference between the short and extended wheelbase is night and day.

I think it's a bigger.

I I personally feel like it's a bigger jump from going to like,

I think the traverse to the Tahoe feels less big than going from the Tahoe

to the suburban, like the length that that adds, it affects the drive so much.

It affects the parking so much.

It affects if it can fit in your garage.

It's that's when it just feels like a school bus.

And I'm just really tired of driving a school bus.

And I don't think I need that much trunk space for a couple of reasons.

One, I have the Mockingbird stroller can fit like with in the regular one.

I'm never doing a Costco hall and a stroller.

I'm putting them in the cart.

So like if we're going somewhere where I'm taking a stroller,

that's like the only item I'm taking.

I also.

Feel like I just don't need the trunk space.

Yeah.

No, it's it's crazy how and that's because I think if you had three kids,

you would say I need the extended night.

I think because you have four kids, you're already taking two cars a lot

of the time with like with Tyler's truck.

That's the thing.

So we take if we go on a road trip outside of like

like a far road trip, like when we go to the lake, though,

we take two cars because Tyler likes to bring all of his tools

and you like to have his truck and then we have the dog.

Um, so we're just kind of like becoming a two car family for road trips.

Yeah.

And I just think I would really and also like I like to have together.

I'm also fine to like just drive separately if we have to.

Like even just like if we're going to Tyler's parents' house,

we have to drive separately, like whatever, like he's always just

we're just we're in two cars a lot more ever since we had four kids.

That's what I mean.

Like I think if you had less kids than the extended would actually make sense

for you, but because you're already such a big family and you guys have so much

stuff, like you're taking two cars anyway.

Yeah.

I mean, we are between the dog and the au pair.

Like if we're all going somewhere, like we're just we're in two cars.

Yeah, we are.

Yeah.

So I'm and that's your lifestyle.

Like, and this is another reason why the car mom exists

because you just can't have a blanket statement.

Like this is the best family car because everyone uses their family cars

for different, they have different lifestyles.

Like Maddie and I will avoid anything to have to drive separately.

Not to say we won't get there eventually

because we could be like in the same space that you guys are in.

But I also think there's a lot of families who have four kids

who don't take two cars everywhere.

Yeah, like it's just that's your lifestyle.

Yeah.

So anyway, Kel, do you have any industry news today?

Well, that was kind of it.

OK, no, I think it was a good one.

I think it was a good one.

OK, well, are you ready for ditch the drive through?

Well, we give you an easy dinner recipe to mix it up to get you out of your dinner rut.

Here's what I'm making tonight for dinner and I have been so into.

I love Instagram's new AI search features.

It's not that new.

It's been up for a while.

But I love being able to search family,

friendly dinners and just so many reels pop up

because I have to see it and I want to see how hard it was to me.

No, we know you're a visual eater.

Yeah, Kelly.

I literally like over my Instagram app today.

My entire for you page is just muckbongs.

Like it's just food like I have.

I would like to see your hand at a muckbong.

Like, could you start filming some Cal?

I mean, I already feel like I'm really burying my entire soul to the Internet.

Right now, I don't know if I need they need to like see me eating.

OK, that's fine. I just I like them.

I like watching muckbongs.

I'll leave to the professionals.

Like, I don't think anyone like once like I don't know how to do it

because they do they get the good cheese poles.

Like they do the sauce like I tried when we had smaller Sam on our podcast.

I like tried asking her how she films in her car because she gets sauce.

What seems like everywhere?

Like, I can only imagine she has like a tarp.

Yeah, she put as a tarp.

But like, how is it not making noise?

And I was like, how do you do it?

And she's like, that's what I'll never tell.

So anyway, I would say like those.

It's almost like I would almost just I would I would describe them as artists

because like to make food look beautiful and then like

like the same way that we make cars look beautiful when we're filming,

like they are making the food look beautiful.

My favorite, some of my favorite reels are it's like a regular person eating

like a burrito and they just like take a bite of it.

And that's like a food creator eating a burrito.

And it's like they pour like three layers of sauce on it and like take the biggest bite.

Yeah, no, it's artistic.

It is.

So anyway, sorry.

What am I making for dinner?

This is what I found for dinner tonight.

I'm kind of taking a spin on burgers.

And I'm doing like one of those.

What do they call it?

You take like the dinner rolls and then you cook ground beef and then you put

the ground beef on the dinner rolls and then you top it with cheese and then you

like bake it in the oven.

And it's kind of like a burger bake, but they're not burgers because it's like

ground beef on like dinner rolls.

So that's what I'm doing.

I need to find a fabulous sauce for it.

Obviously, because I've whoever made it fabulous sauce with it.

And that's kind of my whole driving point.

You just like a burger like a burger sauce or something.

Yeah, probably just like the Trader Joe's burger sauce because I have it.

And you know what I like to do sometimes?

I'm really into like thinning my sauces out lately because that like that makes it.

Then you're getting it on more of the items like you should thin it out with

like little pickle juice.

So it's like more of like a.

I was thinking about literally my side for me being like just pickles

because like how delicious.

That's so delicious.

That sounds so good.

What am I?

Well, I made my chicken tortilla soup.

We ate on that for two days.

Last night we had must goes today.

I have a chuck roast that it's 10 a.m.

and I haven't put it in the crock pot yet.

So pray for me.

I'm going to put it on high and see if I can get it together for a separate night.

I talked about that sauce last week, how my pasta sauce that I like to make.

And I don't want to do marinara is like the vodka, the vodka sauce,

like heavy cream and when you make a chuck roast, like day two with your

chuck roast, making like a vodka pasta and mixing the meat in there is

a delicious combination.

That's like such a good way to use day two.

Chuck roast when you don't want like a sandwich or whatever else.

So that's why I think I'm just going to cook it with like light seasonings.

And then we actually might do like a Mexican variety tonight.

But I'm going to smoke the chuck roast, you know, yeah.

No, that's a good idea.

OK, guys, and so that's going to be our episode.

Yeah, it is. Oh, also, like, we're recording this not on Friday,

so you're not actually eating that tonight for dinner.

You're going to have.

Oh, yeah. No, I'm going to a fish Friday night.

Oh, shoot, we probably shouldn't a fish friendly or a lent friendly

ditch that I threw.

Well, I say go to your local Catholic church and support a fish fry or culvers.

We went to Culver's last week.

Because they have a really good lent in menu.

Like they add like three different types of fish.

It was. No, it's unbelievable.

We went to a random Culver's like six 30

PM last week.

I mean, we had to wait like 30 minutes for our food.

Yeah, that's crazy. It's crazy.

It was so so packed.

I've never seen a fast food restaurant so packed.

So also you have culvers.

Love that.

So with that, that's episode.

That is going to be our episode.

So then you have so much to listen to the couple podcasts.

We will see you on Wednesday.

Have a fabulous weekend. Bye.

Thank you for listening to the carpool podcast with Kelly and Liz.

Make sure you're subscribed so you never miss an episode.

And if you enjoyed riding with us, tell everybody, you know,

there's room in the car for everyone.

BABY NAME VIBES

About this episode

Volkswagen Bus

middle Hydra-Matic

Cadillac Escalade

Lincoln Navigator

Subaru Forester

Volkswagen Atlas

minivan

full size SUV

Subaru Outback

third row

bench seat

Honda Odyssey

IHS Top Safety Pick

Ford Expedition

wheelbase

Chevrolet Tahoe

Chevrolet Traverse

Chevrolet Suburban

trunk space

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from The Carpool with Kelly and Lizz