BROOCHES ARE WHAT WE NEED

Welcome to the Carpool podcast with Kelly.

It's just going to be a little bit triggering to like look back on my Thanksgiving notes

about how I like made the Caesar dressing, because I made a homemade Caesar, but like

I obviously can't be in the same room as an anchovy, let alone anchovy paste.

And Liz.

I don't know how to style it.

I don't know what I'm going to wear it with, but if broaches are going to be in hot demand,

I wanted to get them before they're in too hot of demand.

So it's going to be a broach girl fall winter apparently.

Your mom time off starts now.

Welcome back to the Carpool podcast with Kelly and Liz.

Your girl's got a little pep back in her step.

Kelly called me this morning at like seven thirty and goes, guess who's back?

Back, back, back again, again.

And then like literally 30 minutes later, we get on a podcast recording

and she's like, I may have been a little bit dramatic.

Yeah, that little, that little musical montage kind of took a lot of the energy

that I have, but I am feeling better.

I was having

such horrible panic attacks and anxiety and like

I will never be the same.

So what can I do medication was worse than the allergic reaction.

Yeah, so you were having like a reaction to the steroids.

Yeah, but like I had to go on the steroids because like they wanted my like lungs

and throat to like get healed.

They go back down to regular size.

I suppose I lost. Right.

No, it was so it was so bad.

I've never had like such debilitating anxiety like that in my life.

And it would like come in waves.

Like I could like feel it coming on and going off and I mean, I've had anxiety.

Like I mean, I mean, I have like I've, like I'm you have anxiety ever.

Yeah, no, but like, I mean, I, yeah, like I have anxiety.

I've had postpartum depression, like I've gone to therapy before for anxiety.

Like I got it.

That was nothing compared to what I was experiencing.

I've been describing it as like it was synthetic.

Like it wasn't real because it was from this medication.

Like I have a lot of good coping mechanisms that I've worked on over the

years where I can like talk myself through things.

But Tyler would be like, what are you anxious about?

Like, why are you having this panic attack?

And I'm like, no, I literally have.

There's nothing to talk about.

I have no idea.

It's not real.

Like it was like my mind was being taken over.

I'm so sorry.

Like not to be so crazy, but like it was wild.

And apparently not everybody has this reaction.

Like I just have a very bad reaction to prednisome.

And I got a lot of DMs of people being like, oh, yeah, like I like that's

on like a medication that like I'm I'll never take that again.

Like there's other options.

Yeah.

So I'm following up with my doctor today.

We like I worked with them to like lower the dose and get off of it sooner.

So we'll see.

But I'm anxious to follow.

No, I'm not anxious.

I'm excited to follow up with them today.

But yeah, I feel I've never seen you so down since Kel I mean

since Kelly became a mom, I've never once seen her lay in her bed.

Like you're I'll go to your house and your bed's unmade,

but I've never actually seen proof that you lay in your bed ever.

Like you're never sick.

And even if you're sick, you're moving around like you're never down and out.

I went to Kelly's house the other day to with the intentions to film with you.

And like she was in her bed, had to go back to her bed.

Like so uncharacteristic, so not like you.

Yeah, like you push through Kelly as a girl pushes through.

And she couldn't push through.

No, I couldn't push through.

And I'm I was lucky to be able to like, you know,

like how people take care of the kids, step up,

stepped up majorly with work.

Like, are we going to talk about the forerunner tour that got rave reviews

on my Instagram story, get rave reviews, the rabiest reviews.

Elizabeth, we like had one more job.

We had one more day.

Honestly, that's fine.

Like that's kind of the whole point.

Like, like, yeah, like I would like someone to come for my job.

Um, we had one more day with this forerunner.

And I thought I was going to be able to just like muster it up and like do a tour.

I was like, it's not going to be great.

But like, you'll install the car seats.

Like I'm a puppet.

Like I've done this a hundred times.

Like I can do it.

No, I couldn't even like I could not.

She sits in the car as she does and starts crying.

And I'm like, OK, girl, just go in bed.

I got it.

And don't don't hurt yourself.

You know, when you like have panic attacks or like you're worried about

something and now like now that I'm on the other side, I'm like, oh my gosh,

she was like, yeah, no, it was so real though, Kelly.

Like it was so real.

It was so real.

I'm telling you, I have.

I mean, I don't know if I would say so much newfound sympathy for people

who are dealing with that because it was.

The apps, it was like an out of body experience.

It was horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible.

I'm so happy to be on the other side of it.

Like literally, like not having Caesar salad again, at least in my worries,

could care less, disgusting, less.

I'm just excited to I'm just excited to feel a little bit more like myself.

But anyway, yes, your forerunner tour was unbelievable.

Yeah.

And I was supposed to get the Grand Highlander this week, but

something happened with it like it does.

Like sometimes if a journalist, like if the car gets damaged or like,

I don't know, I guess like someone more important wants the car,

like they'll switch out my cars.

So they couldn't give me the Grand Highlander.

And instead, they give me the Lexus GX, which is still an exciting car.

But it's very much just the tour to forerunner in a more expensive package.

No, I think it's OK because

like the forerunner, thank goodness, it was the forerunner that you couldn't get

a tour out because all you had to see was that story is to know that,

like, probably not a car for you, for most people who follow the car mom

because you're looking for something very specific.

Yeah. OK.

Like it was so disappointing, though, like it was such a good looking car.

And I really love aesthetically the vibes of a forerunner.

The functionality was so bad.

Yeah, I know, like shockingly bad.

Well, that's why sometimes like just like the Toyota forever people,

like they just kill me because I get it.

But it's worth exploring other cars in that category.

I don't understand where the space went in the car

because I felt squished everywhere.

It's an optical illusion because on the outside, you're like,

that car is a decent size and then you get in there.

And that's why I'm telling you, you can't pay attention to things

like cubic feet and curb length and like how many rows a car has.

Like, honestly, none of it matters because these manufacturers can just

like pull numbers out of their butts to make it seem bigger than it is.

Like it's all about how the space functions.

And that's why I just feel like our tours can't ever really be replaced

because it's not it's not as simple as comparing the data

because like it's the data is so easy to manipulate.

Sure. Yeah. Totally. So.

But anyway, so that's what we've been up to.

We're coming off of it.

We're at the time is recording that we're in the midst of Prime Day.

Overall, disappointed with the deals.

I think that's not disappointed with the with the deals,

with the number of deals, though.

Like just not everything's on sale.

Well, I think we see this every Prime Day on like I kind of I take Black

Friday as the time to buy the things to get the deal on.

I've used Prime Day as the time to like stock up

on the things that I was already going to buy that are maybe at a slight discount.

Yeah, you know, things like the parchment paper, the cleaning supplies,

like just kind of those things that I was already going to buy.

I'm just like throwing it in and like I do a look at the deals.

But yeah, I don't know.

Well, I just like because in the past, you know, we were planning on going out of town.

So like I pre-recorded a lot of content.

We were going to do this whole segment on like kids toys and literally

almost all the things I've recorded of like my favorite ride or die toys.

Like I did a whole like if I lost all my toys here,

the top 10 things we'd go right by the first time and like none of them are on sale.

And I'm like, OK, so that's still good content.

Like I'm happy I have it.

I'll probably do it.

I will end up posting it.

But I was just surprised how few sales the word.

Now, the sales that were out, I felt like we're good.

Like those Bose headphones that I love, those were like 40 percent off in some colors.

Like that's an insane deal.

The green machine was on an insane deal.

I did buy the green machine.

Did you? I think you're going to love it.

Well, I have a carpet shampoo or in our carpet shampoo or has like an attachment to it.

But I don't know, sometimes when I just like want to clean a couch,

I don't always want to use like the carpet shampoo or where I have cleaned up like carpet messes.

Like if I'm trying to clean up spilled milk,

I don't want to use where I've cleaned up maybe dog urine on my couch.

You know what I mean?

Like I kind of needed two separate ones.

So I did buy the green machine.

I like can't believe I am buying it for the first time.

Yeah. So anyway, overall.

I. Yeah.

And like one thing I mean is like I'm just I'm not into Prime Day enough to share things that aren't.

Like actually good deals, you know, my power bank was on a good sale, like 25 percent off.

So I mean, there were there was some, but I just feel like in Prime Day's past,

it's been better and I think the July one was a lot better.

I don't know why that we have to have like July, October and then also Black Friday.

Like it's just getting a little because that's next month.

So it's just getting kind of a lot. Yeah.

But anyway, yeah, that's exciting.

I bought what I bought on Prime Day.

Can I just do I don't really want to like a formal last three,

but can I just tell you like what I what I ended up actually buying?

Yeah, I'm going to see what I bought too.

OK, so I bought built puff bars because they were 25 percent off.

And now that I have food allergies, I want to make sure I have some like protein bars

that I enjoy that I can like always take with me because I'm just nervous about

if I go out to eat or like if I'm out and about and I'm hungry

and I don't like have the headspace to like figure out if it's allergy friendly,

like I just want to be able to have a puff bar, especially with all of our travel coming up too.

At least that could like buy me to like I could find something to eat.

So I bought several of those 25 percent off was a good deal.

I bought the megaphone for Hattie's birthday party like I talked about.

I bought a belt organizer.

I'm really those are the three things I bought.

Didn't you buy a crock pot?

Oh, I bought a crock pot.

Thank you. Thank you.

I'm like kind of like reorganizing my closet a little bit.

And now that I and I'm not trying to like make you upset when I say this,

but like now that I am done having kids and like I'm kind of like this size now.

And I'm like really good with like the size that I'm at.

Like, you know, sure, I could always be like I could always lose a pound or two.

But like for the most part, I'm very comfortable with where I'm at.

So I am just in the process of like going through stuff and looking at stuff.

And I just want to have like right now in my closet, I feel like most of our closets.

It's like it's kind of organized, but like it's also not organized at all.

And it's like so hard to find something to wear.

And I think that's because I just have things all over the place.

So I want to make it look a little nicer.

So I bought like just a acrylic belt thing to put my belt in

because I want to be a girl who wears belts.

Yeah, no, for sure.

Let me tell you something.

This is and this is a good segue to what I want to talk about.

But Merrick Merrick's art.

Is that what it's called? Yeah, Merrick's art. Merrick's art.

Merrick White on Instagram.

She is first of all, she's the best fashion blogger out there.

Like because she's not she's so educational.

Like honestly, like I feel like I try to model my content after her content

because it's just educational.

It's very it's so consistent.

Very easy to digest, digest, so consistent.

Like you can tell her style.

So like her style is so consistent, her style.

So if you like her style, congratulations, there's going to be more of it.

She posts everything from Amazon, Target, Anthropology, like she'll do.

Here are 40, not 40, maybe like 20 dress options for Easter.

And it's like every single price point you can imagine.

There's a twenty dollar dress, there's a four hundred dollar dress.

So what do you want?

And her style is so timeless.

It's like you're not going to just get.

I mean, she'll like do a little bit of the trends like you might see her in a

barrel gene, but like she's just she's she's doing such timeless.

But she does the barrel gene still consistent with her style.

So I'm like, OK, I already know I like her style.

Let me see how Merrick would.

I want to know how Merrick's going to style a barrel gene.

OK, so here's why I wanted to bring her up.

And here's why it connects to belts because she's been doing some content lately

on this on this style on this outfit rule called seven.

I don't exactly know what it's called.

But basically, like for an outfit to be complete, you want to have you need to

have seven points. So like a simple thing is worth one point.

And then like a more loud statement piece could be worth two points.

So if you like put on like an outfit, like let's say you put on like

jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, tennis shoes and like an earring.

Well, that's only four points.

And she's like, you should be at seven.

So like at a belt, that's another point.

Add bracelets. That's another point.

Add like a little sweater around your shoulder.

That's another point. Now she does scarves.

She's been doing scarves around like a little neck scarves.

But if you do this like rule of seven, I'm telling you it's helped me

just like add one more thing to my outfit.

And I really feel like step up my style kind of in a major way.

Like it's actually been such a tangible takeaway

and super exciting for me and Liz and thank goodness I'm feeling better

because Friday we're going to a party at her house.

And that's right.

That's right. We do influencer things sometimes.

Yeah. Yeah.

So Marycliffe's in St. Louis.

She moved to St. Louis.

She moved to St. Louis from Dallas recently

and she's doing a collab with Anthropology

like because she's so iconic.

Yeah, she's like huge.

Like her moving from Dallas to St.

Louis was like such a win for St. Louis, such a win.

Literally such a win for St. Louis.

And so she's having like a launch party and she invited Elizabeth and I

and like I don't know if I've ever been to an event like this.

No, I never have a fashion a fashion event.

Like this is my this is my New York auto show.

No, this is my New York Fashion Week.

Yes, for sure.

Like this is the like peak of the peak.

So we she sent us, you know, but when you go to a party like this,

like not just any old thing will do.

There's a color scheme, which I like.

Love a color scheme.

It's not you're not putting me in a box or give me plenty of creative to be

plenty of freedom to be creative, like wear what I want to wear.

But she's like, hey, the color screen is like fuchsia and navy with hints of

fall colors and I'm like, whoa.

And she's like, we'd love for you to wear something through anthropology.

I'm like, of course, because I get an anthropology launch party.

And she goes, don't worry, my assistant already sent over a lookbook

if you wanted to order something like, thank you, assistant.

Yeah. Like I'm telling you, she's making it.

She was a little worried about us, obviously, but she's making it.

I wonder if I wonder if all the guests got a lookbook

and she was like, Kelly and Liz need a little extra help.

So anyway, I ordered.

We, Elizabeth and I both ordered some looks and that's L.E.W.K.S.

And I'm so excited.

And Mary's been so kind and already reached out to ask

how it could be more allergy friendly.

No, I'm so excited.

So we like tried, we tried one time to meet up with her

and something came up and then, you know, life happens.

So we've actually never met her in person.

You've met her in person.

I've never met her in person.

I'm so excited.

Yeah, no, I'm like giddy about it.

And it'll be like me and you in a night out.

Like so fun.

So needed.

And you know, I was just saying it's such a treat to go to another person's home

without children. I mean, I know she has children.

Maybe they'll be there. Maybe they won't.

But like those are the kind of nights out I want.

Do you remember there was like a couple of years

when we were growing up when mom and dad kind of got into house parties?

Yes. What was that?

I need to call mom.

But like they would have parties and it was so fun because like we were there.

But like then we had to like go upstairs with the babysitter.

But like we could kind of like spy on the party a bit.

And then they always got those little mini cheesecakes.

Oh, yeah.

Do you remember those?

Yeah.

They did get into house parties.

They did get a house party is probably not the right term,

but it was like they had adults gathered and like we weren't allowed to be there.

They were like adults gathered at their house.

I remember one time they had.

Why? What kind of party was this?

Maybe it was like a girls.

Maybe I had to have just been like a girls party because they had like.

Was in mom's bathroom, she had little of these like little bath candles.

Because there was like either like some sort of like card reading or like a masseuse.

There was like some activity to do in her bath.

Was it a masseuse?

Yeah, I don't know.

Yeah, they went through.

They had like house parties.

They had house parties.

Yeah. Good for them.

Like good to know that like now I look at those house parties as like that was like

that was a fun memory for me because like we would spy on the party with the babysitter

and like we got many cheesecakes after.

So I'm going to take that and I'm going to run with that for my children.

Yeah, totally.

So maybe I'll have a house party next.

Well, it sounds like it's the next chapter in your hosting book.

I'm not ready for the house party.

That's OK.

But I'll get there.

I'm actually am hosting tonight.

What are you doing tonight?

Because just like one thing about me is like I'm back and I'm back.

Well, so I'm just having like one other mom over and her kids.

Oh, OK.

But I'm going to do burgers on the Blackstone.

And like making burgers is just I I love to make a burger, put it on a bun,

like wrap it in foil like that.

And I'm going to try like have it prep before they come.

Why? Why?

Like I'm not going to just because like, I don't know.

Why do you want to wrap it in foil?

No, no, no, not each burger, but like I'm going to put it in my pan.

I'm going to make burgers and then put them in the pan and put them put them in the oven.

I'm sorry.

I think you're wrapping up each individual burger.

Like this was five guys and like.

But I just I really like to make a premade burger and burgers are such

a good thing to make at home.

Like, yeah.

But here's the thing, like I'm like one thing about me is I'm only buying burger

patties like you will not catch me taking ground beef and making it into a patty.

I'm sorry. Like that's just not a skill in my I mean, I know it's not hard at all,

but it also is so hard.

Well, it's just a step I'm not willing to take.

You know what stinks for me is when I ordered my quarter cow,

I guess I forgot to specifically say I wanted burger patties and I just have

I'm swimming in ground beef and they're not patties.

No, that's horrible for you.

And guess what? I haven't made burgers like for so long

because of that simple convenience.

I wonder, Elizabeth, this is a really good question, though,

because I wonder if there's like a burger patty maker.

There is. No, there is.

So see, maybe if I had that.

OK, see, Maddie bought one a long time ago

and it's just somewhere in my basement because I'm still unpacking my house.

But I need to find it and I'll give a review.

This is good. OK, I'm seeing this on Amazon.

This I could.

It's still it's still an extra step, but like you could do this.

You could do this.

No, I know, it's just an extra step.

I love what you said on the last episode about that girl

that you were following was like, we're not out of food.

We're just out of convenience.

Like, that's just like really totally stuck with me.

And so maybe I'm just like, I need to just make the burgers.

You just make burgers.

But I wanted to bring something up about the sorry.

I have to go back to the seven points of styling

because there's a new accessory.

Oh, well, it's an old accessory, but it's coming back in style.

I saw this Instagram real that said broaches.

The purchase of a broach.

Broach sales are up 200 percent.

Obsessed.

So I went to the consignment shop the other day

because I'm trying to collect, you know, our pieces of furniture,

whatever, I'm still looking for stuff at the consignment shop.

And they had a little jewelry area and I was like, is that a broach?

Broach, I see. Broaches are up 200 percent.

There was this darling broach for $17.

And I said, I'll take it.

I don't know how to style it.

I don't know what I'm going to wear it with.

But if broaches are going to be in hot demand,

I wanted to get them before they're in too hot of demand.

So it's going to be a broach girl fall winter, apparently.

But the way we're styling them is like broaches everywhere.

Like you have a blazer and your entire lapel is broaches.

OK, first of all, like broaches have been gone for too long.

They've been gone.

This is this. Let me show you a picture, Kelly.

Like this is what the girls are saying.

Broach girl winter.

That's not attainable for me in the slightest.

Broach girls.

Broach girl.

I'm going to see Merrick's take on it.

But we'll have to get her take on it.

I feel like.

Broaches are what we need.

Broaches have been out for so long of all the things that have died

and have made a resurgence like where are broaches in a big way?

What's not to like about them?

Like why would they go so out?

Yeah, I don't know.

So I'm excited.

I for someone who wears a very simple wardrobe,

like I don't wear a lot of patterns.

I'm very neutral.

I'm not very interesting.

I think that a broach is going to be a way

to add a little bit of interest to my outfits.

And yeah, I mean, you can get them.

I have not looked into where you can buy broaches,

but the consignment shop was affordable.

Yeah, I'm going to I'm just I just quickly scrolled at sea.

I I'm not ready to commit to one, but I'm going to just start.

I'm going to start wearing my outfits

and like if they're not adding up to seven,

I'm going to ask myself like what a broach put me at seven.

Well, I do I do think you should maybe buy one broach.

And just like that's why I just bought this one.

It was speaking to me.

I liked it and we'll see.

Just like to have on just like to have on hand.

Well, how are you going to know if you need it?

If you can't or maybe I'm sure mom has broaches,

like maybe borrow one of mom's broach before you commit.

Well, and here's to also say,

like some of the broaches I'm looking at, like I'll be honest,

it looks a little like I don't think I could pull it off right now.

Like it's still just bringing like a little too old lady to me.

Like if I'm an old lady, like I'm wearing broaches.

On on every on every outfit.

Well, I think we all at the very least like

when the holidays come up and it's the holidays.

Oh, the holidays is the perfect time to trial a broach.

Perfect time to trial because it's the holidays.

It's the holidays.

I'm so looking forward to the holidays.

Except one thing that I haven't even spoken about that's really.

Like so you guys were like Thanksgiving,

like it's a big deal for us.

Like my mom makes notes and I don't know if you guys remember.

But last year, like I make an incredible Thanksgiving salad.

An autumn Caesar, an autumn Caesar rip to the Delacata squash crouton.

I know, it's so good.

So I'm on the hunt.

Like can like my new micro hobby is like,

what's my fall salad that I'm going to make?

There's a lot of fall salads out there.

There's a lot of fall salads.

I'm thinking about go and the thing with the fall salad,

though, is like I can't do like a spinach based salad.

I think that's disgusting.

Yeah, it's not in that.

So I'm going to try to keep the kale base.

I'm thinking I like doing the Delacata squash croutons

because that's just like so seasonal.

I'm thinking about bringing in some sort of like

mustardy vinaigrette with like a goat cheese cranberry.

Yeah, done.

Yeah. So I'm working on it.

But like it was just fun to do the autumn Caesar.

And like it's just going to be a little bit triggering

to like look back on my Thanksgiving notes

about how I like made the Caesar dressing.

Because I made a homemade Caesar,

but like I obviously can't be in the same room as an anchovy,

let alone anchovy paste.

I'm having fun with it.

I'm having as much fun as one can have with a food allergy.

And that's important.

Yeah.

Ripped to the autumn Caesar.

That's growth.

Yeah.

And I will share the recipe for those of you who still can enjoy.

Yeah.

You just, we didn't know it was going to be our last.

Like you never know it's your last.

You just never know when it's going to be.

No, thinking back to like the last,

like when's the last time I had a carefree Caesar salad?

I'm telling you the allergy.

Here's what's crazy about the allergy though.

Like I have Caesar salads regularly,

like at least two to three times a month.

That's crazy.

So like it did just come out of nowhere.

Like just came out of nowhere.

I know.

Talking about it makes me feel like I can't breathe though.

So let's move on.

OK, let's move on.

Let's move on to like why I woke up this morning.

OK, why did you wake up this morning

to recap dancing with the stars?

Oh, yeah.

It was the.

Wow.

Face crack.

What's that mean?

Just like shock.

Yeah, like jaw on the floor.

Eat.

I gasped.

OK, so we are going to do a dancing with the stars recap.

I'm sorry if like you don't watch.

But again, I think you'll still,

I think we can still just paint the picture enough for you.

And I think it's important for you to know what's going on in the culture.

And also, I just think like there's not much to say about them.

Like let's not talk about them for too long.

Like let's there's a lot to talk about on some people

and like other people just like let's move on.

Yeah, also, though, I just feel like this is such a good icebreaker.

Like if you want to try to connect with like the mom at your kids preschool

or take care of you watching with the stars and like see what they're saying.

And even if you're not watching, but like they're watching, you can be like,

oh, no, but I've seen a couple of clips.

Like what are your thoughts?

Like so funny about Hilaria.

Like we'll talk about it.

OK.

OK. So do you want to go start by just like going?

Let's go.

Overall, do you want to go person by person?

Or how do you want to go?

Let's go. Let's go.

I think we do person by person.

Well, can I just give a quick overall thought?

Yeah.

I felt like the judges were a lot more tolerable this week.

And I feel like they've been listening and learning and taking notes.

And I was happy with.

Now, I find Carrie Ann to be miserable.

I just don't understand her.

Because she's like trying to be like this like Simon.

I felt like on this episode, she was like trying to be this like Simon Cal,

like hard critiques and like I feel like her critiques were kind of fair.

But then she's like always apologizing.

I'm like, just like, stand firm and like just say what you want to say

and like give your rating.

Like I can't do to this.

Like I don't like these.

Like I'm just looking for like quicker, better critiques.

I did feel like her critiques were a little like harsh, though.

But I think I think that as they get further in the season,

though, like if you want to improve, like here are the things you have to do

when they do take like a harsher look at it.

And then she literally made a critique and then got booed.

So like, I don't really blame her for like saying the critique

and then trying to like backpull it with a compliment.

Like I'm sure her DMs are like flooded with like hate messages.

So I guess you're right.

I just think like if you're going to be that person, like be that person.

No, I don't think she's trying to be that person.

I think she's trying to give up a critique and then also not.

You're hearing this is tracking.

Yeah, I'm just not again.

Like I am. Who am I to judge?

I'm not one overall.

But I am going to judge all these dances right now.

Well, overall, I also felt like the Disney BTS was was fun.

I felt like I got to know the people a little bit more.

And I actually enjoyed like seeing them like seeing the stars personalities more.

Me too. So I also loved.

This is going to be a common issue that I have with them.

The Disney night.

I love Disney night because I like to see.

I want to see a story like I want to see you become a character.

And for the performances where you became a character,

I liked those and had a theme.

I liked those a lot more than the ones that didn't because like you have any

other week to just do a dance to a song like this is your time to like get dressed up,

like talk on people's heartstrings like this is your time to tell a story.

And for the people who didn't do that, I didn't like their performances as much.

So that's going to be like a common theme throughout my critiques.

OK, so starting off with Dylan, first of all, like when he was wearing those

Mickey ears, like I was like clenching my butt.

I'm like, he does not bother me the way he bothered you.

He gives me I don't know.

I can't explain it like, oh, my gosh, I'm liking him more and more.

I'm not. I'm liking him less and less.

And I felt like his dance.

I felt like it was boring to be honest.

And I agreed with Derek or Derek said that he just like needed more expression.

Like, I just feel like his dance sure was good, like the step looks great.

I think he's a good dancer. I think he's got rhythm.

But I wasn't like, like, where's the expressions and the fun?

Like, I wasn't I didn't watch it with a smile on my face.

Yeah, I felt the same thing that I said last week, which was

Daniela was doing all the work and he was just like kind of standing there with her.

And he wasn't.

He was still doing the steps and he's got rhythm and he's doing more than like

Andy in the way that their partners doing everything.

But again, like life is a highway.

I'm sorry, like not really like, OK, yeah, I know it's in cars.

It's not a Disney song.

Like pick a better Disney song.

Why didn't you do High School Musical?

That would have been iconic and hilarious to do like Troy Bolton.

Why didn't you do High School Musical?

Like make it a moment.

And so then well, then he said the next week I have something fun.

And again, I've never this is my first season watching it.

So I guess they have people in their life come.

So is Zac Efron going to be on the next episode?

You know, you know what this is giving?

It's giving the summer.

I turn pretty with these two brothers.

How? Well, I think there's two brothers.

I think that Dylan is Conrad and I think that Zach is Jeremiah.

Also, I will say I will say I am further on into season three of the summer.

I turn pretty.

I do agree. Jeremiah sucks.

I do agree. I still stand by the fact that I think Conrad sucks.

I think everyone in the cast, I think they're just not good characters

who should not end up together.

I'd like everyone to be on a clean slate.

OK, I'd like everyone to find somebody else.

It's kind of where that's fine.

That's fine that you feel that way.

However, what's not fine that you feel is that Dylan is 100 percent

Jeremiah and Zac is Conrad.

If you're trying to compare the Efron brothers to the Fisher brothers.

OK, let's just clear that up

because you could have gotten really canceled for that one.

OK, Danielle and Pasha such OK to see.

OK, to see the quick steps back to back.

And this is why I wish like they would do like all quick steps

because that now I know what I'm looking at.

That felt like a better quick step to me.

It was so much more fun.

I love her. She's so fun.

It was such a good song, such a good dance, like so good.

I thought the judges giving Dylan a higher score than them was criminal.

I disagree a little, but I do think it was a fun dance.

I think she's improving.

I just don't think this I don't.

I think she's probably going to be the next one or two to get eliminated.

That's hard to hear.

Yeah, I know. But like the problem is like this cat.

I mean, everyone is just really, really good.

So I'm worried. I'm worried about her, but I love her.

I love her. OK, I think it's going to go quickly as Scott and Riley.

OK, so that's his name.

I just put pentatonix because I don't know what it is about my brain.

I just can't remember his name.

OK, I said it was such a good concept, but it just wasn't my favorite execution.

When I saw that they were doing that song,

I'm like, that was such a good pick.

I love it.

And it just is he's just a little awkward.

Like, I don't know, it doesn't do much for me.

Well,

I also feel like he's a performer.

Like I would have liked them to have also sang it.

And I know that like they I felt like some of the clips

they were trying to like sing their bop to the top song.

But I just feel like for like Riley is an expert dancer.

He's a performer.

I just think they could have handled learning the song and singing it

and like making it a whole moment.

That's what I would have.

I think that would have been a more fun performance.

I thought they were cute.

They're like, I actually liked Scott a little bit more this week.

And like when they were talking over each other, when they were talking to Julianne,

like that was funny. Yeah.

I put him in the same category as Danielle.

Like I think he'll be he's in my bottom half, unfortunately.

For sure. For sure.

OK, Alex and Val. Wow.

Costume was insane, first of all, the spins and the arms.

Like she was gliding, she was dancing, gliding.

Like.

She was so confident.

She was in this character.

She was a character.

She was in character.

I don't follow her on social media.

So like I don't really know her.

So I don't mean this to be like, like again, I'm speaking to someone who doesn't really know her.

But like I couldn't really get her personality.

Of just from dancing with the stars.

And I just feel like I think someone in the carpool said like it's kind of like

she doesn't have a lot going on behind the eyes.

Like she was just like kind of I kind of felt that.

But seeing this, like I really felt like I got to know her better.

Seeing her in this like confident, like just being this like not like they said

that she's everyone's expecting her to be a princess and we're making her a villain.

Like I loved it.

No, it was amazing.

I was mesmerized, loved it.

Like so much growth from her.

I think the thing with Alex is she's just like such a typical.

And I mean, that's what I'm like, she's just so Gen Z that I think like us

millennials think it's like there's not a lot going on.

I think there's plenty going on.

I think she's just like, does the Gen Z pause?

It's just like to me, she's just like talking to Sydney.

Like it's just she's just she's just like talking to Sydney.

She's so much like she's younger than us.

Like she's just not this like 30 year old woman.

She's probably 22, 23.

She's young.

Yeah, that's true.

I just she's 24.

I just forget that I'm not 24.

And you're not 24.

And it's a big difference.

But like she is amazing, unbelievable.

And I was like, I agree.

I couldn't believe like what Bruno said that she was just acting and she was so

into it, like 10s, 10s across the board.

I think like I was I was obsessed, obsessed.

OK, then we have Hilaria.

OK, this I'm not a Star Wars girl, but this didn't translate to me at all.

I didn't get it.

OK, I don't know as much about the whole.

OK, I have a lot to say, but I want you to finish your critique.

OK, I from the dance perspective, I didn't totally get it.

She is a very good dancer, though.

And like you can't say that she's not.

But like it didn't do I didn't like I didn't like the theme.

So I don't like I'm going to look at this very objectively because I don't know

a lot about why people hate her other than like she faked her

heritage or over exaggerated her heritage.

I don't know.

I don't know anything about her.

I like wasn't like following it that closely.

She's obviously just really hated by people, which is crazy.

I'm almost feeling a little bit bad.

Me too.

And Gleb was like, she's getting underscored.

And I'm like, Gleb, you're right.

Like she is getting underscored because she's an excellent dancer.

I mean, she's a trained dancer.

And I feel like she was really trying, especially in those Disney

scenes, to like show people that like she's a mother of like seven young children.

Seeing Alec like with a three year old daughter is like so crazy to me.

Like, yeah, he's so old and she's they have such young kids.

No, it made me so sad actually seeing them because I'm like

she is going to be alone for her life.

Like he's going to die so much before her and she's going to have these seven kids.

Like, I don't know.

Sorry, that's so morbid.

But like that was a thought that I had.

Like he's 68.

It was wild.

So and this is where like I just.

So anyway, spoiler, Hilaria goes home.

Like she's the one who gets sent home and she obviously gets sent home

because she didn't have the scores, didn't have the votes.

And I'm just like, I need it kind of honestly made me mad because I feel

like I need a little bit more transparency.

Well, how many votes did she get and how much are the votes waited?

Like I feel like they're bragging and bragging about how they got 40 million votes.

We'll show us the breakdown.

Like I want to see who got who got the most who got the most votes.

Who got the second who got the least amount of votes?

Did she really get that few votes that it offset Andy's super low score to hers?

Yeah, like I'm almost as it felt a little like.

It felt a little rigged and like or not.

I don't think like if this is a competition, I don't think she deserved to go home personally.

Well, I mean, I don't know what people hate others.

I think there's also context maybe I don't fully understand.

No, I don't again, I don't know anything about her.

And here's the thing.

I'm not going to educate myself on it because I don't think that the drama

of Hilaria Baldwin is worth me educating myself on.

There's plenty I can, but like I don't care.

Um, it made me sad because she is a really good dancer and she had an

an excellent dance and like I can just imagine the amount of like putting herself

on a stage like this to just get ripped to shreds.

And again, like she's a mother of seven of young kids.

Like she's got a lot on her plate.

It just made me sad.

Like I'm just sad for her because I I'm not I'm not her accident.

Like I don't like looking at it, but I can't stop looking at it.

Yeah.

And also though, like made Lauren Oregi look even worse because the fact

that Hilaria could go up there with like, who was actually an excellent

dancer and leave with, I'm sorry, such grace.

Like I had, I had respect for how she left.

She said, thank you to my children, the cast.

I'm so proud of you.

Like it was honestly a beautiful exit.

Yeah, and that's where I just left being like, so how many votes did she get?

Like, I just, like, I just, I don't like that I don't know.

I don't know.

It was just kind of.

Yeah, I was surprised to see her.

So then we go to Andy, who like, obviously it is one of those.

Like, I mean, it's he's cute.

He's darling, like he's riding on his personality and obviously the votes,

which is why I would like to know how many votes he's getting.

Yeah, I think we were all kind of expecting this to be like their dance

was cute, but like, yeah, he's not like he's it's time for him to go.

I think like he was the most shocked of anyone.

Like when you see his reaction on stage, he's like your kid,

like him and you're joking.

I feel like they almost like cut the camera off them too soon

because like, I think Andy was ready to go home.

Like, he's have to hurt.

I know, like he's had fun.

Like he's got a lot of new fans.

Like this has been a fun adventure for him, but like, let the man rest.

I think he wants to go home.

He's not going to win.

He's so likable, though.

Like when he was like a ratatouille is the perfect dance for us.

And because Emma's the rat and I'm the chef and she's just pulling the strings

and I'm just following along like he's just so cute.

He's so he he is so likable.

He'll obviously go home next week.

That's what I would have thought the last two weeks.

So so I don't actually know.

Well, I'm ready for him to go home.

And that's not because I don't like him.

It's just at the end of the day, like this is a competition

and I'm ready to get competitive.

OK, Robert and Whitney way before that in between Andy and Robert,

there was a TikTok commercial.

Did you watch it?

No, I was skipping the commercials.

So TikTok had a commercial and it was so well done.

And it was like promoting the app.

And like they found this math teacher who teaches math on TikTok.

And she's like every day and the ad was like every day

someone learned something new on TikTok.

And it was like showing that like TikToks there to like educate the youth.

I don't know. I'm not saying I believe that.

I'm not like I'm not saying that I'm taking that with a great assault,

which is interesting to see TikTok do an advertisement

and try to take that like they're this education type.

Yeah, that's that's crazy.

It was kind of wild. Yeah, it was kind of like I loved this math teacher

who they found like she was so cute.

And I could see how like I would love to look up a tick.

Like if I was in school,

I could see how I'd love to look up, look up a TikTok on like how to do PEM does.

Yeah, I like do these like hard math things.

Like your teacher just didn't explain well.

Yeah, for sure. I see how I could use it as a study tool.

OK, Robert.

They're good.

I mean, they're they're they're really good.

And unlike Dylan, I do feel like Robert and Whitney are like actual like 5050

partners, like he actually is dancing.

And I just every time he gets a critique, I just like love him.

He's just again, so like a bull.

He couldn't take critiques better.

Like he's like, yep, I know.

Yeah, I know. So receptive to it.

He's so receptive. He's a little stiff.

I he's just a little stiff.

He's a little stiff. He's he's good at the steps.

Like I do think he gets the steps well.

And I think he can do more than Dylan in a sense.

Like his dances, I think, are more complicated on his end.

Yeah.

But like he just needs to he needs to just loosen up a bit.

He's losing up. Here's the thing with Robert.

He's just as likable as Andy, except he can dance.

Totally. So.

But after last night, like I would have told you like a couple weeks ago,

like I thought he was going to be the winner.

I don't think he'll be the winner.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know, maybe.

OK, he's not the best dancer.

Elaine. Unbelievable.

Mm hmm. She was.

And here's what I thought was interesting about Elaine.

I actually thought it was one of the more boring.

Outfits, songs, like sets.

Like they didn't have a lot of props and razzle dazzle.

And she stole the show. Yeah.

She deserved her score.

She had such good energy.

Like the fact that she's 50, insane, insane.

And that's where I just feel like when you compare her and Daniela,

like she's going to go farther than Danielle.

Sorry, not Danielle.

She's going to go farther than Danielle and 10 out of 10.

I loved her like I love her.

Yeah, that's good.

She's really impressive.

Um, I liked it.

Then we have Whitney, who will be the winner of Dancing with the Stars.

I don't I think that's not a hot take.

She was it was the it's the only dance I woke up this morning and wanted to rewatch.

I re I re winded it and watched it again.

It was my favorite dance.

It was unbelievable, incredible song choice.

I love that they did Hamilton.

Hamilton's having such a moment.

Especially on TikTok right now or like Instagram and TikTok right now.

Everyone loves Hamilton.

It was just so fun to see beautiful costumes, beautiful dances were beautiful, obsessed.

Yeah, she will win.

Yeah.

I think she will win.

And at some point, like I like you have to disrespect the talent

and she is so entertaining to watch like people will keep her there

because I don't want to watch the show unless she's in it.

Like I will be sad.

I will miss watching her.

Yeah.

Then I said we have Jordan and I just said would hate to follow Whitney.

Like that was just Jordan's dance.

No, Jordan, I said it was like it was really beautiful.

I feel like she's always bringing something different.

This was just like beautiful.

Like she looked like a princess.

She looked like a princess.

It was fine.

It was it was safe.

Like it's not going to stick out in my mind as much only because

and I loved she was probably one of my favorite dances last week,

but it's just tough to follow Whitney.

Yeah, but it was really pretty.

I like to see her like she was the only one, I guess, with the exception

of Jen that like did a princess and I she looked like she was moving like a princess.

Yeah.

So then we have Jen and like the thing with Jen is like seeing her Disney

world with how young her baby was like definitely took me back a step.

Like her baby is so young.

I just can't believe she wanted to do this.

I'm not I'm not judging her because we all have like such different

postpartum experiences, but I also found it so interesting to compare.

And it's of course different.

But it's hard to not compare what Jen's doing to what Ballerina Farms did.

Like both like so freshly postpartum, like doing these like insane feats.

Like Ballerina Farm is competing at the Miss USA page

at like 12 days postpartum or whatever.

And Jen is eight weeks postpartum doing a back walk over.

Like these women are just incredible.

Yeah, I don't know.

I mean, it's like you get the call, you get the opportunity.

Like you don't know if that's going to come back again.

And if this is like something, you know, it's just.

No, I know.

And like it's I I feel like I stand with like I I'm so I think it's really.

Just think it's very interesting because it's it's that conversation of like

it's aspirational to some.

It's it's it's I think for others.

It's it's not aspirational.

That makes them feel bad because like they think that they she shouldn't be.

I've just seen like a lot of critiques

on like how she shouldn't be doing it like so postpartum and like.

It is wild.

And I think that's why like she's just I don't think she's going to win.

I don't think she's just like as up as she can be.

But like that's because like she's probably not even sleeping through the night.

Like this is insane.

Yeah, it's like an insane thing to do.

And like I knew she was postpartum.

But like, see now she's like feeding her little bitty newborn.

I know, I know, I know, and then hitting these rehearsals like it's insane.

Yeah, I know it's insane.

Um, but about the dance.

OK, yeah, sorry about that.

I hated Jeannie.

I'm so scared.

Why wasn't he Aladdin?

I didn't like I didn't didn't really care for this dance.

I didn't like the Jeannie and Jasmine like you never see them together.

It weirded me out.

And like I agreed with Carrie Ann's critique on like it was a lot

like there was just no connection to any of it.

Like it was a lot of tricks.

And then I just felt like there was no nothing that like tied it together.

And like that song is such a good song.

And there's such an icon, some really iconic dance moves from the live

action version of the Aladdin movie.

And I'm like, where were some of I wanted to see some of those.

And I don't know like like legally if you can do some of those moves.

But it just didn't make it didn't really connect for me.

Well, I think the biggest thing was I also agreed with Carrie Ann's critiques.

I think the problem was was like the critiques were really about her partner.

What's her partner's name?

Jan Jan, like he choreographed a bad dance, not a bad dance.

But like it's not it was not the right dance for dancing with the stars.

And I feel like I didn't like that Jen scores like Jen scored solo because of him.

Yeah, like it was his fault.

They should have done like a quick step or something.

There was no it was just a I went back and listened to what

dance they were doing because I'm like there was no steps.

Like I like when they go down the center of the stage and like do their steps.

And it was just a quote jazz routine.

Yeah. So like where was the fox trot?

Where was the samba?

Like now I'm learning all of these steps and like a jazz routine is just like

let's throw what we can at the kitchen sink.

Like it was giving like I don't want to choreograph a real dance.

So we're just going to have fun.

And it was the wrong choice.

I agree with you.

Genie and Jasmine have nothing to do with each other.

It was so weird.

He should have been Aladdin like or like she could have been genie.

Or like she could have been Aladdin.

Like it could have been like you could be whatever you want to be.

It's a freaking dance.

I was so I was really disappointed with I couldn't look at I couldn't look at him

with like his black beard on his blue skin.

I couldn't look at him.

And he's just not he's like this is his first year doing it.

And he's I just don't know why they would set Jen up with him.

I don't like it to be.

I'm sad. But like I don't know.

I hope she's having fun.

I also just like since I watched the woman wives like

Jen just has a lot going on.

Like I'm really honestly shocked she did this.

So I hope she's having as much fun as it's looking like.

That's just my hope for her.

Yeah, I hope that she's enjoying it.

I agree. But.

OK, well, that's going to be our dance with the stars recap.

OK, hope you enjoyed.

Let's go to industry news, shall we?

Yeah. OK.

Now it's time for industry news where I saw the hot tea going on in the auto industry.

So this was so about like vehicle reliability.

And I see cars posted out like they didn't update of their longest lasting cars.

And it is 25 vehicles with the best chance of reaching to 250,000 miles.

OK, so that's kind of interesting.

The top five four are all Toyotas.

So Toyota Sequoia has a 39 percent chance of making it to 250,000 miles.

The Toyota forerunner has a 32 percent chance.

The Toyota Highlander Hybrid has a 31 percent chance.

And the Toyota Tundra has a 30 percent chance of making it to 250,000 miles.

Well, yeah.

Dang.

And then they go to a couple of Lexuses.

There's a couple of Hondas on here, like the Odyssey has a 13 percent chance.

The pilot has a 13 percent chance.

The suburban has 11 percent chance.

But like here's like what year, you know what I mean?

Like, I don't believe that.

Well, also like 11 percent chance is not like a chance enough for me to buy a car.

It's with the intention of 250,000 miles.

That's 250,000 miles.

Yeah, I would I would like them to put out a list that's 200.

Because I think the difference between 250 is a really big difference.

But yeah, I thought that was interesting.

And just like since it's kind of been a Toyota week,

it's kind of Toyota thought over here at the car, mom.

I do understand why people love

Toyotas and trust Toyotas and are Toyota stands.

It's just unfortunate that like I feel like sometimes families

who like are just Toyota or bust have to make concessions on size and tech.

In some like features to get this reliability.

And that's why I just think it's sometimes worth the exercise to question

like why are the goals, why is the goal to make it to 250,000 miles?

And if it's cost, there's other ways to there's other cheaper ways to drive cars.

That's not just buying a car and keeping it for 250,000 miles.

You know, yeah.

So I don't know. OK, the next story, like kick me while I'm down.

The hamster will dance no more.

Kia kills the soul after 2025.

The soul always have like such a special place in my heart.

Yeah, it was the car that I drove in college.

Like I loved it.

It had such good space where I needed it.

It was really easy to parallel park outside of my college dorm.

Like I will always love the Kia Soul.

That's that's sad.

It's it's a lot to process.

It's a lot just to to wake up and see one day.

I love the Kia Soul. I think it's an excellent vehicle.

I think it's I like when cars are fun and unique and.

And I find it so interesting how small cars are just continuing to not do well

in the car market because it feels like people are fighting for

vehicle affordability, gas mileage.

But then like we just see like these SUVs,

midsize SUVs, like sell more and more and more and more.

And like the little cars and sedans are just dying and dying and dying.

Yeah, it's interesting.

I don't I don't know why that's the case.

I mean, obviously in our audience,

like the soul is not the hottest car because hello, like it's not.

But Liz, do you remember June?

Do you know what I'm saying?

Do you remember what we did that one day?

Yeah, I do.

Elizabeth and I were filming an ad for Enterprise,

and our concept of the ad was about rental reimbursement coverage.

And it was like, make sure you have this coverage and make sure you have enough of it

so you can get a like vehicle.

And we had this concept to like compare how if I were to get a Kia Soul rental car,

how like I wouldn't have enough room for the car seats and the stroller

because like it's such a small car.

So we pull up this Kia Soul and we like and we're thinking that

it's not even going to fit a rear facing car seat or it's going to be tight.

We put a rear facing car seat in there.

There's oodles of room to put the stroller in the back and put the stroller in the trunk.

Great.

We're like, oh, we'll get a funny clip of the stroller not fitting.

We put the stroller in there. It fits perfectly.

We literally had to scrap the idea and like do it differently.

Yeah, because the Kia Soul like just performing.

The Kia Soul was doing what we thought it wouldn't.

I love that car. I'll miss it.

Um, it's one of those like in my dream garage of like 10,

I one maybe need to go up to like 12 cars.

Like I would get like a pristine Kia Soul.

No, you know what?

I would you know what I would get over the Kia Soul, though.

And my dream garage, the Nissan Cube, the Nissan Cube, the Nissan Cube.

I do know that for you.

OK, look at the Nissan Cube.

Look at the interior. That was that was my first car.

I loved it.

So funny.

I loved it.

OK, let's move on to and ditch the drive.

Or we should give a dinner recipe to mix it up to get you out of your dinner.

Dinner. Right.

Can I just say a vegetable that I made the other night?

That's an oldie but a goodie.

And I have been making it for so long.

And then I think I started making it wrong.

And I just last night made it again so perfectly.

I couldn't stop.

I ate the entire thing like I left Maddie a few.

And that is Parmesan asparagus.

Wow.

Cut your asparagus laid out on a sheet pan.

Olive oil, salt, garlic powder.

And then so much like plastic can parmesan.

Like I mean, this is not the time to freshly grade.

Like I'm talking craft.

Like so much of it, like you want so much of it.

And then you put it in the oven for like 20 minutes at 400.

It is so good.

Oh, I have asparagus.

I'm going to make that, I think, tonight.

So good.

Yum.

You always have to do more Parmesan than you think,

because that was where I was like I was being I was being a little

stingy on the parm for, I guess, the last several times.

And I was like, whatever, it's a new can.

And I was so good.

Well, mine is something that I made last night

because I had a little energy and wanted to cook,

wanted to make something.

I'm really hungry.

I literally haven't eaten much this week.

So now I have an appetite back and I'm,

my food anxiety has calmed down a little bit.

I also threw away all the Worcestershire sauce

and anything related to Caesar's dressing in my life.

And I made like a carbonara kind of thing.

So I made bacon, mushrooms, chopped them up, put them in a pan,

cook some pasta, added a bunch of heavy cream, salt and pepper.

If it would have had frozen peas,

I probably would have added those.

So I feel like that would have been a nice veggie.

Yeah.

Unbelievable.

All the kids hammered it.

That sounds really good.

Mushroom bacon is a really good,

it's a flavor profile that I should be consuming more.

Yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

Okay, I love it.

Okay, well, let's move right along to Blake's Besties.

We're going to be reading some stories

to honor the babies that we lost to soon.

So, I'll go first.

Okay, this is from Sarah.

My second pregnancy was uneventful five weeks before my due date.

My water broke at the hospital.

Our team prepared us for the possible

preemie concerns with her coming a little early.

Claire Elizabeth was born November 14th, 2022,

after an easy labor, but it was immediately clear something was wrong.

For 30 minutes, the team worked to get her body going on its own.

The room went quiet.

The doctor came to us and said the words

had changed our lives.

She didn't make it.

A little later, a chest x-ray gave us an answer.

Claire had an undiagnosed congenital diaphragmatic hernia,

a hole in the diaphragm that allowed organs to crowd her lungs

and heart, preventing them from developing properly.

We held her close for over 12 hours,

baptized her, prayed over her, welcomed family,

and had photos taken by a photographer.

Nearly three years later, we continue to honor and remember

our Claire Elizabeth.

Her little sister was born a year after her passing,

and her big brother now five often talks about Claire

and tells his sister about the one missing.

What my husband wrote in Claire's obituary says it all.

Even where her body failed her, Claire was fearfully and wonderfully made.

She brought light and love into the lives of all whom at her,

and words cannot describe how deeply she is missed.

Yeah, okay, that was really beautiful.

This one comes from Shannon.

I'm writing about my daughter Molly Grace.

When I was 12 weeks pregnant,

we found out that our sweet girl had trisomy.

Trisomy?

Why would you give me this one?

I've heard of it before.

Trisomy, 18.

We were told that she likely would not make it full term,

even if she did, she was not compatible with life.

Molly defined all odds and was born full term.

We got to spend five weeks and four days with her

before she was called home.

Molly was the strongest little girl

and would do everything on her own terms.

She would frequently remove both her feeding and oxygen on her own,

and she would always let you know her wishes in her own way.

We miss her every single day,

and we love to tell her little sister Emily all about her.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read her story.

It means the world to me, Shannon.

You're tough today.

I know, I know.

I don't know.

I know.

Sometimes it's hard to know what to say after that.

We have one more though, so I'm going to read it.

This comes from Abigail.

My husband and I were married in 2020

and had our perfect healthy daughter in January of 23.

Her pregnancy was complication-free

and our transition to parenthood was shockingly smooth.

Once she was 18 months old,

we decided it was time to try and grow our family.

We became pregnant with our second child in October of 24.

We were thrilled and loved having the ideas of kids

two and a half years apart and started making plans.

Just a few weeks later,

we found out I had lost the pregnancy

and I went through delivery of our son, Jude, at home.

I missed one of my dear childhood friends' wedding

as I was actively miscarrying

and my daughter was diagnosed with pneumonia.

That morning, that Monday, leaving work,

I walked outside to see a giant double rainbow

stretching over the hospital where I work.

I've never seen one so vividly in my life.

I know God was with me,

and he was reminding me that he brings us through grief

brings us through grief of redemption.

Two months later, we found out we were expecting again.

I often wondered in the early days

if that double rainbow met the next pregnancy

would bring twins.

We had our eight-week ultrasound and confirmed

there was only one baby,

but they had a strong heartbeat

and all blood work was looking great.

When I went through my 12-week appointment,

I learned that our precious baby no longer had a heartbeat.

I had a DNC that Thursday to bring our darling daughter,

Violet Ann, into the world before we got the chance

to hold her and see her face

and introduce her to her big sister.

Jude and Violet's brief lives became a witness

of God's eternal promise

and have my husband and I yearning for heaven

in a way that I've never felt before.

I know none of us know exactly

the logistics of heaven workout,

but I know deep in my heart that those babies are up there

waiting to be rocked by their mom for eternity.

And I'm basing every decision and moment of my life

moving forward with the perspective

of getting myself back to my kids.

This summer, I found myself starting

my third positive pregnancy test in seven months.

We heard the baby's heartbeat

and for the first time on Jude's due date, July 23rd,

our double rainbow, the one he revealed to me

in the sky almost a year ago, is due in March.

And while I know I would not be able to fully exhale

until this baby is breathing healthy in in my arms,

I can say now more than ever

that I trust God completely with this pregnancy.

We wait prayerfully for our baby to join our family this spring

and I cannot wait to see our girl

and be our big sister here on earth.

P.S. I wanted to plug for a support group

that have changed my life since losses.

You Made Me a Mom is a non-profit support group

for mothers who have lost babies during pregnancy or infancy

and was started by a local Kansas City mom

who has incredible story.

You can read more.

Youmademeamom.com.

Meetings are once a month during Kansas City,

Milford, Indiana, Newton Grove, North Carolina.

Looks like there's kind of a lot of them.

So, yeah.

So, thank you so much for sharing your stories.

If you want to share yours,

you can write it to hello at thecarmomofficial.com.

Thank you so much for listening to the podcast

and we'll talk to you next time.

Love you guys. 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.

BROOCHES ARE WHAT WE NEED

About this episode

Toyota Grand Highlander

Lexus GX

Toyota 4Runner

vehicle reliability

250,000 miles

Toyota Sequoia

Toyota Highlander

Toyota Tundra

Honda Odyssey

Honda Pilot

Chevrolet Suburban

Kia Soul

vehicle affordability

gas mileage

midsize SUVs

Nissan Cube

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from The Carpool with Kelly and Lizz