New Mom Podcast

Lezl Gonzales is on the show this week for a FUN and light mom talk over coffee. She is a wife, mom of three and influencer. She and Carrie talk about the benefits of “feeling cute” as a mom, and finding our own practical mom fashion. 

Lezl also shares what made her change her mind about kids, all three of her birth stories, and dives into their decision to homeschool (for now)!

Follow Lezl On Socials: 
https://www.instagram.com/lezlkoe

https://www.tiktok.com/@xolezlkoe

What is New Mom Podcast?

The New Mom Podcast is a Christian motherhood podcast for women navigating pregnancy, postpartum, and early motherhood.
Whether you're a first-time mom, expecting, or in the middle of sleepless nights, this show offers real, honest conversations about motherhood, marriage, identity, and faith. We talk about birth stories, postpartum recovery, relationships, mental health, and trusting God through every stage of motherhood. If you're looking for encouragement, practical advice, and a reminder that you're not alone—this podcast is for you.

Our prayer is that New Mom leaves you feeling seen, strengthened, and a little more equipped for the beautiful calling of motherhood!

New episodes weekly.

Carrie:

Okay. What about what about your third? I thought scrolling.

Carrie:

It could have been faster than sixty seconds. Right? Can you imagine?

Lezl:

It was. What? I'm sorry.

Carrie:

I'm I'm literally reacting live. It was faster than sixty seconds?

Lezl:

She was like a quarter push. You were

Carrie:

just like, achoo. And then she was Basically. Hello and welcome back to New Mom. I'm your host, Carrie Alexander, and I'm so excited to be with you today. Today's episode is a fun one.

Carrie:

I sat down with Liesl Gonzales. She is a new friend from church here in Nashville. She is a wife and a mom of three. And today's episode is honestly just like fun mom talk. Pour your cup of coffee, join the chat.

Carrie:

We are talking mom uniforms. Liesl is an absolute fashionista, so we get into that. We talk birth stories. She's got some crazy ones and honestly everything in between. So without further ado, I hope you enjoy this conversation with Liesl.

Carrie:

Liesl, welcome to New Mom.

Lezl:

Thanks for having me.

Carrie:

Absolutely. Thanks for being here on this cozy, rainy Nashville day. I texted you, like, an hour ago. I was like, change of plans, put on a sweatsuit. I wasn't I

Lezl:

wasn't something comfortable before, but I'm like, oh, sweats like that.

Carrie:

You just always look really really cute. So I was like, she might be, like, glammed in these amazing overalls. I got this whole thing going on, which would have been fine. I just wanted you to know I'm gonna be in a sweatsuit. But even your sweatsuit is perfectly glam.

Carrie:

Like, you have some great fashion.

Lezl:

Thank you.

Carrie:

Yeah. You really do. You always look cute.

Lezl:

I try well, I feel like my first pregnancy, I was inside all the time.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

And then with my second pregnancy, I was I have three kids, by the way.

Carrie:

Yeah. We'll get there. We'll get there. But you do.

Lezl:

With my second pregnancy, I there were my body was just so aware of like what I was putting on my body that I couldn't have anything that was loose. Everything had to be super fitted. Really? It was the weird thing.

Carrie:

Would say the opposite. It just wasn't comfy.

Lezl:

Like, I could feel the fabric. I could feel like the stitches. I could feel like if something was ribbed, I could feel like each individual rib. Woah. And so like, I need like, I literally needed to be like everything to be essentially like leggings.

Lezl:

Like, I needed a tight top. I needed but it was like, it wasn't cute. I don't I didn't feel super cute. I was just like, I just feel like I'm a wrestling a wrestler's singlet.

Carrie:

Honestly, I wore those a lot in my pregnancy. Like, I the little, like, one piece onesie things.

Lezl:

I did too, but it wasn't like I didn't wear it in, a cute way. It was just kind of like, I just need like, I need as minimal fabric as possible because I was pregnant in the summer. Yeah. Huge pregnant.

Carrie:

Makes

Lezl:

sense. But also, like, I need to not be able to feel any sort of movement of the fabric.

Carrie:

You just, like, want it to be on you, like I need yeah. Leggings, singlet style. Yeah. Those are awesome though. I love the little, like, one piece, like, unitard.

Carrie:

Is it called a unitard? It's just like a weird word, but I think it is. And then I'll put, like, a little blouse over it or something. Britney always does that too. She always wears, like, the cute little

Lezl:

It's cute when you actually style it. I wasn't styling it. I was just, like, walking around like a potato. The pregnancy potato. That's that's so real.

Carrie:

I thought I was styling it well. I thought I looked cute. And then I've since, like, we have one of those things in our, kitchen where you can, like, see photo like, it scrolls through our photos. I forgot what it's called, the brand of our thing. But anyway, I have all my pregnancy photos on there.

Carrie:

Sometimes I'll just be like cooking and I'll look over and I'm like,

Lezl:

oh. That was a choice.

Carrie:

That was a choice. Yeah. That was you were feeling yourself. And honestly, awesome. I'm glad I was.

Carrie:

But looking back, I'm like, okay, maybe we choose a different choice next time around. But anyway, you've got great fashion. You also love the Lord. You're also a great mom. So I'm just, like, super happy to have you here today.

Carrie:

Hi, Charlie. You're a new friend from church, and I really adore you and your husband. And also we've got the LA connection. We were, like, SoCal people.

Lezl:

I know. We found like our little group that I feel like it was not forced upon us, but it was like when I was looking through the group, I was like, wait. That's not that's an LA number. That's an LA number. That's like a South Bay number.

Lezl:

Yeah. Who are these people?

Carrie:

Yeah. There's so many of us in our small group that are all Calif. Calif there's a lot of Californians and a lot of people from our particular group. And then we didn't like, we're all from The Valley, a couple of our friends and Lee and Philip and Brittany. And then you guys are like, wait, we also lived in The Valley, which is crazy.

Carrie:

But you're from you're from Orange County originally.

Lezl:

So we have Orange County numbers. I Okay. But I'm like, I know these numbers and I can't I need to, like, investigate. I have a need to investigate everything. Whereas my husband's like, let's like, he lets it go.

Lezl:

I cannot. And I'm like, I need to know where you're from and why, like, why you're here now.

Carrie:

Oh, for people to move here? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's reasonable.

Carrie:

Because I didn't realize, like, Nashville and Franklin specifically, like, it's very much it's not even transient. It just seems like a lot of people are specifically moving here now from California, from we got a lot of Florida people Yeah. Like that kinda thing. So I feel that. Okay.

Carrie:

Tell us a little bit about yourself. You mentioned you had three kids.

Lezl:

Three

Carrie:

kids. How long have you been married? What's your story? When did you guys start having babies?

Lezl:

Okay. So we did we get married? It's been we spent we spent we just celebrated our ten year anniversary in July. Congratulations. That's crazy.

Lezl:

Wild. I don't feel like it's been ten years, but I also don't know a life without my husband.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

Because we've been together how old am I? I'm 38. We've been together since I was 20.

Carrie:

Oh my gosh. You really like, what? Eighteen years? Yeah. That's wild.

Carrie:

Eighteen years. Right? Yeah. Yeah. I think

Lezl:

we started dating when I was 21. So but but I mean, like, we've been to like, we've been friends in in each other's lives since I was 20. Wow. So, like

Carrie:

Did you guys meet? Like, were you just friends at first?

Lezl:

Yes. Friends, but like, I always had the intention to be more. But like, yeah, we were friends

Carrie:

for like, I guess a

Lezl:

year before we started dating. We met at Olive Garden thirteen eighty nine in Orange. That's right. That's right. I like this one.

Lezl:

And we were friends for a year. His friends his friends didn't like me, but come to find out that all of the girls that he was friends with wanted to date him. So that's

Carrie:

why they didn't like me. Well, yeah.

Lezl:

They were protective, which I understand. I was a mess, but I always have, like, a good heart. But I, like, I was a different person. I was a completely different person.

Carrie:

You were 20? It's still in there.

Lezl:

Yeah. But I was also like

Carrie:

That's that's an age though.

Lezl:

Not saved. Not I did a lot of stuff for attention and I didn't really get attention from guys until I graduated high school. And then once I found out I could, I was like, oh Oh, this is a thing. I know what to do. Mhmm.

Lezl:

And then I also knew how to, like, make the girls mad. So, like, I'm like, well, I can do two two at the same time. Like, you don't like me, so I'm gonna turn it up. I was just a different person.

Carrie:

I was Was okay. So when you guys met, was your husband following the Lord?

Lezl:

Yes. He has been like Ian is a 100%, like, the greatest person I've ever known in my entire life. And the only reason I am as nice

Carrie:

Shout out to Ian. Shout out to Ian right now.

Lezl:

The only reason I am who I am today is because of him. Like, he is the nicest person. I inherently, I'm just I'm a little spicy.

Carrie:

You got sass. I appreciate the sass. But you have such a good heart. You're like, you're a beautiful person, but I appreciate your sass. I'm very spicy.

Lezl:

But he's, like, turned it down. Like, I'll come to him with I it's just it it's it exude like, it's it comes out of me. And he's like he's like, does that honor God? And I'm like, no. But and I have to, like, release the vibe.

Carrie:

See, that's amazing. That's a good husband right there. He is. Yeah. They we edify each other, you know?

Carrie:

Yeah. Build each other

Lezl:

more than me. But, you know, I'm trying. Like, my whole thing is that I am trying to be more like him because he is so much more of, like, an example of not even just a Jesus follower, but just, like, he is just so he is just so much more of, like, what it is to, like, live, breathe, be like Jesus than I am. And I am trying to get there.

Carrie:

That's so beautiful.

Lezl:

And so it's just, he's just such a great example. And, like,

Carrie:

imagine for your kids too. Like, if you're thinking that as the wife, like, that's so you picked a good one.

Lezl:

Yeah. Yeah. It's like, he's there's nobody better, literally.

Carrie:

I love him. So wait. So you guys are dating when? So you met we were 20, start dating a year later?

Lezl:

Yeah. So 2121. Right?

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

And then we dated for he proposed on our six year anniversary, which I wasn't expecting. But people were like, oh, you've been together six years. And I'm like, you don't understand. Like, I I'm such a control freak, so I knew about how much he was making at work. And, like, I knew, like, kinda what he paid.

Lezl:

And then he the day he proposed, he didn't like, when he proposed, he told me that he had gotten the raise that he had asked for that I had completely forgotten. So, like,

Carrie:

Oh, so he wouldn't clock it?

Lezl:

Yeah. And so I just I in my understanding, I figured we were gonna get engaged within, like, the next year.

Carrie:

Mhmm. Oh, gotcha.

Lezl:

Got me. Like, comp like That

Carrie:

was well done.

Lezl:

Out of the blue. And he's and people are like, well, didn't he took you to get your nails done. I'm like, it you don't understand. Like, I knew, like, how much he was making. I knew, like, everything, and I had kinda rationalized it.

Lezl:

So yes. So we so we proposed on our six year anniversary. We got married, like, nine months later, eight months later, nine months, July. I can't do the math. And, yeah, we've it like, the ten years has flown by.

Lezl:

But to think of a time where he wasn't in my life and even, like, not my husband, it's like, I I I can't remember what it was like.

Carrie:

Yeah. I feel that way. And we've been we've known each other six years, I think, and we've been married not even four, and I already feel that way. I'm like, the time before you, I had been a child. Like, I just don't I don't remember that at all.

Carrie:

Yeah. It's crazy how that happens. Like, really beautiful. How long did you guys go before you had your first? How long were you married?

Carrie:

Three years? That's a good amount of time.

Lezl:

I can do the math. Three years? I think three years is when I decided, okay. Like, again, I I was so independent and I was so, like, not even like, I don't need no man. I was like, I don't need anyone.

Lezl:

I don't need anyone. I had dreams and goals that I had, like, decided within my own right that I'm like, okay. I'm going to graduate at 22. That didn't happen. I'm going to move to New York to pursue acting because I wanted to be on stage.

Lezl:

I wanted to do Broadway. That didn't happen. Because at 20 and I thought like, okay, I'll be married at 27. I'll be done having kids by 32. Like, that was that was my timeline.

Lezl:

And I met my husband at 20, and I was just like, oh, I really like this guy. And I was so much even it was more than like even when we were dating before we started dating, I knew I, like, had told myself, even if nothing ever comes of this other than us just being more than like, other than us just being friends, I will love this man until the day I die.

Carrie:

Mhmm. You just, knew he was a good one.

Lezl:

Just it I was just like, whoever gets to be his wife is legitimately the luckiest girl in the world. And I got him.

Carrie:

So cute.

Lezl:

So met him and I'm like, okay. Like, I gotta marry him, which means that I can't move to New York because he's not moving to New York. And I didn't need kids. I was okay without them. I I think because I am the oldest of four and I was, for, like, lack of a better word, parentified at such a young age.

Lezl:

Mhmm. I, like, had kind of taken care of and, like, not so much raised my siblings, but I took

Carrie:

care it. Daughter. I get that. Yeah. It's like and my mom they were super hands on, but it's still just like I felt like a big sister slash second mom my whole life.

Carrie:

Yeah. So I feel that when you feel maternal your whole life, I'm sure.

Lezl:

It was like a forced maternal.

Carrie:

Okay. Yeah.

Lezl:

Because my mom went back to work full time when I was in fifth grade, and so, like, I had to Okay. Yeah. So you really took over. Like, pick them up from school. Like, make them do chores that they didn't listen to me be but then I would get in trouble because I'm like, why am I getting in trouble because your children aren't listening to you?

Lezl:

Yeah. Like, why are they? Yeah. So I was kinda like, I'm okay, like, not having kids. Like, I wanna live for myself.

Lezl:

I want to be able to do the things that I wanna do. And then I think it was maybe a few years into us dating. I'm like, like, I really wanna see him as a father. Like, I wanna give him kids more than I want my own like, kids for myself.

Carrie:

Gonna ask that, like, because that's a big topic with people. Like, you're dating, how quickly do you mention the kid conversation? Because obviously, many people break up over one person wanting kids, one person not or whatever. Did you say, like, I don't think I want kids, or did this just you kind of just let let it were

Lezl:

so young.

Carrie:

We

Lezl:

were 20 and 21. So it wasn't ever it I don't think it was ever a conversation. I think it was just like, maybe we both want kids at some point, but then it was just seeing who he was. Mhmm. I was just like, this guy needs kids.

Lezl:

Like, this man needs some kids. And I'm like, I if I'm dating him, am I gonna do it? Yeah. Aw. So it was more so I don't know that I was ever I know they say you can't be ready for kids, but I don't know that I was ever, in my own right, going to be ready for kids.

Lezl:

I never had. I know some women or a lot of women have the desire to be a mom. I never had the desire to be a mom.

Carrie:

That's, like, so important to say. I'm honestly glad to hear you say that. Because I've I've had both types, like, on the show, but it's really helpful because there are so many, maybe even, like, pregnant women listening where it's like, okay, I feel relief. Yeah. You know, because like that so okay.

Carrie:

So then you realize that you want Ian to be a dad. At what point then, like, did you guys just decide three years in, like, were you ready to start trying or how did that, like, whole thing go?

Lezl:

So one of our good friends that we went to church with, they had a daughter at the time. And my whole thing is, again, control freak. I there were certain things I wanted to do before we had kids.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

So I wanted to we wanted to go back to Mexico, where we had honeymooned before kids. I wanted to do, like, a big Euro trip just because it's just I I just figured that would be easier without kids. And just financially, that wasn't gonna work out anytime in our immediate future from, like, what I could see on paper. And I was just like, okay, once you have kids, like, everything is, like, full stop.

Carrie:

Like Mhmm.

Lezl:

You know, it's all about them, which is so great. But then our friends had a daughter and I'm like, oh, like, they would take her everywhere. They took her like, if we had a later dinner, they would bring her with her with them. And I was just like, okay. Like, it seems like they can still do life and she's just adding to it.

Lezl:

And so, like, then the switch kinda flipped and I'm like, okay, I think if we wanted to try to have kids, I think it would be okay.

Carrie:

Think We we could find a lifestyle. We could include them in our

Lezl:

Yes.

Carrie:

Bring them along for the ride of, like, being a family unit. Yeah.

Lezl:

Yeah. And it just it it didn't occur to me that we could do that until I saw them, like, do life with her. Mhmm. And I'm like, she's just like she was just a little addition. Like, a little tripod tripod, a little trio, and she was just like their their little bestie.

Lezl:

Yeah. So it was around, like, three years and I'm like, I think, like, if we wanted to have kids, like, we could do it and we could still travel and we could still do everything. With three kids now, it's a little more difficult and a little more like logistics have to be involved. Yeah. But we still like all my family is still in California, so we still get out there.

Lezl:

Mhmm.

Carrie:

Yeah. So

Lezl:

still Is it harder than if it was just the two of us? Yes. But we we do it and it's great and we're making memories and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.

Carrie:

That's so good. Okay. What is the Lord teaching you in this season of motherhood? Tell us your kids ages.

Lezl:

I have a seven year old, a three year old, and an almost 11 old.

Carrie:

You got boy, boy, girl? Boy, boy, girl.

Lezl:

There is nothing about having kids really, that you can have any control over. I'm a firstborn. I'm a firstborn daughter. And on top of that, I'm also a control freak. It's not so much that I I'm not I wouldn't consider myself type a.

Lezl:

I just like to be in control of every little thing. Mhmm. And the more kids I've had, the more I realize like, okay. If I want any sort of peace, I just have

Carrie:

to let it go. Oh, that's really good.

Lezl:

Yeah. Yeah. I just have to let it go. Delete the apps.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

I I've I've never used chat GPT, but, like, don't just I there's so much peace in not running to the Internet.

Carrie:

That's really, really good mom advice. Because I think that's, like, the natural instinct from the second that you're even trying to conceive a baby Yeah. All the way through to, like, I can only imagine by the time your kid is seven, but that's that's so true. So wait. So you're saying instead of that?

Lezl:

There's so like, there is so much good information out there. I studied so much before having our firstborn, like, from trying to conceive from all of the things, like, to like, leading up to it, I think, What to Expect I read What to Expect When You're Expecting

Carrie:

to Great.

Lezl:

And it was great.

Carrie:

Yes.

Lezl:

And then I, like, looked up a ton of, like, birth vlogs and birth. I was following this woman who is an LND nurse at Cedars Sinai. And, like, she gave so much great information and I felt like I had everything. Mhmm. And I think that's as much as I really needed.

Carrie:

Yeah.

Lezl:

But of course, I looked up more stuff, like postpartum and just like so many things like you download the WonderWeeks and you're like logging every feeding and you're doing all of the things and it's like, oh, put your child down when they start to rub their eye. And it's just like, there's just so much And out I just I my mom got a lot of stuff right. And one of the things, like, well, I'm just like, oh, what do you do? And she's like, we just did it. And I'm like, how do you what do you mean you just did it?

Lezl:

Like, what do you mean? And they didn't have even, like, half of the stuff that

Carrie:

we Well, that's what I think so funny about our parents' generation is they are I I don't speak for everybody. It seems like my parents, seems like Connor's parents, seems like what you're saying. A lot of my friends, they're all like, I don't know. Our moms are just like, you figure it out. Like, you just you just do it.

Carrie:

You you just make it work. And I think like we've I think that we're like, what you just said, there's so much good information out there. Like, of course, absolutely. We need like, yes, there's blessing to the fact that we have more information, more resources. But we can overindulge in it and almost become, like, gluttonous with information to the point where we're completely consumed and anxious with all of the every single possibility and what every single mom is doing literally in every corner of the world at all times.

Carrie:

Our moms literally just didn't have that.

Lezl:

Yeah. If you're looking for it, you're gonna find it. Yeah. Yeah. Like, if you're looking for the absolute the absolute worst case scenario, you will find

Carrie:

it. Mhmm.

Lezl:

So it's just the more kids I've had, the less I've relied on, like, outside information. I don't I I didn't log a single diaper in the last two pregnancy not pregnancy, in the last two deliveries. I yeah. I just I was so much more hands off, like, with this third baby. And I've done the same thing with all three kids, and you will not have the same experience.

Lezl:

My daughter is the best sleeper of our three children. I breastfed all of them for well, she's going on a year. I breastfed all of them for at least a year. Our second, he he would still be on it if he could. But I and she is a 100 like, she would take five hour naps.

Lezl:

She doesn't anymore, but she, like,

Carrie:

as a She's a sleeper. Yeah.

Lezl:

She was sleeping through the night right around four weeks. That's amazing. I did nothing. I did nothing different. I did the same exact thing.

Lezl:

I probably even fed her less than I fed both the boys.

Carrie:

She's just a friend?

Lezl:

She's yeah. She just likes her sleep. She's a she's a

Carrie:

beauty queen. So what was I guess, like, take us back to when you were a new mom with your first. I love lesson that you're saying, like, God is helping you surrender more and more and more. Because I I will say, like, I see you now just at small group, like, with your entourage of children compared to all of us. So, like, our one kid, we're overwhelmed.

Carrie:

We're like, we all have one, and you're just like, oh, yeah. I was, like, running around everywhere. You have one on your hip. Like, do you remember being a new mom and like bringing home your first baby? And like Yeah.

Carrie:

How do you feel like do you remember like, were you anxious? Were you just like super structured at the time? Like, where do you feel like the Lord has has grown you in all of that?

Lezl:

So our firstborn, we went through a lot in, like, the few weeks leading up to his birth and then a week or so after his birth. He was perfectly on track as far as growth. And then come thirty four weeks, we're doing our third tr- third trimester ultrasound. And I'm looking and, you know, the ultrasound tech can't tell you anything.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

Your doctor has to tell you everything. I'm looking and he should be measuring thirty four weeks and he's measuring like, the measurements are like 31, 29, 28, 30. And I'm just like, he's measuring like four to six weeks behind on every single measurement. But they're not saying anything, you know, she's, which they're not supposed to, but I remember thinking like, oh, I don't think this is

Carrie:

good. Mhmm.

Lezl:

And then our doctor comes in to tell us, you know, he's basically has IEGR, which is intrauterine growth restriction. They can't test anything for it. They can only assume what might be happening. So she just assumed that my placenta was probably not feeding him

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

And it was dying and she was correct. When I delivered the placenta, it was dead and calcified.

Carrie:

I didn't even know this is a thing. I mean, that makes sense that that could happen.

Lezl:

Yeah. Sometimes there can be a knot in the umbilical cord. Like, they just they can't do anything and can't test for it. They can only either deliver earlier if it's dire enough or just keep, like, monitoring it and keep, like and and so I ended up delivering him at thirty eight and five, which Did you

Carrie:

get induced then or that's just when you went out

Lezl:

for induced. I the only reason I didn't get induced is I was just shy of thirty five weeks. They don't like to induce before thirty five weeks

Carrie:

Okay.

Lezl:

Unless there's, like, a medical emergency. It it wasn't enough of an emergency. It was more of just like a, we wanna see you twice a week. Although I did have two hospital stays because they didn't like what he was doing on the monitor.

Carrie:

Okay. So you had, like, a a higher stress Yeah. Higher risk pregnancy.

Lezl:

Yeah. Thirty four weeks, I went to the hospital for extra monitoring, which was supposed to be two hours that turned into four hours that turned into overnight that turned into three days. Gosh.

Carrie:

Oh my gosh.

Lezl:

Yeah. I was not happy. And then I had to go the next week for I think it was just two hours that time, but, like, the whole, like, check into the hospital, nurse delivery gown, all the things. But, like, meanwhile, every time we went to the doctors, had to tell our parents, like, hey, like, they could send us to the hospital. They could not.

Lezl:

And I was going twice a week at that point. So it was just like, Yeah. Everybody's two And then I went into prodromal labor the week that I delivered him. So the I delivered on a Friday. That Monday, I was having contractions every five minutes for a minute.

Lezl:

So, like, I was in labor, and I knew I was three centimeters dilated, but called my doctor and she was like she's like, do you think you could sleep through your contractions? And I'm like, probably. And so and she's like, okay. If you feel like you can't, then go to the hospital. Went to sleep and they stopped around 2AM.

Lezl:

Went to church that Wednesday, picked up again. I'm like, well, this is kinda perfect because we're five minutes from the church. So, like, if they keep going, like, we'll just go down the street to the hospital. As soon as we got in the car, they stopped. So he was just it was just a very, like, dramatic few weeks leading up to it.

Lezl:

He was, like, waiting. Delivery was kind of dramatic and but I just never got to 10 centimeters. But I had been in labor for twenty hours. And I'm like and the midwife on duty was basically kind of, like, prepping me for a c section. And I'm like, no.

Lezl:

No. No. If we were gonna do a c section, we should have done it yesterday. Like, I'm not laboring for twenty hours.

Carrie:

Yeah. Yeah. I'm not gonna get this far and be like, no.

Lezl:

Go for five days and then to, like, end up in recession. I was just like, no. We're not doing that. And my doctor's like,

Carrie:

oh, let's just see if you can do

Lezl:

a practice push. So I pushed at nine centimeters and praise the lord, he was as small as he was. He was in the sixth percentile, my little tiny nugget, babe.

Carrie:

Oh my goodness.

Lezl:

He has since exploded and he's in, like, the ninety ninth percentile for height and weight. You would never know. You would never know that he had growth restriction.

Carrie:

Oh my gosh. I would never know looking at him. No. Massive.

Lezl:

Yeah. He is. He's and neither, like, me nor my husband are massive. Like, Ian's tall, but he's not Yeah. Anyway, don't

Carrie:

have a He's built like an athlete. Yeah. Yeah. He's not built like he was in the sixth percentile. No.

Carrie:

That actually is really good to know for moms that have little ones right now. I have a friend that's baby is, like, super, super small. Like, a few people that is like, okay. They're not like, they're really tiny right now. That doesn't always, you know And I was anything.

Lezl:

So stressed because he was such, like, a little wrinkly, raisiny old man. I I was convinced I wasn't feeding him enough. Like, we had to go back to the hospital four or five days later because he was really yellow.

Carrie:

Oh, he had jaundice?

Lezl:

Jaundice. But, like, I if if you're a Cedars Sinai nurse slash doctor watching this and you were in the room with us when you were telling us all the information and I was full on, like, lashing out at you. I apologize. I was not nice to them. They came in and basically told us that he had brain damage level jaundice.

Lezl:

Oh my He could like like, he could not be who he is today because his jaundice levels were that high. Like, it was it was extreme. Woah. He was orange.

Carrie:

Did that just happen overnight? Like, it just

Lezl:

It happened so it can happen in it happens a lot, I guess, in, like, African American babies, which he is, like, a third of a quarter. Not the quarter, a third. I can't do math. Because I'm mixed. So he's he's got it in.

Lezl:

So it can happen that it can happen in it happens a lot in premature babies. And even though he wasn't technically premature, he was as far as, like, size and development.

Carrie:

He was, like,

Lezl:

the equivalent of a 34 weaker. But yeah. But I think we had accidentally missed our pediatrician appointment because I just I thought that they would call us. There were just a

Carrie:

lot I didn't know. Oh my gosh. But the first, you don't we were that same way. He he was a little bit jaundiced. Nothing too too scary.

Carrie:

But we were it was the same way with obviously, he is our first and only right now. Where we're like, so do we do we call? Like, do we schedule it? We he also I gave birth over Memorial Day weekend. So everybody was like, yeah, you just you just call her.

Carrie:

Oh, it's already scheduled. Like, we like, you know, you're getting discharged and you're like, so what happens next? Like, I just we didn't know with our first. Like, we don't know how any of it works. And we were confused and we thought that we had it scheduled so then we couldn't schedule till Monday.

Carrie:

So then it pushed us so, like, we didn't go in the first time until he was, like, a week, which you're not supposed you're supposed to go sooner. Yeah. So I I get that. Like, yeah, new moms that I guess you have to call. You have to make it happen because

Lezl:

because they told us, oh, you'll go to your pediatrician. And I'm like, okay. So they'll call us. We also didn't have like a set pediatrician. Okay.

Lezl:

It was just like whoever the hospital kind of assigned us to. So it was like who who came to see us in the hospital. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm like, oh, I guess we have to call.

Lezl:

And it wasn't I just I that was the thing is like, I hadn't looked up anything, but I he looked yellow. Mhmm. And he looked significantly yellow. And I and then finally I looked something up and it said, oh, if you press their skin and it come back comes back yellow, that means that they have jaundice. Mhmm.

Lezl:

And I'm like looking at his face and I'm like, it's like orange. Mhmm. And so then like that night, you can't do anything. Like, the doctors are closed. I'm like, I'm not taking him to the ER.

Lezl:

Mhmm. But he's I'm just like crying. I think my mom tried to call me and I'm like, bristled. Yeah.

Carrie:

It's so stressful too.

Carrie:

I don't know

Lezl:

what to do and there's nothing I can do right now.

Carrie:

Mhmm. Gotta wait till morning. Yeah. Oh, man. Those nights.

Carrie:

Those long were really nights. Okay. So when he was nine cent you pushed it nine centimeters. I'm gonna go back to that for a second because I'm I kinda pushed it nine centimeters too. Did that, like, tear you up, or were you good?

Lezl:

I had a second degree tear. Okay. Front and back.

Carrie:

I had a third degree. So I was just curious because they told me we were gonna do practice pushes, and then we just kept going, and it was pretty pretty tough. I was like, okay. I had an okay experience with my birth in general and I I got the epidural gladly. Me too.

Carrie:

Wanted that life. Yeah. I signed up for it. But I the one thing that I said I would do differently the next time if or when hopefully we we get to give birth again. I do.

Carrie:

I just really want to be a little bit more assertive with like, I'm gonna wait till I'm ten centimeters.

Lezl:

Okay.

Carrie:

Because it was just a little bit like, can we should we just get it going? Do you think she's good? She's she's close. She's kinda good. Can we get pushing?

Carrie:

And I pushed for three hours. Oh. Because I wasn't ready. Like, I definitely just wasn't ready. Looking back, I'm like, my body was like, not quite yet.

Carrie:

But they just wanted to get it going. So I think I'm just gonna be a little more Yeah. Confident in like, hey, no. We're gonna wait because that was like a really tough recovery. Think it's because I pushed for three hours.

Lezl:

Three hours. Yeah. I pushed for nine minutes.

Carrie:

Oh, my goodness. Don't tell me this.

Lezl:

And that was my longest delivery. What? Yeah. Woah. Shoot.

Carrie:

Okay. I love She's giving birth,

Lezl:

but I also realized like I am an anomaly.

Carrie:

That's crazy. Okay. So was your labor really, like, normal?

Lezl:

Twenty well, twenty hours, but I was already So, at a like, that's the part but then, like, they were like, oh, like, c section. And I'm like, no.

Carrie:

We're gonna do

Lezl:

this. We're gonna do

Carrie:

Nine minutes.

Lezl:

So nine minutes. And I'm like, maybe I I could have like you know, it was nine minutes and I probably could've backed off a little, but I was like, I am not I like, you're not wheeling me in. Yeah. I'm not going to the OR.

Carrie:

Because you were just like, get this child out. Yeah. Okay. So what about baby number two? Was that quick too?

Lezl:

So another dramatic delivery and a more normal pregnancy. Okay. So he was out in sixty seconds. What? What do you mean?

Lezl:

But he had a shoulder dystocia, praise the Lord, I didn't know what it was until the next day. I didn't understand what was going on, like the commotion in the room because I'm like, in my mind, I'm like, he was out in a minute. Like, what? Like, why is everyone crazy? Like, why did my husband pass Wait.

Carrie:

What what about it? I feel like that's serious.

Lezl:

Shoulder dystocia, basically their shoulder gets stuck behind the pelvic bone Mhmm. Which doesn't usually happen on like subsequent pregnancies or deliveries if you're because usually your first makes, like, the way paves the way for it. Mhmm. But when your first is in the sixth percentile

Carrie:

Oh, yeah. I mean, that makes sense. Like She's a bigger baby.

Lezl:

Yeah. And I'm not I'm not like a he he was only seven pounds four ounces.

Carrie:

But you're a tiny person.

Lezl:

So, like, not not only did I have a tiny baby, I'm also a tiny person. Like, my hips didn't spread. Like, bones weren't moving around. Mean, maybe internally, but, like, I didn't really look. I didn't really look any wider.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

So he got stuck behind my his shoulder got stuck. My doctor had to leave on like, she, like, box jumped onto the bed to, like, press down on my uterus from here. Had other nurses pushing down. I'm pretty sure she, like, went up in and, like, also, like, dislodged his shoulder. I don't remember.

Lezl:

Was all such a blur because I delivered him right before midnight. So I was it was a quicker labor. I think I was I started labor around like 4PM.

Carrie:

That's pretty quick.

Lezl:

Yeah. I had a membrane sweep at one, went until early labor at like two and then like was officially admitted at four and then I delivered him right before midnight. But I don't I just don't remember. I think I was just not anticipating going into labor that day because we had scheduled an induction for two days later. Okay.

Lezl:

But I went I got a membrane sweep and it worked. Wow. Yeah. So she had to, like, literally box jumped onto the bed, dislodge his shoulder, nurse is pushing down, Ian passes out. It was a whole thing.

Lezl:

But he was out in sixty seconds, and I didn't know it. Like, they kept saying, oh, like, oh, it's sixty second shoulder dystocia. And I'm like, okay. Like, what does that mean? And then I think it was the next day, I saw there was some news where somebody's shoulder dystocia delivery didn't

Carrie:

like,

Lezl:

it ended in a fatality. Mhmm. But I I didn't know what that meant. I looked it up and I'm like, oh, this is like a severe like, another thing that could end up in an emergency c section.

Carrie:

Yes. Or Wow. So you had bring a baby out. Too that had, like, some high risk elements. Was he okay after that?

Lezl:

Yeah. I mean, I again, like, had no idea what it was because I was like, he was out in a minute. I didn't think I could beat nine minutes, like a nine minute delivery. And here Okay. What about

Carrie:

what about your third?

Lezl:

I thought third.

Carrie:

Rolling. It could've be faster than sixty seconds. Right? Can you imagine?

Lezl:

It was. What?

Carrie:

I'm sorry. I'm I'm literally reacting live. It was faster than

Lezl:

sixty seconds? She was like a quarter push.

Carrie:

You were just like, achoo. And then she was Basically.

Lezl:

So my mother my son my oldest son wanted to come see us, like, in the hospital. So my we had dropped off the boys and my in laws who live, like, five minutes down the street from the hospital. And they had put my our middle child down for a nap. And so, like, she my mother-in-law had asked to come, like, oh, like, oh, Zach really wants to come see you guys. And and I'm like, yeah, come soon.

Lezl:

But I'm like, I'm I'm I was at an eight, like, an hour ago, so the like, bring him now if you're gonna bring him.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

And then, like, they got there. I think they stayed for, like, three minutes. And I'm like, I feel like she's right there, so they gotta go. Like, I'm gonna deliver.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

And so he my son came to visit. They were in there for three minutes, and I'm like, okay. They gotta go now because, like It's She's she's right there. And, again, another epidural, but I could just feel more. I also didn't have, like no.

Lezl:

That's not true. I I could just feel that she was, like, right there. And so, like, he not he walks him out. I'm like, tell the nurses that, like, it's time. Like, tells the nurses, my doctor comes in.

Carrie:

Do they know did you tell the doctors, like, hey. These children come really fast?

Lezl:

I don't think so. I Okay.

Carrie:

I'm just wondering

Lezl:

because because like with my first, it wasn't so much that I don't think anyone was anticipating they weren't ready that for me to deliver because we were just doing practice pushes. They weren't ready for me to deliver. There weren't enough nurses in the room for me to deliver. Gotcha. And like, had to call people.

Carrie:

Like How was actually happening?

Lezl:

Second, it was just like, I think, normal delivery until it wasn't. Right. And then with her, they were they were prepared because I had such a traumatic second delivery.

Carrie:

Okay. Yeah. That makes sense.

Lezl:

So there were, like, more than enough in the event that, like, there were other measures that needed to be taken. But literally, like, put my legs up in the stirrup and, like, shit, like, her head was out. That's crazy. And so I'm I'm like, oh, she's my doctor's like, oh, she's right there. And I'm like, I told you guys she was Yeah.

Lezl:

Here she is.

Carrie:

You want me to grab her myself? I feel like laughing. Oh my goodness.

Lezl:

And one of the nurses like, no, stop laughing because they I think they just weren't ready. And my doctor's like, well, she's already out. You might as well just keep laughing. So I don't I don't think I like, I don't think I pushed. I think I just, like, laughed her out and she was she was there.

Carrie:

What? That is crazy.

Carrie:

She was

Lezl:

that one.

Carrie:

I love that birth story so much. I laughed her out. Yes. That's amazing. I I received that.

Carrie:

I I want that for my next one. I don't wanna push three hours. No. I do not wanna push for three hours next time. I wanna wait longer until because I never now that you say that, like, I never they kept saying, do you feel like the baby's down there?

Carrie:

Because he was really low really early. I was dilated super early. I went into labor on my own and stuff. I didn't have to be induced. But I just kept saying, no.

Carrie:

Like, they kept being like, but do you feel like a pressure? Like, you kinda feel like you have to go to bathroom is what they always ask for. And I was like, no. Like, you but you probably do. And they kept coming back.

Carrie:

I think they just wanted to move on with it. And they were like, you feel it now? I was like, no. Where did you deliver? I delivered at Providence in Burbank.

Carrie:

Okay. And they were wonderful. But I think they were just kinda like, this girl, it's been a bit like, I think maybe they thought that it's my first and Yeah. Probably like, she doesn't realize she is ready to go. But I was I think I just wasn't.

Carrie:

And so anyway, Connor and I've talked about that. I'm like, I next time I'm going to wait, I want to feel that pressure because so many of my friends, when I hear their stories, even friends that had the epidural Yeah. Because I had a lot of friends that didn't have the epidural. But the ones that do are like, oh, yeah, you feel that pressure. You feel like you gotta go to the bathroom, like, there they are.

Carrie:

And I was like, no, I never had that at all, which I think is why it took

Lezl:

three hours. Did you watch The Business of Being Born? It's it's No. It's like Ricky Lake. I think it's her documentary.

Lezl:

No. I watched that maybe two weeks before delivering and I feel like that is such a great if you I think you have to buy it. It is such a great documentary, whatever it is,

Carrie:

to watch.

Lezl:

Of born. She had a, I think, a natural birth. I think she had a water birth, like, with a midwife versus, like, going to an actual OB. But I feel like watching that made me advocate for myself way more than if I didn't. Mhmm.

Lezl:

And it just made me like, oh, like, you can ask for certain things. You can you can say no. You can say no. I think a lot of women don't realize, like, you can say no to a nurse. You can kick a nurse out.

Lezl:

We've kicked out a nurse. She's like she made me cry, and my husband went out there, and he's like, make sure she doesn't come back into this room. You can do that. You like, it's it's it's your baby. It's your birth.

Carrie:

Time. It's your birth. You're the patient. Yeah. That's really that's good to remember.

Carrie:

Yeah. I mean, I'm such a people pleaser. I'm like I feel like and Connor, will you laugh? Because, like, I'm I'm pretty non assert like, you know, I'm pretty much, like, I'm gonna be nice to everybody. But then Connor is even more so because he has this thing when he goes to a doctor's office or a dental dentist office or to a hospital where he just feels like he's gonna get, like, arrested or something.

Carrie:

Like, he's always, like, just scared to get in trouble. And so we laugh because we're like, we are the biggest pushovers on the planet Earth when it comes to any medical building. We're just like, whatever. Just yes. Whatever you need.

Carrie:

Like, take my wallet. You know what I mean? Like We're like, wait a second. So I remember we kept saying when I was giving birth, I'm like, this is our room. Like, you know?

Carrie:

Yeah. Because a couple nurses were like telling him where he could sit and where he couldn't sit and stuff different times. And one nurse would be like, you can totally go lay over there with her. It's totally fine. And then they're like super chill.

Carrie:

And then the next nurse would come in and be like, you cannot lay there. You have to get up. And all of sudden he was like, okay. Okay. I'm

Lezl:

like, no.

Carrie:

We don't you know, it's our room too. Like, we we wanna listen to medical advice. Yeah. But, like, it's fine.

Lezl:

Yeah. I trusted my doctor and her opinion so much because, like, I'm not a doctor.

Carrie:

Yeah. Yeah. We definitely are not gonna question the doctors. That's for sure. Anything that she said, I

Lezl:

would I would ask her. And, like, anytime the midwife on duty, who is kind of like the acting doctor, she would say, like, oh, well, like, we should break your water. And I'm like, well, did you ask my doctor?

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

And, like, she was like, oh, and, like, went and asked her. She's like, I think we should give you this right now. And I'm like, did you ask my doctor?

Carrie:

Mhmm. Yeah. That's good advice. So because it because you can just get kind of, like, swayed with the wind of, like, what's going on in the unit? You don't know what's going on when they're trying to make sure they're all these people are their water's breaking at the same time or whatever.

Carrie:

Like, who knows what those nurses are going through? So it makes sense.

Lezl:

Yeah. Even when she I think I don't know if it was still the same midwife, asked it was basically kind of like mentally prepping me for a c section. I'm like, well, what does my doctor say?

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

Can you go get her? And my doctor was like, I think she could I think she could push. And I

Carrie:

And that was baby number one. Right?

Lezl:

That was baby number one.

Carrie:

Okay. Wow. So that'd be different. Also, this is so funny. So I was texting Lisa last night and I was like, here's some things I think we should touch on.

Carrie:

Here's some things I think that'd be so awesome to talk about with these moms. So I was like, I definitely wanna touch on your c section story.

Lezl:

I do have a story, but I didn't get a c section.

Carrie:

She literally were like, that's a different Liesl

Lezl:

because I don't have a c section.

Carrie:

I don't know where I got that. I think, honestly, when I was talking to friends, so many did in the group that I think I just, like, inserted you into that

Lezl:

get quite a few

Carrie:

in our story. Some some rib pain or something. Right? Because Britney was telling me when she was having some kind of stomach pain Yeah. That you had that.

Carrie:

And I think I just attributed that to, like, and you had a c section. But he didn't. So anyway

Lezl:

So my oldest he lived in my ribs, like, toward the end of like, I had to in the car, I had to lie down like this.

Carrie:

Oh my gosh.

Lezl:

I That's crazy. Yeah. Because I he would he would just be constantly, like, kicking my ribs and I'm it was it was it was equally as ticklish as it was painful.

Carrie:

Like, ticklish. Never had a high like, Archie was always low. I had like the lightning crotch and stuff situation. Like, he was just low Okay. Yeah.

Carrie:

So that's not fun either, but I've never had the rib thing. When mom's like, I can't breathe through my ribs. Like, I did not experience that at all. I don't know I don't know what that feeling is. Okay.

Carrie:

So nowadays, you have three. You said seven, three, and not one?

Lezl:

Seven months.

Carrie:

Okay. Yeah. Okay. And you homeschool? Yes.

Carrie:

Okay. So did you always know you would homeschool? Like, talk about that. No. How did that come about?

Carrie:

It

Lezl:

was a lot of, like, every decision that I've made in, like, once I started walking with Jesus has not been again, I'm such a control freak.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

I loved school. I loved going to school. My husband was homeschooled up until middle school, so he was always on the side of homeschool. And I'm like, I love school. I I'm social.

Lezl:

I love I love, like, achieving. I love, like, I love competition. Mhmm. Probably a little too much. So I Did

Carrie:

wanted you want sports and stuff? Yeah. Yeah. What did you And

Lezl:

I danced. Okay. Oh, okay. Yeah. I played softball and I danced.

Carrie:

Oh, yeah.

Lezl:

So I just love, like, public recognition even though, like, I'm kinda shy, but it's like, oh, I wanted to, like, turn over my paper first in school. Yeah. Like, to let everyone know, like, I finished the test first.

Carrie:

I kind of relate to this. Yeah. I was competitive too and I love that stuff. And I loved school. I really enjoyed it.

Carrie:

I loved school. But

Lezl:

I think when my oldest got of school age, I'm like, I don't really feel like as much as I wanted to send him to school because I enjoyed it Mhmm. Like, I don't know that he's ready for a school setting quite yet.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

And so we homeschooled that year and then also last year for first grade and then now we're doing second grade. And I don't think that will homeschool forever.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

I kinda feel like we'll choose some sort of like a hybrid.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

But There's

Carrie:

great options for that now it seems like, especially I know in our area, it seems like there definitely are a lot of options.

Lezl:

It's definitely like a year by year like reevaluation. I am I love moms that love to homeschool. I don't love it.

Carrie:

That's okay.

Lezl:

Personally? Yes.

Carrie:

I don't love it, but I

Lezl:

feel like it's the right thing for our family currently.

Carrie:

I really respect that. But I like,

Lezl:

I I don't post about it, you know, like I never really say anything. Like, I'll say, oh, like we did school today or whatever, but I never like elaborate. I don't have a system that works for us. I just, like, do whatever

Carrie:

Yeah. I So how do you I have so many thoughts because okay. So little backstory on me because you probably don't know all of this, but I like, because I did the child acting thing Yeah. I went to school in Ohio through like eighth grade on and off. So I had like a very normal public school, great experience.

Carrie:

Love school, love sports, cross country track, like all that stuff, tennis. But then I was homeschooled in high school and part of middle school. So I was like homeschooled little or whatever. Yeah. So because I was homeschooled in high school, I've always been like, oh, we're definitely not doing that.

Carrie:

Like we did that for a specific reason. My kids aren't gonna be actors so like we're not gonna do that. Yeah. Like we all love public school. Like I loved it.

Carrie:

My parents went to public school.

Lezl:

Like we loved

Carrie:

it. And so I've always been really anti. But then it's been interesting because since I had him, I'm meeting so many amazing moms that are all like, I didn't think I would, but here I am and there's the reasons that I am or it's just working for us. Or a lot of people say what you said, it's year by year. My kid it's just it's kid dependent.

Carrie:

Are they ready to go into that environment? Yeah. But one of my big, like, things with it that and I just, like, don't know what we'll do yet. But how do you guys how do you do so like, how do you socialize? How do you keep them around friends?

Carrie:

Is that, like, an important and they also have each other. Yeah. But, like, what does that look like for you guys? And is that something you considered? Or

Lezl:

I think it's definitely something that we need to get better at the older he gets. The more the older my son gets, the more he he's such a social he a social being. He loves he loves friends. He loves people. It's getting the older he gets, the harder it is to explain to him, like, we'll go to the park and we'll go do other things and go about town and he'll, like, see kids playing on the playground.

Lezl:

He's like, wanna do that. And I'm like, okay. You know, I think he's like kinda segueing into that, like, wanting maybe, like, warming up to it. But then I asked him if he wants to go to school and he says no. Not that it's his decision, but like Yeah.

Lezl:

He he like I think he likes being homeschooled. Mhmm. But he wants the socialization of, like, other kids his age. Because we'll go to the park and he's like, oh, there are no kids my age here. And I'm like, oh, like, they're all in school.

Lezl:

You know?

Carrie:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Makes sense.

Lezl:

You know? And, like, it's two and three and maybe, like, a max of, like, four year olds because I feel like a lot of kids here, maybe versus California, are are in, like, Mother's Day Out programs Yeah. Pre k programs, which I know they have a lot in California. But, like, we just I feel like back there, we just didn't have there there was no to my knowledge, like Mother's Day out.

Carrie:

Yeah. Yeah. It's different. There was a lot more of that available here. It's a very kid friendly area, family friendly.

Carrie:

Yeah.

Lezl:

So it's just then the ones that aren't in those programs are are like at the parks when we're at the park. So it's kinda it's just I think he's feeling more he wants more socialization than he currently gets because he gets it like at church and, you know, when he plays sports, but he's not in a sport right now. So it's just he's he's just craving more. Yeah. And I get it.

Lezl:

And I want him to have that because I feel like he would just grow so much more being around more kids his age Mhmm. More often. Yeah. Yeah. But I do not identify as a homeschool mom.

Lezl:

I am just a mom that homeschools.

Carrie:

I love that. I've had another mom on the show say that. She's like, I'm not a homeschool mom, but I totally homeschool.

Lezl:

I don't have any tips or tricks. I apologize.

Carrie:

No. I think that's so that that honestly pressure off because I do think like there's amazing homeschool moms out there that it is their it's a huge part of who they are. It's a huge part. It's like a ministry. Like, it's their passion.

Carrie:

And at that and that is like so amazing. Thank the Lord for those women.

Lezl:

We love that for you.

Carrie:

But I think I think because some of us are like, oh, I don't have that call on my heart to like start a homeschool program and like, you know, teach the masses of like moms how to do this. Sometimes I can definitely think then that must mean I shouldn't or that must mean I could never do it. Yeah. It's not my thing. But I just think that's really cool that you're like, we're doing that right now and maybe next year will be different or whatever.

Carrie:

Do you ever get do you guys get cooped up? Like, this doesn't have to be a school thing. This is just like having kids. Do you do like, do you guys ever get cooped up? And if so, what do you what do you guys like to do?

Carrie:

Like, what do you just go

Lezl:

to the park. Go to the park when it's, like, decent weather

Carrie:

Yeah.

Lezl:

Which is a lot harder here. But it's okay. We make it happen. We make it happen. I'm not gonna complain the weather.

Lezl:

Yeah. But being outside was in California was an every like, it was an everyday thing.

Carrie:

Like, we

Lezl:

went to the park every single day. It was just part of our outing. Now it's like if it rains or, you know, if it's really hot, like, can't play, like, on

Carrie:

the slides. Mhmm.

Lezl:

Or if it rains, I'm like, I'm just not the type of mom that's like, yeah, could just go run and play in the mud. If they happen to find mud, it is what it is. But I'm not I

Carrie:

just I'm not I'm not that way either.

Lezl:

It's just not me. Yeah. You know?

Carrie:

I relate so much. I wanna be that mom so badly. He'll put like wish

Lezl:

I didn't

Carrie:

get He'll

Carrie:

get mud on his cute outfits and I'm

Carrie:

like, oh, it's fine. You're a boy.

Carrie:

But I'm like, oh, I wish you wouldn't. Yeah.

Lezl:

But I do try to get out of the house every day at some point, you know. I don't buy groceries for the week unless, like, we go to Costco. But even then, I make like, not I make sure to go somewhere, but, like, Trader Joe's is an outing. Mhmm. Target is an outing.

Lezl:

We'll go get, like, a treat somewhere. Like, we'll go to there's a cute new coffee shop that just opened up by us called Bibles and Coffee. Like, that's an outing. Cute. Okay.

Lezl:

So, like, we'll find I try to find an outing every day because that not only, like, breaks up our day, gets us out of the house. Mhmm. I feel less crazy. Yeah. Getting out of the house does wonders.

Lezl:

Getting dressed

Carrie:

It does.

Lezl:

Even if you don't, like, fully get dressed, like, put on a necklace or, like, put on a lip gloss, put on some hoop earrings.

Carrie:

I was actually gonna ask you about this because you could talk about this because you have really cute fashion sense and you always look adorable. Thanks. So a lot of moms, like, we don't do that. And I'm not saying, like, I'm not saying moms aren't adorable. I'm saying, like, a lot of us feel like, like, in the chaos of it, we don't take care of ourselves.

Carrie:

Yeah. But I actually think like you just said, even if it's to a small extent, it's like really good for our mental health to feel like I got ready at some point in day. I even saw you post something about that where you're like, at some point in the day I get ready. Like whatever time that is or whatever. But talk about that a little bit because you always look adorable.

Carrie:

Obviously, you're not spending hours a day taking care of your clothes and your office stuff. Like, are there small little things like you just said, throw a little necklace on. Like, just little things you could encourage a new mom who's like, I need to just do something for myself and feel like human. Yeah. Have you always been that way?

Lezl:

No. This is prob I think with like I said, there's very little I can control the more kids that I have and I think we're done. We're we're done.

Carrie:

Three is

Carrie:

a great number. Yeah.

Lezl:

But I can I can control the color of my nails? Like, I do press ons or I do them at home. But it's like, that's the one thing I can control.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

So just like having something that's just for me, like, doing my nails. Like, I did something and that makes me feel more put together. Totally. Yes. It's doing that, taking care.

Lezl:

I might I don't have even thirty minutes to, like, get ready.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

So if I can just, like, throw on some concealer blush and, like, some sort of a lip at some point in the day, I'm like, okay. Like, I feel I feel good.

Carrie:

I feel like a little more put together. Yes.

Lezl:

If I can throw on, again, something else my mom was right about. She's like, when I was younger, she was like, oh, do you have earrings? And I'm like, I don't need earrings. And now I'm like, an earring makes me feel better.

Carrie:

Yeah. Like, even if I'm

Lezl:

wearing sweats, I'm like, okay. Like, a fun earring or a necklace or something. It's like, okay. I put in a little bit of effort. I feel so comfortable.

Lezl:

Mhmm. But, like, I did a little something. You know, it's just it's just the little just the, like, the little extras. Yes. Because it takes me I can put on an earring in the car.

Lezl:

I can throw on some

Carrie:

lip gloss in the car. Mhmm.

Lezl:

You know, it's it's minimal effort, but, like, I feel like maximum payoff.

Carrie:

Yes. Because even if you

Lezl:

if you are just a stay at home mom, I do social media.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

It's I don't wanna say it's full time, but it is kind of now, you know, like but would you go to work and, like, not brush your hair? Would you go to work in pajamas? Probably not. Right. So even if you are I don't wanna say just a stay at home mom, but even if you're just a stay at home mom, like, you don't have to, like, be dressed to the nines, but just to, like, get out of pajamas is gonna do something for you.

Lezl:

Like, it's

Carrie:

gonna Exactly right.

Lezl:

It's just a complete, like, mind shift. Mhmm. Because you're not just I just I love pajamas. I love cute pajamas. I just feel frumpy if I'm in them all day.

Carrie:

I I agree. There's something there's something mentally that that can do. I've been listening to this John Eldridge series. Do you ever listen to him? He's like, it's a

Lezl:

I don't, but I've heard

Carrie:

He's pastor. Okay. I should say he's wild at heart, like a ministry. It's mostly for men, but I think his podcast is so good. Anyway, he's listening to a series called Ruling Your Domain and it's just a lot about the spiritual realm and it's a lot about chaos versus order and how we actually have a lot more power when we invite Jesus to help us rule our domains.

Carrie:

We think it's like, the world's crazy and we have no control, but actually we do. And so obviously as a mom right now and like as mostly a stay at home mom, I'm like, okay, like what does my domain look like? Anyway, all that to say, I've just been thinking a lot about that. And he's been talking about how like simple things like making your bed or getting dressed Yeah. Like a certain those small things of order in our day actually really do something for our brains to just make us feel like, okay.

Carrie:

Like, I there's it's not just like a dopamine hit, but it just makes us feel like our day, especially for those of us that like to like you're saying jokingly or control freak, but, you know, you like to have some level of like structure or control, whatever it is. Yeah. And I feel that and it makes such a difference. Like if I have just a small little thing where I feel better, it changes my whole day. Or like yesterday, I just decided it was like 2PM and I looked really frumpy.

Carrie:

And then I was like, well, I'm kinda cooped up. It was one of those days where I was like, I need to get out of the house with him. So I took him downtown. But before I did, I didn't have any makeup or my hair done or anything. But I was like, I'm just gonna put on like a cute dress.

Carrie:

Yeah.

Lezl:

Like, with nothing. You know I mean?

Carrie:

It's just

Lezl:

like one element. Totally.

Carrie:

I just like brushed my teeth and put on a dress with no makeup. But I felt like that dress and then people in town were like, you just look so lovely. Like, look at your dress. And I was like, you have no idea. I was in polka dot pajamas thirty seconds ago.

Carrie:

Like, this is such a small shift. And then I came home, my sister was like, you're just stunning. I was like, no. I just put on a I just put on a dress.

Lezl:

You know? Sometimes it's just that. Yeah. I'm not like, I don't I do my best to get dressed and get ready every day, but sometimes I don't. And it's like, it's not an all or nothing.

Lezl:

You know, there are days where I'm in pajamas all day. Like, it's, like, it's 2PM and I'm like, you know, we really aren't going anywhere.

Carrie:

I'm the

Lezl:

one doing the laundry. I don't wanna eat too. Yes.

Carrie:

I was just gonna say, we're not trying to shame moms. It's actually just like for our mental health. I noticed it helps me. Like, it just helps me for the most part. Yeah.

Carrie:

Let's say five days a week, six maybe, to just at some point put on an outfit.

Lezl:

Yeah.

Carrie:

It feels good.

Lezl:

Yeah. And you'd again, like, it's it happens. It happens. Mhmm. But I don't think it's a good thing to stay in that, to stay in pajamas five days a week.

Carrie:

Yeah. It's it's just a mental thing. I don't know why. It's like, it's just a it becomes like a lazy day versus like a productive day in my mind.

Lezl:

Me too.

Carrie:

That really helps me. Anyway It

Lezl:

can be a lazy day, but you can be you can be lazy in

Carrie:

And you? You can say. Yeah. That's true. Okay.

Carrie:

I wanna ask some of these fun questions. I've got we'll do these first and then we'll do some rapid fire ones at the end. But these are just kind of random. I'm gonna answer some of these too. What kind of mom did you think you would be before you had a baby?

Lezl:

You are the best parent before you have kids.

Carrie:

Oh, that's so true. Say that.

Lezl:

You are the best parent before you have kids. I thought like they he was gonna be on a schedule and I just I don't know. I just had all of these lofty dreams. Pinterest when I was pregnant with my first was at such a high. And just like even just like the picture perfect, like, mom just you know, I just thought like, oh, like, we're gonna be in cute matching outfits.

Lezl:

Like, I'm gonna get out and like, it's gonna be a shoot every day. It was not the case.

Carrie:

I was I was I was not there. I think that's so fair. I was gonna say, I thought so I was like, exactly what you just said in opposite in this weird way. And I was thinking about this when was writing out these questions. I I was like, oh, I'm gonna be because I nanny a lot.

Carrie:

I was like, okay. Like a lot of parents really like structure and this and And like, have their kids on a nap schedule. My mom didn't do that. And so I was like, oh, I'm gonna be so chill. Oh my gosh.

Carrie:

Compared to the my kid's gonna be everywhere with me. I'm gonna be so chill. I had the same naive, but I was like, it's yeah. I was like, we're gonna totally like nothing's gonna change. Like, I'm my kid's going with the flow.

Carrie:

And that's what I thought before I was a mom. And I just realized when I had a baby, I was like, oh, I like structure way more than I realized. Yeah. I like I like order way more than I realized. Also, it's not always fun to take your kids out screaming at a restaurant spending a $150.

Carrie:

Sometimes, that's not freedom.

Lezl:

Yeah. You know what I mean? I'm way more loosely structured now because we have three kids. Yes. But when we just had one, I'm like, okay, like, I need a little bit of time to myself.

Lezl:

Like Mhmm. Every nap cannot be a contact nap. I love him and I love I love cuddling. But I'm like Sweet. I also need to go brush my teeth.

Carrie:

Yeah. You know what? There's a balance. Yes. I feel it.

Carrie:

But that is what you said is so true. Everyone's the best parent until you have a kid. Oh my gosh. The things I said when I was pregnant.

Lezl:

No. My kid will never do that.

Carrie:

Oh, yeah. Think I will

Lezl:

never bribe my kid. And I'm like, you know what? Sometimes a lollipop really does come in handy.

Carrie:

Yeah. It's it's true.

Lezl:

It's What

Carrie:

is something that you're really proud of yourself for navigating as a mom?

Lezl:

As a mom. I never had the intention of being a stay at home mom. And I went back to work. I I don't know if you knew, but I was kind of in the industry. Like, did commercials and TV.

Lezl:

And I full circle moment, I worked at Olive Garden and then I had the opportunity to work with Disney on an Olive Garden spot, which was like Disney was the pinnacle of, like, what I wanted to do. Mhmm. And it was just funny that it was gonna be like an Olive Garden

Carrie:

Here I go. Wow. Full circle.

Lezl:

And I think my son was six months old and I went to work that day and I was like, I don't wanna do this. Like, I don't I don't wanna be away from him Mhmm. Ten plus hours a day, four days a week. I don't want I don't want to audition every day. I don't wanna be on it.

Lezl:

I don't wanna be a series regular on a show. Like, it was just no longer, like, what I wanted to do. So, like, relinquishing that dream, which is what I, like, wanted so badly Mhmm. And then realizing I do wanna be a stay at home mom. Like, this this is where I wanna be.

Lezl:

Like, this this is my ministry. I had no idea that that was what I wanted to do. So I feel like all things considered, I'm doing that pretty well.

Carrie:

That's really beautiful. It's like you traded one dream in for a dream that's like, it's actually isn't really my dream anymore. Like, there's a different dream that's more important right now. It's beautiful. Like, that because that's also so many moms dream of that as well.

Carrie:

And it's like, I feel that too. Because I think for me, I've always felt like it's these layers of desires. Mhmm. And I'm like, yeah, I would so much rather I feel very similar. I've had like a surrendered place in that with with acting as well where it's like, oh, the schedule that it would entail, I don't know.

Carrie:

Like, I'm loving staying home and it doesn't feel like second fiddle. And I think regardless of what your career is, so many moms can feel scared to make that switch or to realize that you desire it because it feels like you're giving up on your dream or something. But sometimes our dreams change and sometimes it changes for a season. You know? Yeah.

Carrie:

You don't know what the Lord has in the future, but, like, that's so beautiful that right now you're, like, embracing it.

Lezl:

Legitimately, it was the lowest thing on like, I I did not want I wanted nothing to do with being a stay at home mom.

Carrie:

And now you're, like, look at you now.

Lezl:

I cannot imagine not being around for, like, my kids' first steps. I cannot I can't imagine just being around, like, all day. I'm around them all day every day, but I can't imagine, like, anything else. And God is so good because my biggest goal in life, my biggest dream was to be on camera, and I'm kinda doing that still.

Carrie:

Yeah. You are.

Lezl:

And, like, I just didn't think that that was, like, possible with I don't I don't have a huge following, but I just didn't think that I would be working in the capacity that I am working right now and I get to be on camera. But I had the control because I get to do it at home and I can film while my kids are asleep. Mhmm. And so it's it's just like like there's just there's

Carrie:

God had something in mind there. It's like he knew he knows. He knows our desires. Yeah. He knows it better than we do.

Carrie:

We always are trying to tell him. We're like, you should do these three things. He's like, actually have a better plan. Okay. Oh, I didn't answer that.

Carrie:

What's something you're really proud of yourself? I would say for for me, something that I'm proud of is we had a lot of unexpected transition the first year. Like, I thought I was gonna have Archie and then we were gonna just have like a totally peaceful structured year in LA. And instead, we ended up traveling a bunch, moving across the country, living in friends' basements numerous times, flying and driving. And like Yeah.

Carrie:

It was just a crazy year. And I think looking back now that we are very much settled here, I'm realizing that I am proud of how I navigated that as someone who likes consistency. Yeah. I had to be like, woo. Say lovey.

Carrie:

You know what mean? We moved. It's not my personality.

Lezl:

We moved four times in two and a half years. I don't recommend that.

Carrie:

You get it.

Lezl:

And we moved across the country in three days unprompted. Oh. What? Yeah. Okay.

Carrie:

That's another story episode. Okay. For let's see. What is the what's something you swore you'd never do as a mom, now you totally do? Bribe my kids.

Carrie:

See, I'm not there yet, but I have wondered about that.

Lezl:

They're like innocent bribes, but it's like it's it is like like I said, a lollipop Mhmm. Can solve a lot of a lot of things.

Carrie:

Oh, yeah. Mine would have to be screen time. And I'll say this with like an asterisk. We don't have iPads and things like that. But I was, like, super strict.

Carrie:

I was like, oh, my kid is not gonna see me ever touch a phone and we're never gonna turn on anything until they're like three. Then you have a child and you're like, oh, it's a rainy day. You've played everything three times. You're crying. Yeah.

Carrie:

Caillou is coming on now. Like, that's what we're gonna do.

Lezl:

Sometimes you need 20.

Carrie:

Sometimes you need twenty minutes. And yeah. Was gonna say, we just do it on the TV. That works for us. I'm not judging other moms.

Carrie:

Do what you gotta do. But we like to just keep it on the TV so he doesn't know he has any control of it and stuff. Yeah. But but screen time is, like, limited, but I've done it. So I'm not gonna shame anybody else

Lezl:

for love it. Screen time.

Carrie:

We love a

Lezl:

little screen time.

Carrie:

Also, grew up on screen time. Like, I'm Yeah. I want yeah. I'm great. I made it out.

Carrie:

You know what I mean?

Lezl:

But I wanna make an iced coffee.

Carrie:

Yes. Yes. I was just gonna say, pick your pick the shows wisely and stuff like that. Okay. What is your current mom uniform?

Lezl:

I currently, it's it's summer. I was gonna say it's September. It is not September. Almost. Yeah.

Lezl:

It I I just I recall he makes these bra free tanks.

Carrie:

And

Lezl:

even though I'm still nursing, feel like I can still, like, finagle

Carrie:

Snug enough.

Lezl:

Yeah. I can still yeah. So it's some it's like a bra free tank and a jean, a barrel pant. I I love the I love the barrel pants right now. I feel like they're super flattering, like, on the booty and just inch they're just it's a a tiny tee Mhmm.

Lezl:

And a baggy pant. Like, that's kind like my mom uniform right now.

Carrie:

I feel like you're also an overall girl.

Lezl:

I am.

Carrie:

You look really cute in overalls. Thank you. I wore overalls to church this Sunday. And you so And I felt like you. I was like, I feel like Liesl.

Carrie:

I'm like rocking this mom overalls.

Lezl:

My overalls.

Carrie:

Lot of compliments on those.

Lezl:

They they were so cute.

Carrie:

They're fun. My mom got it for me for my birthday and I was like, oh, these are these are awesome. And now I want more overalls because I don't have a lot of, like, full length. I have some shorts overalls

Lezl:

I do. Yeah.

Carrie:

Which are great Yeah. For summer. But now I kind of wanna be an overall girl. I I realized since I became a mom, my mom uniform is anything that's one piece. Yeah.

Carrie:

I love like a sundress or like the unitard thing we talked about or like I just am really a fan of or like a jumpsuit, a romper. I love just like one thing on where I feel pretty cute all day, but it's like really low stakes and it's not like a full put together outfit. I'll do that when I'm getting dressed up more, but I think my mom uniform would just be like one item.

Lezl:

It's and it makes any like one like, this is a one piece. Any one makes you look more put together and makes you look like you put more effort in when you really didn't. And overalls have a lot of pockets.

Carrie:

They do. That's true. They're They're very practical, especially if you get some comfy ones. Yes. Okay.

Carrie:

So this can be a little rapid fire round. You don't really have to answer that fast, but coffee or iced coffee?

Lezl:

Preferably iced matcha.

Carrie:

Oh, okay. Love it. But iced coffee. Early bird or night owl?

Lezl:

Unfortunately, night owl. You are? Yeah. But I get to nap in the middle of the day with my daughter. We do a nice boob contact nap.

Lezl:

That's

Carrie:

so sweet. Okay. Contact naps or crib naps?

Lezl:

Contact naps until you need an hour or so, and then I need both. Yeah. I I think because she's my third, like, she should be in the crib for all of her naps. But because she's our third and last, I'm like, I love her.

Carrie:

She's hooking it up a little bit. Yeah. As you should. I'm I'm a crib nap now, but he's my first. So I gotta get some stuff done.

Carrie:

Yeah. Baby carrier or stroller?

Lezl:

None of my kids have really liked the stroller until they turn a year. Mhmm. Find Carrier for babies. Spend the money and get a good structured baby carrier.

Carrie:

Yeah. I agree with the money. Especially yes. For the first year, I totally agree. Stay at home day or get out of the house day?

Lezl:

I need both. I need a mix. Yeah. I can't be out all day with all three kids because I just it completely it completely depletes me. But I will say when you're out of the house, the day goes by so much faster.

Carrie:

That is very true. I I found that the out of the house time for me well, I still have a morning napper. Yeah. So like, that's kinda out. I would love to get out in the mornings.

Carrie:

But after that afternoon nap, when it's until dinner time Yeah. You're like, that's when I'm like, what are we doing? Like, pretty much every day. I'm like, I've hit my limit. We gotta go to the mall or we gotta go somewhere Yeah.

Carrie:

Until dinner. But that's not like a full

Lezl:

day. A full got home. Mhmm. And then we gotta get out.

Carrie:

Yeah. That's kinda what we do too. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Carrie:

Worship music or silence?

Lezl:

Can I say show tunes?

Carrie:

Yeah. Absolutely. No. Ask me worship. It's a Christian podcast.

Carrie:

No. Oh, there you go.

Lezl:

But I I almost never sit in silence even when I'm by myself, which is very rare. I did I would I would prefer worship music versus silence.

Carrie:

I me too. I have worship music on.

Lezl:

But if I'm by myself, it's probably the High School Musical soundtrack or Hamilton. Oh

Carrie:

my gosh. Amazing. I love this. Yeah. I love to play.

Carrie:

I love to play worship music. I'm trying to get Archie onto it. He still prefers his nursery rhymes, you know.

Lezl:

Okay.

Carrie:

But we're getting there. We're getting there. And sometimes silence I try to do some silence, but honestly, like, music just makes the day more fun. Yeah. And he enjoys it too.

Lezl:

The boys love Forest Rank. So Oh my gosh.

Carrie:

Forest Rank is is awesome. I need to actually play more of that. Maybe he'll be old enough to get into it. Okay. Last one.

Carrie:

Are you scheduled or go with the flow? We kinda touched on this.

Lezl:

Scheduled loose schedule. Because the more you try to control, the more you realize you have no control. So

Carrie:

That's a good phrase

Lezl:

for a loose schedule.

Carrie:

Loose schedule. I would say the same thing for myself. I'm I'm like, schedule and then parentheses grace filled. You know? It's like, we have one and it doesn't always happen.

Carrie:

Yeah. And it's like, you know, it's give or take thirty minutes here and there and stuff like that. I feel like that's a good way to flow.

Lezl:

Are you like me where you have, like, a schedule in your head and then when it doesn't happen, then you're, like,

Carrie:

on edge. Absolutely. And then I have to like bring myself down from like the pandemic. Nobody else does the schedule. Exactly.

Carrie:

Connor never knows. He's like, what are we doing? And I'm like, remember we said that thing that we were gonna do right now. It's not happening. We're not doing it.

Carrie:

And then I have to yeah. I feel that. And my schedule's running all the time in my head, which is why I'm trying to be more like, oh, it's cool. He doesn't he's supposed to eat right now. If it's thirty minutes from now, it's fine.

Carrie:

As long as he we'll give him a snack. Like, you know, I'm trying to be that mom. I'm trying. Okay. This is such a fun conversation.

Carrie:

I'm so glad to have you on. Last question that I always love to ask is what is a piece of advice or a word of encouragement that you have for new moms?

Lezl:

Let's see. I would say like I said, if you are looking for it, you're gonna find it. So if it's not edifying and if it's not fruitful, stop looking.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

Either find find a mom in your life that you can trust with anything, and if you can't find someone in your life that's maybe going through this the one of the best things was going through my pregnancy and delivery and even, like, first year with a friend. One of my friends who I who I we weren't friends really until we both had kids on the same day. We have been

Carrie:

in each Same day?

Lezl:

Same day. Oh, that's beautiful. And our kids are friends and secretly hoping that they get married because she had a girl. But the best thing was that we basically went through everything together. And I would text her.

Lezl:

We would text each other like, hey, Zach is doing this. Like, what is Emma doing? Hey, this. But and so like, we've been able to like basically go through everything in the same stages together. So I would say find someone that you trust in your life that is going through the exact same thing at the same time.

Lezl:

Or maybe a mom that's, like, slightly ahead of you, like, three to six months.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

And if you don't have someone in your life, find someone online that you can trust that is giving you I don't I feel like there's a lot of moms online that complain about a lot of stuff Mhmm. Yeah. And are super negative and basically say like, oh, I'm being real. And it's like, yes, but

Carrie:

We're dwelling a little bit.

Lezl:

Yeah. Mhmm. So find maybe like an online not an influencer, but like an online influence Mhmm. That is also a mom that you can look up to and maybe that is also either in your same stage or like a little bit for ahead of you.

Carrie:

That's great if you don't have someone. If you don't have someone. That's great yeah. That's great advice. Because I

Lezl:

had that too and I'm like, okay. Like so I just need to get on the other side. And also, like, you don't want don't wish a season away. There's a lot of beauty in the current season that you're in even if it's difficult. And sometimes it really is just a difficult season.

Lezl:

Yeah. But to see a mom that's on the other side of that, it's like, okay. Like, she's three months ahead and her baby's doing this. And maybe your baby will do that, maybe not. Again, comparison is a thief of joy.

Lezl:

Yes. But there was so helpful to not only have a couple moms that were going through the same thing that I was at the same time in my life, but also to, like, see somebody.

Carrie:

I totally agree with that. Yeah. I had I had one friend that was, like, a couple weeks behind me. Like, we were really on track together. And then Britney that you know, she her son's seven months older.

Carrie:

And so it was great. Like, I could always text her because she was out of the postpartum trenches. And I was like, hey, postpartum's the worst. She was like, yeah. Yeah.

Carrie:

Yeah. It is. Now I can tell you, like, I love you. And yes, it is really hard. And I was like, okay.

Carrie:

But she was out of it enough to be like, I remember. It was just recently. But also, I'm here to tell you it's gonna get better. You know? So that's a really nice timeline.

Carrie:

And then also having someone that's like in it with you with pregnancy is so fun. I think a pregnancy buddy is really fun. Yes.

Lezl:

Like, the newborn bubble because there's lot going on with your body when

Carrie:

you're pregnant. There's lot. Mean, I'm sure the first is the most, like, OCD because you're nothing else going on. Yeah. You don't have a kid yet, you're just like, oh my gosh.

Carrie:

I felt a twitch on my right side. Oh my gosh. My toe is itchy. Like, you you could pay attention to everything. Yeah.

Carrie:

But I remember texting my Becca, my pregnancy buddy, and I was like, are you having this? Are you having this? Are you having this? Because it's both for our first and we both had boys. But, yeah, that's that's such good advice.

Carrie:

I think that's so helpful. And like you said, hopefully, you can find someone, in your life. And if you can't, find someone super life giving. Like, find someone that you're not comparing yourself to and you're not, you know, feeling jealous of or feeling like you're not doing enough or not measuring up, but someone that is gonna, like, speak lot of life into that that season and make you realize you're not alone in it. Think that's great advice.

Carrie:

It

Lezl:

can't be someone that is so far removed from that season because, like, love my mom, love our moms, but they're so far removed from,

Carrie:

like They don't remember, like, a lot.

Lezl:

And there isn't a lot I remember from even like my last baby,

Carrie:

but it's Totally. Oh my gosh. I've had people ask me about the newborn phase. I'm like, I don't know. It was fifteen days.

Lezl:

We got out of it.

Carrie:

You'll get through it. Yeah. That's that's just that's really good advice. It's really

Lezl:

good The first six weeks, I feel like my one of one of our good friends, she told me like the first six weeks are the hardest, which I kind of feel like, yes, it can be and also no. But I do remember like she I'm like, anytime I was having a really hard time in like those early newborn trenches, I just held on to that. Like, okay. She said just get through the first six weeks. Like, so even like with breastfeeding, like, okay.

Lezl:

Like, I just need to get through the first six weeks. And it was, like, literally, like, the six weeks the six week the six week mark, like, a switch flipped.

Carrie:

Mhmm.

Lezl:

And I'm like, okay. Like, I don't know that it did like, nothing really got better. But I think, like, our bodies and just like our mentality, it just shifts and it's like, okay, like, this is our rhythm.

Carrie:

Yes. And you find that. You get out of like the trenches, the blurriness, and you get into like, we have a baby now Yeah.

Lezl:

And we're doing life. Yeah. Even if your baby's not sleeping, it's kind of like, okay, like, this is the rhythm. Yeah. And you're like, you're just used to it at that point.

Lezl:

I think is maybe what happens. But it was like, okay, like, just knowing like I have like six weeks. When you're when you're looking at when you're at two weeks and you're staring down four weeks, it's like, oh, that's four weeks away. And then it's like three weeks, it's like, oh, that's three weeks away. And then you're like, oh, okay.

Lezl:

Like, okay. So this is life.

Carrie:

Yeah. That's really good. Tell everyone where they can find you. Maybe, like, shout out your Instagram. You you post great stuff.

Carrie:

I think

Lezl:

you're You are? Yeah. I think you totally post whatever. I'm like,

Carrie:

I just wanna say, how would you explain your your social media page? It's just kinda it's just kinda you.

Lezl:

I don't wanna say it's like a motherhood page, but, like, I'm a mom. Everything is, like, through the lens of being a mom. Like, if I'm posting, like, an outfit video, I'm like, this is what I'm wearing as a mom, which is kind of like a new series I've kinda started. I like This is what I'm wearing as a mom of three. This is what I'm wearing.

Lezl:

You might not like it, but this is what I'm wearing to take care of my kids today. Mhmm. We're getting out of the house. My three kids are in tow with me. So this is this is the process of us going here or, you know, whatever.

Lezl:

Like, this is what I use. This is what I like to use. This is what I like to use. This is what I like to wear. This is what I like to do, but I'm me.

Lezl:

Yeah. Anyway, at Liesl Coe, just my name and my middle name. And I think on I've kinda started on TikTok even though I sometimes I feel like I'm a little too old, but it's at x o Liesl Co. And we have a defunct YouTube page, so I'm not even gonna say that.

Carrie:

Okay. I'll tag that in the show notes too. Not the YouTube page. I'll tag Instagram and I'll tag TikTok. But anyway, well, Liesel, thank you so much for being on.

Carrie:

You

Lezl:

too. Know the moms

Carrie:

are gonna be super blessed. This is such a fun conversation. I really enjoyed it. Me too. Yay.