The Irish Mummy Podcast | Work Life Balance

We feel this is something that could be applicable to everyone. It could be an unconscious thing that’s happening, which you’re not even aware of, but it’s good to become aware of it. Marriage is basically the biggest commitment we can make and it’s easy to take for granted because it’s just there constantly once you’re married. Your marriage is where you have committed to give it your all and that can take extra dedication to really give the other person the love and attention they need from you to keep your bond strong. “My children are paying attention to my marriage and later when they want to make choices for their spouse. If they’re not in a good relationship, they might say to themselves after a while. This isn’t what my mom and dad have. I want something that my mom and dad had, and then that might cause them to look for someone who picks marriage first, who picks dating first, who picks friends that complement marriage.” 8:33 https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

In this episode we are talking about how family vision boards create space to connect and teach children the power of setting goals as an individual and a family. As an eternal optimist, Maria is a relentless pursuer of happiness. Discovering how most everything in life can be solved or fixed with a little grit, moxie, and a love for doing what you do, is her superpower. Listen to Rosie and Maria talk about how goals and vision boards can best be implemented into your family’s life and how this can really change your family’s future for the better. “There’s such science around tracking our progress and physically writing it down. Apps are great, but physical trackers on paper are much more.. They have a higher success rate than our apps because it’s easy for me to forget about an app on my phone and not do it, but if I’ve got a paper in front of me that I’ve got next to my desk, or taped to my computer or the wall where I’m working, I’m gonna stay much more consistent with that.” 44:42 @mariamaldonadosmith mmsconsultingfirm.com https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

Today we wanted to discuss the concept that your children’s foundation all starts within the home. “It starts at home. Fueling their minds, watering their thoughts, showing them grace, and asking for forgiveness when we’ve fallen short. It starts at home. Building healthy relationships, teaching them manners, showing them the power of kindness. It starts at home. Using words with honour, speaking life into our situations, refusing to give up when the going gets tough, it starts at home. Prioritising the right things, making memories in the mundane, feeling our emotions rather than bottling them up, it starts at home. Being there for them, opening up the lines of communication, getting to know them more each and every day, it starts at home. And each and every day I pray that home will be a place they remember as learning, laughing, growing, forgiving, and setting a strong foundation for many years to come.” Fire Wife Chronicles by Lizzy Christian “This isn’t something you wanna be doing all the time. But the good thing about that is instead of being like ‘No, we can’t do this.’ and then that’s the thing the children want to do, when they do get to do it, then they know it’s like a treat. Like a relaxing treat or a lazy day, but long term that’s not the thing you want to do consistently that will be productive for you.” 8:25 https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

All of the boys, and the boys particularly, love talking about potty stuff. Something we’ve come to realise is that your first doesn’t notice it too much because they don’t have siblings. They might interact with it a little bit at school, but it doesn’t consume them, but then as you have more kids and they start to speak about it among themselves, it begins to gain momentum as you have more and more children. Our 5th kid just loves the sound of any word that has to do with potty talk, and he loves to pronounce it clearly and slowly. “We did a bunch of surprises. We didn’t tell them where we were going first…and then we had certain surprises. The Wednesday surprise was going to Disneyland as a family, and Daithi said, I’m trying to remember the context, but it was something like ‘Paddy, get your diaper on because you’re gonna crap your pants with joy.’” 2:00 https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

Adam heard something very interesting on a podcast the other day, which said often they see couples all around them, who are in their mid 40s, get divorced over the 10% of things that frustrate them, or annoy them, or that they wish were different, etc. and they set aside the 90% of things that they love about their spouse. “It is so easy to get fixated on someone’s 10% if you’re frustrated with your own life.” In preparation of talking about the 10%, talk often about the 90% of things you love about your spouse to soften the blow when it’s time to talk about the 10%. “What I should really do is learn to embrace it and be like ‘if he gets his hug, he’s not gonna worry about us being late.’ but I’m used to you not being late, so I’m prioritising rushing to get out, and then it’s like, oh my goodness, I don’t want you to be frustrated because we’re late. It’s like a lose-lose.” 14:05 https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

Today we are meeting with Ellanee Wilson, the Sleep Coach Mom, and the purpose of this podcast episode is to help moms feel confident in whatever sleep choices they make. Rosie and Ellanee discuss the differences in how touchy your children can be and how this will influence their ability to sleep with you or on their own. Newborn babies often have fairly abnormal sleep patterns after leaving the mother’s womb, so it’s quite normal for things to be irregular once your baby is born, which many first time mothers don’t understand. “I feel like there is an idea out there that if you do focus on independent sleep, it is like this rigid–and there is some level of like, you need to be consistent with things in the very beginning, but I feel like people have a preconceived notion that it means you just don’t respond to your child’s needs, and that’s just so very much not the case.” 41:39 sleepcoachmom.com @sleep.coach.mom https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

We are so excited for this topic because we feel the first year of motherhood is so special, so intense, it goes by so quickly and we become a whole new person in a short period of time. Jenna discusses how she was both ready to be a mother and follow a career in nursing, and the challenges that has posed, but also the satisfaction she has experienced as she just decided to go for being a mom after her first year of working as a nurse. “ I was honestly terrified of getting pregnant before that and just really didn’t want it to happen. I know I always wanted to be a mom like I said, but it just didn’t feel right, and then at some point it just did, and I just know that God was in the details of that helping me feel ready.” 4:50 https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

Today is a short, but very specific episode, which is something that we’re seeing unfold as our kids get older. We have 5 children at this moment, including an 11 year old boy, 7 year old girl, 5 year old boy, 3 year old boy, and 2 year old boy. Something we’ve been observing the past few months is how much the oldest two adore the baby. We have come to realise something important and maybe useful for those who are trying to decide whether to have more kids or not. “If the older sibling gets married and has a child and the younger sibling is still young, then the younger sibling will learn parenting from being an uncle or an auntie because they’ll have nieces and nephews. So the cycle kind of continues.” 3:46 https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

We feel a lot of people struggle with this issue where they are ambitious, goal driven, and a little overwhelmed, and then they bring that home and it interrupts the flow of family life. The difficult thing can be when you are going a hundred miles an hour at work, and then you come home only to bring all that to a complete halt and the transition can be a little jarring. You can turn a blowtorch on your family if you’re not careful, so it’s important to come up with a plan on how to deal with the stress of your career and adjust back to family life regularly. “I was listening to something really impactful last Friday and it’s like, OK well that’s great. You might be the biggest hero in the workplace, but if you can’t be a hero at home, then it’s not worth it.” 9:47 https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

In today’s episode Adam and Rosie are talking about the importance of giving your kids responsibility as opposed to putting pressure on them, especially for older children. Why they thought about this topic is because there is quite a big gap between the eldest child and the youngest, and Adam has found himself leaning on the oldest for help, but he’s still trying to find that balance between treating him like a boy and young man. “I remember being drawn into conversations when I was a kid. I had NO capability of being able to process them, but people thought they were doing the right thing by informing me and communicating. So that’s where the other thing is it’s making sure there isn’t a co-dependent relationship. He’s the kid, I don’t talk to him about adult stuff. I talk to my wife about adult stuff.” 10:12 https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

We are so happy to have Mike and Megan Knorpp with us today to tell us all about their amazing life journey with their family. Nearly a decade ago Mike and Megan decided that being afraid wasn’t a good enough reason not to do something. If they couldn’t come up with any other reason but fear keeping them from a dream, then they had to jump in and do it. Following that philosophy has taken their life from normal to amazing. Join us today as we hear about their amazing adventures and how this new way of thinking has helped them break out of the mundane and into a life of excitement and learning in an exceptional way. “It is so easy when you’re in the moment for it to make sense to you, but when you look back and realise how crazy it was.. We were in a chocolate shop in the mountains of North Carolina on Valentine’s day and said ‘Let’s go.’ So we got on our phones and bought 11 one way tickets to Paris.” 32:38 www.knorppandsouth.com @knorpp_and_south https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

We apologise, Rosie got sick last week and lost her voice, so this episode will sound a bit like a whisper. We don’t know what it was, but on Sunday Rosie would just be staring at something and randomly begin to cry, and it wasn’t like little sniffles, but full on convulsing and sobbing. Rosie didn’t know where this was coming from, but then she realised that she was thinking about her mum constantly and that maybe she was now unleashing some suppressed grief. “So they came into my room and they had gotten loads of paper and cut out all these hearts and wrote notes to me on them, and then they took the babies and made handprints and dog prints, and they covered the front and the back of our bedroom door with just love notes to me and how much they love me. It was amazing and so nice.” 9:58 https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

On today’s episode we have very special guests Glenn and Janet Colley and they share how Glenn became a one in a million medical miracle, being revived multiple times, and surviving Boerhaave Syndrome for 30 days before travelling from South Africa back to Cleveland Clinic for life saving surgery. They shared this story with Rosie a little while back and she thought it was crucial that it be documented and shared with others because of how amazing it is. “They pulled him out and put him in a medically induced coma. The attending physician called me at the hotel that evening and said ‘There is a good chance he will not make it through the night. You need to call your family and prepare them.’” 7:45 https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

What are you fixating on to the point of an obsession? Or what are you incessantly thinking about, speaking about, or acting upon? Is it a career, a relationship, food, a material item or place, your body? Can you make it your intention to acknowledge and master this subtle distraction in your life? We all can get obsessive over all kinds of things and for various different reasons, some of which will be more healthy reasons, but others not so much and it’s our job as parents and spouses to make sure we are regulating those obsessions. “I feel like I’m nowhere near what I want to accomplish in this life, like at all, and I think that’s the other unhealthy obsession is like, creating wealth for our family, and not money for just buying stuff, but it’s more to create freedom and to create security, and to create opportunity for our kids. The world is not the place that it was when I was their age.” 3:35 https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

Marla Grover is our special guest today who is a paediatric oncology nurse that helps families grow stronger on their journey through childhood cancer. Marla had a good friend when she was little who was diagnosed with cancer and she loved going over there to help out and do what she could to help take care of her friend. Caring for others and being empathetic was always just a very big part of who she is, thus she took on the nickname “Nurse Marla” and it kind of just stuck and has followed her as she continued through life and pursued a nursing career. “I would just cry over them and their parents as they were sleeping and just the anguish that those mothers must have felt hearing that their child had cancer and the anguish that they knew they were gonna go through, and the hard parts of treatment, the being sick, and throwing up. All of those things that every mother wants to take away from their child while they’re going through it. All of those feelings intensified so much more after I became a mother.” 9:21 https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

We really wanted to do this topic because we feel that sometimes we think we can avoid certain things in our life, such as patience for example. Sometimes we make life choices, thinking that we can avoid having to be patient when actually patience is something that life is constantly trying to teach us, and it’s kind of our choice how and where we learn it. Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that we just have to endure and get through, but often we can choose where these situations will affect us. “The other thing that I’m trying to do though is be organised so I can be calm. For me, I find it harder to be calm when there’s chaos. So my mind goes to ‘How can I create order?’ and sometimes creating order is by slowing down and making sure that everything’s in place so that there’s less chaos. I’m always trying to predict chaos and create order to prevent it.” 8:15 https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

In this episode we have Liz Edmunds, The Food Nanny, who rescues dinner and saves families. She is an absolute bundle of joy, but is also a well of wisdom. As a mother, Rosie says that Liz has some of the most important information that needs to be passed on from generation to generation, because it’s just so important. Food, our dinner time, what we learn at the dinner table, all these things that we discuss are so important and they literally hold families together. While trying to think of a way to make dinner preparation easier, Liz came up with a brilliant plan which included doing a different theme for each day of the week. Monday became comfort food night, Tuesday became Italian night, Wednesday became fish, meatless, or breakfast night, Thursday became Mexican night, Friday became pizza night, Saturday became grill night, and then Sunday was tradition day. “I always had something to look forward to when he was gone, and that was dinner time. I got to change gears and go into the kitchen, and use my hands to make bread, or rolls, or cut the vegetables, prepare the food, and it was reaching my soul, and it made me feel very good. It actually was the happiest time of the day for me.” 3:04 https://foodnanny.wordpress.com/ www.thefoodnanny.com @thefoodnanny https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

In a marriage, you each are your own individual person, and then there is the whole unit that is you both. You both have different needs at different times, and sometimes at the same time. Adam mentions that he is terrible at being really tired and not wanting to take naps, but then not wanting Rosie to take naps because the idea of having the 5 kids is overwhelming, so neither of their needs are met. We have to consider how many times either of us has something different going on and have different needs all at the same time. One example Adam gives is when Rosie has been with the kids all day and she wants connection, but all Adam wants is some peace and quiet, and then those needs just collide. “It’s easy when both people want the same thing, like ‘Rosie, we need a date night, we just need to go and talk with our children.’ Mutual needs going in the same direction. Where it’s hard is like, I just had an intense day. I don’t want to talk to anyone. Rosie just had an intense day, she wants to talk to me, forever. That’s where the conflict comes in.” 13:44 https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

When Shelby was 15 years old, she was diagnosed with cancer, Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and she ended up undergoing chemo, radiation, and surgery, removing a tumour off of her heart. During that treatment, the chemo she received really did a number on her reproductive system. Because she was a minor, she wasn’t really given the option to preserve her eggs or do any kind of fertility preservation, so she later had a lot of difficulty falling pregnant, even being told by a doctor that she will not ever be able to have kids because of the intense treatment she received. “I had always just, like a lot of women, you expect that you will be able to be a mother. It’s part of the plan. It’s not something that you know you’re going to struggle with. So when I had that realisation, it just kind of took my plans, crumpled them up, and tossed them out, like ‘Oh yeah, you’re not having kids.’” 3:31 @shelby.stew https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/

In this episode Adam and Rosie are talking all about how to be a better doer, not a better commentator or analyser, the answer to more joy in parenthood and in life. This is a funny and ironic topic to bring up because Adam says he does both those things, which are equally great and annoying. The doer can be annoying, but the commentator is 100% annoying. Fear, fatigue, and frustration are all things that can cause you to procrastinate, or just not do what you need to do as a parent or spouse in order to be in a better place in life. “Sometimes if we have burnt out in the past, we might be afraid of doing too much, so we’re always trying to limit our schedule so that we don’t get burnout, or we do so much, and then that causes us to not be the doer.” 7:05 https://www.facebook.com/theirishmummy/ https://www.instagram.com/the_irish_mummy/ Pick up a copy of Journal to Joy. My NEW 90 Day Goals, Gratitude & Affirmation Journal to Create a Happy & Abundant Life. https://www.theirishmummy.com/ Subscribe to Letters to My Sisters Newsletter. You will hear EVERYTHING here first. https://www.theirishmummy.com/