Ep. 100: Dads Tell All!

Laura Birek: Hi. Welcome to Big Fat Positive with Shanna and Laura. This is our 100th episode, and we have a very special episode for you this week. We have our weekly check-ins of course, but this week we have Dads Tell-All, where our husbands, Corey and Steve are going to come on and answer your questions and maybe participate in some of our special segments from the past, and of course, we close with our BFPs and BFNs. Let’s get started. Hi, everyone. Hi, Shanna. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Hi. 

 

 Laura Birek: It’s our 100th episode. 

 

 Shanna Micko: 100th! Woo-woo! 

 

 Shanna Micko: What’s that clacking sound? What is the sound I’m thinking of like that celebratory horn thing? 

 

 Laura Birek: I’m thinking of what Pitbull would have in his Miami club. How did it go?

 

 Shanna Micko: Yeah, I don’t know. I think we got to find a sound effect and insert it right there. 

 

 Laura Birek: Okay. Hold on. Let’s find out Pitbull Miami horn. Let’s see if this comes up with anything. Oh, the original hip-hop air horn. Here we go.

 

 Shanna Micko: That’s it.

 

 Laura Birek: Let’s see. That’s the one. 

 

 Shanna Micko: That’s all we’re going to do to celebrate our 100 episodes, right? Let’s play that horn. 

 

 Laura Birek: We should announce to our listeners that we’re going to play that horn every episode from now. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Lucky you, guys. 

 

 Laura Birek: Our numbers just plummet, like where did all our listeners go? Definitely what pregnant women and new parents want to hear: a loud ass horn in their ear. Anywho, can you tell me about what’s been going on this week? We got to do our check-ins. Even though it’s a special episode and we got some fun stuff coming up, I still want to hear what you’re doing and how your toddler is this week. 

 

 Shanna Micko: My toddler is 16 months and three weeks and let’s start with the cute stuff. I have a little toddler table and chairs, which we got for L when she was like two and I got it at that time for arts and crafts and doing stuff like that. But then I remember that Janet Lansbury, the RIE expert, in My Parenting Guru recommends that toddlers start eating meals at a little table whenever they can learn to sit on their own, and obviously, I haven’t been doing that this whole time. She still sits in a high chair like this little booster, high chair seat we have, but I was like, oh, she’s showing an interest in getting into the chairs by herself now and she can do it. So I started feeding her NL snacks at this little table and it is just freaking adorable to see a tiny little squish cutie toddler run over to a little table, hop on the chair, her little feet swinging because they don’t hit the floor quite yet. 

 

 Laura Birek: Aww. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Eat her little snack and she loves it. It’s a routine now. 

 

 Laura Birek: Oh, that’s fun. 

 

 Shanna Micko: I’m like, it’s snack time. Boom! She like zips over there gets in the chair and gets ready to eat and it’s just adorable. 

 

 Laura Birek: That’s cute. I used to be good about all snacks and meals are at the table while sitting down and now I’m just like, “Here kid. Have one of those little munchkin cups that they can get stuff out of with the perforated top.” 

 

 Shanna Micko: Oh, yeah. I just call it a snack cup. We have those. 

 

 Laura Birek: Just kind of a snack cup because he never sits still. I know, picking my battles, but that sounds lovely and very good developmentally. 

 

 Shanna Micko: It probably is. I’m not saying every single snack is like this. We do walking around with pouches and snack cups and stuff, but the fact that she has shown such an interest in it and just associated it with snack time and runs over there, I’m going with it. The next thing now is to try to make sure she sits down there while she’s eating. If we’re going to do that, then stay there, and don’t get up and walk around with your banana and stuff like that. 

 

 Laura Birek: Banana and walking is just a recipe for having banana mushed into your rug. 

 

 Shanna Micko: I know. I’m like so ridiculously overprotective of our nugget, that play couch thing I got that I spent a fortune on. I’m like, “No food on the nugget,” and of course, that’s the place they want to go because it’s like cozy in their height to sit down and like, “No food on the nugget. I don’t want smashed banana on the nugget.” 

 

 Laura Birek: I think that’s a reasonable thing. That thing was expensive and you want to keep it nice. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Yes, I can take the covers off and wash them, but then that’s just the thing I have to do. 

 

 Laura Birek: It totally is.

 

 Shanna Micko: I don’t want to do that thing. That’s that.

That’s super cute and then another thing I’ve talked of course about Cece’s night terrors and how she gets into these bouts of just inconsolable, unsolvable crying and it happened again recently and I just Googled it as you do. The first thing that came up with inconsolable toddler crying was dairy allergy. I was like, they could have a dairy allergy and this also causes eczema and we’ve mentioned before, she’s got some eczema spots and they’ve just been getting worse. Her little red spots are really bad. I was like, oh God, maybe she has a dairy allergy. So I just decided to cut dairy out of her diet and see what happens. I have not consulted a doctor about this yet. I’m just totally doing this on my own as an experiment because she doesn’t super love milk or anything. She’s not super addicted to it. 

 

 Laura Birek: Didn’t you have to cut milk and dairy out of your diet for a while when you were breastfeeding? 

 

 Shanna Micko: Yeah, I did. That also made me think maybe there is something to it and then her eczema spots kind of started once we started drinking cow’s milk. Before that, she was just on a dairy tolerant formula, so I don’t know. We’ll see how it goes. It’s hard because she does like cheese, no one else does eat cheese and she’s like, “Cheese. Cheese. Cheese” I’m like, “I’m sorry.” But I’m hoping it helps because gosh, those bouts of crying, I don’t know if she’s in pain or not. If it’s a night terror, she’s not in pain. If it’s bad indigestion from a milk allergy, she’s got to be in pain. So I’m just constantly trying to figure out and problem solve our baby.

 

 Laura Birek: How long have you been cutting out the dairy now? 

 

 Shanna Micko: I just started a couple days ago. 

 

 Laura Birek: Okay. All right. We will check back in on that for sure. That’s interesting. It’s always an option to do something like that, a little elimination. It doesn’t hurt, especially even if it’s short-term, I don’t think any doctor is going to be like, “Oh my God, the child didn’t get cheese for two weeks. How has this child survived?” 

 

 Shanna Micko: Throw that mother in jail. The challenge is what to give her to drink instead of milk, so I’ve been doing water. I gave her some almond milk and it was like, ish. She didn’t like it and then before bed, she was drinking a little warm milk. So I’m like, how about warm water with some lemon and we call it tea? Now she’s like, “Tea, tea.” 

 

 Laura Birek: Oh, that’s cute. 

 

 Shanna Micko: So she gets tea before bed. 

 

 Laura Birek: Why not? That seems totally fine. My doctor was basically like, they don’t need milk. 

 

 Shanna Micko: I remember you saying that. That helped me feel good about this decision. 

 

 Laura Birek: I don’t have any problem with it. Oh God, I don’t want to be known as Dr. Laura. I’m also not a doctor. Your good friend Laura says. Sounds good to me. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Sounds good. Well, I’ll keep you updated if it makes any difference in her skin and sleeping and crying. 

 

 Laura Birek: We definitely want to know. 

 

 Shanna Micko: All right. That’s it for me. Laura, what have you guys been up to? How old is your baby? 

 

 Laura Birek: My baby toddler, big boy is 15 months and three weeks. He does seem so big now. Anyway, I don’t want to get into that because it makes me sad. Every time I put him in a t-shirt and not like onesies, I’m like, you look like a grownup. 

 

 Shanna Micko: I know. They wear jeans and shoes now and stuff and it’s like, you’re just a little adult. 

 

 Laura Birek: Who wears diapers. 

 

 Shanna Micko: True. 

 

 Laura Birek: We have a couple updates this week. Our first update is that we have introduced a stuffed animal to his crib. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Fun. 

 

 Laura Birek: We introduced Hudson. It was this little knit bear and we called him Hudson because he’s from the Hudson’s Bay Company, which is a Canadian Nordstrom. Maybe our Canadian listeners can give us a better analogy, but it’s like a more upscale Canadian department store and my uncle who lives in Toronto brought it down when he came to visit when the baby was a newborn and I picked it, because I was like, okay. I know where this is from so I can order a second one and it didn’t have any eyes. It was just 100% knit fabric. 

 

 Shanna Micko: It doesn’t have eyes. 

 

 Laura Birek: It has like sown on yarn eyes. 

 

 Shanna Micko: It’s not an eyeless creature. 

 

 Laura Birek: No, it’s a very cute little bear with stripes, but they sew the eyes with thread instead of those hard things that could be choking hazards in theory. I know almost all of them have the safety eyes, but I just was like, let’s just pick a super safe one and he likes it. He would pick it up and run around with it. He took to it instantly, which was sweet. He immediately just hugged it and used it as a pillow and now he has to hold it while we go around turning on the white noise and turning the lights off before bed and stuff. He has to have it, which is cute. Then I went to go order a new one. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Why? What happened to the other one? 

 

 Laura Birek: Oh, so part of the reason I wanted this particular one was because I knew where I could order the second one because I wanted to get a backup, right?

 

 Shanna Micko: Okay. 

 

 Laura Birek: I wanted to have a backup lovey so that there weren’t any nighttime disasters if let’s say he has a diaper leak on it or it gets snagged and unravels or something. I’ve heard it’s really good to have backup loveys and I was like, okay. I know where this one comes from. I can just go order a backup lovey. Problem solved. He sleeps with it for a couple nights and it’s very cute and he’s clearly attached and then I go to the Hudson Bay website and I look and I discover that it’s $55. 

 

 Shanna Micko: What? For a little stuffed animal? 

 

 Laura Birek: It’s almost like his height. It’s kind of a longer stuffed animal and I think it’s handmade and it’s definitely I think priced fairly in that. I think it’s handmade and it has some kind of charity behind it. I just did not know and had I known I might have chosen a cheaper lovey, but anyway, I was complaining about this to my mom possibly strategically and she was like, “Oh, grandma will buy it for him.” 

 

 Shanna Micko: Excellent. 

 

 Laura Birek: So she gave me her credit card number and then I went to order it and they don’t ship to the US. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Oh my gosh. You found the most impossible lovey to get. 

 

 Laura Birek: I did. Now it’s being shipped to my cousin who lives in Toronto and he’s going to ship it to me. He has I think a three or four-year-old. Gosh, I can’t remember how old he is now. I’m sorry. He understands the plight. When I asked him he was like, “Oh yeah, no problem.” So it’s going to be arriving eventually. 

 

 Shanna Micko: That’s good. I’m glad you figured out a way to do that. 

 

 Laura Birek: That’s lay plans. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Exactly. In all my years of parenting, it never occurred to me to do something like get a backup stuffed animal. Maybe it’s just who I am. I was just like, let’s just get her one zillion different stuffed animals and if she loses one, she’s just got to fall in love with another one or something. We have so many stuffed animals and my girls have never shown a real attachment to one in particular, so I haven’t had to face that problem.

 

 Laura Birek: Well, that’s good. 

 

 Shanna Micko: It’s good to be prepared. 

 

 Laura Birek: If they’re not obsessed with one specific one that could be fine. I was thinking about my childhood and I had my kitty cat. This is a thing that a couple years ago I went back to Fresno and my dad was like, “Oh, I have a box of your things. Here you go,” and I was going through them in front of Corey and I was like, “Oh my gosh, kitty cat.” I was so excited. I was like, “I slept with this every night for 12 years or something,” and he was like, “God, this explains so much because it’s a big fluffy white cat.” 

 

 Shanna Micko: Oh, my God. That is hilarious.

 

 Laura Birek: Which is what I ended up with, and it’s funny because I was like, “Oh yeah. Is that why I have fluffy white cats? Maybe.” 

 

 Shanna Micko: It’s a comfort thing for you. 

 

 Laura Birek: It is. But I was given this little cat at I don’t remember what birthday, like third birthday or something where my mom’s friend and I immediately bonded with it probably because we had a string of outdoor cats that kept getting killed by the neighbor dogs. I don’t remember any of this. In retrospect, I’m like, “Mom, stop letting the cats go outside.” But apparently, I was traumatized by the most recent cats dying so I lashed onto this and we only had one.

It was like brown, gray disgusting and there was one close call where we went to Hawaii on vacation and as we were about to leave the hotel, I suddenly was like, “Where’s Kitty?” My mom had to rush back to the room and she found that the cleaning people had scooped it up in the sheets and it was literally in the sheet bin about to go off to get washed. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Oh, no! 

 

 Laura Birek: From my own experience, I was like, we got to have two. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Got you.

 

 Laura Birek: But Amy is like, oh we got to have three. I don’t think baby. That $55 we’ll just let it be. 

 

 Shanna Micko: That’s so funny, because what I said earlier, maybe it’s my personality because when I was young, I didn’t have that single attachment to something. I just remember a room full of tons and tons of different care bears and different stuffed animals and just multiple. I just wanted more, more, and more like just to dive right into all of them. It’s funny. Different people. It’s so interesting. 

 

 Laura Birek: Some of the other fun stuff this week is he’s suddenly very into percussive stuff. Specifically, there’s a song it’s called Matilda. Do you know it? It’s like, “I have a pet gorilla. Matilda is her name.” Anyway, you either clap or slap your legs.

Usually, the way I do it is I slap my legs and he’ll now start slapping his legs to ask me to sing the song. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Cute.

 

 Laura Birek: He just loves it and then there’s another song I learned in Mommy and Me, which is like, you do like a slap, slap, and clap. Let me see if I can do it on here. Like that and you sing a song and he’s been trying. You do it on a table. The one we have is, “Sitting in my high chair. My chair, high chair. Sitting in my high chair, banging my spoon.”

 

 Shanna Micko: That’s so cute. 

 

 Laura Birek: He will sit at his high chair and he knows that’s when we do it because we’re trying to distract him because dinner’s not ready or whatever and he’s been starting to get the pattern. He doesn’t do it exactly right, but he’ll like slap the table a couple times and then he’ll clap a couple times and he’s working hard at it. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Oh, wow. That’s cool. 

 

 Laura Birek: Which I think is just so interesting. 

 

 Shanna Micko: I love that. Maybe he’ll be a drummer. 

 

 Laura Birek: Maybe. Corey was a drummer in a band. 

 

 Shanna Micko: What? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. 

 

 Laura Birek: The Singles. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Awesome. 

 

 Laura Birek: By the way, this is a local band. I think they played three gigs or something, so no one needs to go look them up on Spotify. But the other thing you’ll do is that we’ll ask him, “What song do you want to sing before bedtime because we always sing songs?” He would just go, “Baba,” because he wants to hear, “Baba black sheep.” But now he goes, “Bitsy, bitsy,” and he wiggles his little fingers together to try to do the itsy-bitsy spider. 

 

 Shanna Micko: That’s awesome. 

 

 Laura Birek: It’s really, really good. 

 

 Shanna Micko: They’re showing preferences now and stuff. It’s just so cool. 

 

 Laura Birek: I know. I love the communication. I find it so helpful. 

 

 Shanna Micko: I love it. One thing I forgot to mention I was going to say about this week’s check-in is that you told me how your guys has been doing the more sign. I was like, okay. I’ll see if I can teach Cece. I taught it to her while we were eating and she picked it up immediately. I was super impressed and then I’m so lazy, I forget about things, and then a couple days later we were in the bathtub and she goes, “Bubble,” and then starts doing this more sign and I was like, what? She just kept going like that and then I was like trying to figure out what it was and I was like, “Oh my God, you want more bubbles.” You’re probably thinking of the bubble bath we had the other night and so I made her bubble bath and stuff. If she wants to hear a song again, now she does it. It’s crazy to me that they can take that concept to something that’s not just like a physical object like food. It’s just like more music, tickle my leg more. She does that a lot, stuff like that. 

 

 Laura Birek: We do that. Our method of brushing his teeth at bedtime is that I will blow on his belly and tickle him while Corey tries to brush his teeth, because he laughs so much, his mouth is wide open. He has so many freaking teeth. 

 

 Shanna Micko: That’s smart. 

 

 Laura Birek: Sometimes I worry like, oh tickling, is he liking it? So I’ll pause and then he’ll just look at me and do more. He’s like more, more, more, so I’m like, okay. But it’s nice to know that I’m not because some kids you’ll laugh when getting tickled, but they don’t necessarily like it. So I always pause to check in with him. Sometimes the more can get aggressive. With the bubbles, when the bubble machine runs out while we’re playing with it, he walks up to me he’s like, “More!” He’s not saying it, but he is just frantically slamming his hands together. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Jamming his fingernails together. I love it. The communication is improving and it’s just so cool and so fun. 

 

 Laura Birek: It’s so great. Well, I think that’s it for me this week. Shall we move on to our very, very fun, special segment? 

 

 Shanna Micko: We should. I’m ready. Let’s do it.

 

 [Music] 

 

 Shanna Micko: All right. We are back and we are excited because we have a very special segment for our 100th episode. Laura and I have our husbands aka our baby daddies, aka our dudes here to spill the beans, tell-all, and the segment may or may not end in divorce. We’ll see. I don’t know. Laura, why don’t you introduce your husband to us all? 

 

 Laura Birek: Yes, my husband’s name is Corey. How long have we been married, Corey? 

 

 Corey: Ooh, a test right off the bat. 

 

 Steve: You’re already failing. 

 

 Corey: Four years. We just celebrated four years. 

 

 Laura Birek: It’s true. We did just celebrate four years. I loved it.

 

 Steve: Congratulations you guys. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Happy anniversary. 

 

 Corey: Thank you.

 

 Laura Birek: Hi, Steve. Steve did a reading at our wedding. 

 

 Corey: He did. 

 

 Laura Birek: Shanna was a bridesmaid, so everyone was involved. Corey is the love of my life and the father of my child. 

 

 Corey: True. 

 

 Shanna Micko: He’s so perfunctory about it. 

 

 Laura Birek: He’s begrudgingly joining us on this episode. 

 

 Corey: Not begrudgingly. I’m very happy to be here. 

 

 Steve: Semi grudgingly. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Aww. 

 

 Steve: It’s about time really. 

 

 Corey: Steve, it’s about time we weighed in on motherhood. Don’t you think? It’s about time the men came in and explained motherhood. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Mansplain motherhood. 

 

 Steve: I’ve been waiting to correct everything on this podcast for 100 episodes and get ready for a two hour rant. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Cool. This is my husband, Steve. 

 

 Laura Birek: I was going to ask, who is that voice over there? 

 

 Shanna Micko: It’s not my butler. It’s my husband, Steve. This is going to be our 10 year anniversary this coming October. 

 

 Steve: Wow! 10, really? 

 

 Shanna Micko: I know, but okay. Get ready to have your mind blown, because we’ve actually been together 17… 

 

 Steve: Since 2002. 

 

 Shanna Micko: So coming up on 18 years. We knew each other in high school, but started dating in our early twenties and now we’re geriatric parents, so you do the math. Hi, Steve. 

 

 Steve: Hey. Thanks for having me on. 

 

 Shanna Micko: People may also recognize Steve’s name from our credits. He is our illustrious producer. 

 

 Steve: No one listens to those. You know what? I think the drop off rate says otherwise. There are 15% to 20% of your audience who knows my name. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Yes. 

 

 Steve: I appreciate you all. 

 

 Corey: Nice. 

 

 Laura Birek: All right, Shanna. Should we jump right into questions, because we actually have a lot of questions and a lot of ground to cover? People are very curious about these guys. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Yeah, let’s do it. 

 

 Corey: Are they? 

 

 Laura Birek: It turns out they are. 

 

 Steve: I’m surprised by that too. I am shirtless by the way.

 

Shanna Micko: Oh, jeez.

 

Steve: In case that’s a good selling point. 

 

 Laura Birek: Are you really shirtless? 

 

 Steve: Yeah, just advertise that, a shirtless special episode. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Just pant less. 

 

 Steve: Pant less sweatshirt.

 

 Shanna Micko: Just pant less and shirtless. Just naked. 

 

 Steve: It’s the normal thing I do, which is socks, no pants, and shirt. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Mustache. 

 

 Laura Birek: Donald Duck situation. All right. Okay. Our first question is from Maryland, big fan of the show and she asks about our husbands. Do they listen to the episodes and if so, do they care what’s said about them? Is anything embarrassing or off limits that they’re like, “Oh my God, I can’t believe you shared that?” 

 

 Steve: Do you want to go first Corey or do you want me to talk?

 

 Corey: No, I’ll go first. I don’t listen to the podcast. I listened to a couple episodes today. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Shame. 

 

 Steve: There’s so much shit talked about you. 

 

 Corey: In preparation for this, I’m not a horrible person. I don’t have a lot of time to listen to podcasts. Laura knows this. 

 

 Laura Birek: It’s true. I’m always recommending podcasts to him and he is like, “Yeah, I’ll get right on that” and it never happens. That’s not entirely true. You’re listening to, Oh, Hello, the Podcast. 

 

 Corey: In the 10 minutes that I might have time. I feel like, I see almost everything that Laura’s probably talking about and experience a lot of it or hear about it. 

 

 Laura Birek: But what about my life, Corey? Don’t you want to know about my motherhood dream? 

 

 Steve: Oh, true. 

 

 Corey: I find that a little mystery is good in my life. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Good answer. 

 

 Steve: Otherwise you’d have nothing to talk about when you saw us, right? 

 

 Shanna Micko: Praising my parenting. 

 

 Laura Birek: Well, how do you feel about us talking about you on the show? 

 

 Corey: I’m totally fine with it. I have no bad feelings about it. I don’t mind that I’m a subject on this. I support Laura’s endeavor here and as long as it’s honest, it’s fine with me. I’m not overly sensitive about stuff. I’m bivalent I guess towards it. I’m totally fine with it. I understand what she’s doing and I think these things are best when they’re honest and real and true and so I’m fine with that. I have no qualms about that. 

 

 Laura Birek: Thank you, sweetie. I also like to think that I have good boundaries and know what is off limits to talk about. 

 

 Corey: I trust her implicitly, so I know that she’s not going to talk about my cocaine habit or something. 

 

 Shanna Micko: That’s a deeply held secret. 

 

 Laura Birek: You probably shouldn’t have mentioned it just so you know. 

 

 Steve: Wait a second. Here’s the next question. Do any of your husbands do cocaine? 

 

 Shanna Micko: Oh my God. 

 

 Steve: Now you can’t get out of it. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Steve, do you listen to these episodes or what? 

 

 Steve: I do.

 

 Corey: This is so unfair. I just want to point how unfair this is, by the way. 

 

 Steve: I’ve been emailing Corey about all the episodes, trying to chat with him, husband on husband. 

 

 Shanna Micko: And a two-person Facebook group about it. 

 

 Steve: I never get a response back. I do listen to episodes because I mix them and I export them and producer confession, I don’t listen to the entire episode sometimes. Sometimes I check-ins and outs and middles and levels and I export without listening to the whole thing. But I would say I do listen to the majority of the episodes and no, I don’t care about what’s in the episodes because like Corey, I don’t lead a crazy life where I’m worried about what’s going to get there per se and most people know I’m a super open book and you can ask me about anything and I’ll be honest. I like sharing honest, real stories with people because I feel like there are taboo things that don’t need to be taboo and I appreciate that you guys get real stories about pregnancy and motherhood out there for people to relate to who feel alone and I’m proud of both of you, to be honest. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Thanks. 

 

 Laura Birek: Thank you. 

 

 Corey: Of course, I’m proud too. 

 

 Steve: I said it first. 

 

 Shanna Micko: This whole thing’s going to be you guys one up against each other. 

 

 Steve: I’m sipping out of my husband now that your mug’s on. 

 

 Shanna Micko: You got one of those, Corey. 

 

 Laura Birek: He’s got a best dad ever mug. 

 

 Corey: Do I? 

 

 Laura Birek: No. 

 

 Corey: I don’t. 

 

 Laura Birek: I should probably get you one for father’s day. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Father’s day is coming up. 

 

 Laura Birek: It is. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Let’s move on. What’s our next question? 

 

 Laura Birek: We have an audio question. This one’s a fun one. 

 

 Steve: Sweet. 

 

 Listener Erin: Hi, Big Fat Positive Team. This is Erin and baby Leo here from the UK. Congratulations on your 100th episode. 

 

 Steve: Thanks. 

 

 Listener Erin: We want to know your dad confessions and anything crazy that you remember Googling either while the mamas were pregnant or since having your little ones. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Fun, fun, fun, because I was wanting to challenge you guys to do some of our special segments because we put ourselves out there every week with the most embarrassing shit. So it’s like, let’s bring the dads into the fun. I want to know, Corey, do you have a dad confession? Laura and I play a game with this where we say one real dad confession and one fake one and then everyone else has to guess which one is correct. Would you be up for doing that? 

 

 Corey: Sure. As an avid listener, I am familiar with this game, so I’m completely ready for this. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Cool. 

 

 Corey: Two things, one that’s not true and one that is. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Not necessarily in that order. 

 

 Steve: Right. I get up with our guy in the mornings while Laura sleeps in and he’s always fascinated by my coffee cup, so I might have given him a sip of my not hot coffee. It was cooled off by then, but I had given him a little sip of coffee, which he didn’t love I didn’t think. I couldn’t tell. 

 

 Laura Birek: Did he call it hot even though it wasn’t hot? 

 

 Corey: Well, yeah. Of course. 

 

 Laura Birek: Anything in a coffee cup is hot. That’s one. 

 

 Corey: Then I may have tried to teach him how to say cocaine, which recently he has gotten into repeating a lot now. I just wanted to see if he had it in him. 

 

 Steve: I buy that one. That seems like the real one for sure. 

 

 Shanna Micko: I feel like Corey might be trying to trick us by being like, I’ll throw a casual one in there. Laura, do you know the answer to this? Should it be me and Steve? 

 

 Laura Birek: You guys have to guess because I do know the answer to this one. I have to recuse myself. 

 

 Steve: Should we confer? 

 

 Shanna Micko: I think we can put in our own guess. I’m going to say cocaine. 

 

 Steve: I’m going to say cocaine too because I don’t think you would give the baby a sip of the coffee. 

 

 Corey: Even if it were lukewarm? 

 

 Steve: I know how much the nap is necessary and I don’t see you being like, fuck this kid’s nap schedule and you get a sip today because who gives a shit? There’s no benefit to you.

 

 Shanna Micko: But the benefit to your baby saying cocaine is hours of laughter. 

 

 Corey: I agree.

 

 Steve: You were rolling on that, weren’t you? 

 

 Shanna Micko: Did we get it? 

 

 Corey: Of course, yes. I thought that was going to be harder. I thought I could stump you. 

 

 Shanna Micko: We’re sorry, pants.

 

Steve: He did not say it, by the way. 

 

 Laura Birek: He didn’t?

 

 Steve: No. 

 

 Laura Birek: What was the context? 

 

 Steve: He was repeating ice tea. You remember he started, Laura was having ice tea with dinner and he was repeating iced tea over and over again. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Then he pointed at your Coke. 

 

 Steve: Oh, that’s what it was. 

 

 Shanna Micko: I was like, Coke and he’s like, Coke and that’s when you thought it was funny. I was like, can you say Coca-Cola? And you go, can you say cocaine? 

 

 Steve: Cocano. 

 

 Corey: They used to make Coke with cocaine, guys. I don’t know if you know that. 

 

 Laura Birek: They did? Gosh. Steve, you are funny. 

 

 Shanna Micko: That was very transparent. I want to know if Steve has a dad confession. 

 

 Steve: I do. I do. I do. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Dad confession. 

 

 Steve: Confession number one, I took a day off of work without telling Shanna so I could be alone for a day. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Whoa. 

 

 Steve: Let that one sink in. Confession number two, I would on occasion drink the rest of the breast milk after filling bottles. 

 

 Laura Birek: I don’t have any doubt that I know the answer to this one. 

 

 Corey: I know it too. 

 

 Shanna Micko: I’m going to leave it to you guys. 

 

 Corey: It’s the breast milk one. 

 

 Laura Birek: It’s 100% the breast milk one, right? 

 

 Steve: Why is it 100%? 

 

 Laura Birek: Because it’s pretty low to take a day off of work and not tell Shanna. 

 

 Steve: I appreciate that. 

 

 Laura Birek: That is low. 

 

 Steve: I would not. No, Shanna is super supportive. 

 

 Laura Birek: I would legitimately be mad at you. If that was true, I would’ve been like, okay, Steve. We got to have a talk. 

 

 Corey: I just think he’s nasty like that. 

 

 Shanna Micko: What are you saying about my boob juice, dude? 

 

 Steve: That I am. Also, it is literally less nasty than drinking cow milk if you think about it. 

 

 Corey: No, definitely. 

 

 Laura Birek: With, “No definitely.”

 

 Steve: We’ve all done it before or most of us have done it before; had breast milk. 

 

 Corey: I don’t think.

 

 Laura Birek: Did you ever taste it? There is still chance. I’m still breastfeeding. 

 

 Steve: That’s true. 

 

 Corey: You never drunk breast milk from your mom’s boob? 

 

 Steve: That’s what I mean. We’ve all done it in that way. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Before memories were formed.

 

 Corey: You nailed me, man. You nailed me with that. 

 

 Shanna Micko: It wasn’t anyway. Now, I did not know this actually for a really long time until our friend Jen mentioned it to me. Two years after the fact, she was like, “Oh, yeah. Steve told me that he used to taste your breast milk all the time,” and I was like, “What?” 

 

 Steve: I never told you? 

 

 Shanna Micko: No, I did not know. I thought you took like a lick once out of curiosity, but she was the one who told me that you did it on the regular, like every single time you gave the baby milk. 

 

 Steve: Well, I wouldn’t say every time. 

 

 Corey: Was that when you got all yoked out when you were like… 

 

 Steve: It is a really good muscle builder. It’s got lots of protein. I would take a tiny swig and then just get jacked. So many pushups. But no, it’s a natural thing. It tastes good and it’s not like I would pour myself a glass for enjoyment. It was just like, I’m filling the bottle and there’s a tiny, tiny bit left and I would just swish it in my mouth.

 

 Shanna Micko: Swish it. Oh my God.

 

 Steve: Nothing but net. 

 

 Laura Birek: Well, you guys are awfully transparent. That’s all I have to say or rather we know you. We all know each other too well.

 

 Shanna Micko: That could be it. 

 

 Steve: We’ve been friends for a long time. 

 

 Laura Birek: But I’m curious. Do you guys have any, what I Googled? That was the second part of Erin’s question.

 

 Shanna Micko: Radio silence. 

 

 Corey: I did. Not anything that would be shocking. 

 

 Steve: I know. I feel like…

 

 Shanna Micko: You guys don’t obsessively Google weird things about your pregnancy and your babies? 

 

 Steve: No, I think I just let you do all the Googling for both of us. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Thank you. I am honored. 

 

 Laura Birek: It’s probably for the best. We do a lot of it. 

 

 Corey: That’s it for the yeah. Laura has so much research and I get all the downloads for it, so it’s hard to explore new subjects. 

 

 Laura Birek: There you go. 

 

 Shanna Micko: It’s sweet that you called it research. 

 

 Laura Birek: Well. Okay. That sounds pretty definitive. Shanna, did you want to take a quick break and come back with the rest of our listener questions? 

 

 Shanna Micko: Yeah, we’ve got more dudes coming your way, so stick around. 

 

 Laura Birek: Stick around for the dudes. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Stick around for the dudes and the BFPs and BFNs.

 

 [Music]

 

 Laura Birek: Hey everyone. We are back and we have some more questions for our husbands from our listeners. Shanna, do you want to play the next one? 

 

 Shanna Micko: Yes, let’s do it. 

 

 Listener Laura: Hi, Shanna and Laura. This is Laura from Denver, Colorado. My question for your husbands is do they have any book or podcast or YouTube video recommendations for being expecting dads or new dads or just dads in general? One of my husband’s frustrations, when we were looking at books and such when I was pregnant, was that there just weren’t very many that were for dads. Thanks very much for the podcast. Love the show. Bye. 

 

 Corey: Steve, you want to go first? 

 

 Steve: Yeah, I’ll be the first to say that I’m not great at picking up parenting books and reading them. Shanna came to me early on with L and was like, I found this philosophy called the RIE Philosophy and I know you guys have talked about RIE on the podcast before. But it’s Magda Gerber’s philosophy and it’s about respectful parenting and treating your infant with respect and Janet Lansbury kind of carries on that torch today with her books, No Bad Kids and Elevating Child Care. I think early on, we kind of adopted that style of parenting and I was really thankful that Shanna found that philosophy and read those books for me and told me what to say and how to do things, and gave me a summary. I read some of it, but I would recommend those to any parent, whether you’re a father or not. I don’t know about like father-specific stuff, because I didn’t really look into it because I feel like being a dad is different than being a mom, but feel I like the resources should be the same: like you have a parent philosophy. You don’t have it like a dad-specific philosophy. You know what I mean? My mom gifted me a book about being a good dad and it was awful. I don’t remember what it was called, and even if I did, I wouldn’t call it out. But it was like a self-published Amazon book and I could just tell from the cover, it was going to be a steaming pile because it was like really bad art and really bad fact choice and the author did it all themselves. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Oh, yeah. The grammar I think was really bad. It was such a grammar nerd. 

 

 Steve: Like the first chapter I was diving into, like, I’m going to be a good dad and read this book and it was like, I can’t get past these first few paragraphs. This is terrible.

 

 Shanna Micko: You know what? That book probably ruined you for parenting books. You’re like, “Fuck this. I am just going to let Shanna do all the work.”

 

 Steve: But what was super, super helpful is the 5 S’s if you haven’t picked up the book. Is that the Happiest Baby on the Block with the 5 S’s?

 

 Shanna Micko: Yeah, but we bought Amazon. 

 

 Laura Birek: Amazon has it. It’s the Harvey Karp 5 S’s Happiest Baby on the Block video.

 

 Shanna Micko: That thing is amazing. 

 

 Steve: That was a lifesaver. If you want to learn how to put your newborn to sleep very quickly, that’s a great resource and you can literally just watch the YouTube video and get the hang of it or the Amazon video. You don’t have to get the book. 

 

 Corey: I second that. Watching that video was revelatory and super helpful for us. 

 

 Steve: Sometimes I use the 5 S’s on people who I can’t get to be quiet. So I just pick them up, I shush them, I sway them, I swing them, I shake them. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Your coworkers are like, what are you doing to me, Steve? 

 

 Laura Birek: Shanna and I have talked about how we use the RIE technique on our animals. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Oh, yes. Chillie, I’m going to pick you up now. 

 

 Steve: Chillie, I see that you’re hungry. 

 

 Shanna Micko: See that you’re hungry, but it’s not dinner time. 

 

 Laura Birek: I just did that with my cat Magnus today. I was like, Magnus, I see that you’re hungry and I know it’s making you upset, but I have to work on other things right now and I promise I’ll get you your food soon. Magnus is just like meowing. 

 

 Corey: You could use the RIE technique on anyone. 

 

 Steve: Magnus has no time for RIE. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Oh my God. I love it. He doesn’t respect your respectful parenting. 

 

 Steve: What about you, Corey? Did you go into parenting with like a dad specific you want to listen to podcasts and get dad books? 

 

 Corey: Again my podcast listening habits are non-existent. 

 

 Steve: Don’t worry.

 

 Corey: I don’t know why we keep bringing this up. I feel like I’m being continuously shamed. 

 

 Steve: Do you listen to episodes of BFP? 

 

 Corey: No, I don’t feel like there are a lot of dad-specific podcasts. I would guess if I searched for that, I wouldn’t find very many. 

 

 Laura Birek: I know there are a couple, but it’s definitely not like mom podcasts. 

 

 Corey: Right. I had a friend who did recommend a book and I started reading it and there was something about the tone of it that I didn’t like and so I stopped reading. It was very like how men start to be ignored.

There was just a tone to it that I was like, I don’t like the vibe of this book so I stopped reading it, but I there’s one book that I think you told me about, Understanding your Baby. 

 

 Laura Birek: Our friend Ayelet’s book. She was a guest on the podcast. 

 

 Corey: So I would read that. It goes week by week and they’re very short, quick chapters and it gives you a good overview of what’s going on with your baby at the time and so I would read it in the mornings while I was with him and would incorporate some of the stuff that was in there. It gave you a good insight to what was going on with them and then it would go week by week and that was super helpful. Again, the chapters are very short, sweet to the point, so it’s very easy to pick up. Then recently, it’s another book that Laura read and recommended, which I think it’s the same one Steve was talking about. Was it No Bad Babies? 

 

 Laura Birek: No Bad Kids. For some reason, No Bad Babies sounds… 

 

 Corey: Look, that’s a better title, so they should call me and thank me for that, which I think it’s super interesting and I love the approach. I felt like that’s how we were kind of approaching it anyway, but there’s stuff in there definitely that just makes you more aware of the words I think you use with the babies and how you approach certain things that I think are just super smart and helpful. 

 

 Steve: I would say as a father of two now I need to review that philosophy because my patience is so short now that I hear myself talking to L and I’m like, oh, that is not No Bad Kids philosophy way to speak to her and just being like, “L, no! Get down from there. What are you doing? Don’t do that.” Once I adopted that philosophy early on, we would go to some place and hear people talking to their kids like that, and I’m like, oh, damn. I’m so glad I’m not that kind of parent. I’m like, oh man, I have relaxed way too much on. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Well, circumstances are different too. Now it’s like I’ve got to kind of scream at her from across the room because I can see she’s about to push Cece, who’s my much smaller, into the door, because they’re running and I’m going to be like, no! Stop! That’s not the time I personally don’t think to be like, L, I see that you’re about to kill your sister. 

 

 Corey: About to injure your sister. 

 

 Laura Birek: I know what upsets you.

 

 Shanna Micko: I would really appreciate it. I’ve seen our circumstances, I understand. But yes, I want to review that book too, because it’s very, very helpful.

 

 Laura Birek: No Bad Kids book club. Hey, Shanna. We actually have so many more questions we need to get to and we just don’t have time. So I’m thinking let’s do them on a bonus episode later this week. What do you say? 

 

 Shanna Micko: I love it. Let’s do it. But do we have one last question? 

 

 Laura Birek: Yeah, we do have one more question. It’s actually a really good one to end on. So Shanna, will you do us the honors and read it for us? 

 

 Shanna Micko: Absolutely. This is from Hannah, and she asks, “My question is, what advice would you give a first-time dad?” 

 

 Corey: Hi, Hannah. 

 

 Steve: Corey, aren’t you going to say hi?

 

 Corey: Jesus. 

 

 Steve: Oh, hi, Hannah. Nice to meet you. 

 

 Laura Birek: So who’s going first? 

 

 Steve: I went first last time. 

 

 Laura Birek: That’s true.

 

 Corey: Oh, okay. I guess I’ll go first. I think like I said earlier, I would just say, go into it with a mindset that it’s going to be hard, you’re going to be tired and that’s okay. But you can get through it, you can function. It’s just you get used to it.

I know for me, especially in those early weeks when you do feel a little secondary because the moms are so much more important as far as the breastfeeding and all that stuff if you’re breastfeeding, that I think I tried to be helpful in other ways. I tried to do dishes, even though I left some glasses. I think three specifically. I tried to do things on the periphery to make things easier for Laura and I think maybe just stay busy and feel like I was functioning in the thing. There’s just things you can’t do like as hard as I tried, I could not breastfeed our guy. I didn’t try that hard. 

 

 Laura Birek: He does try to lift your shirt up these days. 

 

 Corey: He does. I’m like, dude, give it a go, but I think you’re going to get disappointed. Find the time to spend with them when they’re not being nursed. It’s hard, but it’s amazing and I think also trying to be present, just enjoy the little moments. It is kind of boring, but I think finding the joy in those boring moments is a challenge. But I think that’s just as important, I guess. 

 

 Laura Birek: Nice. 

 

 Steve: I feel like one of the most important things you can do as a dad to a newborn is really like Corey was saying, do everything you can to support your wife or the mom. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Or domestic partner. 

 

 Steve: Yeah, whoever is feeding and doing all the heavy lifting. I wrote a note down in my phone, which was “Johnny on the spot” and I feel like if you are the Johnny on the spot person, really taking charge of making sure all the breastfeeding or the pumping supplies are clean, the bottles are clean, doing dishes, take on the house manager role, take out the trash. It’s like all the little stuff that you wouldn’t want to do if you just delivered or had a C-section. Be the one who’s making life easier for the other person. Did I do that for you? 

 

 Shanna Micko: Yeah, I have a memory of, with L, breastfeeding was tricky and I went to a breastfeeding class and they all used the My Brest Friend pillow and it was so much better and so much easier and I came home that day and I was like, gosh, that breastfeeding pillow just made a world of difference and within a second, you found out where it was located in a store nearby and you’re like, “I’m going to go get it,” and you went and bought me one, and I had one within 30 minutes. So that was cool. 

 

 Steve: Take care of everything. Just hop to it. 

 

 Shanna Micko: It’s so helpful. 

 

 Steve: Oh, and the other thing I wrote down is take lots and lots of photos and videos and notes of delivery day because I wish I had more. You take photos and videos and stuff, but you’re always like, oh, what was that moment I’m missing from my memory now? The first time when L was delivered, I was really kind of freaked out because I don’t like surgeries and ORs and medical stuff. 

 

 Shanna Micko: It was a completely urgent situation, unexpected. 

 

 Steve: We didn’t know we were going to be doing a C-section and so I’m like, oh, man. You hear about C-sections all the time and I feel like I never heard anyone talk about how serious it feels when you’re in the room and you’re like, oh, this is like a real surgery. This isn’t just a little snip in a tug and the baby’s out. It’s like, we’re doing real surgery in here and my wife is awake and I’m here for it. It can be totally scary. 

 

 Corey: You just feel like you’re in the way in that room. 

 

 Steve: I didn’t take any photos or videos. Oh, no. Did I? I did. I took a few. These are all fucking blur, but I wish I had been more present for that first one. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Well, you know what was nice about that one? It was really scary and unexpected and I was shaking and so scared and you were very present with me. Even after the baby came out, I think you may be looked at her, but instead of running over to snap photos and videos of her, you were like, I’m going to stay with you and help you feel calm for a little bit first and I just will never forget that. That was so nice because I couldn’t be with the baby either. I just went through this and couldn’t be with her, but at least I could be with you. 

 

 Steve: I do remember feeling we were there for each other and I just really had to focus on you and make sure that you were staying calm. I remember talking to you about what the nursery looks like and what it was going to be like to take her home. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Aww, that’s right. 

 

 Steve: Try to do some positive visualization and get through a stressful moment together. 

 

 Shanna Micko: That was super sweet. That’s some awesome advice, you guys. I hope that’s helpful. 

 

 Steve: I hope it’s helpful too. Good luck with everything and I feel for all of you out there listening and getting ready to become parents or in the thick of newborn phase and it’s the best. 

 

 Shanna Micko: It is awesome. 

 

 Steve: I have a lot of love for you and I hope you guys are all doing well. 

 

 Laura Birek: Okay, guys. We always end with our guests by asking them what a recent BFP in their life is and that’s big fat positive, something happy, wonderful, something that’s lifted you up, made you smile, something positive that’s happened recently, or it could be a product. We love to talk about our products. Corey. 

 

 Shanna Micko: If you got it on Amazon. 

 

 Corey: I was going to talk about our guy because he started doing this thing that he’s done a lot with Laura, but he hadn’t done it so much with me, but he started doing it, which he gets real close, goes forehead to forehead and gets intense eye contact. 

 

 Steve: Oh my God. 

 

 Shanna Micko: What?

 

 Corey: It’s super sweet and he’s done it a lot with you. It’s a thing that was exclusively for mom. 

 

 Steve: Aww. 

 

 Corey: But he started doing it with me. I don’t know if it’s a stalling tactic before we put him in the bed. I don’t care. I’m going to take it because it’s so sweet and he gets this adorable look in his face and then he gives you a little kiss and it’s very nice. 

 

 Laura Birek: It’s so cute because he takes your glasses off. 

 

 Corey: Oh, yeah. He has to take my glasses off. It’s where he saw all that. 

 

 Steve: I love that. 

 

 Corey: The sweetie pie. 

 

 Laura Birek: It is the sweetest. 

 

 Corey: There’s nothing that compares to that right now. 

 

 Laura Birek: That’s a great BFP. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Steve, I want to hear your BFP. 

 

 Steve: Mine is similar. Cece is just really into being physical right now and doling out hugs left and right and she loves to tackle me and get tickled and roll around with me and it’s just the most wonderful thing to hold your baby and be silly. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Lots of giggling. 

 

 Steve: I laugh and she loves laughing right now. The whole thing is just so great and sometimes she’ll lay down on my chest with her back. She likes to do tummy tickles and so I’ll lay with her and I’ll pull her shirt up and tickle her tummy and sing a little song that goes, “Tickle your belly, tickle your belly. I’m tickling your belly.” She just sits there and I can see the little goosebumps on her arm form and she just loves getting little tummy tickles. 

 

 Shanna Micko: That’s the cutest. 

 

 Steve: It’s all the really adorable 17-ish month stuff that’s coming up right now that I love so much. 

 

 Shanna Micko: It’s such a fun age. 

 

 Laura Birek: So cute. They just keep getting cuter. I keep saying that, but it’s true. 

 

 Steve: It’s so true. 

 

 Shanna Micko: This is so genuine. 

 

 Steve: You don’t think your baby could get any cuter and then you wake up the next day. 

 

 Laura Birek: Exactly. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Gosh, thank you guys so much for coming and doing this and answering the listener questions. 

 

 Steve: Thanks for having us 

 

 Laura Birek: Thanks for being good supports and best dads. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Thanks for being the husbands. 

 

 Steve: You’re welcome. Thank you for being the best wives and moms ever. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Thanks. 

 

 Laura Birek: Thanks.

 

 Corey: When can I not listen to this? 

 

 Steve: Monday. 

 

 Laura Birek: The show comes out on Mondays and with that, let’s take a break, Shanna. What do you say? 

 

 Shanna Micko: Yes, let’s come back with our BFPs and BFNS.

 

 [Music] 

 

 Shanna Micko: We’re back. I wish we have Corey and Steve on the show every week. 

 

 Laura Birek: Yeah, that was fun. Let’s see if they’ll agree. Doubt it. But anyway, we do have something every week, which is our BFPs and BFNs, and Shanna, I want to hear what your BFP or BFN is. 

 

 Shanna Micko: I do have a BFP for this 100th episode. 

 

 Laura Birek: Oh, good. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Yay! It starts with a BFN though, which is, I had a horrible migraine earlier this week. I am prone to them, unfortunately, and it was just so bad I could not get out of bed in the morning. Usually, I pop out of bed at like 6:00 AM and I was like, no, I can’t move. So Steve took over the kids in the morning and I got to sleep in a little bit and then all of a sudden, a little bit later on in the morning, I hear knock on my door and in comes L, my four-year-old, and she’s like, “Hi, mama. Are you not feeling good?” I’m like, “No, I have a headache. I’m not feeling great.” She got up on my bed, gave me a hug, and then she’s like, “Mama, do you want me to make you breakfast in bed?” I was like, “Yeah, sure. That would be awesome.” So she went out to the kitchen I guess, I stayed in bed and poured some lucky charms or something or her leftover lucky charms and put a little milk in it and brought it back to my room with a spoon all by herself. 

 

 Laura Birek: Wow. 

 

 Shanna Micko: I was just like, that’s so sweet. I thought it was prompted by Steve, but even still, it was very sweet and then later on that day, when I was finally up and about, I was like, “Did you prompt her to do that breakfast in bed thing?” He’s like, “No, I don’t know where that came from,” and I was like, “I don’t either.” So she just on her own accord decided to me feel better and comfort me.

 

 Laura Birek: That’s so sweet. It also shows you’re doing something right. She cares about others and wants to help people feel better. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Aww. Kids are just wonderful. Having kids is wonderful. I love my kids. 

 

 Laura Birek: They’re good ones. 

 

 Shanna Micko: They are. That’s really all I have for my BFP. Do you have a BFP or BFN for us? 

 

 Laura Birek: I have a little BFP. It’s so much less significant than yours. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Oh, sorry. 

 

 Laura Birek: Mine is a product that I have purchased on Amazon and now that we’re getting into summer and it’s hot outside, I’m just so happy that we have it and it’s called, get ready for an Amazon keyword jumble. It’s the ALWOA Splash Pad, 68’’ Kid Sprinkler Pad for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Year Old. But anyway, what it is it’s a splash pad. It is 68 inches in circumference. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Oh, okay.

 

 Laura Birek: What it is is it’s just basically like a plastic ring that has a mat in the middle.

The mat in the middle has like a cute little turtle and a cute little shark and other little sea creatures and there are little holes around the ring on the outside and you just attach your garden hose to it and it becomes a splash pad so all the little holes spray water up and you can adjust the height on it. It can be either really low or really high, depending on how high you have your hose on. I will say it’s not great for the environment. It does put off a lot of water, but it has been so great for my toddler playing in our yard on these hot days. We love it. I’ll post a photo and, or video to our social media so you guys can see it. There’s a couple versions on Amazon, too. I’m sure there’s no one that’s better than the other. But the one I have is the ALWOA, A-L-W-O-A and the other thing that’s fun about it is it has this turtle on it that he loves, right? 

 

 Shanna Micko: A picture of a turtle or a lower turtle?

 

 Laura Birek: It’s a picture of a turtle. It’s otherwise completely flat. When we’re not using it, we drape it over the front fence to dry because you got to let the water drip out of it and he’d point to it and he’d go, “Turtle, turtle.” I was like, “Yeah, that’s the turtle,” and I tell him, “But we’re not going to play with turtle. It needs to be hot to play with the turtle.” So now, when we go by the front window and he see, he goes, “Turtle. Hot. Turtle. Hot.” I’m like, “Yeah.” 

 

 Shanna Micko: Oh my goodness. They’re making connections. That’s so cute. 

 

 Laura Birek: I know. 

 

 Shanna Micko: That sounds like a cool product and probably something I need to get to add to my menagerie. 

 

 Laura Birek: Oh my God. To add to your inflatable Panda. 

 

 Shanna Micko: I love that our kids are saying the animals of the water toys they play with. Cece is like, “Panda. Panda.” 

 

 Laura Birek: Oh, that’s good. It’s educational.

 

 Shanna Micko: Exactly. 

 

 Laura Birek: There you go. I do want to say that’s not my only BFP. We have a joint BFP on our 100th episode. 

 

 Shanna Micko: We do. 

 

 Laura Birek: Which is, you guys, our listeners. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Wow. That’s been like a year and a half BFP. How long have we been doing this? 

 

 Laura Birek: From day one, honestly. From the first time we published, we’ve been getting the best feedback and comments and just commiseration from our listeners. You guys are just so awesome. We love interacting with you on our Instagram and Facebook accounts. The Facebook community group has just been so fun. I get so excited when I see there’s a new post in there. I’m like, ooh, someone’s posting something. Is it another cute baby? I hope it is. 

 

 Shanna Micko: I love it too. It’s so fun and you guys, this is the reason we do this. I just love being able to give back and help people through this time. So thank you all. Thank you for listening. We love you guys. 

 

 Laura Birek: We do and please keep listening because this is just the beginning. 

 

 Shanna Micko: Yes, or is it? 

 

 Laura Birek: No, it is. But you know what it’s not the beginning of? This episode, because we are done. 

 

 Shanna Micko: It is the end. All right, Laura. So speaking of community group, why don’t you tell everyone where they can find us and get into that community group and send us messages? 

 

 Laura Birek: Yes, we are on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter at BFP Podcast, but you should also search Facebook for Big Fat Positive Community. It’s a closed group, so we’ll have to add you. But once you get added and I will add you as soon as possible, as soon as my toddler allows, you can join in on all the great conversations and you can know that they’re private, which is one of the great things about having a closed group. You can also reach out to us on our website, bigfatpositivepodcast.com, or send us a voice memo or email to [email protected]. 

 

 Shanna Micko: If you love our show, please consider rating and reviewing us on whatever platform you listen. If you haven’t done so already, we appreciate all those ratings and reviews and let your friends know about Big Fat Positive Podcast. Big Fat Positive is produced by Laura Birek, Shawn Micko, and Steve Yager. Thank you so much for listening. Love you guys. Bye. 

 

 Laura Birek: Thank you, everyone. Bye. See you on 101. 

 

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