Why is it so hard to stay healthy after you have kids? This is something Chris and I talk about a lot so I invited him back to the show to chat with me. Plus I just loved talking to him so much and I wanted to do it again. You might as well get used to it. It's going to be a more regular thing.

Chris and I constantly lament our unhealthy lifestyle. Why can't we eat better? Why are our pants so tight? Is it Channing's fault? Probably. After dissecting it we came to the conclusion that we're tired. Like most of the time, we're exhausted. I work 9 jobs and never sleep. Chris works one job and picks up my slack. There has to be a better way to manage our schedules right?

I think ultimately that's what we've realized. We have to cut back on some things in order to add others. Pretty profound for adult people. But really I'm a night person and can never get up early. Chris is an early morning person so he lives to wake up and make breakfast (seriously). In some ways we complement each other like that. However lately we've been enabling each other when it comes to bad food, and lack of exercise.

I'm too tired to make dinner so he runs through a drive-thru. Then we eat and sit on the couch all night. Sound familiar? I know we're not alone in our struggle to lose weight and get healthy. Or even just get motivated to get moving.  I did a hard push last spring to lose 15 pounds by my 15th wedding anniversary and I reached my goal.

Now here I am a year later, about to celebrate another wedding anniversary and I've gained everything back.

I've let you down. I've let myself down. I've let America down. So I need to get back in the groove, but honestly I don't know how. We both do. Maybe if we do it together we'll have more success. Listen to the episode and you'll hear the challenges we've made to each other. Then tell me what has given you success in your weight loss goals!

Being the only unhealthy couple in a town full of yogis and kaleheads isn't easy. Chris and I talk about why we feel so unhealthy and challenge each other to do something about it.  How do parents find the time to work out? Whether you have a full time job or are a stay at home mom, working out and eating right can be a challenge.  We are talking about our biggest healthy fails and what we plan to do about it.

I didn't realize I was a fan of comic book movies until Marvel came out with Ironman. It was a game changer for mine, and many other people's moviegoing experience. Since then I have seen (almost) every Marvel movie and most of the DC films. But there's something different about the DC movie experience. Some fans love it, and a lot are frustrated over what's happening to their beloved franchise. So we're breaking down the Marvel and DC movie worlds...in under 30 minutes. 

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Money is essential. We need it for necessities, luxuries, and it's power can't be denied.  This week we're talking about how to teach your kids the value of money, earned money, and what to do with that money once they have it. It's probably one of the most important life lessons they will learn.

 

My guest this week is Gregg Murset the CEO of BusyKid, a website designed to help parents teach kids the value of work ethic through chores and allowance.  April is Financial Literacy Month and Gregg is giving me some ideas about a topic that's dear to my heart.

I grew up with two very different views on finance. My mom was a "you can't take it with you" spender and my sweet great-grandmother was more of a "hide your money in the mattress" saver. And now I find myself somewhere in the middle. I want to save, but if I have any savings I'm likely to blow it all on a trip or new dress. That being said my mom made me get a job the minute I turned 16 so I could have some spending money. She also made me work through college to pay my bills. But my outlook might have been a little different had she started teaching me about money a little earlier.

Gregg tells me that by the time kids are in their teens, their financial habits are already set in place. He recommends teaching kids as young as 4 or 5 the value of earned money. His website allows parents to set up a chore schedule and assign an allowance value to each completed task. We're not talking about hard labor for little kids, but there are things you can do to get them learning early earning concepts at an early age.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While some parents still debate whether or not chores are good for their kids, studies show that having responsibilities around the house can teach kids a good work ethic and help them to be more successful later in life. To stay organized, many parents have turned to chore charts on the fridge or digital versions to track what jobs their kids are assigned and have completed as well as rewards. Some parents reward their kids with new toys while others dole out cold hard cash, and digital chore charts give kids stickers to use for in-app games and rewards. But, while the work might be teaching kids a lesson, most parents don't think about what their kids could be learning from their chore rewards as well.

Gregg says BusyKid fills in this gap by offering parents a digital chore tracker that teaches kids about pay day, the value of a dollar and even gets their feet wet in investing by allowing them to purchase stocks from favorite well-known companies for just a few dollars instead of thousands.

To learn more about how BusyKid works you can visit their website, BusyKid.com

April is Financial Literacy month so I thought we'd take a look at teaching finances to our kids! Gregg Murset is the CEO of BusyKid, a new website that helps parents teach their kids the value of money in a modern world. Nearly one quarter of US states receive a failing grade when it comes to teaching kids personal finance in schools. Twelve states don¹t attempt to teach it at all. This could be one of the reasons that only 35% of credit card users don¹t carry a balance and pay off their bill every month, and that only 1 in 3 Americans is saving for retirement. We don¹t expect kids to learn how to read, write or drive without instruction, but another essential life skill, money management is ignored for the most part. In this episode we are breaking down how parents can start teaching the value of money to their kids at an early age.

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Postpartum depression is a serious illness and we need to talk about it. In fact research shows nearly 20% of women suffer some form of PPD in the US alone. Now a new documentary aims to bring this diagnosis out of the darkness, and into the light to let women know they are not alone.

In this episode I talked with Lindsay Gerszt, one of the producers of When The Bough Breaks: A Documentary About Postpartum Depression. It's narrated by Brooke Sheilds who had a very public battle with PPD herself. The film follows Lindsay's experience with postpartum and we meet several women who have experience PPD in varying degrees.

I say this in the podcast and I'll write it here: This is a powerful movie for new moms. I can't tell you how many women I know who say they experienced some form of postpartum depression after the birth of their child.  It's a very real mental health issue that needs to be taken as seriously as a cancer diagnosis.  And Lindsay says that's the goal of this film.

I was very moved by this film. The women sharing their stories are so raw, and unfiltered. I never experienced PPD but after seeing this my heart goes out to women who have. And you can bet I will be more vigilant in watching for signs of it with my friends.  This movie explores everything from the "baby blues" to infanticide, where a parent takes their own child's life within the first year. Several women give their accounts of taking their own child's life, or wanting to, while experiencing postpartum depression. This illness is that serious and needs attention.

Lindsay is so courageous for telling her story. She opens up in the film about her struggle to find help through numerous treatments and medications. We follow along as she explores western, holistic, and eastern medical treatments. I'll let you watch to see how it all turns out for her. But I can tell you that some of the women in the film like celebrity moms Carnie Wilson and Aarti Sequeira talk about what happened when the "fog" lifts, and they are able to recover from their PPD.

When The Bough Breaks is available now on iTunes. Please watch it and share with anyone you know who might be suffering from postpartum depression.  Also the film's producers have put together a helpful list of resources where moms can read about the signs of PPD and contact someone for help. Find out more at whentheboughbreakdsfilm.com.

1 in 5 women are diagnosed with postpartum depression at some point. The new film "When The Bough Breaks" explores this illness with first hand accounts from women and men who've been effected by it.  In this episode, producer Lindsay Gerszt sits down to talk about why she made this film and how she hopes it helps other women.

Don't forget to subscribe to Motherhood in Hollywood on iTunes.

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Full disclosure here: I am a DC nerd.

Seriously, it doesn't get any better than DC, right? Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman…I mean that’s the Trinity right there. Add in Martian Manhunter, Flash, Green Lantern (my personal favorite) and a slew of additional awesomeness and you have the perfect recipe for superhero badassdom.

So why are Marvel movies so much better than DC movies? Let's break it down.

I’ve never been a huge comic book guy. But when I did read the comics (or graphic novels as I try to sell the idea of them to my wife), I always gravitated to the DC universe. Outside of the occasional Spider Man or Hulk comic, Marvel was pretty much completely off my radar. Captain America was cheesy and lame. And I always thought Thor was a bit of a cheat, because of the “I’m a god” thing. You can’t be a god AND a superhero, right?

Flash forward to 2008. Marvel launched the MCU with Iron Man and the pitch perfect casting of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark.

Fucking huge. I mean this put Marvel comics on the map for so many people, myself included. Iron Man, essentially a C-level character in comicdom, launched what was to become one of the most ambitious cinematic plans in modern history.

I mean, we had other Marvel heroes before. Spider-Man, Hulk (both Bana and Norton versions), Fantastic Four (ecch), Blade, even fucking Howard the Duck graced the screen. However, due to studio film rights, quality control and whatnot, there had never been an attempt like Marvel was trying to do beginning with Iron Man.

What was DC doing in 2008? Christian Bale in the Dark Knight.

CHRISTIAN BALE as Bruce Wayne in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action thriller “THE DARK KNIGHT RISES,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. TM and © DC Comics

I’ll go on record and say I love the Nolan-verse Batman films. They’re gritty, and real and an overall good time. If you can get past the ridiculous raspiness of Bale’s Bat-voice, the movies are tonally on point with the overall darkness of the Batman character as he’s come to be popularized.

However, with the success of the Marvel-verse onscreen I think DC realized that they really needed to do something quickly. Avengers was huge. They needed a Justice League movie. Pronto.

Enter Man of Steel in 2013 with Henry Cavill as Superman. This was another instance of “reality-based” superherodom, that followed in the footsteps of Nolans Batverse.

Not a bad idea. In fact I enjoyed, for the most part, Man of Steel. I walked away thinking it was an interesting take on the classic character, despite it being overly violent, and the ending completely derailing Superman's longstanding and well established code of ethics. Fuck it though. It’s Superman right? I was just glad to see him onscreen again (with memories of the Brandon Routh take slowly fading).

This was the launching point for DC. Shortly after Man of Steel, a Batman v. Superman movie was announced that would then dovetail into the much-anticipated Justice League movie that I had been waiting for all my life.

Seriously, Ive been wanting a JL move for about as long as I can remember. I’m a nerd. Please see the first sentence of this piece. 

When Batman v Superman came out (2016), Marvel had already released twelve superhero movies including Iron Man since 2008. That fact does not include the new iterations of Fantastic Four, X-Men, Deadpool and whatnot, as they are not Marvel Studio properties.

One of the main reasons that Marvel is so decidedly ahead of the game when it comes down to Marvel v DC in the cinematic arena is the history. Marvel has taken it’s time developing it’s characters and history to develop a world that people want to know more about.

The DCU, realizing it’s need to catch up, has essentially rushed things. In an attempt to build up the world they started to develop in the Nolan films, they’ve over-reached and ended up coming to the party late. Because they are trying to play catch up,

Jessica Hall is a beautiful, sexy mama! I think it's safe to say the assumption that moms can't be sexy is officially over. On this week's podcast, Jessica talks with me about her time as a Playboy model and how it impacted her career, marriage, and eventual motherhood.

One of the things I loved learning about Jessica is that she has no regrets. She tells me posing for Playboy launched her career in ways she never imagined. And that it made her a more confident and sexy mother. I know some people don't associate Playboy with parenthood. But many of the women who pose for Playboy eventually go on to become moms and I wanted to explore that side of motherhood in Hollywood.

 

Jessica met her husband when she was in her early 20's and they've been together nearly 14 years now. She has a little girl who is almost 2, and another baby one on the way. She tells me they are waiting to find out the sex of the new baby. I guessed another girl so we'll see! She tells me her struggles are just the same as other moms dealing with toddler tantrums while being pregnant. Except she somehow manages to look amazing while doing it. I should have asked for her secret!

She tells me about her relationship with best friend Kendra Wilkinson and how they quickly became inseparable. Jessica also hosted a Playboy radio show, was a TV host and stars on Kendra's reality show Kendra On Top on WeTv. But she has no plans for her own reality show. For now she says she's just enjoying life with her husband and being a mom. Sounds pretty sexy to me!

You can find out more about Jessica on her website SleeplessMom.com where she discusses issues ranging from health and fitness to toddlers and travel.

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I was so thrilled to meet Jessica Hall and get some insights into her world. She is a Playboy Playmate, model, actress and tv host and is expecting her second child this year. I wanted to talk with her because her experiences in this town are vastly different than might, and yet we are united by the world of motherhood. I have never been a sex symbol or a model of any kind so I was curious to know how her experiences will affect her parenting style, if at all, and her career.  Jessica was very honest and open about her life and I'd love to hear what you think of her philosiphy.  You can see Jessica on WeTV's "Kendra on Top" alongside her best friend Kendra Wilkinson.

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