The Mom Hour

Does solitude come naturally to your kids, or are moments of solo play far and few between? Meagan and Sarah read some research recently that challenged us to think about the importance of alone time, and whether our kids get enough. In this episode, we dive into our own childhood memories, how our children embrace (or run from) solitude, and how challenging it is to find that just-right balance. Join us!

LINKS MENTIONED:

• Sarah and Meagan referenced the article in The Atlantic titled How Much Alone Time Do Kids Need? by Faith Hill, published in November 2022.
• Have you checked out our Merch Shop?! We’d love to see you with some Mom Hour gear. Please share photos of you with our merch and tag us on social!
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With all the day-to-day planning required to run a household, it’s easy to put longterm planning on the back burner. Today Meagan and Sarah share lessons we’ve learned (or are still learning) that help us look ahead at a whole year, quarter, or month at a time. From knowing ourselves and our seasonal rhythms to figuring out where they keep next year’s school calendar, we’ve picked up a few things over the years, and we’re ready to dive in for 2023. Join us!

LINKS MENTIONED:

• On Wednesday, we’ll be LIVE on instagram for our subscribers only. Go to our instagram page to subscribe to hang with us!
• Did you enjoy this episode and want more on planning? Here are episodes from the archives All About Planning:
• Oh Hey, It’s May. (End Of School Chaos): Episode 365
• How Planners Plan: Voices 68 With Christine Koh and Sarah Hart-Unger
• Staying Organized & Motivated As A Full-Time Working Mom: Voices 44 With Sarah Hart-Unger
• Productivity & Time Management Tips For Mom: Episode 169
• Episodes from the archives to help plan your summer:
• It’s Time To Plan For Summer: Episode 201
• (Realistic) Summer Schedule Intentions: Episode 263
• Glad I Did / Wish I’d Done: Summer Planning: Episode 359

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C-e-l-e-b-r-a-t-e good times, come on! Today’s episode is number 400! We can’t think of a better way to celebrate hitting a big podcast milestone than talking about how we honor birthdays and milestone celebrations in our families – especially as kids get older. Join Meagan and Sarah as we offer insight into making birthdays special for big kids, tweens and teens; how kids getting older hits us differently as moms, too; and how honoring big kid milestones gets tricker, but still gives us all the feels. Enjoy!

LINKS MENTIONED:

• Great News! You can now listen to all 630 Episodes of The Mom Hour in your favorite podcast app!
• This episode pairs well with EP 166: Last Firsts & First Lasts (Milestones We Notice, And A Bunch We Miss)
• Sarah referred to Episode 364: Talking About Our Own Kids Or Not which sheds some light about how we decide what to share (and not) about our kids on the podcast.
• Check out our latest blog where we share some of our Team’s Best of Oldies episode recommendations.

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New year, new you…or, maybe just a bit of new energy? Every January we are bombarded with content about goal setting, resolutions, simplifying things and planning out our calendar in detail for the entire year. And while some years January finds us ready to dive in head first, other years we need a bit of inspiration before getting our New Year’s juices flowing. In today’s episode, Meagan and Sarah share how we’re using the first weeks of 2023 to reflect on the past and gently start to look toward the future. We share what we are doing, thinking about and consuming to help us set the stage for a great year. Join us!

LINKS MENTIONED:

• Check out the latest episode of the Mother of Reinvention podcast that’s all about Meagan and Sarah’s personalities and how our personalities impact the way we make plans and see the world. And if you want to listen to the extended conversation, consider joining Meagan’s community for midlife moms, REINVENT!
• For bullet journaling inspiration, Sarah loves Meghan Splawn’s “planner not planner” approach to creating her own notebook spreads, and loves looking at artistic weekly spreads like this one, this one, this one, and this one.
• Sarah was drawing super boring monthly calendar grids until she saw examples like this, this, this, this, and this.
• Meagan plans to work her way through organizing her home throughout the entire year. To hear more about how she plans to tackle her Laundry Room, listen to Episode 398: The Laundry Awards.
• Sarah listened to the audiobook Calm Christmas And A Happy New Year by Beth Kempton that includes a pdf for reflecting on the past year. There’s also a Calm Christmas Podcast if you want to take a listen. Beth’s motivational style is very gentle and cozy.
• Sarah always gets Big Life Journal’s Goal Setting printables for her kids each year – this year they even ASKED for them!

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Laundry is is a constant: it’s truly with us every day, week, and month of the year. In this first episode of 2023, Meagan and Sarah focus in on the laundry systems and strategies that are working (or not) in our homes, plus our favorite products, the grossest things we deal with, what’s great (and weird) about our laundry rooms, and how seasons of life change the challenges of keeping up with the laundry. If you wear clothes – or live with people who do – this episode is for you.

LINKS MENTIONED:

• Meagan recommends the book Laundry Love: Finding Joy In A Common Chore for a great reference for changing up your laundry game in the new year. (This is an affiliate link.)
• Sarah gives her laundry product MVP award to this flexible laundry basket.
• Meagan’s MVP award goes to this square laundry basket.
• If you loved this episode, check out episode 167 from the archives “Loads And Loads (And Loads) Of Laundry!
• The holidays tend to make our minds go on overdrive. Our contributor Joanne Ruellos Diaz has a great blog post about how to declutter your brain in 2023!
• Next week’s episode will be all about goal planning for 2023. We hope you’ll join us!

MORE HELPFUL LINKS:

• Visit our website
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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As work-from-home moms, we’re perpetually seeking comfort and warmth during the winter months – stopping JUST SHY of living in pajamas 24/7. If your cozy winter wardrobe needs an update or you’re itching to do some post-Christmas shopping, listen to Episode 397 for Meagan’s and Sarah’s cold-weather fashion faves. Join us!

LINKS MENTIONED:

• Meagan’s Cozy Mentions
• Meagan’s loving her Vuori pants in a wide-legged drawstring style, a jogger, and a harem pant.
• Sweater favs? This alpaca wool sweater and cashmere batwing sweaters from Quince!
• Meagan added this green sweater dress and this date-night dress to her wardrobe paired with Sheertex tights.
• The Gwen tall boot from Vionic has been Meagan’s ride-or-die this winter (Vionic is a sponsor – get free shipping with code THEMOMHOUR)
• Meagan got some new Land’s End jammies on recommendation from a friend.
• Harper Wilde Bliss Bras
• Sarah’s Cozy Mentions
• Favorite pants right now are from Lululemon Like New and she manages to exit the home Old Navy jogger-style PJ pants and style them as if they are NOT pajamas.
• When in the house, she’s 100% in these J Crew Factory Slippers!
• Current shoe faves are the Breilin Sneaker in Vapor from Vionic (Vionic is a sponsor – get free shipping with code THEMOMHOUR), and the Ecco Women’s Soft 7 Sneaker
• One of her fav sweaters is close to this one from Lunya.
• Sarah also has the Cassie Knit Cardi from Jane (affiliate link)
• For layering purposes, Sarah has had good luck with Target’s Merona line or this Madewell Tank – but could use a few more recommendations!
• Don’t miss Chaunie’s new blog post Care For yourSELF In 2023 With These 9 Products To Manage Anxiety

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Running a full-time independent podcast company keeps us busy – so busy that we don’t often pause to let listeners in to how it all works! As we approach the end of 2022, Meagan and Sarah share what’s up behind the scenes at The Mom Hour. We start with a lightning round of frequently asked questions (how’d we meet? do we fight? how does the podcast make money?) and move into bigger thoughts about our industry as a whole and the current economic landscape. We also take a look back at how we’ve grown over the years (particularly the past two), profess our love for fellow women podcasters whose names you’ll definitely recognize, and share what’s next for The Mom Hour. Enjoy!

LINKS MENTIONED:

• Sarah referenced this episode of Pantsuit Politics which provides some behind-the-scenes information about the state of the podcast industry.
• Meagan wrote a guide for supporting content creators during a recession that’s PACKED with ideas
• We couldn’t do this without the support of our podcast people! We encourage you to check out their podcasts to support them!
• The Lazy Genius
• Sorta Awesome
• 10 Things To Tell You
• The Popcast
• What Should I Read Next
• Pantsuit Politics
• What Fresh Hell: Laughing In The Face Of Motherhood
• The Girl Next Door
• Edit Your Life
• Didn’t I Just Feed You

MORE HELPFUL LINKS:

• Visit our website
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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You’ve got holiday parenting questions, and Meagan and Sarah have answers. In this very merry Listener Questions episode, we tackle things like how to make the magic happen for your littles while traveling and spending Christmas at grandparents, how to coordinate and facilitate sibling gift giving, how to keep a curious kitten (or two) out of the tree (this is our reality this year!) and suggestions for how to handle the post-holiday blues of packing away Christmas. Join us!

LINKS MENTIONED:

• We have Gift Guides for just about anyone on our Blog this holiday season.
• Want more on the Cat V. Christmas Tree Topic? Our Facebook Community had lots of advice for handling a curious kitty interested in the tree.
• We have more Listener Questions, Holiday Edition Episodes! Check these out from the archives: Episode 79, Episode 134, and 2018 Holiday Edition.
• Sarah wrote an essay titled “Christmas Trees On The Curb” about the bittersweet feelings of putting away Christmas.
• Don’t miss our Instagram Live tomorrow!

MORE HELPFUL LINKS:

• Visit our website
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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Got resentment? Managing anxiety? Filled with hope? You’re not alone. The holidays provide a colorful snack platter of emotions – many of which we experience within a single day (or even moment!). Today it’s our honor to bring you the voices of eight moms, each of whom explores a different holiday feeling: anticipation, overwhelm, nostalgia, grief, anxiety, wonder, resentment and hope. In addition to our contributing voices, Meagan and Sarah also chat about our own hopes and feelings about Holiday Season 2022. Grab a cozy warm beverage and settle in!

LINKS MENTIONED:

• We have Gift Guides for just about anyone on our Blog this holiday season! 
• Don’t miss our Instagram live on Wednesday, December 14. It’s all about our fun, fluffy holiday habits!
• You can read the essay Sarah wrote for The Happiest Home Blog in 2012 (and published in The HuffPost in 2013) about the emotional experience of being a mom and feeling responsible for creating new, family traditions during the holidays. Or you can listen to it here. 
• The following Mom Hour Contributors are featured in this episode
• Jennifer Carroll, mom to twins from Oklahoma, read her essay, Anticipation
• Stacy Bronec, mom of 3 from Montana, read her essay, Overwhelm
• Emily Roark, mom of 3 from Indianapolis, read her essay about Nostalgia
• Kia Hammond, mom of 4 from Central Pennsylvania, read her essay, Grief
• Joanne Ruelos Diaz, mom of 2 from New Jersey, read her essay, Anxiety
• Chaunie Brusie, a mom of 5 from Michigan, read her essay, Wonder
• Joanna Martin, mom of 3 from Dallas, read her essay, Resentment
• Sandy Hsu, mom of 2 from from LA, read her essay, Hope

MORE HELPFUL LINKS:

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Planning a festive, event-filled holiday season but worried about having the budget to make it all come together? Meagan and mom-of-four (and regular contributor) Lisa Payne join forces in today’s episode to share how we stretch our budgets in order to create all the behind-the-scenes magic that takes place in our divorced households with large broods. Join us for all our best tricks (and our Mom Hour Facebook Community’s tips) for hitting your food, travel, decor, entertainment and gift budgets this year. Enjoy! 

LINKS MENTIONED:

• We have Gift Guides for just about anyone on our Blog this holiday season!
• Meet Lisa Payne, mom of four, and Mom Hour Contributor. 
• Meagan has used the Flashfood App to quickly and easily find food that saves her money while helping to reduce food waste. 
• Meagan mentioned the Gift List App which keeps track of your gifts for each person and a running total of Christmas spending for you.
• Read all of our listener’s Best Holiday Budgeting Tips from our Facebook Community.
• You don’t want to miss Lisa’s recent blog post “Creating An Experience-Based “Kindness Advent” Tradition with Kids” on our website. 
• Lisa and Meagan connected over being divorced moms of many children in Episode 341, Home For The Holidays With Little Kids & Big Kids.

MORE HELPFUL LINKS:

• Visit our website
• Check out deals from our partners
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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.