The ARMC
Two anxiety ridden Moms and professionals taking on life and work. We've come together to talk about it all and formed The Anxiety Ridden Moms Club or ARMC for short. Welcome to our show, we look forward at what's to come. Thank you for joining us every week for a new episode.
The ARMC
Motherhood Journey: From Pregnancy to Empty Nest - Our First Season Journey
We've officially completed our first season of The Anxiety-Ridden Moms Club podcast. Through laughter, tears, and technical mishaps, we've built a supportive village for anxious moms everywhere.
• Reflected on our journey through season one, covering everything from pregnancy to adult children
• Shared personal growth moments and what we've learned about ourselves during this podcast journey
• Laughed about behind-the-scenes chaos including forgotten recordings and unexpected cat attacks
• Finally addressed the differences redheaded women experience during pregnancy and medical procedures
• Discussed the importance of including dads in conversations about anxiety and parenting challenges
• Confessed to our most embarrassing podcast moment - an epic blooper we accidentally left in an episode
• Celebrated reaching listeners in 11 countries and 95 cities in just our first two months
• Announced season two will focus on relationships of all kinds - with yourself, significant others, friends, and family
If this episode resonated with you, we'd love if you'd subscribe, leave a review, or share it with another mom who might need to hear this. You can also connect with us on Facebook or TikTok at TheARMC. We'd love to hear your story.
Welcome to the Anxiety-Ridden Moms Club, the podcast where two moms, each with her own unique style, come together to navigate the wild ride of motherhood, careers and anxiety.
Speaker 2:I'm Kylie and I'm Gina. There was a time when Kylie and I were direct competitors in corporate America and had different perspectives on growing our careers while managing life and all the things that come with it, but those differences have only made our friendship and our insights richer. I like to call it.
Speaker 1:Trauma bonded Gina. What started out as a difference of opinions evolved into a genuine connection.
Speaker 2:Our journey from varied viewpoints to a supportive friendship has taught us that every approach has its own strength. Now, as co-hosts and best friends, we blend generations of wisdom with fresh, modern ideas to explore the challenges, joys and, yes, even the anxieties of being career moms.
Speaker 1:So, whether you're a seasoned pro or just stepping into the wild world of parenting, a new career or new relationships, join us as we share stories, offer advice and sometimes even overthink it all together.
Speaker 2:Grab your favorite cup of tea or coffee and settle in.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Anxiety-Ridden Moms Club. And guess what? We've officially made it to the end of season one.
Speaker 2:Can you believe it. Our little podcast baby survived its first season. Honestly, when we hit record that first time, I don't think either of us thought we'd make it this far without well quitting.
Speaker 1:Or without our kids barging in or the dogs barking or us just laughing so hard we couldn't even finish an episode.
Speaker 2:True story and a lot of times we try to give you guys a little taste of it. Once in a while we drop those bloopers for you.
Speaker 1:Exactly this season really was a journey through motherhood. Right, we started at the very beginning. Pregnancy oh my gosh. The cravings, the hormones, the body changes. Nobody warns you about.
Speaker 2:And then the unsolicited advice. Everyone suddenly becomes an expert on your uterus.
Speaker 1:Yes, I still think about that, Like ma'am, the ankles are swollen. We all know no need for a daily update.
Speaker 2:Then we moved into babies and toddlers, the sleepless nights, the endless laundry and just questioning every single decision. Am I doing this right?
Speaker 1:And let's not forget the toddlers, the negotiating, the meltdowns. Oh the meltdowns, so many meltdowns. I swear half of season one could have been titled the Toddler Diaries.
Speaker 2:Facts. Then we tackled school years, from the first day of kindergarten tears to the homework battles and the playground drama and, somewhere in there, the infamous Target parking lot spiral.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, a true ARMC classic moment.
Speaker 2:Then came preteens and teens attitudes independence, tiktok, drama and just learning to let go.
Speaker 1:And finally, we even talked about what's ahead adult children letting go, but still worrying Because, let's be real, once you're a mom, you're always a mom. But the best part of season, one hands down our village, all of you.
Speaker 2:Yes, your confessions, your messages, your comments, they made us laugh, cry and feel so much less alone.
Speaker 1:This podcast isn't just us talking. It's all of us together building this anxious mom village.
Speaker 2:So, kylie, what is one thing you've learned about yourself this season?
Speaker 1:What's one thing I've learned about myself this season?
Speaker 1:I feel like I've learned a lot about myself this season, or at least recognized where I need to be better or improve.
Speaker 1:And with school just starting back up, I've been very, very, very cognizant of the kids and their emotions and where they're at. And you know, every morning on our way to school we say morning prayers and we talk about you know, I don't know there've been a couple couple mornings, but it's like what do you? What's your favorite part of yesterday or what do you want to happen today? And and just recapping and definitely being more in tune with what they've got going on at school, for sure, um, you know, last night we even had some tears and just some middle school girl stuff and I feel like probably in the past I would have missed that, or I would have been getting home from work at 6 o'clock at night and then cooking dinner and then I would have missed it entirely. So for me it's just been eye-opening. I need to slow down and I need to communicate with the two most important things in my life, and that's Wyatt and Nora. So that's.
Speaker 2:I love that. I love that For me it's been realizing how much laughter helps. I don't know if you've noticed, but through the entire season I know, as I ever even pay attention and listen back I laugh a lot. But I think it even helps us to get through all the hardest part of being a mom. Finding a way to laugh and doing that through this podcast, I think, has actually been really good for me. So I've enjoyed it because it's a good reminder Some of the stages obviously I'm past and I've gone through several times over already but it was a good reminder of things that we went through and that even sometimes I had days where I probably was stressed out or you know, having just my moments. But to look back and laugh on it even helped me some more, just enjoying those memories.
Speaker 1:For sure. So my mom and I were out shopping this weekend and somebody laughed and she goes that sounded like Gina's laugh, which is just cool because people are getting to know you and your laugh, and that's it's awesome. So I've got a flip question for you, Like what would you tell yourself before we recorded that episode, that first episode?
Speaker 2:to. Before we got this thing started, I think I would have told myself to definitely don't overthink it. Don't make sure, I just am authentically myself. Sometimes, you know, I think in anything you always feel like you should, you know, say all the good stuff. You know what I mean, and even the laughing. That is me. I'd probably laugh at things I shouldn't even laugh at, I just so. I just think that and sometimes I would overthink that like, was that maybe too much? Did I not do something right? And I think that it's really just to come back and say everything's okay and just be me, everything's okay, and just be me.
Speaker 1:Yep. Authenticity over perfection that's been a big takeaway of mine as well. Should we tell them about the time we had to stop recording because my cat literally jumped on the back of your chair and almost attacked your face and I had to ask is it the nice cat or the not nice cat that's on my lap? They're both nice. One's just a little bit more temperamental than the other.
Speaker 2:Whatever, or the time we lost 10 minutes of audio because neither of us even knew that we didn't hit record. Hey, but that only happened once.
Speaker 1:Like now it's like even knew that we didn't hit record, hey, but that only happened once. Like now it's like who hit record. Somebody, somebody hit record Classic ARMC. It's a miracle we even have episodes to share.
Speaker 2:Let me tell you yeah, and, honestly, the chaos behind the scenes is what makes us feel so authentic. We're not polished, perfect podcasters. We're just too anxious moms trying to figure it out, and I think that that is just true to being. You know, I feel like it through this entire thing. I hope that we've shown everyone that it really is about just moms getting together and talking about stuff that goes on and not feeling left out.
Speaker 1:For sure that we are here and we want to grow this village and we want to help as many people as possible and it's therapeutic for us as well. Right, we've put out our what are they called? We've put out teasers. We've put out teasers Bloopers yeah, bloopers and teasers but we've been like tune in for this and then we forget to maybe talk about it. So shout out to one of my longest running friends is currently pregnant and she happens to be a redhead and she reached out and she's like so I would love to know about those, how redheaded pregnancies are different and the different things that redheads will experience through pregnancy than others.
Speaker 1:And Gina and I. You know, we sat here and we laughed because we're like, oh my God, we didn't even talk about that, we teased it. You had to wait for a very, very long time. So, circling back, closing that gap, tell us about the differences redheads experience so redheads in general, I think, ultimately experience different things.
Speaker 2:We're just kind of made a little different. So then I think it can definitely affect pregnancies, surgeries, all sorts of things. So in pregnancy, because we all tend to be fair skinned, obviously, like I talked about when we were talking about breastfeeding you're definitely more apt to not be happy.
Speaker 1:I've never really seen a super tan redhead. You are correct.
Speaker 2:So ultimately you're definitely more prone to cracking, you know, bleeding, being more sore. We're much more sensitive in general. Our skin and stuff like that is just much more sensitive, so it makes it a lot more difficult. So you better get your shields ready. If you're going to breastfeed, have some good cream that you're going to put on there, stuff like that. There's a couple other things that come along with it and I think one of the reasons we really didn't kind of touch on it is because there's some things. It's just not so much about pregnancy as much as it's just about us being different. So, like, if you have to have anesthesia, as a redhead you need more. It's very common especially it's even been told to me that, like, even when I become old white and gray hair, that I need to make sure they always do know I'm a redhead if I go in for surgery because otherwise they won't give you enough.
Speaker 1:They say that about drug addicts too. Are you sure it's the red hair?
Speaker 2:No, I'm kidding. So that's one thing. Another thing is our hair is stronger than everybody else's. So I don't know if any of you redheads out there notice that when you vacuum your carpet, you're kind of have to literally cut off all of the hair on there between my daughter and I, because it just winds up. It never breaks. So our hair is stronger, which makes it a pain because we don't have that hair that's breaking apart and going into the bag like it's supposed to.
Speaker 2:Let me think of something else. Oh, we are definitely much more apt to hemorrhage when you have surgeries or things like that, because we tend to have blood that is thinner, and so it just happens that, honestly, when you have surgeries and things like that, I've always wondered why I bruise so much easier and stuff like that, and that's why. So you have to be much more conscious of that. So I would even suggest that, after pregnancy, be conscious just to be a little more careful. Don't start running around thinking that you're able to do things as quickly just for the pure fact that you're just more prone to have additional issues.
Speaker 2:I've had stuff done before. I even had one doctor. I had something removed on my skin and I told him. I'm like, okay, you told me this would feel better after you removed it. Now I hate it. It feels worse. And he's like oh my God, what are you going to show me? He said you're a redhead. It's only a redhead who's going to throw a wrench in whatever it is that I'm dealing with. So it just we just have our own little unique things. You know, makes us special.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:That's awesome.
Speaker 1:So another thing that I feel like we kind of kind of maybe left out or should have talked about when we were talking about babies and infants or even pregnancy Dads, dads, yeah, and how dad anxiety is real, very real?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I definitely think it's very real. I think that a lot of dads don't like I have, you know, I actually have two grandchildren coming about soon, no-transcript but I think the guys get kind of forgotten about and I think that even when, that they probably even need to have discussions about postpartum depression and how they are not prepared for if their wife was to have even any of those things and what's, maybe some signs that they can watch so they can be helpful. And no, dads do get kind of forgot about, don't they?
Speaker 1:They do, they do, but we too do the heavy lifting, let's be honest.
Speaker 2:But that doesn't reduce their fears. They have just as many fears, as we do.
Speaker 1:That's true, you know, which all circles back to one of the main topics that you know we covered this this entire season and that's just communication. Communication with your spouse, with your significant other, with your, your kids, with your parents. It's just open communication is. Is really, it sounds, like the secret sauce to yes, a happy life, a happy productive life yes.
Speaker 2:Happy spouse, happy house.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there you go. If there was anything else that you guys want to hear we missed we didn't cover, like reach out to us, whether that's via social media, slide into our DMs. If it's an email, whatever it may be, send us a text. Let us know if there's something that you would love or want us to cover, from the pregnancy to the adult children, that we didn't cover. We're not ever going to talk about these topics again.
Speaker 2:We're just moving on to some bigger conversations and we'll always have our Sunday night confessions and that's a great time too, that if you send something in that we missed or you want to talk about at any point in time, it's a great time for us to even bring that out is on those Sunday night confession.
Speaker 1:Yes, and we love the episode ideas too. It helps us when we're building and looking for content.
Speaker 2:Yes, definitely Trying to help to make sure that we bring you guys what you're looking for, what you want to hear To make sure that we bring you guys what you're looking for, what you want to hear. No-transcript well, not embarrassing for me. I have an answer to your question, if it doesn't pop into your head not embarrassing to me, but probably when I talked about my son might maybe be a little bit embarrassing, since I got a call after he listened to the episode. Balloons, condoms you know what's the difference.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you just, you just can't tell Right. So for me it would probably be last Sunday, when I was eating breakfast after church and my co-host texts me and says oh my gosh, did you realize that we left the last blooper of our last episode? So our last episode we will just address it here and now was a train wreck, in my opinion, from a technical side of things. So we've talked about it over and over again. But Gina and I actually live about an hour and 15 minutes apart, and so we have been meeting up and doing these podcasts in person and I personally I personally love it because just the interaction, I feel like it flows a lot better. But an hour and 15 minutes. We both work full time, both have kids, you know life. So we're also working on being able to record separately.
Speaker 2:It didn't work it didn't work.
Speaker 1:It was a huge fail. And you know, when we record together, there's one line, there's one feed that gets uploaded to the internet, and when you do it separately, there are two feeds. And they came together. And when the audio came together, we were talking over each other and the quality wasn't there and we ended up actually recording the episode multiple, multiple times. And so this last time we're like we just have to go with it, like we're out of time, we don't want to, we would rather you know we would. We want to give you guys an episode. So we didn't want to skip a week and we were editing it literally like 10 seconds before it was supposed to drop and we left an epic size blooper. That yeah, it was me obviously, of course A huge episode or a huge blooper at the end of the last episode.
Speaker 2:And yet the people who had listened never even said a word like in our families, or anything, never said hey, did you guys notice that, Did you?
Speaker 1:mean that she was nasty at the end of that episode, and I did. I questioned every single one of you that knows us personally that has listened to this podcast. That didn't reach out and be like, did you really mean to put that in? But on the technology piece, if we were to take it down and edit it, we would lose the amount of downloads we have for that episode. So we decided to keep it. So if you haven't listened to the episode, make sure you tune in and shoot me a text, email or a private message when you hear the blooper, because if you know me if you know me, it's something that I shouldn't say, but I do frequently so and it's there and we left it and it is so freaking, embarrassing.
Speaker 1:So I apologize. I apologize for the quality of last week's episode and I apologize for my inappropriate behavior at the end of last episode.
Speaker 2:So, but I guess in some ways you just gotta remember it's all about being authentic, and that is my most authentic.
Speaker 1:That is my most authentic self, that's for sure. Man, this has been a learning, a learning journey, I guess, and you know we're really only our first episode was June 25th, so we're really only two months in and it seems like 28 years it does 28 years, it really does. But in those two months I can't even hardly say that because it sounds like so much more than that, but in those two months we really have grown a village. We currently, through all social media platforms we have 1300 followers.
Speaker 1:We have 800 plus downloads and we've been heard in 11 countries and 95 cities. 11 countries and 95 cities that is absolutely incredible, insane. We love you guys, we love the support. We hope you stick with us.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, because we hope to just keep getting better, better, and hopefully we can get to where we once in a while do them separate and the quality will be better. Yes, but for the most part I'm like you. I like getting together because it's I don't know, it's enjoyable when you can do it together, be face-to-face, I think it is great.
Speaker 1:But lives do happen and we never want to miss a week and want to make sure we give you guys what you're interested in and again we've talked about it in earlier episodes Our goal is just to build a village, to build friendships and a place for people to come and feel comfortable being their most authentic self, and we will be your number one supporters. So we hope that you continue to support us, we hope that you love what we're doing and we hope you're along for the ride, right? So what's next?
Speaker 2:Season two baby, and this one is already in the works. We are diving into relationships, all kinds of them, the relationships you have with yourself, with your significant other, with your friends, with your kids and, honestly, relationships in general, because let's be real.
Speaker 1:relationships can be some of the most beautiful, complicated, anxiety-ridden parts of life, and we're going there.
Speaker 2:We'll have more confessions, deeper conversations and maybe even a few guests to bring in fresh perspectives. It's going to be real, it's going to be raw and it's going to be relatable.
Speaker 1:And, of course, don't forget the ARMC merch is live. If you want to carry a little piece of the village with you, check out the shop. We've got tees, hats and some fun extras that scream anxious but thriving-ish, From pregnancies and babies all the way up to adult children. We've covered the whole journey in season one and, honestly, that was just the foundation.
Speaker 2:Now we're stepping into the next chapter. Season two is going to be all about relationships, because if motherhood has taught us anything, it's that relationships shape everything.
Speaker 1:We're so grateful again to every single one of you who listened, shared, sent in confessions and helped us grow this little village.
Speaker 2:So we are looking forward to season two packed with more laughter, more honesty and, of course, more confessions.
Speaker 1:Until then, remember, we're all in this together, anxious but thriving Ish.
Speaker 2:If no one's told you lately, let me be the one to say it You're not failing, you're growing, you're not broken, you're becoming and you're doing better than you think.
Speaker 1:Thanks for being here today. If this episode resonated with you, I'd love if you'd subscribe, leave a review or share it with another mom who might need to hear this. You can also connect with us on Facebook or TikTok at TheARMC. We'd love to hear your story.
Speaker 2:Until next time, give yourself grace, breathe deep and remember peace is possible. Thank you you.