Matching Mom Genes

In the Season 2 wrap-up, we become part of the problem of people who talk about Christmas before Spooky Season has ended, but when else would we talk about the holidays? We discuss what parts of the holidays we are looking forward to and what our individual plans are to "set the tone" for the holidays for our children.    We love you! Happy Halloween, Happy (American) Thanksgiving, Happy Hanukkah,...

We pick up right after Kayla’s “failed” selection with a baby and discuss how fees, grants and ultimately the process over all plays into adoption. Another huge thank you to Kayla for her transparency and details that hopefully help future families navigate this decision armed with the right information.    At the time of this recording, 113,589 children in are awaiting adopting in the United Stat...

With all of the conversation around ethical adoption and the need for loving homes for children already in that situation, Nicole’s childhood best friend shares her family’s story of infertility, deciding to pursue adoption, and ultimately how they are working to support both their children and their children’s families of origin.  Kayla’s adoption agency is https://christianhomes.com/ but we enco...

It's been over a month since our last episode, so we are back talking about our surprise hiatus and generally just catching up. It's a crazy world out there, folks, hold on to your jeans.    As Matching Mom Genes enters its 2nd season, the sisters find themselves ever closer emotionally, despite all new geographical distance. Shelby is living full-time in Germany! With one sister navigating all ne...

TW: Animal Death, Pet Loss, Medical Discussions and potentially upsetting discussions around Childhood Illness   Nicole’s family has experienced a loss and it opens the conversation about how hard it is to explain the awful sides of life to tiny humans.  But also, bad days get better. We promise.  Reuploaded on 8/28/24 to address audio issues.  Please consider donating to St. Jude to help say than...

Nicole desperately seeks Shelby’s sorting hat skills to determine the different types of mom-friends. I mean, “desperate” in that Peanut has confused Nicole in the way only mom-friend-dating-apps can. Does anyone even know if we get to choose our mom-friends? It kinda feels like that greatness quote: Some people are born great, some people achieve greatness and others have greatness thrust upon th...

Shelby ran off to the Olympics, so Nicole phoned a friend. Ashley is a mom of 3 and also sometimes works as their manager in child modeling. She and Nicole talk about how this all happened and what it really looks like to be a part-time stage mom. Also, we learn what “child wranglers” are and now I need one.   As Matching Mom Genes enters its 2nd season, the sisters find themselves ever closer emo...

Nicole and Shelby spill all the details on one of the most universal struggles of parenthood: teaching a child to use the toilet. Shelby promises to try not to giggle too much about poop, Nicole makes zero such commitments.    As Matching Mom Genes enters its 2nd season, the sisters find themselves ever closer emotionally, despite all new geographical distance. Shelby is living full-time in German...

Nicole is fresh off a kitchen remodel, kitchen fire and a birthday party- in that order. Shelby has heard none of these stories, so today is really leaning into the Mayhem side of this podcast. May the odds be ever in your favor. (Because they certainly haven’t been over here)   As Matching Mom Genes enters its 2nd season, the sisters find themselves ever closer emotionally, despite all new geogra...

Can Shelby gently guide Nicole into being a Montessori Mom? Does that mean she’s going to need more wooden blocks? Today we are breaking down the widely-discussed, but rarely properly understood method of learning from Maria Montessori.      As Matching Mom Genes enters its 2nd season, the sisters find themselves ever closer emotionally, despite all new geographical distance. Shelby is living full...

Look, I’m not going to say that this episode is chaos, but it is. The sisters *attempted* to discuss birthday parties and holidays and the general mayhem of schedules lately, but I don’t know what happened. Please enjoy.   As Matching Mom Genes enters its 2nd season, the sisters find themselves ever closer emotionally, despite all new geographical distance. Shelby is living full-time in Germany! W...

Piggybacking off last week, Shelby helps break down the importance and effectiveness of visual calendars for kids. Nicole ponders in which order people should pull their pants up. I wish I was joking.   As Matching Mom Genes enters its 2nd season, the sisters find themselves ever closer emotionally, despite all new geographical distance. Shelby is living full-time in Germany! With one sister navig...

Nicole babbles incessantly about the rise of Summer Bridge programs and common frustrations about summer schooling practices. The overall message here is that Summer Bridge for academics is really important but can lead to a lack of Summer Enrichment opportunities for children and families. Also, Nicole thinks that people should touch more grass.   As Matching Mom Genes enters its 2nd season, the...

Shelby walks us through her and the little's experience of "Settling in" (a word Nicole has zero chance of saying or spelling correctly) at Kita and we learn just how Kindergarten looks in Germany. It's an incredible firsthand walk through of an important process all parents in Germany are faced with and its also just a wild ride, people.    As Matching Mom Genes enters its 2nd season, the sisters...

With one sister raising an American child in Europe and another raising children who are of a different ethnicity than her, they sit down to discuss what “culture” looks like in the family setting and how to navigate big hurdles like language, holidays and heritage. Bonus laughs around teaching different languages to toddlers who arguably don’t know english yet.    As Matching Mom Genes enters its...

Nicole is finally answering some of Shelby's questions about how one can be a parenting educator and still learn every day as a parent, herself. She talks about easing back into work, the challenges of balancing running your own business while running a home and celebrates the success of the last few months. It’s good to be back!   As Matching Mom Genes enters its 2nd season, the sisters find them...

We are getting outside now that the weather is warmer and we have questions, musical references and even a little bit of therapeutic impact?   As Matching Mom Genes enters its 2nd season, the sisters find themselves ever closer emotionally, despite all new geographical distance. Shelby is living full-time in Germany! With one sister navigating all new European parenting cultures and experiences, M...

Shelby has been in Germany for (over) 6 months! This episode was recorded closer to her anniversary but delays happen all the time in this chaos. Please enjoy our foray into all things German and her family’s new “home” despite the fact that Nicole is still disputing the fact that there is an entire ocean between us. Denial is NOT a river in Europe, apparently.    As Matching Mom Genes enters its...

Happy Mother’s Day- Have some Anxiety! This week the girls celebrate Mother’s Day and Maternal Mental Health Month all in one chaotic conversation. If you are in the United States and feel as though you are struggling, please call  1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262) for 24/7 free confidential support for pregnant and new moms. If you are in mental health distress or have a suicidal crisis, call or te...

Last year, Shelby travelled internationally for the first time as a parent. Now that’s just a casual weekend trip. The sisters discuss different tips for travelling with kids and all the ways things can go right.   As Matching Mom Genes enters its 2nd season, the sisters find themselves ever closer emotionally, despite all new geographical distance. Shelby is living full-time in Germany! With one...

Both sisters are now "back to work" in whatever bizarre way that applies this week. SAHM's work too, but for the purposes of this episode, we're exploring adding in non-domestic and *gasp* non-parenting related work...and boy does it get exhausting! Plus, keep your ears peeled for the moment(s) Nicole loses the worst game of hide-and-seek ever with her 2 year old.   As Matching Mom Genes enters it...

As Matching Mom Genes enters its 2nd season, the sisters find themselves ever closer emotionally, despite all new geographical distance. Shelby is living full-time in Germany! With one sister navigating all new *European* parenting cultures and experiences, MMG is stretching their conversations worldwide and loving every second of it. We might be in different time zones and on different continents...

THAT’S A WRAP! We made it to lucky #22.    We thank you so much for joining us on this journey. We have loved making every single moment of Season 1 and we WILL be returning for Season 2 in January of 2024. In the meantime, we’ll be cooking up some really cool projects and raising kiddos the same as always so keep up with us on @matchingmomgenes on TikTok and Instagram or check in on Nicole’s webs...

Nicole is out this week as Shelby sits down with 2 of her closest mom friends to discuss the triumphs and tests associated with having kids all really close in age. As your kids get older, it seems to matter less, but in those early years? A few weeks can put you at very different parts of parenting. Thankfully, these 3 have each other to survive it together. Thank you to Kaylee and Rebecca for sh...

I'm not 100% what this episode was supposed to be about, but I can tell you that we ended up talking (and laughing) our way through covering some of our favorite tools to support parenting. Seriously, if laughing bothers you, this is not your episode. But if you want to laugh along and maybe attempt to decipher what we're talking about, strap in for a wild ride!   Matching Mom Genes is just anothe...