Welcome back to another episode of the Marriage and Mother podcast! This is part two of the series "What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a Parent," designed to support aspiring and current parents with as much knowledge as possible to set them up for success.

The Realities of Self-Care

Last episode, we delved into the evolving dynamic of partnership and how to navigate those changes. Today, we'll be focusing on self-care. Self-care is vastly underrated.

At the very core of our life experiences — as women, partners, mothers, daughters, friends, business owners, or any of the myriad roles we play — self-care is pivotal. If we don't take care of ourselves, every facet of our lives can suffer. Imagine walking around with a baseline feeling of 15 on a scale from 0 to 100, where 100 is the best possible state of being. It's like living in a world where you're perpetually cranky, a lens that taints every experience negatively.

Reframing Self-Care

Just like the children's book, *Al...

Welcome back to another episode of the Marriage and Motherhood podcast. In this episode, we're diving into how marriage evolves after you become parents. This topic is relevant to both new and seasoned parents, offering insights and practical advice to help you navigate the changes that parenthood brings to your relationship.

The Changing Dynamics of Partnership

Partnership Before Parenthood

Before you have kids, partnership primarily revolves around mutual decision-making, consultation on important matters, and offering each other support. These principles still hold post-parenthood but on a much different scale. Before kids, it's simpler: Do we make decisions together? Do you consult with me on big matters? Are you helpful to me? Do I feel like we're a team?

The Shift Post-Parenthood

After kids, the specificity of roles becomes more critical. Our expectations for our partners drastically increase. The granular details—like "Who's going to do what?" need clear definit...

7 Key Lessons Learned from Our Cross-Country Move and Major Life Changes

After a recent cross-country move from California to Atlanta and a myriad of changes, I'm excited to share the lessons my husband and I have learned.

Whether you're grappling with big decisions or navigating the complexities of family life, these insights could make all the difference. Let's dive in!

1. Keep Each Other in the Loop

Communicating effectively is fundamental. During our move, my husband and I realized that failing to stay updated on each other’s schedules and plans led to a lot of miscommunication. Establishing a routine check-in, whether nightly or weekly, ensures that both partners are aligned and reduces unnecessary friction. One great tool we've found helpful is the Skylight calendar, which integrates with Google Calendar and keeps us organized and on the same page.

2. Discuss Your Goals

Aligning on goals helps you work together rather than at cross-purposes. Take the time to discuss what each of y...

If you love the episode, remember to subscribe, leave a review and share it!

If you love the episode, remember to subscribe, leave a review and share it!

Parenting and Partnership: A Fresh Start For Your Marriage

Is your marriage feeling the impact of the challenges that come with parenthood?

Parenthood doesn't have to mean the end of your love story. Parenthood is just the start of a new chapter in your marriage. Your marriage can have that spark even while you're raising kids.

Don't let yourself get jaded or believe that marriage has to be hard after you become parents. You can learn how to balance love and parenting and make your marriage even better than you imagined. Parenthood was never meant to come between you and your love.

While society may lay out a traditional roadmap for us — education, career, serious relationship, marriage, and family — the reality is that marriage is not a finite goal. It's a journey of growth, evolving with time.

The Excitement of Beginnings:

From the early days of envisioning a life together to the excitement of p...

One of the most common things women are telling me these days is that they want to feel more heard by their husbands.

They want to feel like their spouse is listening to them, taking to heart what they're saying, and acting on the feedback they're receiving so that they can feel like they're supported in their marriage.

Feeling heard is needed in order to deepen the intimacy with your partner and knowing how to set the stage for both people in the relationship to feel heard is pivotal.

In this week's episode of The Marriage & Motherhood Podcast, I share:

• What feeling heard means
• Why feeling heard is vital in a marriage
• What happens when we don't feel heard
• 3 things people do that prevents them from feeling heard

Listen here and remember to subscribe, leave a review, and share it if you loved this episode! 💗

If you love the episode, remember to subscribe, leave a review and share it!

We often think of self care as something we do that we get to indulge in like spa days or a day out with friends.

But as busy moms, this isn't always convenient or possible because of time, money or childcare.

So does this mean we have to feel burned out between the times we can make it happen? NO!

In this week's episode of The Marriage & Motherhood Podcast, I dive into:

• what REAL self care is and redefining how we think of self care
• what REAL self care looks like
• the benefits of practicing sustainable self care

So many couples out there share that the connection in their marriage has declined since becoming parents.

The shift in focus puts a huge toll on the relationship and couples are sometimes realizing it too late.

If you're wanting to make sure your marriage can stand the test of parenthood and time, then you'll definitely want to tune into this episode!

In this week's episode of The Marriage & Motherhood Podcast, I share:

• What comes first - your husband or your kids
• What can happen as a result of prioritizing your kids above your marriage
• When you should prioritize your kids over your husband
• Who you should prioritize above your husband AND your kids

So many couples have the same experience after becoming parents. They grow apart, argue more often, and they forget how to have fun together.  The common thing to do is to start pointing the finger at your husband and see what they're doing wrong. This is where most couples go wrong when trying to turn their marriage around.

Have you ever stopped to question whether what you believe is normal in a marriage is actually only common, instead of healthy?

Truth is, our parents' marriage and the marriages of those we have surrounded ourselves with make up what we believe to be normal in marriage.

So if arguing was the only way conflict was ever resolved, you might believe that every couple argues all the time - when this isn't true at all. A lot of couples argue, but there are better ways to navigate conflict than arguing.

In this week's episode of The Marriage & Motherhood Podcast, I share:

• The most common experience of marriage after kids
• Normal/common vs Healthy
• Outdated beliefs on marriage

Listen here and remember to subscribe, leave a review, and share it if you loved this episode! 💗

For more resources on how to have a happy and successful marriage, head on over to www.michellepurta.com and subscribe!