Speaker 1: Kick it off.
Speaker 2: What do you got for me?
Speaker 3: This is the last time that these people will hear
Speaker 3: us this year for twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: Yeah, wow, what a year.
Speaker 2: It's been been a long year. No, it's gone quick,
Speaker 2: is it? I think so?
Speaker 1: Well a bit of it.
Speaker 2: Has it been a long year for you?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: How are you feeling?
Speaker 1: How are you? How do I sound?
Speaker 4: Look you are a little bit under the weather. We
Speaker 4: had to record these episodes. We're not obviously we're not live.
Speaker 4: Podcasts aren't live. I hate to ruin it for anyone.
Speaker 1: What.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I've had to drag ash to my house. Unwell,
Speaker 4: he's on a lot of drugs, all legal, A couple of.
Speaker 1: Pain killers, couple of painkillers.
Speaker 2: And we're just having a really nostalgic day.
Speaker 1: I'm a soldier, you're a soldier, a young soldier.
Speaker 4: We're just talking about what a year it's been. What
Speaker 4: amazing guests that we've had on this podcast. And we thought,
Speaker 4: we thought we'll give you a little reminder just how
Speaker 4: good it was. I know I sound arrogant, so just
Speaker 4: bear with me.
Speaker 1: He sounds great. Shut up do I gosh, my good,
Speaker 1: you's sound great, But also shut up. We did we
Speaker 1: had some really good guesses. Both of our wives.
Speaker 2: Oh look is arrogant?
Speaker 1: Now, we had both of our wives.
Speaker 2: She's nass.
Speaker 5: April was.
Speaker 1: Abril had a bit of Alian before she started.
Speaker 2: Did she really?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I shouldn't laugh at her drug problems.
Speaker 1: She was very anxious, very anxious, my wife.
Speaker 6: But we had Laura Burn, also very anxious. She was
Speaker 6: on more than ones this year. April's on more than
Speaker 6: one too. We had a few episodes with April, so
Speaker 6: we are happy.
Speaker 1: Today to bring you Laura Burn, April Wicks.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we led in the mix and Kayla George one
Speaker 4: of our favorite episodes.
Speaker 1: Taylor George would be up there with one of my
Speaker 1: favorite episodes. I'd say, yeah you.
Speaker 4: I didn't realize when we first met. I had no
Speaker 4: idea how much of a basketball fan you are.
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I love a good time and I think
Speaker 3: basketball is all a good time.
Speaker 1: You have a party.
Speaker 4: It's a big part and also one of my favorite
Speaker 4: chats with a dad breath and Asta is also in
Speaker 4: the mix. So it's a cracking episode.
Speaker 2: Enjoy.
Speaker 1: Let's get into.
Speaker 7: Well.
Speaker 3: I've asked it a few times in the podcast. We've
Speaker 3: spoken about it a couple of times.
Speaker 1: I've had a sectomy. Matt hasn't endured that as yet.
Speaker 3: I want to know, is there a possibility for a
Speaker 3: third child, A third Johnson?
Speaker 8: A third Johnson that's not a cat? Do you want
Speaker 8: to have another kid?
Speaker 2: I think so?
Speaker 8: So this is this is why the pendulum has swung
Speaker 8: so wide. I watched it and I can't keep up
Speaker 8: with him because only a couple of months ago, Matt
Speaker 8: said he did not want to have another child.
Speaker 4: At all, because you're advocating for it. You pulled me
Speaker 4: aside and said we're having a.
Speaker 2: Third personally for me.
Speaker 1: I don't want another one for you.
Speaker 7: There is enough plans and cats and everything.
Speaker 1: I'm going to be honest, I don't need it. Why
Speaker 1: I don't need you guys have anymore?
Speaker 9: Is it the stress of what I would requires?
Speaker 4: Already?
Speaker 1: I'm stressed out, man.
Speaker 6: The plants are staring at me, the cat's staring at me,
Speaker 6: a three legged dogs staring at me, and now you
Speaker 6: want to introduce a fucking baby to stare at me
Speaker 6: on here too?
Speaker 8: Okay? So I always thought it's funny for me because
Speaker 8: I never really ever saw myself as being a mom
Speaker 8: like I didn't. I never had you. I never had
Speaker 8: the maternal pool. I never ever dreamt about being mom
Speaker 8: or I didn't even know if i'd be a good mom. Really,
Speaker 8: I was like, that seems like you require a lot
Speaker 8: of patience to do it. And then I had Marley,
Speaker 8: and I well know that I met Matt, and you
Speaker 8: really wanted to be a dad.
Speaker 5: And so.
Speaker 9: You really wanted to be a dad.
Speaker 8: And I think it was your excitement about wanting to
Speaker 8: be a dad that made me have excitement about wanting
Speaker 8: to be a mom. Even though I kind of knew
Speaker 8: it would be my plans. I just didn't have this
Speaker 8: like big maternal pool. Then Molly came around, and I
Speaker 8: loved it so much more than I ever thought I would.
Speaker 8: And I think people are so quick to tell you
Speaker 8: all the bad bits about parenting, and people don't really
Speaker 8: stop and tell you the incredible bits.
Speaker 1: It's just so much more fun to talk about.
Speaker 8: That's what totally and people. We revel in complaining, right, Like,
Speaker 8: that's my favorite thing. Humans love to complain. There's this
Speaker 8: real like shared almost like like like shared camaraderie when
Speaker 8: we complain about stuff.
Speaker 2: All we do on this podcast.
Speaker 1: And we're complaining about how the meads uncooked.
Speaker 4: But I will say you're also a great mum as well.
Speaker 9: Thank you.
Speaker 5: I love being a mom.
Speaker 1: I do, I do want.
Speaker 9: I love it.
Speaker 8: I love it so much more than I ever thought
Speaker 8: I would. And I look at Lola now, and you know, obviously,
Speaker 8: whether we have two, we have three, I'm still a
Speaker 8: mom for as long as I am on the earth.
Speaker 8: But my thing is I look at Lola and I
Speaker 8: can't believe that I'm never going to have another little
Speaker 8: person like that. She's the youngest that there is ever
Speaker 8: going to be in this household. And but every so
Speaker 8: often I just have these moments where I'm like, surely
Speaker 8: this can't be it. And I always thought I would
Speaker 8: get to a point of completeness. I thought I would
Speaker 8: wake up one day and be like after Lola was born.
Speaker 8: I thought I would have this moment where I'd be like, oh,
Speaker 8: I'm so done, like tie the tube.
Speaker 1: So it's a possibility.
Speaker 8: I would like to I'm thirty eight now, I'll be
Speaker 8: thirty nine next year. Work is a lot in terms
Speaker 8: of like contracts and trying to figure out timings and stuff.
Speaker 8: But if we could have a baby next year, I
Speaker 8: would be excited too.
Speaker 1: Would you name it after me.
Speaker 9: It would be named.
Speaker 8: Ash jam Picklets like.
Speaker 9: I know Jamie Little Jimmy Jam.
Speaker 1: I'm definitely done obviously. How that a sex me?
Speaker 8: Yeah, okay, well I know that you like you feel
Speaker 8: the churl in there, but ok. My one thing though
Speaker 8: about like having another kid is that I think people's
Speaker 8: instant reaction when someone has already has two these days
Speaker 8: and that's two of the same sex, the instant thought
Speaker 8: is to be like, oh, well, you're trying for a boy,
Speaker 8: like you're trying for the alternate sex. I love being
Speaker 8: a mum to girls. I always saw myself if I
Speaker 8: was going to have kids as having boys, so like
Speaker 8: it's my parenting thoughts of what I thought it was
Speaker 8: going to be is completely out the way.
Speaker 2: I'd always prefer another girl.
Speaker 8: Yeah, and if we had three girls, I would be
Speaker 8: absolutely fucking thrilled. So I want that to be like
Speaker 8: on record, so that if we ever do have another girl,
Speaker 8: people are like, oh my god, yeah, I just wanted
Speaker 8: to have my boy, just wanted genuinely, Yeah, I could
Speaker 8: see us having another kid. Also, Nana just moved in,
Speaker 8: so like we've got a free baby sitter.
Speaker 1: I would like to be more involved.
Speaker 7: You could be the Godfather.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 5: I laugh about it now.
Speaker 10: But the thing I think that I was attracted to
Speaker 10: you were like your whole two tattoos that you had
Speaker 10: at the time, and I was.
Speaker 3: Like, that's hot, and they're like the worst tattoos I have, yeah,
Speaker 3: under my arm and under that they're like one of
Speaker 3: them was done by a tato artist that she was
Speaker 3: pissed and it was like, so it's so bad, and
Speaker 3: the other one was just like a dumb seventeen year
Speaker 3: old tatoo.
Speaker 2: Did you show where the tattoos that night?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I just walked around those.
Speaker 10: By the way, he was skinnier than me as well,
Speaker 10: it was I was so small.
Speaker 4: The photos of you when you were younger, you're a
Speaker 4: bit of a trim young lad.
Speaker 1: Oh now what am I fat?
Speaker 3: Dad?
Speaker 2: A very clean cut.
Speaker 1: You're allowed ten kilos for every kid you have.
Speaker 2: You didn't have the mustache.
Speaker 4: No, did that version of events match what happened from you?
Speaker 3: Yes? Yeah, that was pretty bang on. I think I
Speaker 3: tried really hard to go home with her. She said, no,
Speaker 3: kick me off the bus.
Speaker 9: Yeah, we did catch a bus home, got a bus home.
Speaker 3: Well, young I was poor and then I spent weeks
Speaker 3: weeks courting, courting weeks to the point where it was
Speaker 3: a joke between her and her friends. So I was
Speaker 3: a joke really.
Speaker 2: Because you were you were like playing hard.
Speaker 9: To get or he was very keen.
Speaker 10: And I remember joking like because he sent like, not millions,
Speaker 10: but he said plenty.
Speaker 5: Of messages throughout the day.
Speaker 10: And at that time I had a job where my
Speaker 10: phone was locked away on a locker and you'd send
Speaker 10: like a couple of messages like just like, how's your day,
Speaker 10: but then another one would come through.
Speaker 2: The one You're going back to back to back.
Speaker 9: Back to back to back in those days.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'd never do that now.
Speaker 10: And I joke to one of my friends at the
Speaker 10: time and I was like, oh my god, this guy's
Speaker 10: so keen.
Speaker 5: Imagine if I end up marrying him.
Speaker 1: There you go, guys persistence.
Speaker 4: Do you remember after you guys met at the pub,
Speaker 4: like what your first date was?
Speaker 2: Yes, where did you go?
Speaker 10: So you'd been out like that whole day, so I
Speaker 10: think you'd been drinking as well, So you were like,
Speaker 10: does not sound like that. You were like, Oh, we
Speaker 10: should go out for dinner, but I think you need
Speaker 10: to Can you pick me up.
Speaker 3: WHOA, I was out during the day, but I had
Speaker 3: tried to see April at other occasions but she was
Speaker 3: playing hard to get. And then the one occasion I
Speaker 3: was in Bondai actually, and the one occasion where she
Speaker 3: was like, oh I'm free tonight, I was. I caught
Speaker 3: up with a girlfriend of mine that I had moved
Speaker 3: down as well, and we just hadn't seen each other yet.
Speaker 3: She moved to bond dimit, so we caught up for
Speaker 3: a drink and lunch. I only had like two or
Speaker 3: three beers, but I got a bus and a train there,
Speaker 3: you know, thinking Okay, I'll probably just spend the evening
Speaker 3: in Bondai and see what that's about.
Speaker 1: And then it was like, oh shit.
Speaker 3: So I pretty much stopped whatever I was doing and
Speaker 3: got on a bus and then got on a train.
Speaker 1: But the thing is that I was like, A, You're
Speaker 1: going to have to drive. So I got dropped at her.
Speaker 3: Like pretty much at her place, and then we drove
Speaker 3: to where I was living, which was on the floor
Speaker 3: of Pete's house, who was at the cafe street.
Speaker 1: So just to clear that up.
Speaker 5: Carry on, I'm pretty sure as well.
Speaker 10: You did send in a message I think that's when
Speaker 10: you told me.
Speaker 9: You're like, oh, I can't afford dinner.
Speaker 10: I can't remember how I found out that you couldn't
Speaker 10: pay for dinner much.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, I'm.
Speaker 10: Pretty sure you like told me straight up, You're like,
Speaker 10: I haven't got money for dinner, but I'd love to
Speaker 10: take you out.
Speaker 3: So I was like, context, context, context is everything, guys.
Speaker 1: I had. I had packed up my car.
Speaker 3: From living in my parents' house, moved here, was working
Speaker 3: three jobs that paid cash, and it was like the
Speaker 3: worst time because I was in Bondou with all my
Speaker 3: money that I had and had pretty much spent it
Speaker 3: on lunch and everything, thinking Okay, I'm just going to
Speaker 3: go home. I'll get paid the next couple of days
Speaker 3: from one of these jobs. But then I didn't want
Speaker 3: to miss the opportunity.
Speaker 9: So honesty, honesty is the best pose.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I don't think I don't recall saying it.
Speaker 10: Well, I just I can't remember how I found out
Speaker 10: that I had to pay, because I did have to
Speaker 10: pay to that.
Speaker 1: No, let's get to that. Okay, you didn't have to pay.
Speaker 1: He didn't make you pay the.
Speaker 5: End, because no, he did.
Speaker 10: He gave me a discount, didn't he because you worked
Speaker 10: where we end up going for dinner.
Speaker 5: So yeah, we drove. We drove somewhere.
Speaker 9: We didn't really have plans, and I was driving.
Speaker 10: I think we went to go to a sushi place,
Speaker 10: but we couldn't park or something, and then we end
Speaker 10: up going to You were like.
Speaker 9: Oh, I work it.
Speaker 1: I work at this jizza.
Speaker 9: Pizza place, so we'll go there.
Speaker 5: And so we went there.
Speaker 10: I had dinner and whatnot, and obviously all his co
Speaker 10: workers were like behind my back, which I know now. Yeah,
Speaker 10: and then the bill came and I went up to
Speaker 10: pay and.
Speaker 1: Afford to pay, but.
Speaker 5: My name.
Speaker 4: I think the important thing to remember is that you
Speaker 4: can start with the bar really low and then from
Speaker 4: then on everything's a plus.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you did? You did?
Speaker 9: You used to spoil me rotten in what way? Oh?
Speaker 10: I remember like one of the first Valentine's Days, I
Speaker 10: think you bought.
Speaker 5: Me an iPad mini, buy me jewelry.
Speaker 10: Yeah, like literally spent probably credit card debt.
Speaker 3: It can't make up for that one dinner I couldn't
Speaker 3: pay for. But it was the most important dinner obviously.
Speaker 3: But I mean, at the time, I recall, I was
Speaker 3: like okay, well, the people I was with in Bonder,
Speaker 3: I got to go, and it was like I got
Speaker 3: to go.
Speaker 1: I have to go for a particular reason.
Speaker 3: I could have easily just been like no not yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So that's how that's how the first date went.
Speaker 4: Do you remember thinking on that date? This feels different
Speaker 4: to other dates that I've been on.
Speaker 10: Definitely, she had to pay for it, Like I.
Speaker 1: Feel slightly lighter in the wallet. It wasn't expensive, all right.
Speaker 10: No, and like you know you're talking when we were twenty,
Speaker 10: there was not a high expectation of like long.
Speaker 5: Whining and it was about that. Yeah. Yeah, I enjoyed
Speaker 5: his company.
Speaker 4: Your dog is very into the story. I don't want
Speaker 4: to ask questions that are too personal. Did you have
Speaker 4: a kiss after dinner?
Speaker 1: Was there a kiss?
Speaker 7: Oh?
Speaker 9: I have no idea.
Speaker 1: I can't remember. I think so well, I don't know.
Speaker 9: Where, like wouldn't have been at the restaurant.
Speaker 3: I remember when are we Because we had to stop
Speaker 3: at my place before we went, and I was living
Speaker 3: with Pete and there's three brothers in that house, Like, oh,
Speaker 3: walked in there, had to get some fresh clothes, and
Speaker 3: Pete was like, where are you going? I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: I'm going on a date with April Gates and he
Speaker 3: was like.
Speaker 1: Bullshit, you're lying bullshit. And then I was like and
Speaker 1: then he's like walked out open the front door. It's like, dahn,
Speaker 1: she had a big crash on April. So I stole
Speaker 1: a stolen something.
Speaker 5: I don't think I was ever his, but.
Speaker 1: He still thinks, he still thinks he's got to change.
Speaker 4: For anyone who hasn't been in the room, for anyone
Speaker 4: who hasn't given birth, what's it like, and especially because
Speaker 4: I can't imagine doing that without drugs, but you're in
Speaker 4: a moment of like extreme pain. And then what's it
Speaker 4: like when you get to see your child for the
Speaker 4: first time and you get to hold them?
Speaker 11: Yeah, okay, so hang the fuck on bus. Obviously have
Speaker 11: seen it as dads, but holy Molly, like nothing prepares.
Speaker 5: You for that.
Speaker 11: It is excruciating. And you have a plan, chuck that
Speaker 11: fucking plan in a bin. That plan is not sticking
Speaker 11: to play. That is so true.
Speaker 5: Like I had a plan.
Speaker 11: I mean, I'm like a non planning plant person that
Speaker 11: I was like, Hey, I want to have it in
Speaker 11: the bath, Like I'm real zoning idea I'm going to
Speaker 11: breathe through this thing. Let's have it in the bath.
Speaker 11: I couldn't even fit in the fucking bar my legs,
Speaker 11: my legs were way too long for this public coastural bath.
Speaker 11: And yeah, no, the pain I felt, I think Minnie
Speaker 11: was apparently turned the wrong way inside me and shit,
Speaker 11: and she was taking ages to come out and blah blah.
Speaker 11: My legs felt like they were going to fall off.
Speaker 11: They were numb but also killing. The pain wasn't so
Speaker 11: much in the contractions. It was more in my lower
Speaker 11: back and my legs. I remember my through my contractions,
Speaker 11: I was vomiting so like actually vomiting it all over
Speaker 11: me as well. My mom was the fear in my
Speaker 11: mum's face like said it all to me. I was like,
Speaker 11: I think I'm gonna die, Like I remember saying that
Speaker 11: to her. And she had had beautiful bursts with me
Speaker 11: and my brother. She'd had really quick bursts. And get this,
Speaker 11: she said to me, birth is painless. It doesn't hurt pie.
Speaker 11: I don't know, this shouldn't matter. I don't think this matters.
Speaker 11: But like in my head, my mom.
Speaker 5: Is a stick. She's like a quarter of the size
Speaker 5: of me. So I was like, mum's miniature.
Speaker 11: If she can push out two big heads that me
Speaker 11: and my brother had.
Speaker 5: And it's apparently painless.
Speaker 11: This is a walking apart from me and my baby
Speaker 11: was pretty small, but the way whatever the fuck she
Speaker 11: was doing in there, it was just killing. So yeah,
Speaker 11: birth was far and it was too late. By the
Speaker 11: time I got through all all the hours of dying
Speaker 11: in the whatever with the midwives.
Speaker 5: And stuff, it was just too late to get an epy.
Speaker 11: Like by the time I was like, what's going on, guys,
Speaker 11: can I get the epidural? They were like, well, you've
Speaker 11: literally you've probably only got an hour left.
Speaker 5: You're about to start start pushing.
Speaker 11: You've just done this for like seven hours, like and
Speaker 11: I was like, oh, yeah, okay. Now it's like I'm
Speaker 11: this is a mental thing, and I'm like, okay, I'm
Speaker 11: not getting it, like I'm going to do this because
Speaker 11: I was like, I should have got it like ten hours.
Speaker 11: But when she came out, I was just so fricking
Speaker 11: frothing and relieved that that was over and trying.
Speaker 5: To figure out how to hold this sip slippery little
Speaker 5: sleep because they're so slippery sippery.
Speaker 12: No one tells you that you're going to drop it
Speaker 12: like I was. I wasn't in a bed, I was
Speaker 12: on all fours on the little tile whatever the floor is,
Speaker 12: and she was just so slippery, and I was like, shit,
Speaker 12: we're all covered in blood and vomited and everything.
Speaker 5: I'm going to drop this little egg.
Speaker 11: It took so long of me just catching my breath
Speaker 11: chilling for like a few minutes before my mom and
Speaker 11: the midwives were like.
Speaker 5: What is it? Check what it is?
Speaker 2: Like, what is it?
Speaker 7: You know what?
Speaker 5: What's what's the sex? And so that was super cool,
Speaker 5: and I was like, holy ship.
Speaker 11: I was like almost scared to like look because I
Speaker 11: was like, oh my god, I can't believe I've just
Speaker 11: been so lost in this moment of like just frothing
Speaker 11: that this little slugs in my arms that I haven't
Speaker 11: even thought to look at what it is because I'm
Speaker 11: just so stoked to have a healthy baby that's screaming
Speaker 11: at me.
Speaker 5: And yeah, it was a girl.
Speaker 2: Sometimes. Habilical cords also a bit confusing as well.
Speaker 5: Your homos.
Speaker 1: Did you have to cut it?
Speaker 5: Did you cut it? How hard is it to cut?
Speaker 5: Like Calamari, I was like.
Speaker 11: My mom had the scissors and was like chopping, like
Speaker 11: trying to it's.
Speaker 2: Not easy to shop because these are craps.
Speaker 5: Yeah, literally where the proper get cut.
Speaker 2: Open kids safety.
Speaker 5: Exactly the plastic ones.
Speaker 11: But nah, as you guys know, those moments are ridiculous.
Speaker 5: And then I just remember they kind of.
Speaker 11: Put me in the bed, babies on me, like figuring
Speaker 11: out how to breastfeed and like that. But just like
Speaker 11: you're so off with the fairies, You're just like, what
Speaker 11: the hell? And then they're just like stitching me up
Speaker 11: and doing whatever they're doing. And that's not even I'm
Speaker 11: not even feeling a thing there because you're just so
Speaker 11: wrapped up in like, oh my god, you've got a
Speaker 11: baby on your move and such a cool and my
Speaker 11: mum was so great in those moments.
Speaker 3: The way that Pearl was conceived and you've come to
Speaker 3: be a mum is so unique. Can you talk us
Speaker 3: through when you made that decision or how the conversation
Speaker 3: started to go down that that We were just talking
Speaker 3: about it before. Matt and I were like, how do
Speaker 3: you put that on the table, like, talk us through
Speaker 3: it if you don't mind.
Speaker 7: Of course, of course, kylu My husband is a toaster
Speaker 7: islander and it's really common in Ireland culture to gift
Speaker 7: babies to other family members that are struggling to have
Speaker 7: their own children. And they truly believe that when they
Speaker 7: do that, they get their own after they have their
Speaker 7: own after which happens a lot.
Speaker 2: You're not straight, not just.
Speaker 7: My husband, although my husband did think I was feed
Speaker 7: part fore GM when we first met, so I was like,
Speaker 7: just you listen to what I'm saying. So, yeah, when
Speaker 7: I first started dating Kylou, I met his family and
Speaker 7: I knew that a couple of his nieces, his sister
Speaker 7: had a couple of babies and she gifted her second
Speaker 7: one to his mum. They lived in the same house,
Speaker 7: so I knew of the concept of what you know
Speaker 7: it was about. They call it custom island adoption. There
Speaker 7: is an Island name for it, but I'll just give
Speaker 7: you the English name, and so yeah, it's very common
Speaker 7: and it's the highest form of respect in their culture
Speaker 7: to gift it. Yeah. Nina, my sister in law, she
Speaker 7: knew my story. She knew I've been trying and I'd
Speaker 7: wanted to have babies, and I would have had two
Speaker 7: kids by now if it was like, you know, easy
Speaker 7: to pick a time and you know, it's just not
Speaker 7: in that easy for me with a lot of different
Speaker 7: reasons with the period stuff and being an athlete and
Speaker 7: not wanting to miss events. But so after the Rio Olympics,
Speaker 7: she sat me down with Kylie's older sister and Kylo
Speaker 7: and she said, look, we'd love to gift you a
Speaker 7: baby at some point when the time's right for everyone.
Speaker 2: Holy wow.
Speaker 7: I was like, oh my gosh, huge, amazing. I wasn't
Speaker 7: overwhelmed with it because I knew of the practice in
Speaker 7: the culture, so I was like, oh, my gosh, is
Speaker 7: if you do that? I was like, oh wow. I
Speaker 7: was more overwhelmed that, like it could have been happening
Speaker 7: like soon.
Speaker 4: I was like, oh, when you were struggling to fullbring it,
Speaker 4: did you think, hey, this may be an option.
Speaker 7: No, Kylon never really spoke about it, but I did
Speaker 7: speak to his sister Nino about it a fair bit.
Speaker 7: So it was always like kind of in my mind like, oh,
Speaker 7: that that could be an option. But I really do
Speaker 7: hope to still one day like be able to hold
Speaker 7: a baby and still like a baby myself. But if
Speaker 7: this is our only option, that's really cool too, Like
Speaker 7: what a blessing? And so yeah, I guess what year
Speaker 7: are we now, twenty twenty four. I guess at the
Speaker 7: start of yeah, twenty twenty two. We just finished our
Speaker 7: Boomers season in Melbourne. I was playing for Melbourn Boomers
Speaker 7: and I went home and held like a big gathering
Speaker 7: from Kyler's family, my family at my house in cans
Speaker 7: and my sister Nina was like, Taylor, I'm nine weeks pregnant.
Speaker 7: And I was like a wild but She's like, if
Speaker 7: it's a boy, we're going to keep it because we've
Speaker 7: only got the one boy. But if it's a girl,
Speaker 7: we want to gift it to you. And I was like,
Speaker 7: oh my god, Like, when the when's the test? When
Speaker 7: do we know what it is?
Speaker 3: They would have been trying and stuff without you knowing, yeah,
Speaker 3: and then.
Speaker 1: Obviously knowing that they wanted to give to you a baby.
Speaker 3: Yeah, then them saying hey, we're nine weeks pregnant is
Speaker 3: as biggest shock to you as it is to the
Speaker 3: rest of the family.
Speaker 1: I suppose, right, Yeah, No, it.
Speaker 7: Was a bit of a shock, but I really wanted
Speaker 7: to see what sex it was going to be because
Speaker 7: they were going to keep the boy because they'd only
Speaker 7: had one son and they wanted another son. I was like,
Speaker 7: that's totally fair, Like it's your child even if.
Speaker 5: You don't want to give me, so you're still there's
Speaker 5: still like fifty to.
Speaker 2: Fifty with Yeah.
Speaker 7: So as soon as we were able to be got
Speaker 7: the test done and we the doctor's exact words, but
Speaker 7: oh no, that's a hamburger. That's not a sausage, and
Speaker 7: that's a hamburger, Like, oh was that the official term?
Speaker 1: The medical term for it.
Speaker 2: Isn't the same doctor that's reckoning, I.
Speaker 7: Was American.
Speaker 2: Funny.
Speaker 7: So yeah, after that, after we found out the gender,
Speaker 7: then we kind of just got into like, mind you,
Speaker 7: I'm preparing for a World Cup like a major event,
Speaker 7: while I'm preparing to be a mum, and so, you know,
Speaker 7: just telling my family and the close friends that I had,
Speaker 7: and I'm like, what, like they weren't really aware of
Speaker 7: the culture side of all. I don't really. I hadn't
Speaker 7: spoken about, you know, how their family do that before,
Speaker 7: so people kind of took a second to let it
Speaker 7: sink in.
Speaker 4: And yeah, I mean, I think it's beautiful, but when
Speaker 4: you first hear about it, you're like, because it's so
Speaker 4: different to how Western culture would.
Speaker 3: Be, I know, it's kind of like I didn't think
Speaker 3: it was that was the thing, and there'd be so
Speaker 3: many people listening right now that would be especially men.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they would be like I never thought that that
Speaker 1: would be.
Speaker 7: There was a lot of situ Yeah when I posted,
Speaker 7: when it came out, there'd been articles written or whatever.
Speaker 7: There was a lot of troll comings of just people
Speaker 7: that just had no open mind or no idea, like
Speaker 7: and that's fine, Like that's social media these days, right,
Speaker 7: you can't do anything. I don't know that you get
Speaker 7: troll coming to this podcast, though.
Speaker 2: Normally it's just you guys swear too much. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Really, we made front of a dentists and then people
Speaker 1: came after.
Speaker 13: As we love the dentists doctors technically, but anyway, assuming
Speaker 13: that you'd have a bit of a thick skin playing
Speaker 13: professional sport, copying heat from people, we'll still.
Speaker 7: Get to you sometimes though, if you let it. There's
Speaker 7: a lot of stuff, and it can be pretty debilitating
Speaker 7: when you're not in a confident headspace because we've always
Speaker 7: got to maintain a confidence level to be able to
Speaker 7: perform and play under pressure. I don't know what life
Speaker 7: is like to not have pressure, like basketball pressure and
Speaker 7: if I finish one tournament, it's like, well, one game
Speaker 7: will and what's next. There's always pressure for the next thing.
Speaker 7: So I think when I retire in years to come,
Speaker 7: because I feel like I've got a good chunk of
Speaker 7: years left in me, I can't wait to feel like
Speaker 7: what life's like with no pressure basketball pressure.
Speaker 1: So I just it was boring over here.
Speaker 7: Yeah, so once we back to the pearl train of events,
Speaker 7: so once you know, it got closer to the time
Speaker 7: I had the World Cup. We won a bronze medal
Speaker 7: in Sydney. We beat Canada in the bronze medal game.
Speaker 7: Nine days later, I'm in the theater with Nina Wow,
Speaker 7: getting pearly. I was really nervous about the connection piece.
Speaker 7: I was really nervous, like about everything.
Speaker 2: It was just in what way, well.
Speaker 7: Because I hadn't held it. I hadn't, you know, actually
Speaker 7: been growing her in my belly. So I was really
Speaker 7: nervous about yeah, the connection but skinned skin straight away
Speaker 7: was with me and it was beautiful.
Speaker 1: Yeah, wow, yea or.
Speaker 7: Not the skin I held her straight away then, like
Speaker 7: when we went to the recovery redinal skin on skin
Speaker 7: which is really beautiful. But I was also really nervous
Speaker 7: and felt really guilty for taking away Nina's baby. And
Speaker 7: she said to me in the in the recovery room,
Speaker 7: she said, I, I've actually been holding her for you
Speaker 7: this whole time. She's not been my baby this entire time.
Speaker 7: She's been yours, and I've just been looking after it
Speaker 7: for you.
Speaker 1: Disconnected from that. Yeah, really, I suppose you've got her.
Speaker 7: Yeah, so I thought that. I mean, we're really close
Speaker 7: to me and Nina, so we talk a lot, and
Speaker 7: we've got a really great relationship. I guess you kind
Speaker 7: of have to be able to do this. But she
Speaker 7: was actually just down in Sydney last week with her
Speaker 7: four year old son, so that was really great for
Speaker 7: Pearl and Nicholas to be able to have a play.
Speaker 7: But yeah, it was a really I almost would like
Speaker 7: cry anytime, Like when we had to leave the hospital
Speaker 7: and she went to her house and we went to
Speaker 7: ours and I took Pearl. I was so emotional because
Speaker 7: I felt this huge guilt that I didn't anticipate once
Speaker 7: we had Pearl into the world, that I was taking
Speaker 7: her away from Nina. Yeah, so I had to kind
Speaker 7: of overcome. Nina would laugh at me I'm like, oh, yeah, so,
Speaker 7: but she had already kind of done it in Yeah.
Speaker 3: Being a single dad with girls, do you think that
Speaker 3: time so much time with them has helped you build
Speaker 3: a much stronger bond than maybe some other dads have
Speaker 3: that are you know, still with the mom and there's
Speaker 3: that mix.
Speaker 14: This mixed For me, like Ahia, that bond is unbreakable
Speaker 14: purely because from the day she was born, it's been
Speaker 14: me and her for different circumstances gg I don't get
Speaker 14: as much, which is hard for dads as well, right,
Speaker 14: because it's small than I would say the stereotypical you
Speaker 14: know break up where the mother mother has majority. You know,
Speaker 14: we always want more, but that's it's different, you know,
Speaker 14: like we I hope that. The hard thing is I
Speaker 14: wanted to look forward to seeing me every time she
Speaker 14: sees me, so as a dad when you've got her,
Speaker 14: I don't want to I spoil her. But how much
Speaker 14: do you spoil them that they don't benefit the right way?
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. I've got thursdays.
Speaker 4: Other days it's called daddy doing night and and we
Speaker 4: have like swimming in the morning, and it's you know,
Speaker 4: it's the one day where Laura is working my wife,
Speaker 4: and so she's me and the girls and and it's
Speaker 4: this hard balance of I wanted to be a really memorable,
Speaker 4: enjoyable experience, and so you want to give them things
Speaker 4: that they enjoy. But at the same time, it's also
Speaker 4: hard when it's just a bad day. Yeah, sometimes the
Speaker 4: girls didn't have a good sleep, they're cranky, they don't
Speaker 4: want to get their swimmers and got to swimming lessons,
Speaker 4: and so it ends up being a shit day where
Speaker 4: I'd spent disciplining And then how was it for you?
Speaker 4: When you do that little window with Gigi and you
Speaker 4: build it up to be something great and then it's not, and.
Speaker 14: You sometimes heartbreaking because you got you've only got a
Speaker 14: short period of time, like a couple of days with
Speaker 14: her in a week, and if it's not a good time,
Speaker 14: you're disappointed and it's sad because you've got to drop
Speaker 14: it back on a bad note. Yeah, it just hasn't
Speaker 14: gone to plan, and you don't have that every day
Speaker 14: time to be with her for her, you know. So
Speaker 14: it is hard for dads like that, and it just
Speaker 14: doesn't always care to plan, right.
Speaker 3: Especially they probably get older as well and they're into
Speaker 3: their own things or they might. I mean with my daughter,
Speaker 3: she's so young that like if we have a tip,
Speaker 3: you know, we can get over pretty quick. You know
Speaker 3: when that as they get, as she gets older and
Speaker 3: more stubborn and illien herself and can be like, well,
Speaker 3: I'm going to hold this grudge against you now because
Speaker 3: that's not fair what you did.
Speaker 1: Whatever it might be, it must be really hard.
Speaker 3: I can't imagine that drop off at the end of
Speaker 3: your time and you haven't been able to mend that bridge,
Speaker 3: and then you've got to wait all that this time to.
Speaker 14: Try and try and have that moment and it's your
Speaker 14: own daughter, you know, Yeah, it's hard to take you
Speaker 14: as you go back again to all you ever think
Speaker 14: of is as someone as a kid or just growing up,
Speaker 14: is having that perfect family right where you've got your
Speaker 14: kids and you know, I was brought up in Well
Speaker 14: it didn't end up being a perfect family, but it
Speaker 14: was from my childhood.
Speaker 2: And then you get to a point where it's just
Speaker 2: not and you've got to deal with it.
Speaker 14: But that's like, you know, we've all got we've all
Speaker 14: got ways of dealing with different things and things we've
Speaker 14: got to navigate through and it's a constant challenge for me.
Speaker 14: But I love I love my girls, and I love
Speaker 14: bring and dads.
Speaker 4: Well well, well, well, well, well here we are ash.
Speaker 1: It's nice to revisit those voices.
Speaker 4: Trying to say that with a really serious face sound
Speaker 4: like someone who's got is this schizophrenia?
Speaker 1: That's what I say to myself every night podcast. I
Speaker 1: can't wait to lay down and revisit those voices.
Speaker 4: Look, the series are best of episodes because we are
Speaker 4: having a delicious, wonderful, relaxing break over the Christmas period.
Speaker 2: So we will be back with you next week for
Speaker 2: another best of episode.
Speaker 3: And if you've enjoyed that, please leave us a review,
Speaker 3: a New Year's review. Some would say, well said five
Speaker 3: stars and then join us on socials, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook,
Speaker 3: and we love.
Speaker 4: You all goes without saying see you next year. We'd
Speaker 4: be nothing without you. We appreciate your support.
Speaker 1: You sound desperate now we are as see you next year.
Speaker 14: Two.
Speaker 4: Doting Podcast acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia
Speaker 4: and the connections to land, sea and community.
Speaker 3: We pay our respects to their elders past and present
Speaker 3: and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torrestrate Islander
Speaker 3: peoples today.
Speaker 1: This episode was recorded on Gadagal Land.