- I'm back with Julianna Margulies,
give it up, y'all!
(audience applauds)
All right, it's another Rad Mama Hour again,
there are a few things that are guaranteed
during any mama celebration,
here on the Kelly Clarkson show.
Good times, crazy stories, unexpected confessions,
wine, and our next guests, 'cause I love them.
You know them from their hit podcast and web series,
I Mom So Hard. They have a new
children's book, Meanest of the Meanies,
(Kelly laughs)
I love y'all. Out right now.
Please welcome Kristin Hensley and Jen Smedley, everybody!
(audience applauds)
- Hi! Hello.
- [Kelly] How are you doing, ladies?
- [Jen] We are great, we're happy to be here.
I'm trying to make sure Kristin stays
on this couch and away from-
- [Kristin] I just wanna be so close to both of you.
(Kelly laughs)
And I keep getting further away.
And I know that's 'cause I'm a slight security risk,
but I'm really just, I'm really far away from you guys.
- [Kelly] We push you to the end.
- You guys are gonna, like, put me in the side.
- Next time you're going to be with the band.
- That'd be awesome.
(Kelly laughs)
- So you've been, you've been busy since I last saw you.
So, tell us about your new children's book.
I love the title, Meanest of the Meanies.
So, is it about mean kids?
(Kelly laughs)
- Well, they can be mean,
they don't mean to be, but they're honest.
That's not always great. But it's just
the idea that no matter what you do as a mom,
your kid views it as something you're doing that's mean
or uncool or you're stopping their fun.
And all you're trying to do is
build a decent human, you know?
And the only way they're gonna thank you
is someday when they have kids,
but that's a long time from now.
So, we figured we'd write a children's book
and celebrate among our, our mom crowd.
- Yeah.
(Kelly laughs)
So, every mom in our house seats can obviously,
you know, relate to the highs and lows, hilarity
and humiliation of trying to raise our kids right.
That's why we'd love to invite everyone
in our audience to Wine to Mommy.
♪ Wine to Mommy. ♪
This is a safe space to laugh, cry, commiserate.
So, are you ready for this?
You've never done this with us before.
- I've never done this, I'm a little nervous, but I'm game.
- She just, every time somebody reaches front,
she's like sure, yeah, let's do it, yeah.
(laughter)
- I know I'm like, are we fake drinking or we-
- I have not, no. I've had like, totally a third of this.
So, let's get to the sharing, starting with Raven.
So Raven, first of all, congratulations.
Your little one is almost here, right?
- Almost here, thank you. Hi! How are you guys doing?
- Oh my God, you are so beautiful. You're so cute.
- [Raven] Oh, thank you.
- So, what's going on with you?
- Okay Kelly. So, I'm 35 weeks pregnant.
This is our first child. Me and my husband are expecting.
We're just so excited for her to be here so soon.
And I see her little sweet face, so we're so excited.
But, since the beginning of this pregnancy
we have been getting advice from everybody, all the time.
Every day. Some people are saying that we need
to rock our baby because that's how you
console and bond your baby. And then others saying,
no, never let it rock them. Let them cry it out
so that they get comfortable, kind of, consoling themselves.
We've had people even say something crazy like,
if we want her to walk early then we have to have
her in shoes all the time.
Or even if I'm having crazy heartburn
it's gotta be because my baby has a ton of hair.
So, Kelly, we just want to know will we constantly
bombarded with all these questions all the time,
even after our baby girl gets here?
[Kelly And Kristin] Oh yes, yes, yes.
- [Kelly] And that was so annoying, too.
And I was, people are trying to be helpful, I get it.
But I was like, look, I'm not looking to be that mom.
That's like, she has a tutor and she's gonna end up in
Harvard and she's gonna like. I'm not like,
I'm not, I'm not that mom.
Like, it's not, she's going to end up there if
she wants to be there. It's like,
let your baby walk when they're supposed to walk,
let your baby sleep when it- but do it how you want.
I will say, now that I've said that,
the one thing I did listen to was a book
called Twelve Hours by Twelve Weeks.
And it's the only thing I listened to. Everybody,
I read books, I did things, like, with my first child,
and I was so worried. That really did help.
It was the one advice I will say that changed my life,
the sleep training thing.
But, at the same time, do whatever's natural
for you and feels good for you and your man.
Like it's like, it's whatever you want it to be.
It's, it's gonna be that way. I think any way is fine.
- [Jen] Yeah.
- Yeah, I think you have to, I mean,
for me, you know, I felt like it was really important
for my child to feel safe in his own room, in his own bed.
And also, I was a newlywed,
so I didn't want him in our bed with us.
Like, I felt like that wasn't a good thing.
And so it was great, he loves his bed.
He loves his room. But, then when I'd want to like,
just take a nap with him, he was not
interested in coming into my bed.
So it's like, just find your way, you know?
I feel like I do know a lot
of my friends who let their kids sleep in their bed,
then couldn't get them out of the bed.
- [Kelly] I say no to that.
- [Juliana] So, I just wasn't interested in that.
'Cause I think, you know, happy parents, happy baby.
- [Jen] Yes.
- And I think that's more important, personally.
- Yeah. It feels like everybody always has advice,
and things to tell a pregnant woman.
Like we don't have, we're we're just open to it.
I say just be polite and ignore everybody.
But I was at Trader Joe's,
and this guy was helping me with my groceries.
No, I didn't know his name, so I looked at his price,
at his name tag. But he felt he could tell me
where I needed to put olive oil right before
I delivered the baby.
- What?!
(audience laughs)
- Turns out, olive can go to in pasta
and various parts of your orifices.
- [Kelly] Anatomy.
- Of your orifices. And I thought to myself,
have you any idea that,
also that sounded like an awesome idea.
I did listen to him a little bit.
But, at the end of the day, I was like,
you're not my OBGYN. You're just a guy at Trader Joe's,
but you feel like you're comfortable enough
to tell me this very graphic birth story.
- We always think that, like, the most important piece
of advice that you should be told by, like.
Other moms should clue you in on, is the first poop.
- [Kristin] Oh yeah.
- And we're not talking about the baby's,
we're talking about yours after delivery.
(Kelly laughs)
- [Kristin] No one tells you that, but honest to God.
- [Juliana] Don't scare her.
- [Kristin] You can't, we're gonna-
- [Juliana] You're scaring her.
- [Kristin] Prepare yourself, why do you think
you learn how to breathe?
- It's for, I mean. My son was 7.4 when he was born,
and that first poop was like an 8.6.
- [Kristin] 100 percent.
(Kelly laughs)
- People don't warn you.
It is a weird experience for your body afterwards.
You're like what?
- My band, y'all. They actually also invited
their mommas today. This is Jessie's momma, Jamie.
Hi, Jamie, how you doing?
- [Jamie] Good, how you doing?
- I'm doing all right. I've got wine, Jamie,
so it's a good day.
I hear you send Jesse songs that we should do on this show.
- Oh, I'm, I'm a big help. You know, I'm a helpful mama.
(everyone laughs)
Yeah, I have. I've sent her some that I thought.
I mean, the thing is, Kelly, you can sing anything,
any genre, it's just astounding.
And of course, this band can do anything
and in a very short period of time.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- Yeah, so I'm trying to send them some songs.
I am a big lyric fan, I love a great lyric.
So, I've been on them for a while about something like,
from my generation, Desperado. You know, Don Henley.
- Love.
- [Jamie] (indistinct)
Yes. Also, Clint Black. Clint Black did that. Yeah.
- [Jamie] It's a great song. And then another,
I kept thinking through this whole last year
and a half, where we've all been through so much
and we've had to learn to be there for each other
even when we couldn't actually be there with each other.
I kept thinking of that genius,
Paul Simon and Bridge Over Troubled Water.
I mean, you would kill that song.
- Have we not done that?
I think you might have brought that up, Jesse.
- 'Cause she texted me.
- [Kelly] Oh, okay, that's why. Okay.
(Kelly laughs)
No, okay. I was like, that's a great song, too.
I can't believe we haven't done that.
There are so many great ones.
Please keep sending the songs, we love the song requests.
(audience applauds)
- Great, I'm all in. Jessie knows, she's got the list.
- All right, All right. Those, both are great.
Let's add 'em, Jason.
All right, well thank you Jamie.
Everybody, let's get back to this Wine to Mommy session.
We have Lester's mamma, Pat,
wants to join in the discussion.
So, Pat is great to see you.
So, what do you want to talk about?
- Yes, it's good to see you too.
Mine is more of a grandma question.
I am a proud mom and a proud grandmother,
and I have 11 grandchildren and three of which are Lester's.
And so, my thing is when the grandkids come,
they know that there are no limits.
Me and Papa will go all out of our way
to make sure they're having a good time.
We go to the movies, we go out to eat, we go shopping.
I'm like here, yeah, go ahead and buy you something,
we'll take care of it. Don't worry.
And so, am I just doing a little bit too much?
Or should I pull back some?
- Let me, let me answer this, Kelly.
Yes, Mom, you're doing too much.
(Kelly laughs)
- Lester's like, yes you're doing too much.
- I say do more. And especially,
a good way to spoil kids is to add to the 529.
- [Kirstin] Yeah.
- That's a really, just cash.
- [Kirstin] Every time you take them to dinner
just mash that in their college fund,
(Jen laughs)
and then it doesn't feel so bad.
But, like, grandparents are supposed to spoil the grandkids.
That's your way to get back at us for when we were unruly.
You know, I think it's, I think it's nature.
(audience laughs)
- [Kelly] We're not gonna be helpful, Lester.
- My answer's not helpful either, because I do.
'Cause here's the thing though.
I look at them, 'cause my mom will do stuff like that too.
And, you know, spoil them. And she loves it,
and she doesn't see them as much, you know?
So, it's like, okay. So, but I let her do it.
And it's just like, I tell my kids, this is not normal.
This is grandma time. This is not,
what's going to happen every day.
Like, this is just the time you have with her.
- You have earned that right.
I feel like you've earned that right.
- [Kelly] Lester, you're screwed.
- 100 percent.
(everyone laughs)
- Ah, I love, I love it.
I think you've earned it as well.
Thank you so much, everybody.
Kristin and Jen's new children's book,
Meanest of the Meanies, is out right now.
And look out for their new wine line
coming soon, that's amazing.
I, you have to come back and talk about that.