WTF: WHAT THE FLU?!?

Welcome to the Carpool podcast with Kelly. Like I'm a full-fledged adult now from having the flu last year. Like there was just something about it, like having to take care of that many people. I'm an adult. And Liz. I now fully understand what you were referring to. It's not so much like you will never, like, it's not so much that you have this trauma. You're just in it and you're like, how does my life ever look normal again after this? Your mom time off starts now. Welcome back to the Carpool podcast with Kelly. And Liz. I'm not sick. I just have a horse, a frog in my throat. I'm horse. Oh my gosh. What am I? I don't know. You sound rough. I have come back from the dead. I'm not going to call me Lazarus because I'm, I'm back baby. The flu. Here's what I have to say. WTF. WTF. What the heck is that? Well, I think it's just important everyone remembers that there's being sick. There's you have a runny nose, like a cough. There's even like you have a low fever and then there's the flu and the two are not the same. The flu. I remember the year was 2020 and I had within a matter of like three or four months, I had the stomach flu. I had the regular flu. I had strep throat and I had COVID. And I remember saying the flu was the worst of all of those. Right. It, when someone says they have the flu, it's a thing is like most, most like viral sicknesses are like, okay, you're going to be out for 48 hours and then you're going to be feeling better. Flu, you're out for a week. Solid seven days. Yeah. Yeah. We're still recovering. I am on day seven. So I still have a bit of a cough, but I'm feeling so much better. And we had three ER visits and 911 ambulance call this week. Both my kids got sick. Maddie somehow made it through unscathed, but I was, I was down. The kids were down. And it was rough. And that is something I want to talk about. I kind of post, I posted on my stories like we went to the ER a couple of times and I had so many people messaging me like, what made you go to the ER? Why did you just go to the ER for the flu? Kind of a rude question to ask someone. So I wanted to talk about what made me go to the ER and like what symptoms we were having because I have found when I've talked about like Sloan's F-pies, it's been really helpful to people when you've talked about one of the three, some of your kids sicknesses actually really helped me during this flu season. So I want to talk about my past week. The platform is yours. This is your platform. You're kind of hard to listen to right now. First of all, totally. Why don't you rest your voice? So let's talk about my last week. Monday morning I wake up and I'm like, ooh, I'm not feeling very well. I'm kind of like low key. Have to stay in bed all day. This is weird. I still think maybe it's just like a cold or something like I'll kick this. Tuesday I wake up. Holy smokes. I'm in a bad spot. Still didn't know it was the flu. So I'm laying in bed. We have childcare. So our nanny was at our house because I didn't know how serious it was yet again. I still think like, oh, I just have a little cold. Nine a.m. she knocks on my door in my bedroom door, which she never does unless it's an emergency. And she's like something's wrong with James. She brings him to me and he was fine this morning. He was fine in the morning and she goes, he ate breakfast. He went into the living room to play and he was like silent. So she went to check on him and he was standing there. Eyes were kind of like rolling and he was shaking and he was not responsive. So she brings him to me. I bring him in bed. I can feel he's getting sweaty. He's getting hot. I can literally feel his temperature rising as I'm holding him throws up on me out of his nose. I'm like, what the heck is that? I bring him into the bathroom and he starts, um, he's like unresponsive. I'm calling Maddie. I'm calling Kelly. I'm like, what is going on? I take a video of him because he starts twitching on one side and I'm like, oh, he's having a febrile seizure right now. And I knew about this because had he had one, um, and Kelly had told me about that traumatizing story from her. So I was like, okay, I need to call 911. So I call the, Maddie leaves work. He starts driving home. He's like 20 minutes, 25 minutes away from home. I call the ambulance. James is covered in vomit. I'm covered in vomit. Um, ER gets here or ambulance gets here. Um, and they tell me he's having a seizure. They run an IV in like in the truck and then I'm still, so I'm like still so sick. So, um, Maddie gets to our house and he goes to the ER with James always comforting when the ambulance, the MTS tell you, you did the right thing. They were like, we needed to get, we were able to get an IV on him. We were able to stop the seizure. Um, something that I did that was helpful was I did take a video of his seizure because it was a slightly abnormal one because it was on one side of his body. So that did raise alarm for the doctor and we're going to be getting a follow up like brain scan for him. So hopefully that just like comes up clear, but a note I would give, I'm happy I have that video that we were able to show, um, the doctor. Also like if you can record it, it can also help time it because timing seizure, telling them how long it is is also really important. Yeah. Um, had a seizure when she had it, it was not very long. It was probably a total of like 35 to 45 seconds, but then after she was unresponsive, which was scary. Um, and like, I just think if they're having a seizure, you call 911 like sure, could you do it? Could they come out of it and could you take him to the ER? Sure. But I agree. Like my, uh, EMT said the same thing. They're like, I'm so happy you called us and didn't like try to get over there. Yeah, exactly. So that was, um, our first ER visit while he was there. We found out that he had flu a, which means, oh shoot, mom, I had flu. I have flu a as well. Um, so that was Tuesday. Um, Wednesday, I'm like kind of on the mend, but also in a bad spot. Kids both have fevers. Um, we're treating them. You know, I'm calling the pediatrician. I'm following up with all the people. Um, Maddie stays home from work to take care of all of us and we're just trying to get better Thursday. So then that night I slept with James. I had James sleep with me all night. Maddie slept with Sloan all night because I wanted like 24 seven monitoring of my children. Um, James wakes up the next morning and he like can't, he's having like a very hard time breathing and I'm like, all right, well, we're going back to the ER. Um, it, that time I went because he ended up, it ended up being croup and it sounded like croup, um, but also his breathing was very labored. It was very loud. It's called strider is what the doctor told me. Um, both of those ER visits, there was no question for me. I was like, no, he has, he has to go right now. There they gave us a nebulizer. They gave us a steroid. Um, left that ER visit feeling. Okay. Again, I did the right thing. He needed this treatment. Um, so I was happy about that. Uh, that day, both the kids end up breaking their fevers were fever free for 24 hours. We're still kind of not feeling great, but we're fever free. Thank goodness. Next morning, James wakes up with a fever again and also he's extremely tired where Sloan is getting better. James is getting worse. So I call the pediatrician and they said if his fever reaches over one oh one, and if he's super tired and responsive, you take him back to the ER clocked him at one oh two that evening. So this time I took him back to the ER. They weren't really able to do anything. They ran tests. I thought it was pneumonia, but everything came back fine. He did. They did find an ear infections. They gave us antibiotics for that. That was the only ER visit that like maybe was unnecessary, but at that point I was just following the pediatricians instructions. Um, so anyway, today everyone is doing a lot better. We're coughing, but like we're coughing it up, you know, yeah, our nose is running, but like we're getting, we're getting it all out of our system. We're all fever free. It's fine. What I've learned because like while ER trips are serious and also this is probably going to be super fricking expensive. That's fine. I don't care. Um, it's not that big of a deal. Like if you don't, it before this, I was like, I can only like call the ambulance or like go to the ER if like someone's bone is broken. Like it feels so serious to go to the ER, but I've also found that just especially a pediatric ER that can get you in really quickly. Luckily there's one close to us. So like there's not a wait time really necessarily. If you're just like not sure and you're like really struggling with it and you're really scared, it's okay to just take them. Like no one is going to think that you're crazy for getting your child checked out. Yeah. So that's something that I've learned. I'm happy you took him the third time because I did. They did give him fluids, which like could have been helped, which could have definitely been helpful in him feeling better. And I was with you. I was not convinced it wasn't ammonia or something like that. So and so I'm happy that you took him for that reassurance again. Right. And like Sloan, I never had to take her because I'm like, she's just sick. Like you can just tell the difference. Like you know your kids. And like also I'm not a doctor. So I don't know anything. So I'm like going based off of what me and chat she'd be here trying to collect. So I'm not trusting that medical advice. So I wanted to go to the doctor and I've always well. Yeah. So that's a little bit about what we've been through. So bright side is that we are going to be fine by the holidays. That is such a bright side. And luckily I haven't seen you in a long time. So I don't think we are at risk of catching what you guys had. And I'm just praying that we can stay healthy for the holidays. And I'm just thinking of all of you guys who might also be dealing with something like this because I just think the flu is really going around. And if you're not sick, my advice would be be prepping the house now. You know, if you have a few spare hours these next couple of weeks is there a freezer meal that you could make to have on hand? You know, are you stocked on Tylenol? Does your thermometer work? Because when the flu hits you, it's too late. Do you know what I mean? So what can you do now to prep for that? Yeah, something I will never not have on hand is popsicles. I will always have popsicles. See, I'm not popsicles. So that's a tangible takeaway. That's a tangible takeaway. I don't have any popsicles right now. Okay. Popsicle would be good for me right now, to be honest. Anyone can use a popsicle. Just like always have popsicles in the freezer is my advice. And God speed and God bless and I hope everyone stays healthy. But Kel, when you said this happened last year and you, your family, you would never be the same from it. I now fully understand what you were referring to. It's not so much like you will never like, it's not so much that you have this trauma. You're just in it and you're like, how does my life ever look normal again after this? And it will, obviously, but in the moment you're like, what the actual heck is going on? Yeah, no, it, it sounds silly to say that at the right page of 31, it made me grow up, but I grew up that week. Do you know what I mean? Like I'm a full fledged adult now from having the flu last year. Like there was just something about it, like having to take care of that many people. I'm an adult. Like I am now an official grownup. You know what? Maddie said the same thing about me. He goes, Elizabeth, you've grown so much since I knew you five years ago when we met. I don't think you wouldn't have acted the way that you did this week to a lot of the situations that went down. Totally. You've grown. You've grown as a person, as a human. Health is wealth. Well, what's my favorite quote? If you have your health, you have everything. My favorite quote is, the healthy have a hundred wishes and the unhealthy have one. You have to remember that. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. So anyway, that's what I wanted to say. So Tiz, Tiz Christmas Eve, you know, one of your notes from last year was put out podcast the week of Christmases. You lazy girls. Yeah. So here we are. Yep. Doing our best. Yeah. And like this is coming out on Christmas Eve. So I do feel it fears though the numbers could be quite low. But hopefully for those of you listening, it just. Provides a little bit of a little bit of comfort, a little bit of razzle dazzle to your Christmas season. Today's episode is brought to you by Clean Simple Eats. We just can't stop talking about Clean Simple Eats here on the Cardpool podcast. Kelly and I are both huge fans of Clean Simple Eats. We're having a CSE product daily, like a CSE o'clock in our household. I love their protein powder. They have a variety of delicious flavors and they are grass fed, no seed oils or artificial ingredients. Third party test in non-GMO and gluten free and has 20 grams of grass fed whey protein. The protein powder is also incredibly creamy and smooth without that chalky texture that's found in most protein powders. I'm also a huge fan of their canned drinks, specifically their energy drinks. I love the Island Paradise Island Sunrise, something like that. That one's my favorite one. They're all delicious, but that one's my favorite. I also love their clear sodas because it's a protein in a can, but it's a little bit carbonated, which I appreciate it as my afternoon pick me up. You can visit CleanSimpleEats.com and use code CARPOOL10 at checkout for 10% off your order if you're interested. That's CleanSimpleEats.com code CARPOOL10 for 10% off your order. The link is also in the show notes. Today's episode is brought to you by Newly. You know that feeling when you're invited to a wedding, a birthday party, a work thing, all in the same month, and suddenly you realize you have nothing to wear? Now add being pregnant to that. None of my regular clothes fit the same. 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Kelly ordered me a mobile IV to my bedside. So I've never had a mobile IV. I've never had an IV outside of the hospital. I know that there's IV bars that you can go to now where you go to a place and they hook you up and they give you vitamins or beauty stuff or hangover cures or whatever. But this one offered all that and also sick ones. So it was amazing. The nurse was telling me all about it. They only hire ER nurses for this job. Hold on. Let me look up the company because it's worldwide. Yeah. Look up the company. Yeah. I think it's called IV drip. No, I'm sorry. That's what the product's called. So when you find it, this company only hires ER nurses and the reason being, and she was telling me is because she's walked into a man's home and was like, sir, you are too sick. You need to go to the emergency room. So she came in. She took my vitals. She came straight to my bedside. I didn't have to go downstairs on the couch. She hooked me up. She answered any questions I had about just the general sickness that I'm experiencing. And she was like, I love this service because if you were to go to the ER and get this IV, it would cost you, even if you have great insurance, probably around $500. And I think that this plus tip was around 300. Yeah. You paid for it. I can pay you back. And I know if you go in person to some of those bars or whatever, they're like, what are they? They're like half that. They'd be like one second. Yeah. They're like half that. So if you, I couldn't have left, I couldn't have left my bed. It knocked me up a notch. It was great. It's a game changer. And I didn't have to go to the ER. I didn't have to wait in the ER. She came straight to my bedside. I would have not gotten this done if it weren't for the mobile. So something to consider. She did say they did immune ones as well. I almost had her come back to hit Maddie with one. A service I will be frequenting again if you are that desperate. And again, there's not a cheaper option. It's not like the ER is a cheaper option. Going to one of those places in person is the cheaper option. Anyway, life hack helped a lot. Yeah. So the company was called drip hydration. And I just Googled like near where Elizabeth lives. And it was very, they were able to come that same day, which I also really liked. So I booked it, I think at four and they came to her house at 8 30, which was a little late, but like whatever, that's when they could come. She told me, she goes, well, there's no all the other girls that there's only three girls in St. Louis that do it. She said they're out of town and I just got off my work, but I saw your request come in. I'm like, oh, this poor girl is so sick. So she came straight after her work as a knee earner. So God bless her. No, I love that it's in the Arnors. I just think them giving you a once over is like so good to hear. Exactly. I'm so happy. I thought of it. So I'm I actually, I get IVs pretty frequently. I go to this place called Victory Men's Health in St. Louis. It's a men's clinic, but I know the owner and it's I I like the vibes there. Like they put you in these like comfy massage chairs and then you like basically just like look at framed photos of women. Like it's a little weird, but it's kind of, but whatever I like it. Not like overly sexy photos. Just it's like it's a place designed for men, but I go for the IVs. And I think that they help tremendously. And I didn't know how I could serve you because like no offense, like didn't want to come anywhere near you. And you guys also like didn't want food because like you were mom had brought you dinner and like you guys didn't really have much of an appetite. So I'm like, let's get this girl an IV. And it was a great process. The only thing that was funny was like I had to book it. So I booked it for you, but I acted like I was you. So I was like, my name, like my name is Elizabeth St. John. And then a doctor has to call you to approve the IV. And they call and they're like, Hey, you know, I saw that you have this request for an IV, like what are you like, what do you need it for? And I'm like, Oh, she has flu. I, he's like, you have flu. I'm like, I'm sick. Yeah. I have flu. I wish I had this voice and I wouldn't have to pretend. I know. Yeah. But no, it's so, so clutch. Look it up if you need one worth its weight and gold for me. Really knocked me up a notch. She said I was super dehydrated because I like suck that IV up. So rain bag. I did. She was in and out. Well, while you were out, I had a pretty, pretty good podcast episode go out. I just sat on the mic and told the herstory of the car mom. And it kind of got rave reviews. Had, did you ever get a chance to listen to it? I'm in the middle of listening to it right now. I almost didn't want you to listen to it. And I wanted you to record like the history of the car mom from your POV. I feel like I could still do that and also listen to yours. Because I just feel like you'll have like different stories or like different, like, you know, you know, tangible takeaways and like turning points on like when it started to get, you know, to what it is. Yeah. No, there's some, there's some good stories. It would be nice to be, it would be nice to revisit. I would love to tell my POV. Well, hopefully I don't get flu away, but if I do find myself with flu a get on the mic. We'll keep that. We'll keep that topic in our back pocket. But anyway, we had, I had a big week last week. So that, so you have the flu and I'm trying to host a party for 28 people. So that was a little stressful. Oh, I know you haven't even told me about it because I have like not been in the in a headspace to listen to it. My party, my little like girls night out girls night in Kelly's house was a 10 out of 10. Oh, good. Sat down to write my notes. I had very few. I had just repeat what you did last this year. Like it just was flawless. My only note was I made too many versions of a margarita pizza, which like you have to have like a couple in case there's a picky eater in the bunch. But these girls were adventurous because I ran out of the fig and prosciutto so fast. Yeah. Like I didn't even get a piece. So my note, my only note was have like one margarita made. Everything else needs to be fig, prosciutto, like something sassier, you know? Yeah. Yeah. That's good to know. That's how you know you've got good friends. I just love girls that are like down for a fig and prosciutto. That's what I'm saying. Um, I also didn't, didn't end up doing a specialty cocktail and I didn't feel great about that decision. So I did put on my notes too. I'm going to ask somebody to like bring a specialty cocktail because like two of the girls who come are like very like, like they're always the girls like bringing their like making fun drinks, you know? So I'm like, can you just bring the jingle, jingle punch? Yeah. But we flew through Prosecco, flew through wine, flew through everything. Like people had a lot of fun. I got so many nice texts afterwards being like, thank you so much. That was so much fun. I can't wait for next year. So that felt really good. Um, the game was fun. One thing I did on the game for the Rob Your Neighbor, which I feel like just kind of helped make everything go a little smoother is I didn't do the whole hub of blue of like, oh, how many things do we have? Like, let me get everyone's number down. I had preselected a seat that was just going to start when we were going to go clockwise. So like no one knew what the seat was. Uh-huh. But like everyone sat down and I was like, okay, Haley, you're in the seat that starts, we're going clockwise. Yeah. And then I was just like, easier than like, how many do I have? And then like, okay, who's 13? Like, and like people weren't paying attention. It kind of allowed like the section of the circle that was like going to pay attention, like then other people could kind of like not pay as close attention, you know? Yeah. So that was. That's a good idea. Yeah. That was like just easy. Um, yeah. I mean, it was, it was a blast. Like I've just had a lot of fun. Good. I'm so glad to hear that. Yeah. You need to come one year. Would love to see you. Yeah. You missed the last two. I know. I know. I should come. You should come. You can bring a friend. It's, it's a, it's a fun. It's just so fun to. I've said this a hundred times. It was so fun to be out, kind of dressed up, you know, like this is not like everyone's wearing a healed booty. You know, this is not, we're not, this is not coming your Christmas jammies. You know how I feel about those. Um, this was come a little, come a little, you know, it's the holidays and everyone came holidays. You know what? I'm so happy to hear that because my girl's night, me and my girlfriend's were so sick of dressing for the holidays. We said change of plans, leggings and sweatshirts to our dinner. Roll up. It was lovely. Well, that's holidays, but also sometimes you're just sick of holidaying. And you just, Oh, and that's fine. But this was, this, this was a good time to be it. Mm hmm. So that's been going on. And then from there, it was just bus club, you know, it's Christmas party, Christmas lights, hot cocoa, this like to be a mom with a grade school age child in the month of December, I only have, I have one in grade school, but like two at school. I can't imagine logistically when they're all foreign grade school. Like, I don't know what I'm going to do. It's going to be a logistical nightmare. Everyone needs a present. Everyone has a spirit day. Everyone has a project. Everyone has a party. I'm exhausted. I'm exhausted from it. What I've learned. Yeah, that sounds, that sounds tough. You said this before on the holidays to not delay the joy because I had, I had grand plans for Christmas lights. I had grand plans for things. And then the flu the week before Christmas knocked us out. And I'm like, okay, well now Christmas is in two days. Yeah. We haven't done any of the things. Now my saving grace a little bit is like my kids are so young. So A, it doesn't matter. And B, like we can go look at Christmas lights after Christmas. It's fine. But, um, yeah, you know, you, you never know how really in December, you never know how long you're going to have. You never know. No, I agree. And if an illness is going to take you out and so just don't delay the joys is my, is my big note for the year. Um, and wash your hands constantly. I know where I got it from. Maddie and I went to the bank to, um, finally combine our bank account. And the woman who's our teller or whatever, the woman who's doing the things, she's handling my cards, my ID, all my stuff. And she's coughing. And I'm like, hmm, don't love that. And she goes, oh, don't worry. It's just allergies. And I'm like, who the heck has allergies in December? Hmm. So I'm blaming her. Um, so yeah, I'll just do things. I'll do things differently next year. Well, it does sound like that tracks, but. Sounds like the bank should offer sick time. Yeah. And that's what I obviously, she was going on that. And that's what I was saying. I agree. It's big corporations keeping us sick. Um, so anyway, yeah, so when we're recording this, it's Monday. We've got Christmas Eve coming up. I am so excited to give my kids their Christmas presents. This is like one of the first, well, I'm not sure. Well, had he's getting a gymnastics bar, which I think she's just going to, I think all of my kids are going to freak about it. Like I'm so excited because we've gone to a couple of friends houses who have had it and I don't think she's expecting it at all because she's only asked for Barbies for Christmas. So she's not expecting it. So I'm very, very excited for her. Um, Fred is in the age where he just likes a present. Like whatever Fred gets for Christmas, like it's the coolest thing. So we had Tyler's mom's Christmas this past weekend. It was such a fun day. And she's very good at giving kids, um, like unexpected gifts. So she got Fred a pair of handcuffs. She got Fred a pair of handcuffs and like a magnifying glass, like a big one, like not like a cheap plastic one. Thrilled. The kid is thrilled. They are his favorite treasures. Like he's so obsessed with them. And we've just been getting like so much like trash and trinkets. Like throughout this last week, it's been exhausting. And I just want to say like my MVP of the week has been clear totes, the small clear totes with a lid on them. I had some in my basement. I gave the three bigs their own small clear tote with a lid on it. I said, these are your treasure boxes. Oh, love it. So like if I find your trash and trinket on the ground, it's in your treasure box or it's in the trash. Like these are, these are like things that don't, like they don't have a home. Like what do I do with like the Christmas pen that came home or like, you know, like, like the stupid, the stupid crap that they've been getting. Um, but then some cool stuff too. So George got that. Barb gave George, sorry, Fred got that. Barb gave George his big present was a metal detector, which is so fun for George. So fun for George. Like that's the perfect gift. And then she also found, she goes like shopping in her basement a lot. Barb holds on to things. And she gave George a piece of a music box that plays amazing grace. It's like a metal thing. It's like would be inside a jewelry box from like the freaking like 40s. Like where did she get this from? And he spins it and it plays amazing grace. Like the coolest thing in the world. Yeah. And then she got Hattie, um, a set of pink tools in a toolbox so she can go help her dad up at the barn. Barb just really, there are some people who just get kids. She just gets them. She understands them. Totally gets them. And she's so like something like I wish I could, one of the ways I wish I could be more like her and that I'm going to work on, especially in the new year is like. The, it's, it's almost to her fault. Like the world could be burning down around her. And like if Hattie, you know, wants to take it a bath, she'll be like, yes. And she will like drop what she's doing, go to the bath, get Hattie like fancy bath salts or like fancy like soap, get her a special towel, get her special toys. And it's like, oh my gosh, like she just will stop what she's doing. And like she will just make like that moment so special for my kids. I feel like I'm not even explaining it well. I can't really even put it into words, but like instead of like getting overwhelmed with all of it's to do, she just like redirects her attention. And she just like whatever need that they want. She like will not only meet it, but like she will exceed it. Like it's crazy craziest thing. I'm over here like, Barb, you can finish the dishes or like you can finish getting like get dinner together, Barb. Like she does not need to take a bath right now at your house. Like it's OK. But like to her, she's like, no, we're doing this. She's an acts of service person, 100 percent. 100 percent. She. Yes, 100 percent. What do you think your love languages? Words of affirmation. Yeah. What's yours? Probably words of affirmation as well. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like people who say gifts like that's so crazy. Don't like that. I think I think gifts. I think no one wants to admit gifts because it sounds crazy. But I also think like I get it, though. It's like a gift could be like flowers into them. It's like you stopped and you thought of me and you got me this flower or you saw this candy bar that I like. Like it's not always like, oh, I got you a diamond necklace. It's like I went out of my way and I got this for you. And that's how I'm showing you love. Like that's yeah, I think people are so misunderstood and get such a bad rap. But it's like they just like to be known that they were thought of. I think some give people feel that way. I have a little bit of gift in me, but also that's mostly not. See, I feel like I am almost the opposite of like I don't like receiving gifts all that much, mainly because I am the world's worst gift giver. Yeah. To my children, absolutely not. Like my kids are the only people that I feel like I know and can buy gifts that they really like. I don't know why. Luckily, I'm OK. Luckily, I'm good at giving my kids gifts. Like I always know what they're going to love. But like I had to buy last year, I had to buy Elizabeth the 30th birthday present. Nothing. Absolutely. Like I struggled with it. I'm not even proud of it. I bought her like a nice American flag sweatshirt. But like sweater sweater. Yeah, I mean, it was a nice sweater. Like it was like $200 sweater. But like that's the best I could come up with. Like a flip and sweater. Like you're my sister, you're my business partner, you're my best friend in this entire world. I hate giving gifts because my brain just I am a thoughtful person. I know I am. But for whatever reason with gifts, it's like you would think I don't know you at all. Yeah, I have Charlotte for secret, Santa. And it's stupid. Like I might as well just hand her 50 bucks because like I don't I am so bad at that. Yeah. Yeah, I don't like it. I don't like giving gifts. Yeah, I like it. Well, anyway, like I said, I'm excited for to give my kids their Christmas presents. I'm excited for Christmas and then I'm excited to move on from Christmas. Yeah. And I'm ready for 2026. We'll need to do an episode. Maybe our next episode can be like kind of like 2025 at a glance and like 2026 goals. Have you thought of your word of the year yet? You know what? I I did the other day and I I need to remember what it was because I wanted to talk about this on the podcast. Oh, I do. I do not. I don't have a word yet, but I have a vibe. I need to I need to narrow it down to to a word. Do you want to tell me? Well, here's my thing. I feel like since I married Maddie and so just just in general, I am not a very patient person. I'm always looking towards the next thing and I do things very quickly. Just in my life, I eat quickly. I shower quickly. I just I do things quickly. I don't live in the moment and I'm not very patient. And I think that has dropped me in. You know, I had kids 15 months apart. I moved. We moved homes after being there for only two years. I moved into my new house and I was like, I want to renovate within a year of living here. And I just feel like this constant like a chasing or moving on to the next part of my life has. Felt has kind of left me in kind of this rushed state and the last few weeks of like, I'm really getting the hang of the two kids and like, I'm baking and I'm just like, I'm kind of getting more space for time of other things instead of just looking towards the next thing. I'm like, I feel like I'm succeeding at things. And for the past few years, I feel like I've just been trying to keep up and just like keep my head around above water because I keep putting new challenges in my way. And I just kind of want to slow down a little bit. OK. And like be OK with where I'm where I'm at right now. All right, then. I think that's a good one. So maybe slow down. OK. I don't have my name. I'm not ready. OK. We do kind of have to run because we still have meetings today, Beeps. So I'm going to give her one quick little hit of industry news and then we're going to we have to skedaddle. OK, I do have I do have a dish that I have there. OK, good. So hold on. I got a fine. My story is not pulled up. OK, so now it's time for industry news where I spill the hot tea going on the auto industry. Volkswagen cancels the ID buzz for 2026. The promise is it will be back. Oh. The production of the electric band will skip the 2026 model year following the ID buzz merging sales and shrinking, sorry, meager sales and shrinking E.D. market. The ID buzz will skip the 26 model year. The auto maker confirmed the ID buzz is not dead. Volkswagen insists with the break instead allowing the company to repair the transition for the 2027 model. Volkswagen had sold just 4,934 of the units of the ID buzz this year and through the third quarter of 2025. So I don't think I really don't think they'll bring it back. I don't think they will. I'm sorry, it's a stupid car. Like it's so niche. It was all electric. It's for such a. It's for the wrong market. Like it's not it's not an everyday family car. No. And that they had that horrible recall in the third row. Yeah. That sucks. I just started to see them on the road too. Yeah. You know, I kind of thought like that that this was going to kind of be like the cyber truck or the cyber truck was going to kind of be like this. I see cyber trucks freaking everywhere. You do not see ID buzzes anywhere. It's just it's a bad it's bad. I would have the option to drive one as a demo technically because our family owns a Volkswagen dealership wouldn't consider it. And I love a minivan would not consider it. Yeah, it's just a little much. It's a little much. It's not good. That's your industry news. I don't know if anyone's surprised. We'll see what we'll see what 27 brings, but. Maybe they'll bring it back and put a gap and put an engine in it. I don't know. Volkswagen, just bring us in on it. Like maybe we can help salvage it. If like you're trying to market it towards families, like maybe we can try and salvage it. Yeah, bring us in. Bring us in. OK, quick ditch the drive through. This is a reminder to you that pigs in a blanket is something you can serve your family for dinner. Yeah, totally. I make things. You also don't always have to do the little smokies. You can just wrap a hot dog in a crescent roll and serve that. I've been there before. Yeah. So that's just a friendly. That's just that's it. That's just your reminder. Pigs in a blanket can be dinner. Well, and we might need any dinner tonight. I am today going to be prepping my my chuck roast for Sassy Ramen bowls on Christmas Day. Love it. I'm excited about. Did an Instacart order. I saw the funniest reel and it was like this week is only for the professional shoppers in the grocery store. Like do not send your husband. Do not bring your children in the grocery store. Like let us get in and get out. Yeah. Get out of my way. Yeah. Get out of my way. And like it's just it's not the time to send your husband to mess at the grocery order. I shall call you 100 times. Like this is this is our Super Bowl. Yeah, I will have to make a pit stop tomorrow. I'm so excited because George and Hattie I found this like a art camp in our town. It's three hours. It's a three hour drop off and they like make three crafts. I'm like perfect. So I'm going to be taking the the bigs to that tomorrow and I'm going to hit some last minute stores. Love it. On the 23rd. Love it. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers. You you've got them. And that's our episode which wasn't great but it was an episode on Christmas Eve and for that hopefully you guys are happy. Thank you so much for listening to this chaotic episode of the Carpool podcast and we'll talk to you next time. See you. Thank you for listening to the Carpool podcast with Kelly and Liz. 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