Two Doting Dads with Matty J & Ash - Cock-blocked by my own child

Episode Date: May 9, 2023

Ash has a pregnancy scare, which is a real bloody mystery as it's post vasectomy. Matt and Laura try to book in sexy time - the only problem is that their children do everything in their power to make sure it doesn't happen. Also, Ash hits rock bottom as he finds himself eating a microwave kids meal out of the bin after a night on the tins. We also have a crack at answering your parenting questions: Placenta encapsulation update  Do you ever get dad-guilt? Do you have a favourite child? Follow @twodotingdads on Instagram here. Or slide into our DM's with any parenting question you need answered by a couple of doting dads.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Question for you. Shoot. Do you have any grey hair pubes? I haven't inspected that closely, but not noticeably. We'll get my wife down here and ask her. Yeah. Mate. You're going grey.

You're going Clooney. I've got grey hairs on my ball sack. Oh, my God. I know. You can honestly start calling him Clooney now and be like, hey, babe, Clooney's here. Welcome back to Two Doting Dads, episode three. Yeah, episode three.

Wow, time's flying. If anyone doesn't know, my name is Matty J. And I'm Ash. This is a conversation all about parenting. Good, bad. Relatable. If you're coming for advice, you have to always say... Turn back now.

Yeah, stop it right now. We may be two doting dads, but we don't know what the fuck we're doing. We're just doing our best and that's all that matters you look good though you've got like a little spring in your step do today like happy couple days no beers feeling good actually it's been a bit of a rough couple of days what happened i had a pregnancy scare now i know what you're thinking what does that matter first of all when i say pregnancy, I am petrified of having a third child. But I've also had a vasectomy. What percentage do they tell you, like, this is going to be 99.9 or what's...

I honestly didn't watch the video that they give you at the end. And I didn't watch the video at the start. I didn't ask the question. But the thing is, okay, so when you go get a vasectomy, they say, okay, so in three months or 20 wanks time round about that time or if the three months goes over or in like a week if you're ash yeah or if the three months goes over your birthday and it's 19 wanks then you go get tested to see if you're sterile and like me and a lot of other men we didn't go back and get tested to see if i'm actually sterile because it's non-critical

right you're like if you've done your job we're fine well i have a lot of faith in that doctor so anyway april comes to me a couple of days ago and she says i'm late and i was like i just sat awake on an operating table where someone snipped away at my testicles and now you're telling me i'm gonna have a third mouth to feed we're freaking out i'm in the supermarket buying pregnancy tests running into really close friends holding a pregnancy test like hiding it in the supermarket going fuck because it's like i don't know it's always the way when you're buying eggs and milk you see no one yeah when you're buying like hemorrhoid cream and pregnancy tests

you bump into your old school teacher what you grab it yeah condoms you don't need those well i thought i didn't anyway because yeah obviously you wouldn't even have a pregnancy test anyway when did you get the snip last year like we're talking six from seven months ago so when you're driving to the supermarket or the pharmacy what's going through your mind I was thinking about just not stopping. Yeah. Continue. Red lights. Continue on.

Straight through. See what happens. But yeah, look, she comes to me, I'm three or four days late. And I'm like, you have got to be kidding me. Wow. Anyway, so finally, finally she got a period. And we're like, thank God. But we had that, you know, you have that conversation where you're like thank god but we had that you know you have that

conversation when you're like what are we going to do yeah and we both said let's not have that conversation until it's certain because it could be like it's a miracle child could be a miracle or a mistake we don't know but anyway i probably should book in and go get tested whether i'm sterile or not knowing my semen they've figured it out down there tried to rerouted they rerouted yeah there's a little one down there with a detour sign this way fellas this way to the end of the cock so it's a hard no it's hard no for three yeah for me always going to be two that was it one was always going to be the case then once we had one like not doing it again but no then we were like we'll have two and thankfully we had two still on the fence a little

bit well according to who weekly you're having a third kid yeah i don't know i don't know where we're at with the third gotta have sex first i suppose well actually a little uh hang, a little adventure last night. I woke up this morning and the sun was shining brightly. The birds were chirping beautifully. The flowers smelled beautiful. I was skipping to my car. My neighbour, who I don't really talk to, I was like, hi, Glenn. He got some up.

Had sex. Beautiful. What's up? Well, that's worth it. I'm'm gonna call her after and see how it was oh look it was oh it wasn't with laura it was just it hasn't been that long like laura and i were like we're pretty good have sex you know regularly she's been really really busy absolutely flat out and then when we're gonna have sex she had a period a little roadblock yeah Yeah, yeah. Waiting patiently.

And then Tuesday's a great day because, you know, Laura doesn't work too late. There's nothing ever on on a Tuesday, really. And so that morning when we left for work, Laura was like. Preempted. Well, ours is always preempted, yeah. That preempted. Yeah, which sometimes I don't like. Sometimes I want it to be this like. Sometimes you just so desperate like okay on october 15th we're gonna

do it then that's another thing too with this pregnancy scare because i was like how did this happen and she was like oh i tracked it back and it just so happened that i was ovulating that day i'm like oh my fucking god i'm gonna have a third kid this is gonna be really stupid ovulating happens before the period oh i must do i feel like i should know that we are two men who have no idea clearly we've worked that out we were lucky in that we never looked at the calendar just one of those annoying couples where like first or second time yeah and it's like i hate talking about this because there's people out there that are really struggling. Like IVF, that is hard, hard work.

We were very, very fortunate. Also got some bloody strong swimmers. Surprisingly. Yeah, I'm surprised. After what I put myself through in my 20s. I think it just made them stronger. More resilient. Yeah, yeah.

So we had this planned sex a time in the morning. And Laura was like, yeah, like later on, you and me. Yeah. Really setting the mood. And I was like, oh, I can't wait. In the morning, you have really good intentions. You know, you've got the whole day ahead of you. Walking around with an erection all day.

I was waving goodbye to her with a massive stiffy. With a horn on. When are you coming back? Yeah, I'll be right here. And then by the afternoon, you pick up the kids from daycare at like 5 o'clock. You then got to do dinner and that just sucks out any energy that you have. Buzzkill moment.

Yeah, Buzz Killington. Right? My children cock block the hell out of me. They love it. At the moment, it kind of fluctuates between if they like mum or they like dad. At the moment, I feel like they hate me. Welcome to my world. Yeah.

No. They just resist everything you ask of them. Every mouthful. They don't want to sit at their little kid's table. They want to sit at the, you know, just everything. every step of the way is met with like fierce resistance even ash to the point where we don't have a bath at home just go to shower and you know you give them like five minute warnings one minute warning we're getting out of the shower like they don't want to go in the shower when they're in the shower they don't want to get out of the shower and i was like lola she's two i was

like it's time to get out and she's wasting water yeah let's wrap up this show we're going to get out of the shower. And I was like, Lola, she's two. I was like, it's time to get out. You're wasting water. Yeah, let's wrap up this show. We're going to get ready for bed. And she looks at me. Dude, that's what I did. Oh, no. That was a joke.

You just hit the reality of that. She's looking at me and she's like, fuck you, Dad. And I'm like, Lola, come on. I'm being as pleasant as I can. And I'm like, do you know what? I'm just going to slowly put it a little bit colder. I was on full ball cold. And she was still in there.

She's just sitting there. Ice man. Copping it, staring at me. She's like Wim Hof. She's just in there going, this is actually good for me. I'm going to be here for two more minutes and let my body adjust to this. I was like, what is wrong with my children? I'm like, this isn't normal.

Ice queen. So then eventually I'm like, turn the water off, get her in bed. And then we had dinner. It's now, once you send a couple of emails, check your phone. It's midnight nearly. I got a text message from you at like 11 p.m. So it must have been after that. You kind of get to that point where I'm looking at Laura

and she's like, oh, should we go to bed? And then we're both kind of like, we've missed the window. The sex window is like 9 o'clock maybe. I see what you do with windows. You usually duct tape them up. Yeah, yeah. Up in a bed and we're like, should we? Yeah, okay. It's like, yeah, all right, get it done.

You're already laying on the workbench. You might as well just get some work done. And guess who decides to come in? Oh, which one? Marley. Okay, yeah, she's curious. And we were like in the midst, in the midst. We heard her coming, but we were like, oh, like, come on, go back, go back to bed.

You can hear her coming, that's good. If you can't hear her coming... It would have been freaking awkward. I just had the worst flashback of my life. Can you share? I can share. I was like, I don't know, like 12, 13, and walked into my mum giving my dad a hand.

Oh, my God. Mum, I'm so sorry. In the bedroom? Where was it? Yeah, yeah. Did they say anything? That's never been spoken about until right now. They've never like...

Never been mentioned and now my mum's going to find out. Did you just open the door, shut it straight away? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Couldn't get out of there quick enough. What was her form like? Great. Just changed hands without missing a stroke. Oh, my God.

I hate myself so much right now. I feel like we're just uncovering some deep, dark wounds. It's about parenting. Not my parents' parenting. Our parenting. Anyway. Happens to us all. Happens to us happens to us all okay anyway got the job done thanks for comforting me and my we're gonna get through this don't worry all right but i got the job done and i don't know if it's the same did you shush her

back to bed or just be like chuck a blanket over and get on with it at the time i was thinking to myself well this is like show's over yeah not gonna yeah there's not Yeah. There's not going to be any follow up after that. We're not going to have this crescendo moment. And then I was like, do you want to get back to bed? And she was like, yeah, okay. We're back to bed. I was like, thank you. And then about 30 seconds later, I was done.

30 seconds. That was fair. It was about a good 45. We're here for a good time. Not a long time. I was like, well, Laura, good night. She's like, um. You've already rolled over.

Sorry. Sorry about that. But today I've woken up and I'm just like. Chipper. I'm so. So good. I bumped into a family at daycare on the drop off. You know, sometimes you just want to like get the kids out there and like head down.

I was chatting to everyone. Telling them about it. Yes. Yes. Very good. I'm impressed and I'm like, get the kids out there and head down. I was chatting to everyone. Telling them about it. Yes. Very good. I'm impressed and I'm proud. Matthew, have you ever heard about Annabelle Carmans? Annabelle Carmans. What?

Person? No, it's a frozen child's meal. So I've got something to admit to you that I'm not proud of. No one else knows this. Okay. I'm the sole person who knows this. My wife doesn't even know this. She's upstairs.

I know. She's going to find out. Do you think she's listening? It's not like, it's not like, how fucking dare? It's more, it's embarrassing for me. Okay. So anyway, Annabelle Carman's is a frozen kid's meal. You think? This sounds harmless. Yes. It's more, it's embarrassing for me. Okay, so anyway, Annabelle Cummins is a frozen kid's meal. You think, this sounds harmless.

Yes. It's absolutely harmless. A little like microwave job. Yeah. Yeah, lovely. So last week we had quite a big boozy week, mainly me. You were very on your best behavior. Me, not so much.

You had a few beers. Had a few beers and I've stumbled home. Peckish. Because roughly what time is this? 2.30 in the morning. Very hungry. Ravenous. 2.30 in the morning knowing full well I'm going to have to be up at 5.30.

But I'm starving. I walk in that door. It's a long way home from wherever we were. And I've stumbled in and I thought, oh. What's in the fridge? What's in the fridge? But before getting to the fridge, in the corner of my eye, I've seen an Annabelle Carmens box in the recycling.

And I've thought. We're on. My kids had Annabelle Carmens for dinner, but I know they wouldn't have finished it. I know where you're going. So I've buried my head into the bin, scooped out the remainder of a Annabelle Carman's, reheated it, and ate it.

You are fucking disgusting. Shame on you, Ashton Wicks. Do you want to know what flavour it was? Please. Butter chicken. Did you second guess yourself or was it straight in? Didn't even think about it. I was like, it was like I was hunting for food

and just took it down like a lion would take down a gazelle or a zebra. When you're sitting there on the couch. I ate it at the bench. Look, I'm not proud of it. that's why i haven't told anybody and i you know i woke up with a lot of anxiety anyway did it even hit the signs i kind of it was enough okay so it was enough so daddy was full daddy was it was a nice little treat to get me through the night but it just led me to think, like, what are some people's desperate leftover moments? And, like, that is, like, the – like, do you know I haven't had a drink since?

Let's put it that way. Okay, because before we started recording, we were down at the cafe and you were invited for a couple of beers on Friday, which you said – I'm off the beers. I'm not drinking. Is this all because of the fact that you're – It's a part of it. You're eating out of the bin. I essentially ate out of the business. I'm not drinking. Is this all because of the fact that you're... It's a part of it. You're eating out of the bin?

I essentially ate out of the bin. Yeah. Do you know what? I think, personally... Play on? I like... You don't want to waste food. Play on.

Six again. The thing about butter chicken is that it's a really pungent dish. So, did you hop into bed? Did April at any point go... No. You kind of smell a bit like butter chicken i had a shower i rinse off okay whatsoever of me stenching like sorry anyway it was a moment of weakness i regret it but i feel so much better telling you that

do you think this non-drinking phase will be like a week, two weeks? What do we... It'll be like two weeks. But it's like a two weeks cleanse to forget. Because it was like, look, just picture a fully grown man with no t-shirt on, just scooping some butter chicken out of the pan. Half cut. Half cut.

Heating it back up and eating it with his hands on the kitchen bench. You didn't even use fucking cutlery. I just scooped it into my mouth. Opened the gullet. I didn't have time for that shit. Oh, dude. Sometimes you've got to hit rock bottom to then work your way back up. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was delicious. If anyone's going to ask follow-up questions, don't, because I'd say it was delicious and nutritious. I'm trying to think of a story where I've done something similar, except, like, for me it's normally just the cold toast that's still sitting there from breakfast at around lunchtime. Elite level leftover. I was just saying that this morning.

I had some peanut butter toast leftover from Macy. I was like, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. That's mine. My kids don't really eat. Neither. And so when you're feeding them. That's why I knew there was going to be some left. That's why I went hunting for it.

I thought I was like Sherlock Holmes. I'm like, hang on a second. Let me put a couple of things together here. There's definitely going to be some butter chicken in the bin. And I was right. And I ate it. Fuck, dude. Look at yourself.

Look at who you've become. And April, this is at who you've become. And April, this is the man you've married. The man of your dreams, babe. This is the father of your children. The current father of your children. So next week when we record again, we'll be in like a really dodgy one bedroom motel

because Ash has been kicked out of home. Oh my God. Very embarrassing. You fucking animal. I'm an animal. I'm essentially like a bird getting something out of the. Oh my God. Very embarrassing. You fucking animal. I'm an animal. I'm essentially like a bird getting something out of the bean. You're an ibis. I'm an ibis.

I am a bean chicken. Ash, it's time for a couple of questions. Last week, we did our first, our inaugural Q&A. Yeah, we did. And one of my favourite questions that there's been a lot of chit-chat on socials about this, it was a placenta encapsulation. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. Is this the different ways to cook your placenta?

Yeah, the smoked, fried, steamed. I didn't think it was widely done. I thought it was like... I thought someone just threw it at us to be like, this will real fuck them up. But people have come out of the woodworks and they're advocating for it. I've had so many people put on stories on our Instagram.

Has anyone done this? Expecting maybe like one? One of my neighbours came to me and she said, we did this, but they didn't take them. So the husband threw them out eventually because they were just taking up room. They could have kept them in the freezer. Yeah but they didn't take them so the husband threw them out eventually because they were just taking that room in the they could keep in the freezer yeah people say keep them in the freezer yeah this whole new world that we've just been opened up to i had no idea and also a couple of people were like hey you because i was kind of thinking that's

crazy talk like who the hell is going to eat the placenta i thought people may come at us and be like how dare you attack the placenta eaters they'll be out the front of our house protesting about it yeah but they've been really great they've actually they've been more informative haven't they very forthcoming with information i think overwhelmingly the mums have said that it helped and they've also kind of said like i don't know if it was placebo but like my recovery was quicker i felt better and i was like like hang on a second how does it work like how much does it cost how much do you think it costs ten thousand dollars it's actually a lot more cost effective oh it's very reasonable it's not in the realms of unaffordability one

tablet or for like that for a course of to process the entire placenta the entire can you give me an indication of how many tablets you get out of one placenta yeah yeah okay and i'll break it down from that point yuck sorry i'm on the kids ipad photo of a shit on there yeah just that one you sent me this morning yeah same shit oh that was last shit? Oh, that was last night. Oh. Yeah. Okay. You're all proud of it. So from one placenta, this lady has said that you get about three months worth of caps, of placenta caps. Caps.

And so it looks like roughly about 90. Okay. Well, let's go with 90 caps. Let's go $10 a cap, $900. Dang. Way better than that. So between- $450.

$400 to $500 is what you're paying. Oh, wow. Yeah. five dollars a cap that's great value except the weird thing is because i thought it's a bit of a unique object it's an organ right and it's pretty full-on it's like how do you get it to the person like how does that process yeah yeah what are you sending? They weigh it. It's kind of Queensland. You have to get it to them really, really quickly. So as soon as birth is over, you've got to put it on ice.

And one mum was saying that they brought in like a Peter's ice cream tub that was cleaned out. Did she get really excited before they opened it? Like, here's an ice cream tub. Oh, ice cream. Napoleana. Napoleana, yeah. opened and they're like he's ice cream to oh napoleona the dad after childbirth the dad had to get them to put it in a tub lid on and he then had to walk out to the car park like doing a drug deal like hand over oh my god the placenta yeah so they couldn't come and collect it there has to be like a

mutual meeting spot yeah car park sounds super dodgy. And it's like all done on that signal app so the message disappeared. Yeah. It's like, I was never here. But a lot of people did say that it tasted pretty bad. Like the burping afterwards was no good. But like some people were saying that they would take it and then because they were going, I feel amazing.

The husbands would take it as well. Not for me. Look, we went over this last week. If someone wants to do it, go for your life. But it's not something I would do. I did get a really good message, though, from one lady who didn't get placenta caps made. She got placenta heroin made.

Just booting up. So this lady who was super lovely spoke to her on social media and she was saying for her first child, she had a really lovely midwife, and the midwife was saying, I'd like to take your placenta and I'd like to make something with it, a keepsake. And the lady was like... Is the child not keepsake enough? Yeah.

You've got that thing now. It's like saying, I want to give you something to remember when you pushed that child out. It's like the child is the memory of that. That is it. And she didn't want to, because this midwife was a bit older,

super experienced, delivered hundreds of babies. Had a collection of placentas. And just, yeah, and just like goes into a basement and a collection of placentas and just yeah and just like goes into a basement and pulls out these placentas i think that maybe her friends hadn't had kids so you know when you're one of the first in your group of friends to have kids you're kind of flying blind you don't know what's normal or weird you're just like you know it's all brand new territory childbirth the midwife took the placenta and then she said, I'll be in touch in a couple of weeks with this keepsake.

So then she reaches out, calls and says, it's ready. It what is ready? And she's like, what is this lady? I'd be way too scared to pick that up. Do you want to see what she made? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

She sent me photos. She sent you photos of this. Am I going to be disgusted? So this midwife... I'm not... Do I need... Okay, rip it off. Rip the band-aid off.

Who am I to judge? This is a lovely gesture, and it would be rude of me to laugh. I'm scared. It's a dream catcher. What the fuck is that? That looks like something one of my kids would bring home from kindy too. It's not even like a nice circle. Which is the placenta bit, obviously not the feathers.

Yeah, it almost looks like the umbilical cord, but there she will drop it in in the video afterwards. Oh my God. Yeah. I love how she's included the anal beads. That's lovely. And I said to her, I was like, so what did you do with it? Obviously, you would have accepted it and said, thanks very much,

and then I'm going to put this in the bin. How awkward would that have been? Like, do you love it? You know, when you get something at Christmas you don't like, you're like, oh, socks. You're like, oh. Perfect. Dream catcher.

It's still there hanging in a kid's bedroom. It's still there. Oh a kid's bedroom. It's still there. Oh, my God. Imagine that. I thought like the smell in the bedroom. There you go. That's okay. I'm just going to put that.

That's fucking disgusting. No, Ash. Shame on you. Shame on you to be so close-minded. Okay. A dream catcher. No, it's not the placenta. It's the whole dream catcher thing.

I don't believe it. Yeah. Placenta's fine. Placenta's fine. Placenta's fine. Hang it up. It looks like skin from a sausage. Yeah. Why was I expecting like a bagpipe looking thing?

It's quite tasteful, I think. The craftsmanship's actually quite impressive. Yeah, I'm worried that what else she can do with the human body. Why waste it? Why waste it? Yuck. Anyway. Ash, last week we did three. waste it? Why waste it? Yeah, anyway. Ash, last week we did three. We're going to trim it down to two questions.

Three was too many for the listeners. Yeah, it was exhausting. I'm tired from the third question. Question number one. Ash. Yes. Do you ever have dad guilt? Dad guilt.

So like in context of dad guilt, my brain automatically goes to whether I've been sitting on the toilet too long and I can hear the kids going absolutely mental and my wife's like trying to herd them in and I'm like, do I feel guilty about this? So that's what comes to mind. What about afterwards when... After I've yelled at them?

Yeah, actually disciplining. Okay. Never. Never. If my kids are listening i never feel guilty do you do a little bit though right yeah look if i feel like i you heartless animal if i unfairly had yelled or unfairly thrown something in the bin and then reflected on it and thought that was diva-ish of me is this stuff that you throw in the bin that you then go eat afterwards

no non-food non-food related if there's food going in the bin i'm straight in after it so has oscar for example has oscar ever gone to you and said like daddy can we like so marley likes to draw that's her jam she loves it sometimes i'm good other times i'm two minutes in and i'm like this is boring like does oscar have any games that he loves to in and I'm like... This is boring. Like, does Oscar have any games that he loves to play and he wants? Like, Daddy, come play with me. Yeah, the Hot Wheels car, the tracks. I've actually hidden them so that he can forget.

Because, look, I don't mind playing with the Hot Wheels with him, but then it's like whatever I make is never good enough. So I've got to remake it so often to the point where I've been like, no, but yeah after i feel bad he's like he doesn't know he just wants to have fun so yeah look i'll say yes i do feel dad guilt because i think i feel guilt normally it happens when the kids are in bed and it's at the end of the day when you know you kind of look into their bedroom the doors are jar a little bit i see Marley sleeping there so peacefully. And it's at that moment when you also, you get a little second wind of energy and you think,

I wish I just gave a little bit more. I never have that. What, really? I'm like, I gave everything I have today. I put in everything I've got. That time is mine. That time is mine. I always say like when everyone's asleep in the house

that's time for me to just sit on the couch or go to bed a lot of the time i find myself going to bed and i have time for guilt like i said if i've yelled at them unnecessarily or whatever then yeah but i feel like in the moment i've put as much as i can into the day making me feel a lot more you're an asshole yeah yeah be better obviously you're not putting enough in but it happens it happens it does yeah i think different types of guilt we both have which is okay because we're not perfect when you're about to discipline do you ever have i've read a few things or i've seen a few videos where it's like when you're about to react to something, a situation, stop, take a breath, and then reconsider how you're going to respond.

Do you have any, or are you just off the cuff, knee-jerk reaction? Off the cuff. I've tried to stop, breathe, gentle parent. Biggest waste of fucking time. It doesn't, I mean, if you can do it. I feel going from nought to 100 is the only way I get anything done in this house. They don't fucking listen. Sorry.

They don't listen. I'm getting angry. All right, let's go. Let. They don't fucking listen. Sorry. They don't listen. I know. I'm getting angry. All right, let's go. Let's move to the next question. Sorry. We'll put disciplining on pause because I could go on for ages. Yeah, we could go on all day about that shit.

All right, so Matthew, question number two. Do you have a favourite child? Oh. Of yours? Yeah. Can I say that? No. No, hang on a second.

No, I'm going to say. Depends who's listening. Okay, I will say this. You know when people say during childbirth, the moment you make eye contact with your child. Okay, I will say like the first time I held Marley, it was that cliche, like like holy shit hit me like a ton of bricks and on my couple tears and i was like

no sorry yeah i'm opening up here sorry i'm opening up and i fucking cuddled you and comforted you when you told me about eating stuff out of the bin And I'm like I cried when I held my daughter And you're like That's amazing It is an amazing moment I'm with you I'm just being a jerk off about it

Go Yeah You're lucky I like you I know I know I'm so lucky So it was that Cliche moment

And You know We had A really instant bond I find it takes A little bit longer for baby number two. And also because when you have baby number one, you know, they're all...

Your attention is just all straight down. And the two of you are just, you know, every kind of noise, every movement, you're like, oh my God. It's all so new. Yeah. This is incredible. This is amazing.

And then when we had the second, we had Lola. I almost forgot her name for a second. What's her name? So the favorite's Marley. It just like, it took a little bit longer to have that bond because when Laura was at home with Lola, when she was a newborn, to give her some reprieve and to make it easier,

I would take Marley out of the house and we would go and do activities. Also because Marley was so young. She was like 18 months. Marley and Lola were so close together that it was tough for Marley because she was like, Mom, play with me. She couldn't because she had a newborn and so Marley would get frustrated. So then in that period, maybe the first six months, me and Marley bonded like nothing else.

And Lola's come around. Yeah. She likes you now. Well, yeah, when she's not cock-blocking me. Yeah, fully. But it depends because sometimes kids are really easy and sometimes kids are really hard. Absolutely.

And on the days when one is being easy, that's the one I want to hang around. Yeah, yeah. That's exactly what I was going to say. I was going to be like, look, these kids have a favorite and it's not me. Very obvious, right? It's always mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy, right? Which is fine. So I'm allowed to have a favorite if I want.

I'm going to pin them against each other. I've seen you with the kids. I think they do like you. They do. I think they're warming up to me. We don't know each other that well. But yeah, look, you definitely... I don't want to sit here and say I've got i do have one i prefer go on no no obviously macy's like the second one and she's a

girl she's daddy's little girl right but at the same time like i won't sit here and say that i like one of them more than the other i hate them both equally i love them both equally equally as much as the other so yeah but like what you were saying on the day you definitely have your favorite and yeah get naked away from your moment oh yeah yeah yeah sometimes some even it's most mornings to be fair when lola wakes up and you can hear her yelling, she wants someone to get her. And I'll pop my head in and I'll go, hey, bubba, hey, good morning, you're awake. And she looks at me and she's like.

Not you. Yeah. Mum! And I'm like, she wants you. It's heartbreaking sometimes, isn't it? But also like she wants mum, so that's mum's problem. Yeah. Also like it's kind

of i would take her i would help you out of that bed but i don't know you're stuck idiot use your brain i will say any other questions that you want they're not going to be answered seriously oh absolutely not don't take what we're saying as any formal advice go see a professional read the books Love your kids equally or otherwise I hate them equally. Exactly. But if you do have any questions, you can submit them either

Ash's social media, my social media or to Doting Dads. And if you haven't followed us, I'm just a cheeky follower. What are you waiting for? Yeah, stop playing hard to get. And also,

fucking good reviews. Yeah. Which has been great. My favourite one was just one. And also, fucking good reviews. Yeah. Which has been great. My favorite one was just one star and then zzzz. Yeah. I was like, obviously that's an ex-girlfriend. Yep. But if you haven't subscribed, reviewed, and given us a few stars,

we would love that more than anything. Absolutely. And again, thank you for joining us. That's it. That's us. Bye. See ya. That's it.

That's us. Bye. See you. Two Doting Dads podcast acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia and the connections to land, sea, and community. We pay our respects to the elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. This episode was recorded on Gadigal land.