We're Back!!

After a brief pause, we’re finally back, and wow, a lot has happened (mostly exciting things). Today, we’ll be pouring coffee, sitting down, and catching you up on our lives, family, and the projects we’re working on amidst a bit of chaos, a lot of laughter, and the kind of connection that makes you feel like you’re right here with us.

Life doesn’t come with a manual but it does come with moments that shape us.

Growing WildFlowers is a podcast for parents, partners, and people doing their best to grow something meaningful in the middle of real life. We talk love, parenting, marriage, culture, and the beautifully messy moments in between. With honest conversations, shared stories, and gentle reminders that growth isn’t always loud, but it’s always happening.

• Rooted in connection

Transcript

Will 0:03

What's up, wild ones? Welcome back to Growing Wildflowers, the podcast where we talk all things parenting, pets, purpose, and the beautiful mess in between. I'm Will.

Neesh 0:12

And I'm Niche, and today's episode is rightly called We're Back. Now, after a little pause, we're finally back, and woo! A lot has happened. Mostly the exciting kind. But today we're pouring the coffee, pulling up a chair, and catching you up on life, family, and what we're building with a little chaos, a lot of laughter, and the kind of connection that makes you feel like you're right here with us.

Will 0:37

Also, right here with us, what type of coffee are we drinking today?

Neesh 0:41

Gotta go with the cappuccino.

Will 0:44

All right, cappuccino. I got the uh triple shot of espresso over ice, of course, with a little cinnamon powder. I needed something strong for the day.

Neesh 0:53

Yeah, that'll do it.

Will 0:56

Absolutely.

Neesh 0:57

Mainly because our home is all in one laundromat, playground, office, restaurant, and lately science lab.

Will 1:06

Yeah. Through all of that, the hope is that growth happens for us as parents, for the children. We all, some kind of way grow into a better version of ourselves.

Neesh 1:20

Or at least try and find the sanity in the hiding in the closet from the kid, the bathroom, locking the door for a whole five minutes.

Will 1:29

Right. So officially we're back. And you know where we are.

Neesh 1:33

The coffee is strong, the chaos is embraced, and the connections are real. Oh yeah.

Will 1:39

So let's get to it. It's been a whole minute.

Neesh 1:41

The kind of minute where life says, Hey, you thought you had a schedule, but nope.

Will 1:47

Of course, life spills a bowl of chaos on your lap.

Neesh 1:50

Oh yeah. But we're back and we're ready.

Will 1:53

Today is a catch-up episode because so much happened and we owe you the tea, the joy, and the wait that happened moments.

Neesh 2:01

So grab your coffee, your tea, your water, or if you're in the car, grab the steering wheel and lock in.

Will 2:08

Let's go.

Neesh 2:10

We see you, and just know you're doing an amazing job. One day at a time.

Will 2:16

So let's address it. We disappeared a little.

Neesh 2:20

Not in a dramatic way. More like uh life just got loud and busy.

Will 2:26

Life got Mike Peak loud.

Neesh 2:30

And we just don't want to throw episodes at you. We want to bring you something that feels like a real sit-down conversation.

Will 2:37

Exactly. And the truth is, we've had big life changes, family stuff, work shifts, business milestones, travel a little, and definitely school routines.

Neesh 2:50

And also, somebody in this house thought they could do a mini-room redo, and it turned into, well, it's still a work in progress.

Will 3:01

Basically, the universe heard and said, that's hilarious.

Neesh 3:06

We're at the stage of how are we even awake right now? Coffee seems to be our best friend and is in a constant flow right now.

Will 3:16

If you've been going through a busy stretch too, this episode is your reminder. You're not behind, you're living.

Neesh 3:24

And growing. It's just sometimes your progress might look like regrouping or surviving a Tuesday.

Will 3:32

All right, let's get right into the T. So we celebrated our anniversary, 13 years.

unknown 3:38

Woohoo!

Will 3:39

Huge deal, absolutely. How do you feel after 13 years, Nish?

Neesh 3:43

I'm good. 13 more.

Will 3:46

13 more. That's what I'm talking about. It's been an amazing journey. Um, I definitely enjoy taking this ride with you. Let's continue.

Neesh 3:56

Absolutely.

Will 3:57

The holidays.

Neesh 3:59

Which also includes celebrating my birthday.

Will 4:01

Happy birthday.

Neesh 4:02

Whoop whoop.

Will 4:04

We have finished a couple of books that should be out soon.

Neesh 4:08

Our website is live. It's wildflowersfamily.com.

Will 4:13

And also promotions at work. Definitely huge milestone for myself and a big shift in schedule for us.

Neesh 4:21

And you guys know that kids were out of school for the holidays, and it's been a long two weeks.

Will 4:28

Oh my God. A long two weeks. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, repeat. Over, over again.

Neesh 4:37

And can I have a snack? Can I have a snack? Clean up. Can I have a snack?

Will 4:41

Clean up. Clean up. It's been fun. It also has been exhausting.

Neesh 4:47

Yeah. A lot of words.

Will 4:48

With that said, growing wildflowers has been in a bit of a building mode. And we're not just building things, we're building a space.

Neesh 4:57

A space for families to feel seen and for kids to feel creative.

Will 5:02

For parents to feel like, I'm not failing, I'm growing.

Neesh 5:06

Ooh, yeah. Put that on a hoodie and I'll wear it. Real talk though. We're learning that consistency isn't perfection.

Will 5:13

It's returning.

Neesh 5:14

It's showing back up.

Will 5:16

Even if your hair is doing something disrespectful.

Neesh 5:20

Even if your hot coffee is now cold, even if you're tired. You're still gonna be growing.

Will 5:27

All right, so let's dive a bit deeper. So we talked about our anniversary, 13 years. What do you think contributes to longevity in marriage?

Neesh 5:39

That's a great question. I think that some of the things that work for us is communicating and checking in with each other, just trying to be on the same book to try and get on the same page. Well, sometimes you're two pages ahead of me. So how do we get on the same page? How do we make it work? And again, that's communicating, right? I sometimes have to just tell you how I'm feeling, what I need, and I have to listen when you say the things that you need and want. Communication, communication, communication, and also just spending time with each other so solo, separate from the kids, just making time for each other.

Will 6:28

I can align with that. For me, I'm a person who listens a lot. And often when I'm listening, I hear people talk about marriage in a way where it's about what they can gain, what they can obtain from the relationship. Are they getting enough? Is this person doing this for me? I kind of flip that uh on its head. I go about it the opposite way. It's about how much can I pour into my relationship? How much can I bring to the table? What can I give next? And I say that because when you do that, you're going out into the world in a sense of you're gathering information so you can share it and empower your relationship, empower the person with you to be better in one way or another, or learning new things that you can now do with that partner, your partner in life, and explore that together, of finding new skills so that you can utilize those skills to better something that you're trying to do with your partner to again conquer this journey of life. And unless you look at it that way, you're always going to be working against what you're trying to do. Marriage is about being with somebody, having someone that you're going to spend life with. And if that is the goal, if that is truly the goal, all of your efforts when it comes to that and that relationship and life in general should be about making that happen and making it easier, achievable. When you do these things, everything else becomes more worthwhile, whether it's going to work and thinking about it like, hey, I'm gaining some things. This is what it's doing for me, and this is what it's doing for my relationship. Going out, meeting new people, and thinking these new people will have different cultures that I can learn from, that I can take back home, and we can develop and gain something better from what I just obtained. Always think about how you can pour in versus how you can take out.

Neesh 8:34

Yeah. I think also I just want to mention that sometimes you can get wrapped up into like parenting and marriage, but they're two different things. So you've got to give the time to yourself and your partner, separate from the kids. It's of course important to you know come together as a family and do things with your kids, but you've got to take the time for yourself pouring into each other.

Will 9:05

Absolutely. I'm glad you mentioned that. We talk about growing wildflowers, growing these children. Again, parenting together is another thing. As a married couple, we want to explore and conquer together. And to do that, it requires me learning new things and sharing it with my wife, and then my wife learning new things and sharing it with me so that we can actually develop our children in the best possible way. And again, back to the earlier analogy, being on the same page with what we want that journey to look like, so that our kids can get consistency from their parents and that we build a structure that allows for them to flourish and allows for them to grow because that's what we're both trying to do, and they can get the full value of having us here as their parents.

Neesh 10:07

Yep, absolutely.

Will 10:09

And before we move on to the next topic, what do you think? How do you pour into your relationship or what do you think contributes to your marriage and a successful marriage in general or relationship? Remember, we've been together for 23 years, 13 years of marriage. A lot has gone into that even before getting married. So even if you're not married, what do you think is the core fundamentals of a powerful and lifelasting relationship? I want to hear from you. Bloom moments. Please take the opportunity to share with us and we can build together.

Neesh 10:47

We also mentioned the holidays, and I don't know about for you, but it flew by. The two weeks were up, but I do have a hilarious holiday moment to share. While we enjoy decorating the tree together as a family and ornaments going on and falling off from the toddler, the last thing that we do is put up candy canes on the tree. And of course, everybody picks out their favorite one. So now we're watching a Christmas movie, and 10 minutes have gone by and we're not hearing a little giggle. So now we're like, oh no, where is the toddler at? We're looking. And come to find out she is hiding behind the Christmas tree about three candy canes in. And I'm wondering, do they make sugar-free candy canes? Because yeah, she was definitely off the handle for that.

Will 11:41

Absolutely was. All right, going further with the holidays, we had a special holiday, your birthday.

Neesh 11:49

Oh, yeah. Yes.

Will 11:51

What is your favorite birthday event, celebration, or just the way you did your thing?

Neesh 11:59

I think enjoying going out to eat together at our favorite restaurant and enjoying my favorite meal was a highlight for me because we don't often get to do that for birthdays without kids. But also, I think going forward, celebrating birthdays, I'm gonna want to go somewhere tropical and warm.

Will 12:24

That sounds exciting. We can definitely make that happen. So on the holidays, I think we shared a lot about what made it tiresome or it was a lot, but at the same time, there's a lot of joy. There was a lot of fun things happening. My favorite thing is the fact that school's out, you take off from work, you get to spend some quality time with the family. Uh, myself, Niche, we cook and have our favorite things to eat.

Neesh 12:55

Yeah, because the holidays can be stressful, but I think when we work together in the kitchen, everybody wants to be a part of it, is really just enjoying it. So even if we're going to family's house, going to grandma's house for the holidays, we always have our core meals that we make and eat together, just us.

Will 13:16

Yes, and this always makes for an amazing time. And I'm sure your sentiments are the same. So, again, when you get the opportunity, please share with us how you celebrate the holidays, whatever holidays they are. We would love to know more about you, our listeners, uh, while at the same time allow you to get to know us.

Neesh 13:39

And send some of your favorite meals as well.

Will 13:42

Yes, another thing we got to accomplish in this gap of time that we have had is our website is now live. Wildflowersfamily.com is up, it's running. When you get the opportunity, come and visit, sign up, share your thoughts, share your feedback, all important things for us to keep building and providing the best space possible.

Neesh 14:09

And also we want to just say thanks to everyone who helped us with the website.

Will 14:15

Absolutely. It takes a team, it takes a community, and we certainly have one, and that's just gonna be another example of that community, right?

Neesh 14:25

Yep.

Will 14:27

And I do also have the share, there was also a promotion that happened, which was an accomplishment within itself. Uh, a lot of intentional behaviors there, trying to get myself into the space to be prepared for what was next. I executed on that, so that was time spent and definitely worth celebrating.

Neesh 14:47

Yeah, I'm definitely proud of you because that wasn't easy. And you did it all while still trying to parent and still trying to make the time for me.

Will 14:58

Yeah, absolutely. The old juggling act.

Neesh 15:01

It's a new year, and we're gonna dive into petals and pop. We're talking about what's trending on social media, what's happening in the news, and what we're watching. Because sometimes you need a little live and a show to recover from life.

Will 15:16

But of course, we're doing it the wildflower way. Witty reel with the protect your peace filter. All right, so first up, social media. Well, I was just looking at a couple reels, and one of them in particular stood out to me. It was hilarious. Two kids outside playing, one of the kids sneaks up behind the other, dumps a bucket of water over their head, and you can see right away the kid just starts dashing, trying to get away from the sibling. And the father was inside and he's looking out of the kitchen window, and he sees exactly what happens and decides, I'm gonna go ahead and lock this door. And sure enough, by the time the kid got to the doors locked, and the sibling had at it, and I felt like that was just a perfect moment of like, yeah, sometimes you gotta let the kids hash it out. They do some ruthless things, but all of these moments are definitely opportunity for growth. And yeah, I'm sure that kid grew a little bit after that.

Neesh 16:19

Okay, so mine is if you know, you know. But sadly to say, they done tour down bella noches, y'all. If anybody knows what Bella Noches is, then you're definitely sad about this one.

Will 16:35

Yes, share your memes, reels, your favorite ones, or your opinions on the ones we shared, uh, because we'll be excited to hear from you. All right, TV niche, is there any show that you are committed to yourself right now, or do you just want to share what shows we're committed to as a couple?

Neesh 16:54

Okay, some of our shows are getting ready to come back, but we just finished Plurbish without giving too much away. Basically, it's a lady who's by herself. It's good, it's interesting, it's different, I think, for us. We're also watching Watson, which is based off of like Sherlock Holmes, some of the shows coming back, new seasons, the night agent. Oh, and shrinking, which is hilarious, but also can be serious.

Will 17:28

And what else will it goes through so many different levels of parenting?

Neesh 17:33

Oh, yeah.

Will 17:33

Um, but also be aware, it is a parent show. There is a little language there, but very good watch.

Neesh 17:41

A lot of language.

Will 17:42

All right, and then as a family, we watch Pokemon.

Neesh 17:46

Yes, the new season of Horizons just started.

Will 17:49

Absolutely, worth it too. The girls love it, we love it. All right, going into the next space, which is news. Looking at a few things, and the one thing that stood out to me, there was a reporting, it was an article saying that January is the divorce month within our country, that the most people get divorced in the month of January.

Neesh 18:13

Really?

Will 18:13

Yeah, I know that's what I thought. I was surprised by that, but they say it's a lot of reasons that add up to it, whether it be trying to keep up appearances and the holiday, adding so much stress, or it'd be starting a new year and deciding I'm gonna make my biggest decisions at the beginning of the year, and I'm gonna make a change.

Neesh 18:32

That you should not do. You should think about things, not be too hasty in it, I think.

Will 18:39

But yeah, you're absolutely right. I do think my thoughts just go to yeah, there's a lot of reasons people get divorced. Some of them are very valid, and sometimes they're not. And I think that's where to me it's just make sure you put in the effort, fully evaluate your situation, and make sure it's the best one for you and yours. I hear a lot of people saying marriage didn't work for me. And I think automatically, did you want to work for marriage? You can't expect your marriage to work for you. You have to work for it if you want to keep it and you're committed to it. Just make sure it's the right choice for you.

Neesh 19:21

Uh yeah, yeah, because it's not over here. Letting you know that now. No, my God, we in this for the long haul.

Will 19:30

Oh, somebody save me.

Neesh 19:36

No, but that's interesting. And I have divorced parents, so it's not something that is taken lightly. I think you do both partners have to make the effort to work on the relationship and communicate effectively. We never say 50-50 in our relationship, we always try and give a hundred and a hundred percent, especially to each other. Is things in between pets, kids, life, work, but you have to just before taking those steps, make sure it's valid and right for you.

Will 20:18

Absolutely. Well said. So that was the news, and then now we're gonna go into blue New Year's edition. Happy New Year!

Neesh 20:31

Happy New Year.

Will 20:32

All right, remember the rules, no hesitation. Let's go.

Neesh 20:37

What is your new year's vibe? Is it fresh start or same me new calendar?

Will 20:42

Same me new calendar. Do you do vision boards? Yes or no?

Neesh 20:50

So I want to do a vision board, but I screenshot and don't look at it again.

Will 20:57

Got it.

Neesh 21:00

My fan. So one word for this year is gonna be success. Oh, yes, I like that.

Will 21:09

Uh love language right now. Words, acts, touch, time, or gifts? All of the above. All right, fair enough.

Neesh 21:21

What's one habit you're leaving in last year?

Will 21:24

Putting things off. There's a little bit too much of that. I countered some of it, but too much anyway. All right, this year, you're choosing consistency, joy, boundaries, or softness. Consistency, joy, boundaries, or softness. All of the above. Yeah. I see where we're going with this.

Neesh 21:45

Exactly. Okay, so bedtime routine. Is it a blessing or a battle?

Will 21:51

Definitely a battle. One always wants to watch another movie, another always wants to do something other than go to bed, whether it's, I mean, water, food. Yes, yes. I'm still hungry. And then the toddler is always, almost always, just trying to be up, running about, and never wanting to actually go to sleep. So, yeah, definitely a battle.

Neesh 22:17

Okay. Sounds right. Moon blast complete. Thank you for staying with us. And remember to subscribe to our podcast and follow us on IG at D underscore WildflowerWet.

Will 22:31

All right, the coffee is still cold, the chaos is still here. Welcome back and happy new year.