This one’s a little different.

No outline. No formal teaching. Just a real coffee-chat between us about something that keeps coming up in our work with couples: Emotional safety.

Find our current offerings including small groups, relationship prep for expecting couples + relationship support for current parents: postpartumtogether.com/current-offerings

We talk about:
– Why internal safety matters before communication skills– What happens when dads don’t feel emotionally safe either– The myth that you have to be everything for your family– Why modern couples are drowning without a “village”– How trust actually gets built (and rebuilt) after baby

If you’ve felt disconnected, overwhelmed, or unsure how to support each other in this season, this conversation will land.

Because strong families don’t happen by accident. They’re built by people willing to go first emotionally.Find our current offerings including small groups, relationship prep for expecting couples + relationship support for current parents:⁠ postpartumtogether.com/current-offerings⁠

• postpartum relationship

• marriage after baby

• emotional safety in marriage

• mental load in parenting

• new dad emotional support

• fatherhood emotional presence

• nervous system in relationships

• trust after baby

• couples communication after baby

• village support for parents

Find our current offerings including small groups, relationship prep for expecting couples + relationship support for current parents:⁠ postpartumtogether.com/current-offerings⁠

Every year after Christmas, the same conversation resurfaces: moms waking up to empty stockings and the internet rushing in with advice to leave, rage, or declare the relationship doomed.

But what if the stocking isn’t the real issue?

In this episode, we slow the moment down and talk honestly about why this seemingly small disappointment hits so hard for so many moms and what it actually reveals about mental load, visibility, inherited patterns, and modern partnership.

We read real posts from moms, talk through the full spectrum of reactions (from “it was an honest miss” to “this has been happening for years”), and explore why the empty stocking often becomes a quiet test of recognition, effort, and shared responsibility.

This isn’t a hate-on-men episode.
And it’s not a “just get over it” one either.

It’s a grounded conversation about:

• Why this moment feels bigger than gifts

• How inherited family patterns show up at holidays

• When disappointment is information—not a verdict

• Why “just tell him what you want” often doesn’t work

• How couples can respond without blowing things up or sweeping it under the rug

We also share what actually helped us have one of our most connected Christmases yet and what we see help couples repair moments like this instead of letting resentment calcify.

If this episode stirred something up and you want help having the conversation underneath the disappointment, we created a free guide called The Stocking Was the Symptom—a calm, honest conversation guide for couples who don’t want this moment to define their marriage.
👉 postpartumtogether.com/stocking-problem-convo-guide

In this episode you'll also hear:

A men’s group Mike is hosting on January 12th focused on emotional regulation, visibility, and showing up as a teammate at home

👉 Link to men’s group registration

Threads referenced:

@eliseoras

@crfreund

@sidneyraz

@sheisapaigeturner

@omgskr

This conversation is for parents who feel disappointed but not done—who believe growth is possible and want a better way forward.

Baby’s first Christmas can come with a lot more weight than most people talk about.
The pressure to make memories. The logistics. The overstimulation. The quiet grief when it doesn’t look the way you imagined it would.

In this episode, Chelsea and Mike talk honestly about what babies are actually learning during the holidays and why it has far less to do with gifts, photos, or traditions, and far more to do with tone, pace, and safety.

We unpack how parental calm shapes a baby’s nervous system, why “making it special” often turns into performance, and how couples can protect their energy (and each other) during high-pressure seasons.

This isn’t an episode about lowering your standards or forcing gratitude. It’s a permission slip to let this Christmas be real, slower, and more human, and to trust that presence matters more than perfection.

If this season is highlighting exhaustion, resentment, or the need for clearer communication between you and your partner, this is exactly the kind of work we support couples with.
You can learn more or connect with us at postpartumtogether.com.