As a host who's felt the seismic shift of becoming a parent while pursuing a demanding career, I'm both excited and moved to welcome the Moloney brothers, Jason and Andrew, to share their heartfelt journeys through fatherhood. Embarking on this adventure with them, we peel back the layers of their lives as professional boxers, revealing the raw emotions of conception, the thrills of childbirth, and the finesse required to balance the boxing ring with baby rattles. Their stories are not just about powerful punches but also about powerful life moments, offering listeners a glimpse into the profound ways parenthood has reshaped their perspectives, motivations, and very beings.
With laughter, vulnerability, and sincerity, we unpack the complexities of managing family life alongside the rigors of a boxing career. The Moloney brothers don't pull any punches when discussing the challenges, from Andrew's struggles with his wife's difficult pregnancy to Jason's experiences of being oceans away during pivotal family moments. This candid conversation highlights the strength found in partners and loved ones, the importance of self-care, and the wisdom in making smart decisions for the future—all while wearing the gloves of both parent and professional athlete.
Finally, we tackle the universal themes of balancing the chaos of parenting with the pursuit of one's passions. From navigating the unpredictable waters of childbirth to the quiet reflections on maintaining friendships and sparking joy within the family unit, this episode is a testament to the shared experiences of parents everywhere. Whether it's scooting alongside our little ones or trading stories of sleepless nights, we celebrate the extraordinary journey of raising children while chasing dreams, all within the captivating arena of professional boxing. So, grab your headphones and join us for an intimate roundtable on the beautiful, chaotic dance of parenting and boxing.
As a host who's felt the seismic shift of becoming a parent while pursuing a demanding career, I'm both excited and moved to welcome the Moloney brothers, Jason and Andrew, to share their heartfelt journeys through fatherhood. Embarking on this adventure with them, we peel back the layers of their lives as professional boxers, revealing the raw emotions of conception, the thrills of childbirth, and the finesse required to balance the boxing ring with baby rattles. Their stories are not just about powerful punches but also about powerful life moments, offering listeners a glimpse into the profound ways parenthood has reshaped their perspectives, motivations, and very beings.
With laughter, vulnerability, and sincerity, we unpack the complexities of managing family life alongside the rigors of a boxing career. The Moloney brothers don't pull any punches when discussing the challenges, from Andrew's struggles with his wife's difficult pregnancy to Jason's experiences of being oceans away during pivotal family moments. This candid conversation highlights the strength found in partners and loved ones, the importance of self-care, and the wisdom in making smart decisions for the future—all while wearing the gloves of both parent and professional athlete.
Finally, we tackle the universal themes of balancing the chaos of parenting with the pursuit of one's passions. From navigating the unpredictable waters of childbirth to the quiet reflections on maintaining friendships and sparking joy within the family unit, this episode is a testament to the shared experiences of parents everywhere. Whether it's scooting alongside our little ones or trading stories of sleepless nights, we celebrate the extraordinary journey of raising children while chasing dreams, all within the captivating arena of professional boxing. So, grab your headphones and join us for an intimate roundtable on the beautiful, chaotic dance of parenting and boxing.
Howdy ho, daddy-os, and welcome to the Dad Podcast. This is brought to you by myself, kyle Graham. This is a place where all types of dads, or dads to be, can tune in, copygeek or learn something new about life as a parent. Follow along as we interview dads of all types and undercover some wisdom to help us be the best dads and partners we can be. So get comfy and listen in your big deals, because the next episode of the Dad Podcast is about to go down. G'day, fellow Dills.
Speaker 1:So today I've asked my good mates Jason and Andrew and Melanie to come on and share their journey to fatherhood and share what it's like to juggle life of being a dad and professional boxers Boys. I'm really stoked to have you both on the potty and it's precious time for you both while you're back home, so I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:It's a pleasure, mate. Thanks for having us on here, thank you.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah, this potty is probably a little bit different to the boxing ones that you guys have experienced and you know we'll just be talking on real life experiences as fathers and you know, just share your experience, as you know your journey to fatherhood, and the real purpose of these chats is to share our fatherhood stories, both great and shit, so that we can help make a difference for someone that's about to take the leap into fatherhood. But yeah, so I'm just really stoked to have you both on and for you guys to join the dad bod gang.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Right, hopefully we've got some knowledge to share. It's different, as you said. Normally we're talking about boxing and pretty comfortable talking about that and know a lot about boxing, but don't feel like I'm that comfortable talking about being a dad. But we'll try our best.
Speaker 1:I reckon let's just start with sharing a little bit about yourselves, and I reckon we'll start by familiarising your voices, because Jason and Andrew for you guys don't know twins and you know they may have very similar.
Speaker 2:I think we've got pretty similar voices so good luck Listeners. I'm Jason and I'm Andrew and let's start with Andrew.
Speaker 1:so whenever we answer a question, andy's gonna go first, because alphabetical order right? So, andy, you start by just start sharing a little bit about yourself, matt.
Speaker 2:My name is Andrew Maloney. As you mentioned, I'm a professional boxer by trade, 30 years old and originally grew up in Melbourne and made the move to Kingscliff about five years ago now, and in that time have become a father to one, got a son, lee, who's just over two years old and absolutely love it, and lost pretty good. It's kind of a complaint.
Speaker 1:Yeah, also. And what about you, jason?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and Matt Jason, andrew's twin brother and also a professional boxer, and, yeah, made the move with Andrew, as he said, from Melbourne to Kingscliff and started a family and I've got a daughter, eila, who is two and a half, and just three weeks ago had another little girl, billie. Yeah narrow father of two just adjust into that at the moment, but they're loving it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, awesome, yeah, we can. We can dig into that adjustment. Yeah, it's in. I guess the next question is pretty natural in terms of you know what you just said, and the real reason that we are on here is to talk about your life as as dads, not as boxers. So we'll start with, like, the journey of conceiving, you know, your first babies, and and also like let's touch on the pregnancy as well, like for your partners, because I think, like for you, jason, you've had two, that two pregnancies probably very different, and Andy, you've just had one, but like I'm sure it's different for for all the other listeners out there. So, yeah, if you don't mind, sort of sort of jumping into that and share with us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I've been with my wife Chelsea for nearly nearly 10 years now and she has just always wanted to be a mum and probably, you know, really wanted to have a baby so much sooner than I did. I was sort of really wanting to get things set up and be sort of financially comfortable before we made that big move.
Speaker 2:But then, after being in Kingsborough for quite a few years I think just sort of three years of that time started sort of settling and boxing was going really well and we were sharing a house at that time with Jason and his partner George I said just four of us in the one house and I think that was probably part of these models sort of holding off a little bit as well, wanting to get set up but also waiting for the right time, and I think, myself being a really a guy that likes to plan everything, I was waiting for the perfect moment, but I've come to realise there never really is, and you just got to, just got to go for it at some point.
Speaker 1:We both definitely wanted. So, jason and.
Speaker 2:George actually told us that they were were pregnant, and then I think that sort of sparked us, me and Chelsea sort of talked more about that conversation and probably made me a bit more sure that you know we can make it work and that we were then going to be moving out to separate houses anyway, because that will bring your kid into our world so we thought well, this is a good time for us. It must be great for our kids to go up together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we started trying for a baby and yeah, Chelsea felt pregnant pretty quickly and we've had a pretty rough pregnancy in the term in the way that she was six, so I'm not sure the whole thing and we're just throwing up like literally, like 10 times a day.
Speaker 1:But other than that she, she really.
Speaker 2:She really liked the whole journey through pregnancy, had a really really nice birth and, yeah, we just out as something leading to the world and, as you said, things changed a lot. But for the better.
Speaker 2:We absolutely love being parents and also really, really great that the Jason's daughter, ila, is only four months apart from Lee four months older so it's really great for them to be able to grow up together and spend a lot of time together. They see each other daily, so that's awesome, and now he's bringing a new little girl into the club as well, so exciting times and so you said that Chelsea had a bit of a rough pregnancy.
Speaker 1:Was it just around morning sickness or was there you know other like health issues or anything like that?
Speaker 2:no, just a sickness, but it wasn't really morning sickness for her, it was like all day sickness. She threw up so much, but other than that it wasn't yeah, it wasn't the roughest pregnancy, I would say, other than her being sick, she, she handled it really well was there like a certain time that that commenced, like that morning sickness or whatever it is?
Speaker 2:yeah, do you want to think back? I think it was pretty early on I'm making up a bit of a guess here probably about 10 weeks in or so, and then literally didn't stop until like the very end. I think she was still sick all the way through. Basically, yeah, right, and so what about you guys? Yeah, it's sort of similar. Like Andrew said, you sort of never know when the time is right, but definitely, me and Georgia had spoken about having a baby for a long time and we surely wanted to get married first and do the more traditional route. We've been engaged for I think it's like five years now, but still haven't managed to get married because, as we'll touch on, being a professional boxer is a very hard to work around the schedule and we had our wedding booked in for February 2018, I think it was but the opportunity to just go to Vegas, man yeah.
Speaker 1:Elvis is married.
Speaker 2:We had a little bit of a deal and we're gonna get married and it was all working out. And then, of course, a world title fight came up for me and um, georgia being very understanding and supported, to set up, while I was post-poned, the wedding.
Speaker 2:And um, we did, and now, five years later, we still haven't managed to get married, so we sort of saw it go like just you know, not worry about the whole traditional route, we can get married whenever we want and um for a while we'll be unsure about whether the time was right for a baby and our coach actually initially sort of spoke with a bit and sort of said you know, I think you should both win world titles first before you start a family, and you know it does um you know, make things a little bit tricky when you're a dad and obviously we have to go away quite a lot of times throughout the year for boxing and um.
Speaker 2:Having a family just makes that just a little bit tougher. So he did, you know, sort of give his advice and tell us do I guess?
Speaker 1:oh, well, yeah that's it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not as if I didn't listen um doing what.
Speaker 2:I did and I took it on. But me and Georgia just really wanted to be parents and like she's wanted it so bad, I thought, you know I feel that's selfish with me a little bit, in the sense that we've moved away from in a family, from Melbourne, from all their family and friends. And you know, for me to chase my dream would be a boxer and it's sort of her dream to be a mum. And I'm saying to her and I know my dream is more important- sort of thing.
Speaker 2:So it wasn't how I didn't listen, but I was like we're not getting any younger. Georgia really wants his, I really want this. Let's just do it. And, of course, these times when it's tough and I've got to go away, as we'll touch on, you know, months at a time, um, sometimes, but you just make it work and um, we just thought let's just do it and um, yeah, it didn't take too long before Georgia fell pregnant and she had a really rough pregnancy as well, started with the morning sickness.
Speaker 2:So we just touched on with Chelsea as well, but I think for me, for like the first 15 weeks she was pretty sick and then she's only a pretty short girl and, um, I think her body holding on a baby inside her just is very tough and, um, as soon as that morning sickness sort of went away, then she started just getting real bad problems with her body. Her hips are back, everything her body was just like falling with bits and it's not what you can do really like, yeah, a little fizzy out here and there and that, but she was just struggling in pain and, yeah, just like to get through it and it's just.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's insane what a, what a woman puts her body through to bring vagaries to the world, but um yeah she's toughed it out and, yeah, we've got a well, two beautiful little girls now. So, yeah, I'm very grateful.
Speaker 1:Was there anything that that you guys did through that morning sickness and stuff that you just you were never asked to do by partner or anything? You just needed to help them. You know there's plenty of fellas listening. That's gone insane.
Speaker 2:I think that's where you feel a bit useless. I mean, you can try and out here and there, see if they you know, if there's any cravens they got any food or drink that might settle it down. But I think it is what it is and I tried to help. And do you want these? You want that. But she was just sick and at that stage we didn't have a toddler chase round like we do now and we did for the second pregnancy, so I could allow her to rest a fair bit. But yeah, there's not much she can do. Really, you sort of feel helpless. She's bringing this baby into the world for the both of us and for our family, but she's taken all the pain and all the discomfort and all the sickness and there's not much she can do. But I guess you just be there for her and support her and save as anything that they want, but you feel a bit helpless.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, just a bit of a pat on the back here and there, that's literally all she's wanted. She's like just come for me and just pat my back and just get me a glass of water. That's all you can really do. There's nothing you can do in life days and say. That makes you feel pretty helpless and very thankful to be a male, that's for sure. The whole thing is just so rough, but we're blessed that women would do this for us to bring a little one into the world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's your miracle A. It all works. I'm pretty crazy that that human body can create an unhuman.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's probably rough for them too. I mean, you see some women who are great. They just prove to it no sickness, no body aches, and you know, they just carry around a baby like it's nothing. And then other people just struggle and it's not like, yeah, they're doing anything wrong or they're weak, it's just you know that's your body and that's how your body deals with it and unfortunately it can be pretty rough for some of them. Yeah, george has just been through the second pregnancy, which was probably even worse because you've got to toggle it a chase around while you're pregnant and you can't rest as much as you might want to. So yeah, it's tough and yeah, it's a huge sacrifice they have to make, I guess. But yeah, as Andrew said, you're just so grateful and although at times you feel you know useless and you can't help too much, you just got to show your appreciation and tell them how great for you are for what they're doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, second time round was Georgia just as bad yeah.
Speaker 2:I think I think maybe worse, maybe not the sickness, not as sick the second time round but her body, you know, the second time around they say your body sort of knows what it's doing, so it relaxes a little bit and her like hip and back pain and all that sort of you know body aches was just, yeah, worse and she tried to be a bit more on top of it this time and had like regular physio and osteo appointments like every week to try and manage it.
Speaker 2:But it just, yeah, her short stature and the way her body is just struggles with being pregnant and yeah, she just toughed it out and you know she was awesome all through it, didn't complain, but just so hard. And then you've got a you know a toddler who you're trying to chase around, who's? You know she's two and a half and oh, it's just, yeah, she's just chaos, so you can't rest like you did the first time around, so it makes it even harder, but yeah, like you know, the prize at the end of the journey is all worth it. So, yeah, she's very happy now and recovering well and yeah, everything's great yeah, awesome.
Speaker 1:And through the course of the second, you boys had to go overseas again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2:Didn't touch on that, so yeah yeah so I'm trying to think, were we away twice during the pregnancy, I guess we would have made yeah. So yeah, had two fights in America during this pregnancy and yeah, I was away eight weeks. I was at nine weeks the first time, seven weeks in America and then two weeks in hotel doing hotel quarantine and then, yeah, the second time, which was very close to the end of the pregnancy, probably the worst time for me to go away. Actually I went away for another eight weeks to America again.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I mean, that's where I'm just so grateful that George is so supportive, you know, wants me to continue chasing the dream and keep, I guess, working and fighting and progressing my career. So she was never gonna tell me, you know, don't go. But I certainly felt, you know, pretty bad about going at such a crucial time, you know heavily pregnant, struggling, and you know, obviously chasing around Islay, and I just took off for for seven or eight weeks and left her on her own but, um, and that's obviously where the advice from your coach comes into play, because it's less than in your headspace and that's it.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, no doubt what he said is true, and it makes it trickier at times when you're a dad and you've got a family to you know, consider you, can't you know, back in the day we're going away for eight or nine weeks. Yeah, boom, I'm off seas later. All I've got to do is focus on the fight winning, come home, celebrate, all's good. But, yeah, you've got in the back of your mind. I've got to leave my partner, who's, yeah, heavily pregnant, got a chaser and they're told, uh, yeah, it makes it a lot harder, but, as I said, you just got to, um, make it work. And, yeah, georgia doesn't complain, she supports my boxing so much. And um, yeah, just put up with it.
Speaker 2:And I was really grateful her mom actually flew up from Melbourne to stay with her while I was away.
Speaker 2:She got up just in time before they closed the borders and everything, and her mom's been staying at my place for three months now and um, yeah, she can finally get home now, but obviously we've just had my daughter three weeks ago, so she's enjoying a bit of time with her and, yeah, she's going to go home in a few weeks time, but, yeah, having her come in, I guess, and help out when I was away was, yeah, like a huge relief for me.
Speaker 2:You know took some of that sting of thought. You know I feel so terrible just leaving her because her mom, yeah, flew in and we did a bit of a tag team I'm off. You come in and replace me and help out, which was, yeah, a huge relief because obviously when we moved from Melbourne we moved Georgia away from all her family and all her friends and during that time support's just so important and me taking off and leaving her with no one would have been really tough. So having her mom come in, yeah, took a lot of stress off my mind and made things a bit easier for Georgia too, so that was awesome were you away through Chelsea's pregnancy at all?
Speaker 2:I had one fight over in Chile actually, and Chelsea actually came over. It was sort of roughly midway point, so it wasn't sort of too close to the end. She was going, okay, but that was just a short trip, I think. I was there for, oh, maybe three weeks and then she met me over there in Chile to watch the fight and we spent a few days there and then flew home together. So, yeah, it wasn't away anywhere near as much as Jason, which was, yeah, sort of just good timing. I mean this it's just so hard to plant things around with with our career, like if you get an opportunity to fight overseas, you basically have to take it. And luckily for Jason, things worked out that he was back in time for the birth, because there was times there where it looked like maybe it wouldn't have been the case and the last thing you want to do is miss the birth yeah, like a nice yeah, yeah, okay, so that one was a lot better world title or not, yeah, I know.
Speaker 2:I mean obviously, yeah, you can say no, but such a short career and you know the opportunities, you know they're not always there, so you do have to sort of grab them when they're there and make the most of them. But yeah, if it had to come down to being away from for the birth or not, I don't know what a tough decision to make. But I think I would have to say no to the fight because, yeah, it's such a, you know, beautiful moment and a moment you'll never get back.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and what's like the average kind of life of a professional boxer, like you know, in like your peak, and you get those like if you're at the top of your game, like you boys are like, yeah, how long is that sort of time where you get those opportunities, don't you?
Speaker 2:Well, you never really know, I suppose, because one really hard fight or an injury can call it a day very quickly. But, um, we're 30 at the moment, which I suppose, in boxing terms, is getting on a bit. I don't feel 30. So I'd like to think that my body will hold up and I'll be able to box to at least sort of 36, maybe 37, but you really don't know. Yeah, so it all depends on how your body copes and how well you look after yourself outside the ring. I think, yeah, well, that's it.
Speaker 2:And you know your career might be 10 years, 12 years, depending on you know how well you look after yourself. But the big fights and the big opportunities that you don't want to miss, you know, yeah, maybe five years of that. You know top level world title fights. So, yeah, you know we only fought once this year. So you know, if you're knocking back opportunities and you only got five years of your prime, yeah, it's, it's a huge waste of your career, I guess. But you got to make the decision and obviously, yeah, as you said, you know, having a family just adds that little bit of, I guess, not not a stress on it, but you know it's something you've got to consider, and you can't be as selfish as you maybe want to be sometimes. On that, though, too, I think there's also like.
Speaker 2:A real positive to having a family when you're an athlete is that it certainly gives you more motivation. There'd be days, definitely, that I would have maybe taken the day off or or skipped a session, but I think of my son and think I've got to do this for him. This is my fighting, and winning is setting up his future. So it's certainly an evening, my last fight. I remember when times got tough in the ring, I was actually thinking like I need to win this to set my boy up and, you know, to buy a house for a family and to set them up for the future. So it certainly adds motivation as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I remember saying there was a little clip of you and Chels on that and yeah, I remember you guys talking about that. Yeah, you just create that drive and if you did, it just work harder and harder and I guess, like you know, the chips are stacked against you too, right? So it just gives you that drive to to prove everyone wrong.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, 100%, yeah yeah, when you're not just fighting for yourself, when there's other things involved, it certainly makes you push harder. Well, it definitely does for me. Anyway, there's certainly positives.
Speaker 2:I don't want to make it sound like having kids is too hard to be a professional, but yeah, I mean there's awesome environments and you know, now our kids are getting that little bit older and they can actually understand a bit more and they watch us on tv and sort of cheer us on a little bit when we're fighting.
Speaker 2:And you know, that's only just sort of developing. You know they're under two and a half and two years old but when they're, like you know, four or five or six and if we're still fighting and they're able to come to the fights or watch us on tv and, you know, maybe have some friends over you know that's my dad you know that'll be awesome and that's. I just can't wait for those moments when they can maybe enjoy what we do as much as we do and have someone to share it with. Obviously, as we said, our partners are so supportive and love being there and riding the highs and lows with us. But to have you, you know, your own babies, your own family, you know cheering you're on, it's going to make it so much more special.
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure, and I reckon there's probably a few people listening to this that will say, like, oh, there's no way I would take my kid to watch yeah, yeah, my husband my box or whatever like in your opinion, in terms of, like, boxing is a sport, what does that teach your children? You know what I mean. Like, yeah, what do you think that, outside of the hits and whatever, I think there's some real nuggets in there in terms of like determination and courage and and all that sort of thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think there's so many. I suppose the hard work to start and just how hard you have to work to achieve your dreams, and resilience to like we've had some. Like myself, I've had a couple losses in the last year and you just got to. You know work really hard to get back and to persevere through the tough times, to to again come out on top. And that's what I'm doing at the moment is trying to work my way back up to where I was two years ago, being world champion. And I'd like to you know my son, when he's older and understands what what I've been through, to look back at that and be proud of his dad. And certainly something I think about is like him being able to like take my ballads into like show and tell at school and tell his mates that his dad was world champion and things like that. So that's all extra motivation just to make him proud.
Speaker 2:Yeah, awesome yeah, and just, yeah, teaching your kids boxing like you've probably heard before, like it's it saves so many people from going down the wrong path, just because it gives you this.
Speaker 2:You know discipline and you got to have like an insane work ethic to succeed in this sport. And for them to see how hard we work at it, how disciplined we are, all the sacrifices we make not saying that I want or, you know, going to push my daughters into boxing, but if they take that into any part of their life and just have that, you know crazy work ethic and passion and know what it's like just you know, to have a role model who works so hard to get what they want. You know there's such good lessons for them to learn. But I, you know boxing may not be everyone's cup of tea and it's sort of a bit of a tricky one at the moment with our kids, like trying to get them to not hit people and stuff. Like not that they do it often, but like we just trying to teach them. Like you know you can only hit someone you got gloves on or when they're when you're both got gloves on, or something like that. Like trying to teach them.
Speaker 2:Obviously they don't quite get it like when they understand it yeah you're not allowed to hit someone but I do it for a living like it's hard for them to get their head around, but yeah, we just try and show them that it's a sport and it's in a controlled environment in a ring, you know, if you're not in a ring or you don't wear gloves, you can't hit people and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:But there's your question about like them coming to the fights. That's something that's probably gonna be a bit tricky because I, like, I would love my daughters to be there and watch me fight and be there for me. But yeah, it's a pretty brutal sport and they probably don't want to see their dad getting punched in the head and what we have to go through to do what we do in a fight. You know it is a brutal game, but I guess that's just something we have to cross in the near future. Yeah, I mean, I think I'd definitely want her to be there, but it's going to be hard at times. We're here to watch, I think, and it's gonna make sure we don't think yeah, it's gonna.
Speaker 2:It's gonna train even harder to make sure that you're the one dishing out the punishment and not not being punished. But yeah, I mean it's not a nice thing for anyone to watch. I mean, you know our mum and dad dad struggle, we're partners struggle to watch us fight, but they know that it's what we love to do, so and he's what it is.
Speaker 1:I know that, marla, he watched you guys box yeah you know in your latest bout and quite often now, like he will make me come and put my hands up you know, and he's like oh my god, what's your name? Jason, andrew, yeah, and I was like oh, I'll take you up there, you know, one day soon, and they can show you how it's done?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think he understands that it's a, it's a sport and it's um, you know, not to raise his hands at anyone yeah like unless it's it's like consent or yeah, yeah, and I think that's yeah, like, even though I always said it is a bit tricky for him to get the head around, I think once you do explain that to him and they get the head around it, like, yeah, my daughter doesn't run around and punch people but, um, yeah, she sort of gets it. She's only two and a half, so hopefully she um keeps it that way and understands that she can't just get kicked out of every day care around the area.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, she definitely used Marla around her own room, but I know from when I was going to death I was like she's rough but yeah, she wasn't, she wasn't bothered too much, that's got nothing to do with you in a box and so sort of just going backwards leading up to the birth yeah you know we're talking about that pregnancy journey, whatever. Did you guys get yourself up with any sort of information and education on what was about to happen, or you know just your birth classes?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, we went to birth classes. I think they definitely helped. I think that made me a little bit more prepared of what's to come, and we also did sort of watched a few videos online and got a bit of an understanding of what we're in for. But you can never be fully prepared. I think watching your partner just in so much pain and, yeah, what they have to go through is incredible really, but very hard to watch and again you feel so helpless that you can't take that pain away from them. But, yeah, charles got through it. Um was so tough and um, yeah, it was just an amazing moment. When you look back on it now, just the actual birth itself when when Lee was coming out and welcoming him into the world is so special. Yeah, and now looking at him now, like it's still tripped throughout that that little boy that came at is who he is today.
Speaker 1:The whole thing is just so surreal do you remember, like, how long we don't talk? Do you remember, was it natural birth?
Speaker 2:yeah, yep, it was. Yeah, I remember about a day or maybe two days before, I think it was, if it was actually her due date she started having like contractions in the shower and we thought, yeah, we're on here, got all excited and then it was like really late at night, so she's like I'll have a lay down, try and get some sleep, and fell asleep, woke up the next morning, went, oh no, false alarm that was. That was nothing.
Speaker 2:It was like brax and hicks or whatever they thought yeah and then, yeah, two days, two days later, she started again same sort of thing, having contractions and and I'm like, should we, should we call people and like tell them that like this is happening. And my mum was like up with us wanting to stay for the birth, and she was like already driving back home to Melbourne and was probably like three quarters away through the drive and I'm like, do I call her and tell her to come back? And she was like, no, but what if it's the same as the other day, like I don't want to like get her to come back. And then it's nothing. So we didn't let, we didn't call anyone and it just kept going and going, going.
Speaker 2:I can't remember how long we were at home for while she was having contractions, but they started to get worse and worse. So we're like we'll just go in the hospital, get checked up and see how you're going. We expected that we're going to be coming back home, but sort of in that car trip. And then, as soon as we got there, things just like escalated really quickly and um, yeah, well, it was on, and like it's such a blur the whole thing. Looking at it now it seems so quick at the time, but it was obviously. I can't remember how many hours she was in labor for, but it feels like we went for five minutes for her, certainly not but um but for me it feels like a blur for a fuller.
Speaker 1:It's like a total blur yes yeah, indeed, um. Did gels have any sort of like pain relief through the birth, did she?
Speaker 2:yeah. So she, she loved the gas. She, I swear she was like nearly empty the hospital. We had a gas and um, it was so funny.
Speaker 1:She was like how much did you?
Speaker 2:actually do. You know what the funny thing is? The morning that she went into labor just doing absolutely nothing at all, I like pinched my neck so bad and was in so much pain, wanted to pull the bag in, yeah, so I literally couldn't move my neck the whole day. I was in so much pain but obviously couldn't complain because I was what I was going if it was nothing compared to chel's.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I tried the gas. I didn't let her have the gas.
Speaker 2:I just was not at the hospital no no. So I actually tried it just to see what it was like, hoping that it would help my neck, and it didn't even help my neck. I'm like this seems hopeless yeah, but it seemed to be helping her and, yeah, we sort of.
Speaker 2:As I said, I can't remember how many hours it was through, but I remember they checked up on her and they thought that she still hadn't had you know ages to go and she started getting pretty bad contractions while she actually was waiting. So she asked for the epidural hours before, took them so long to bring it in. And then, as they're doing the epidural, she's saying to him I can feel, it's like he's coming, like I can feel something, and they're like no, no, no, he still hates his way. He still hates his way. So put the epidural in about six times the bloke, like could not get it right. I was getting so frustrated because she was in so much pain. I'm just like just put the bloody thing in. But they finally got it in.
Speaker 2:And then, once she sort of settled, they checked up on her and they're like um, no, you're right. Uh, the heads. They're like take a couple minutes and then you can start pushing. So like if they hadn't known that, they probably wouldn't have given it to her because it was so close. But I was so thankful they did. And whoever invented epidural is an absolute legend like that's the best thing ever so. The birth itself after that point was just so calm, like she was so relaxed and just able to enjoy the experience because she wasn't in pain at all and it was just perfect like she could feel the pressure but was in no pain and just like really enjoyed giving birth and I was able to deliver Lee and catch him coming out and it was, yeah, really special yeah, I must admit Jad's had an epidural as well and, yeah, like the same thing it was.
Speaker 1:Just the lead up to that moment was like very tough for her and it almost felt like she couldn't be present because she was dealing with like the pain and stuff and like that and that all of a sudden, you know she could talk with me. She was like seeing and feeling everything you know in the room and stuff and and like to help her relax. So you know, they do say you know a lot with the birth, is it it's all about? You know the the mum has to be really relaxed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think if, if you can get that early on yeah yeah, yeah, but we were so thankful with Jad because you're right like things were so chaotic before that, like from when she asked for it to when it actually came, things get like really full on, like Chelsea's, in that much pain. She actually threw up all over me and like it was just like crazy and just like you're right, I just don't think she would have enjoyed the, the actual birth in that moment. Being in that much pain, it has not been able to think straight and having the epidural, she just like could then just relax and just really enjoy that moment. So yeah, I mean some people don't want that and that's that's totally everyone's choice, but I think for us it was made it really special.
Speaker 1:Did you just do the the birthing classes at the hospital, or did you do something different?
Speaker 2:No, I just did the birthing classes through the hospital and yeah, like sort of watched a few videos together online and things like that. But yeah, I didn't do anything outside outside the box. Would you recommend?
Speaker 1:for your early speaking. Did you do anything like like calming?
Speaker 2:birth stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah no just in the, in the classes and stuff like was there anything that you took from that class that you would otherwise not have known?
Speaker 2:I'm sure there definitely was. I can't really think off the top of my head, but I do remember thinking that they were. I was happy that we did go to them. I think probably more just like just feeling like you're more ready and know what to expect. Yeah, I don't know if there's actually anything that I was like wow, I didn't know that. But I think they're just reassuring a bit, because questions that you might think are stupid questions to ask they just go over it and sort of reassure you and think, yeah, yeah, I knew that, I knew that. Oh, yeah, that's how you do that.
Speaker 2:We've got our parents divorced and remarried and they had kids either side. So, yeah, we've got brothers. You know, sort of half brother, half sisters. I guess you technically call them, we just call them brothers and sisters, but they're quite a fair bit younger than us and we were there and quite older and sort of saw them come up so had a little bit of an idea of what it was like to have a baby, almost like we. You know sort of how we have brothers and sisters.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're likely sort of seeing what it was like, but it was a long time ago.
Speaker 2:So but then when you have those prenatal classes it's sort of you know, reassure you. I remember that, or I remember how to swaddle a baby, or I remember you know how to hold him or change an ackee or whatever there's. Yeah, there's certainly certain little things in there that I reckon were helpful. I didn't go back and do them before our second baby, but I reckon before your first. They're pretty, pretty valuable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we learned a lot through it and we made some like cool mates as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think because, like you know, there was we're in our class, everyone was around the same age going through like the first pregnancy and stuff. But what I found really valuable was just asking, like you said, those really dumb questions like where the fuck do I park when?
Speaker 2:I come.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was honestly like one of the most valuable things, because I just like pictured myself racing to the hospital. And then I like park in the furthest park and then just going what did you park over there? You know, and so for me I was just asking those like practical questions.
Speaker 2:I think for me too was like just like them explaining like when to go to the hospital. Yeah, because, like if I didn't go as soon as Chelsea started having two interactions, I would be like jump in the car like we're on, but um, it's obviously a long process from when they first start contractions to like when you actually leave for the hospital and when things actually become like really real.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and what about your birth stories, mate?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had two completely different experiences. I think, yeah, georgia and me had, yeah, two completely different experiences, like our first birth with um Isla was a induced but natural birth. Georgia, where it was like two and a half weeks over and just her body was just in bits and she'd had a half.
Speaker 2:I was just saying two and a half weeks, yeah, and like, yeah, just trying everything, bouncing on those footballs and everything, just you know, going for walks upstairs and stuff, just trying to bring the baby on. But Isla was just too comfortable in there and, um, eventually, yeah, we got induced like two and a half weeks past her due date and looking back later it was just too long, like Isla had gotten too big for Georgia's tiny little body. And, yeah, georgia liked the idea of having this nice, calm, natural birth and maybe even a water birth, like I thought she'd like the idea of that and all that planning just goes out the window. And, yeah, she got in the bath when she was having contractions and just hated it, got it straight away and she was in just so much pain. Eventually, as well, I ended up getting the epidural, but then when I was coming out, she got shoulder distortion and sort of got stuck trying to manipulate and get all around. Things were starting to get pretty chaos in the room and you know, like more and more people started walking in and we didn't know what was going on and I was just completely shooting myself and I don't think either of us really enjoyed the experience at all.
Speaker 2:Like, yeah, once I got stuck, then I had to have an apesiotomy and get the vacuum and, yeah, like it all became a bit of a bit of a rush and, yeah, they've got Eila out but she, like they just took her away straight away to make sure she was all right and had her on the bed and we obviously never had a baby before and, you know, thought that she'd come out and George would get that skin to skin and we'd be celebrating and all loving it and emotional. But I was just like what is going on here? Is everything all right? Just like didn't get to enjoy the moment at all and neither did Georgia, because she obviously didn't know what was going on either and was in a lot of pain and fair bit of blood and you know, it was a pretty gruesome sort of experience. And, yeah, like, eventually Eila was all right and we, yeah, we're like, oh, we've got our beautiful baby girl. But it would just like the actual moment where people say, oh, you know, it's the best day of your life when you have your baby.
Speaker 2:Like, for us it was just like chaos and oh, she's absolutely shitting myself the whole time and just never got to actually really enjoy it until later on, obviously, when everything was okay, we were good, but then Georgia's recovery from the first birth was pretty shocking. She, like five months after the birth, had to get restitched from the episiodomy and just wasn't healing properly and it just fell off forever. That it took her to recover from the birth and, yeah, certainly not the experience that you hoped for having a baby and yeah, it certainly made it, you know, pretty tough and we made it a bit more daunting having another baby. It's just amazing that Georgia was willing to go through all that again with, you know, shocking pregnancy and then obviously the birth that she had and the recovery she had. You know, to go again and have another baby was a huge sacrifice and a lot of courage.
Speaker 1:Yeah, great just moved.
Speaker 2:but obviously, yeah, we wanted to have a sibling for Isla and wanted another baby. So, yeah, she again went through it and had another shocking pregnancy, but she wanted the birth to be different. So we elected for a caesarean for a second, for Billy. And that moment was just completely different, Like we went in all right, yeah, we're going to have a baby today, drove to the hospital at six and by nine am they're pulling Billy out and they like got me to announce whether it was a boy or a girl, because we didn't know.
Speaker 2:It was a surprise this time around. And, yeah, I just walked in the room Georgia was not in pain, because you know, I would see you use all the pain medication and all that to make sure they're okay. And yeah, Georgia was laying there. We had Whitney Houston blaring because she loves that and all the the big wives and doctors and nurses were sort of dancing and in like this real upbeat sort of yeah mood was like an awesome vibe in the room. And then, yeah, they pulled Billy out and Georgia was so sure we're having a boy. I was sort of like, yeah, I don't know, 50-50.
Speaker 2:But then when it was a girl, like I just, you know I got to announce you know it's a girl and then both of us just got like super emotional and it was just like the most awesome experience and that, yeah, like that, we got to have that you know beautiful moment where they were. Yeah, we were robbed the first time, so, yeah, it was like complete contrast of experiences, you know both. At the end of the day, we got two beautiful girls, but one that we could actually enjoy and just absolutely loved it, and then the other one, obviously, where things we didn't know was going on and just, yeah, it was just a terrible experience really. But yeah, but two beautiful girls you know to walk away with, which is, yeah, obviously makes it beautiful. But Georgia's obviously still recovering now from the seas around three weeks ago, but already she's like improving every day and yeah, we can sort of it feels like that this one's gone a lot smoother, which is awesome.
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Speaker 1:Now back to the show. I think like the lessons learned from both of your experiences is that like there's no experience? Yeah, same.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And shit, we'll hit the fan, yeah, sometimes.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think it's like even even just the little things like your Georgia wanted to have that water birth.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:She gave it a go and the thing is like that could have been someone's. What was your plan? And that that goes out the window. I think it's like like for us and Jasmine. I had this conversation with having Valley as it was a natural birth. So you know, our conversation that we had was just more around. Let's just go with the flow of whatever feels right, like yeah, you could maybe have a bit of a plan, but don't be so set in style with that plan and because you know, more often than not it does, does go wrong.
Speaker 2:I think that just adds to that. Yeah, like it's not going to stress. Yeah, yeah, 100% agree, like same with which house? Like she like really wanted a water birth and like, but then just you just got to go with whatever you feel, like shouldn't even get in the bath, like we didn't even run the bath. So it just, things don't go how you're probably going to picture it 100%, but you just got to, like you said, go with the flow and just do what feels natural and comfortable at the time.
Speaker 1:And I think I was bloated, so we didn't need to be advocates for that. Like you, know, when things aren't working like, be equipped to know what next to try. I think like if you can work, offer any words of wisdom. American, that's like have had a few things up your sleeve and be like I call the bathroom workers, jumping the shower Maybe they might work, or let's just go sit on the ball, you know laying over the bed and I'll give you a bath, or something like that.
Speaker 1:I think like as long as you're going into that room sort of equipped with what you know your options are, I think is like the best.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, definitely I think it depends on the person's personality as well.
Speaker 2:I'm a bit more like you know all the other things. Well, let's just go with the flow. Where's Georgia loves structure and knowing what's happening. And I think that's probably what made the first one so tough for us, that all that planning that she did and how she wanted to go, just none of it happened.
Speaker 2:Whereas with the CISA, everything is planned Like, yeah, this is the time you're arriving at the hospital, this is what's going to happen, in three hours You've got your baby on your chest, Whereas most of the time with an actual birth at least, things don't go to plan. But yeah, if you, if you, I guess, as a partner, aware of the fact that things don't go to plan, and you can be there, like you said, to be like all right, let's try this, let's try that all no, at least have some sort of support from or, yeah, sort of you know, you know what to expect a little bit, even though it's obviously such an unknown experience. If you can try and, I guess, give them some sort of direction or keep it calm a little bit, yeah, that'll be helpful, very helpful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sure, I think like we don't have a very key job.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right, but yeah, just trying to keep it calm and, you know, make sure it's all right. This bath didn't work out, but let's try this, like you said. But whereas they're like, oh, I wanted this beautiful bath, you know like water burst yeah, exactly. But yeah, if you can try, and I guess, keep it positive and try something else and keep moving, Like you said, all's well that ends well. But you know, if you can keep them calm and happy, that's the goal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's it. So you know, although your lives are quite unique in terms of being professional sports people and that's what you do for a living, I think there's some parallels, like I was sort of saying to you guys earlier. There's some parallels with other professionals in other realms. Like you know, you're flying, fly out sort of workers or people that have to travel pretty often for work. Obviously, with what you guys do, it takes a fair bit of planning. Like you got to travel overseas, you got to do training every day and all that sort of thing. Can you guys share, or can we dig into your structure of like how your weeks look like and then you know, do they change once you have a flight scheduled in?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I suppose like although we spend, we'll have had to spend a lot of time away from our kids, which is like extremely tough. We're lucky in the way that when we are at home we get to spend a lot of time with them. So at the moment we don't have a flight planned or a date to sort of train towards, so we still train once a day, but we get that done in the morning, generally sort of finish our training by sort of like 1030. And then we're lucky that we get to go home and sort of spend the full day with our kids and spend so much time with them. So that's sort of what we'll be doing at the moment in between fights and then once we get a date of sort of like 12 weeks out, things change quite a lot and we do need it. Then start training sort of twice a day and adding like recovery sessions in and massage and just sort of being a little bit, I suppose, more selfish and just having to step away from focus on the task, yeah, and start to sort of get our mind right on training and just giving that 100%. And unfortunately in those times we don't get to spend as much time with our kids and that'll sort of go on for a few weeks and then we have to then take our training camp overseas when we're fighting overseas, which has been what we've done for basically their whole life so far.
Speaker 2:So most of our fights have been in America.
Speaker 2:So we'll go over there sort of four weeks before the fight, sometimes more, and then, yeah, train for the fights and, as as of late do two weeks hotel quarantine when we arrive home, which is just professional quarantine experts that's for sure.
Speaker 2:But it's just so hard when you're when you're flying home and you're thinking, yes, like you think you feel like you're going home, but you're not and you can't see your family in that two weeks just drags on and just feels so long because you've been away from them already for so long. So that's been extremely hard and hopefully we don't have to do that again. But yeah, sort of went off topic a little bit there, but like when we're at home it's we're lucky that we can spend a lot of time with our kids. But things change a lot when the fight sort of gets announced and we've got a date to work towards and and then we, yeah, we've sort of got to try and balance being a father and being a professional athlete and it is tricky, but we're very lucky that we've both got very supportive partners who sort of take that workload and, and you know, allow us to give 100% to our sport and train properly and sort of, yeah, pick up the slack and basically do a lot on their own during that period.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and something that I need to mention too Chelsea partner has created her own cosmetic skincare range to help run a business too. So, yeah, so that's new to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she created her own business hard care code, which is actually going live this this Friday. So exciting times. Yeah, really proud of her, of how much effort and time she's put into this and whilst juggling a just over two year old. So, but really happy for her because it's like what she loves. She's been a makeup artist for like six years now and hasn't been able to do that while she's sort of been on maternity leave. And then we made the decision that her going back to work was going to be really hard, with me going overseas a lot. So she wanted to do something, you know, for herself and get back into work and making money. And, yeah, running her own business was the step forward. And she came up with the idea. And, yeah, really proud of what she's done and, yeah, exciting times.
Speaker 1:So, fellas, you know, treat your, your partners to nice skincare range available this Friday. Yeah, that's right and then where? Where do I buy?
Speaker 2:it. It's on her website, hardcarecodecom.
Speaker 1:Awesome, and there's an Instagram.
Speaker 2:Yeah, instagram, jump on. Instagram hard care code. Yes, they jump on and treat your partner to some nice skincare. I can actually save myself. I've used some of the products and when I like, we spa a few times a week and we cover our face in Vaseline and I have like the worst. You look like at 16 year old. Working at Mac is most of the time, but this is actually has like really cleared up my skin and I actually look like an adult now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like a lot of what Andrew said. He's exactly right and you know, it is tough to I guess where those two hats sometimes have. You know they had have been a professional fighter and then the hat of being a dad and as we get closer to a fight, as Andrew said, it is harder because you train in twice a day and then in between those sections you got you know recovery and might have interviews, or you know zoom calls or you know on the phone to your manager and all these different distractions. But the thing I really try and it doesn't always work, but the thing I always try to do is like as soon as I get home from training, I put that hat on of being a dad and give them both my full attention and give them that energy, like even when I'm absolutely cooked from training and just want to sit on the couch, like try and be present with them and like give her the energy she needs Because, yeah, like I might only get an hour in between the sessions or two hours between sessions and I want to, you know, make the most of that and rather than just sitting there and being wrecked and having other things on my mind and being distracted, I try and just like this is my time that I've got with Isla and Billy and going to make the most of it and like give her that one on one attention where she knows that I'm there, and like enjoys that time with me.
Speaker 2:Because, yeah, I would say when we were away, we miss that time so much. And we come home and it's like you get a different behavior. You feel like you've missed so much of their life. But then, because you've missed, you feel like you've missed so much. When we do come home, I'm just like so rejuvenated and like just so keen to have that time with them. And sometimes it is a positive because, like you've had that time away, you come over fresh.
Speaker 2:Yeah you have, you've reset and you like you come home and you just love having that time with you, you really cherish that time that you do have with them and, like you, make sure, like Jason's saying, like you 100% with them, instead of, like you know, falling in love with just like scrolling through your phone and just not being present. Like you realize what you've missed and just how special it is and you give them 100%.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the ones who's pretty crazy how the world these days, like you're so contactable. Yeah, yeah like, whether it's your phone or emails or whatever, and it's it's pretty crazy that you almost have to plan to be like okay, so when I get home, I literally am going to put my phone on silent put it upside down on a bench somewhere. Just give undivided attention to either your kids or your partner. Yeah, yeah, definitely it's like it's crazy that that's even something that we need to think about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah and there's times when I feel like a terrible mate.
Speaker 2:You know I might not have spoken to some of my good mates in a few weeks and they call me and I don't answer it because I'm with Ila or with Billy and you know I might not answer back a message, for you know, days and days and I feel like I'm such a crap friend sometimes.
Speaker 2:But it's like I've got to prioritize Ila and Billy because you know like today I was at daycare. So I might try and make a real effort to get back to the people I haven't spoke to in a while or make you know, make a few calls and speak to family and friends that I haven't spoke to in a while. But if you just answer that phone call and reply to that text all the time, then you're not present with your, with your daughter, and you're not giving them that one on one attention. And yeah, they're watching you just sitting on your phone all the time and you know you don't get to actually have this valuable time with them. So you got to balance it All right. I'm going to be maybe a terrible friend, but they've got kids as well, most of them, and they understand what it's like.
Speaker 1:And the flip side of that, too. You also want those conversations with your friends to be cool, yeah, exactly. You've got a kid talking on your leg. Yeah, attention yeah, to play. Chances are.
Speaker 2:Your conversation is going to be bullshit, exactly, exactly, and be cut short.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so yeah, nice, yeah, it's good wisdom there. And obviously just having that quality one on one time. Is there anything that you guys do with your kids Like for fun? Is there like a particular game that you would play with them or or whatever that?
Speaker 2:My daughter's got the most crazy imagination at the moment, so just whatever she wants to do, she just comes up with the most out there things like we'll be sitting on the. I'm sitting on the arm of the couch, but that's a horse and his name's Carrie. This is yesterday and I'm right on this couch, right on this horse, for half an hour and it's like, well, feels like I'm just wasting so much time, but she's loving it.
Speaker 2:So if she's having fun if I'm right on the couch and she's having fun and that's what she wants to do, then that's cool and yeah, she's just got the most crazy fun. Personality is so good. But yeah, obviously she's a girl and she likes her out there rough stuff and but yeah, I'm not afraid to get my nails painted or she can spray some water in my hair and brush my hair and try and put her hair clip in and things like that. No doubt that that's going to be something that I'm going to get more and more used to as she gets older. But I just love letting her imagination go and seeing what she comes up with, because, yeah, trying to see the world to her eyes is just incredible. It's like, how do you come up with this sort of stuff? But yeah, she's just so happy and carefree and love and life. It's so good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we tend to lose that sense of inner child.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like once you're at work and you're going through life experiences that are very serious and things like that. Yeah, you almost got a time to be childish. Yeah, I said it's really cool. Yeah, it's awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, my boy, he's honestly like he's such a boy, just loves sport and like we haven't like pushed over at him at all, but like he just wants to be thrown balls and just playing basketball on his bike Most of the time, like he just he loves being outside so he would just like so yeah, we're going outside. He jumped on his bike and I just let him lead the way and I just will follow him around the block and we'll end up at the beach pretty much most days and he just loves it there, just playing sand, throwing sand and eating sand and yeah, but yeah, he's just like my best little mate and we just hang out and I try and, when I am at home, give Charles a bit of time to herself most days and me and Lee would just go for a walk and kill a couple of hours and just let her switch off and I just love spending time with him honestly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's cool. Yeah, I reckon, as much as you can too, like, obviously, our partners have like such an important job, you know, in terms of mothering the children and stuff like that. I think, like any opportunity you give, you know you have to give them a bit of a break. Yeah, it's going to, it's going to come back, you know like 10-fold. Yeah, in terms of just how happy that makes them and gives them an opportunity to recharge and all that sort of thing. So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's something. Yeah, that's definitely something that took me a while to realise and I guess, pick up, like we just I don't know, like we didn't I guess early days allow each other to do their different things, that they love doing so much. Like I obviously still go away and train and things, but then I had sort of my job. I need to do that. But I guess, yeah, we sort of realised as I got older you need to have that time to do the things you love.
Speaker 2:And, yeah, trying to give Georgia that little bit of time to do something that she wants to do and yeah, it just makes everyone such a better mood because you've got some of that alone time and even since I always started daycare, just having two days a week where you can get little things done without, you know, having a toddler to chase around, it's just, yeah, really sort of given us a bit of extra energy. And yeah, it's certainly something that you need to be mindful of, Because if you just always I don't know I guess you know it's very hard on a woman always having to care for a baby 24, seven, so you do need to give them that little bit of a break sometimes, for sure.
Speaker 1:What are some of the things that you guys do as hobbies outside of what you're doing? Because it obviously takes up a lot of your time and it is for a lot of people, boxing would be their hobby or it's their release from stress and or whatever Like. Just sometimes you guys think, oh shit, I can't have a hobby outside of boxing or whatever.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's going to sound very boring, but honestly I honestly don't Like outside of boxing, my hobby is spending time with Lee and Charles, like that's my gives you that, yeah, that's that's my enjoyment. And like, when I'm not in the gym and not training, that's what I want to do with my time. I don't really want to do anything else. Like there's definitely times I would Jason said like you just need to switch off and just have a bit of time yourself. Yeah, that's just like a mental, just sort of reset, because when you constantly look like looking after your little one and you can't take your eyes off them and you know it's just mentally can become draining that you just need a break every now and then. But yeah, outside of the gym, I just try and spend as much time as I can with with it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm much the same. Like, yeah, we do love boxing, which is why we're so fortunate we get to do something we love every day. And yeah, like I do actually look forward to going to the gym every day. But yeah, like I enjoy going for a surf or going for a fission, things like that. But yeah, I just love spending time with with my family as well Going for a ride, going for a scooter ride or a bike ride, or going down the beach, going down the creek, but it's such a good place to bring up a child in the area that we live up here in Casuarina, kingsley, fingal sort of area, you know just such a good spot for kids to grow up. So, yeah, just love getting outdoors and living life and seeing them run around and be crazy and blowing off some steam. It's awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, we're definitely blessed, that's for sure. Yeah, live where we are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure.
Speaker 1:Even the age of both of your children. Apart from our Billy, you spend a bit of time at the park.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Like I've put up a bunch of stickers and stuff on the Instagram in terms of like, what questions or topics that people want to hear about?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And one of them that popped up was their own playground etiquette and I think it like works from both ways. It's in like what's the etiquette for the adult, Because I see so many adults sitting around the park on their phone.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's like the park's like a daycare for their kid. But then also, what's the etiquette for children? You know, like I know, that if I see Marlowe kind of get a little bit like rough and tumble with the kid, I'll, like you know, I'll step in the paint man Like you know what do you? Do when a kid is like that with your child? And their parents are just sitting there on the phone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know, yeah, tough, yeah, I've. Luckily I haven't had that too much yet. But yeah, there's certainly times when there's like bigger kids that sort of like just rush past and like almost knock them over and like they'll be like slowly obviously making their way to the slide and the bigger kid will sort of push through. And yeah, I mean I actually haven't had too many instances where the parent hasn't been paying attention because yeah, could imagine they'd get pretty frustrating, but you just got to hope that they pull their kid up and just say, like there's a little kid, just it's their turn first, sort of thing and I suppose I've had to do that myself is like, say, hold on, like this is he first let them go down the slide, and I suppose that's the etiquette you're talking about and I suppose you're right.
Speaker 2:There is plenty of parents that just go to the park Like, yeah, I can switch off here, they can run a mark. But yeah, I mean he's going to make sure that they're doing the right thing around the other kids, yeah, but yeah, that's the question. I haven't had that too much, thankfully, otherwise I might end up in a bit extra spur again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm setting a good example. Yeah, yeah, that's right. I mean, I reckon there's a fine line there, like because, like if I wasn't paying attention for whatever reason and Mollie did something wrong, I would like someone to pull him up. Yeah, you know, let it slide. I think there's a very fine line there. That's it.
Speaker 2:It's probably the way, like if I have, I don't want to parent another person's child, but if you have to say something and sort of, I guess, have a word to it, a toddler, it's not yours, it's just the way you word, I think. Like I think I've probably had to step in sometimes and be like hey, buddy, like I was going down the slide and I can just give her a shot, and things like that. Like I'm not, like hey, mate, you can't do that. Yeah, Tell him off, or anything, but just let him know that. Yeah, like hey, I'll see, it's her turn.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sort of thing.
Speaker 2:I think that's all right, isn't it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know. And then it's like, do you go to like if it's a repeat offender, do?
Speaker 2:you just go to that parent's and be like I think you should start watching your child. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a tough one. Tough one, I think, yeah, like you maybe can do it, as long as you're in a calm voice, like two of the baby, I'll, yeah. Talking to the parent would be a tough one.
Speaker 1:It's only fun, yeah, fuck off, man yeah. Don't deal with it yourself. Yeah, so do you guys have any dad hacks or don'ts Like? Is there any times where you've gone fuck, I'm going to give myself a high five and just like crack the code. Or days where you're like, oh man, I'm a shit dad?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I reckon I had to. Oh, I don't know, I reckon I had to. Shit dad day not yesterday, the day before probably just a little bit lack of sleep with Dilly and Isla like the double and just adjusting to being, yeah, that too, but I just, yeah, maybe didn't get enough sleep and I just woke up in a bit of a shit mood. And on those days your patience is just really thin and like patience at the moment with a two and a half year old is like everything. Like Isla, I think she's maybe a little bit, she's taken to having a sibling super well, but I guess she's sort of maybe rebelling a tiny little bit just to get that attention back.
Speaker 2:And yes, you're sort of not listening. And yeah, when you wake up and you're a bit sleep deprived and your patience is thin, like, yeah, I had a day where I got to the end of the day and I was put into bed and I was like it's just said to, I'm sorry. I feel like like, yeah, sorry, I was so grumpy today. I feel like I was a shit dad. I didn't swear to her, obviously, but yeah, I sort of just not a high five, it was like man, you suck today but you have those days.
Speaker 1:I was just getting a noise, I think it's like yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah and then, yeah, I guess patience is just so important. But, yeah, you're going to have those days where you suck, like you know we're all just winging it. There's no right or wrong way to parent. But I don't know if you've got any better hacks rather than a negative, but I don't have any hacks really.
Speaker 2:There's certainly been times where I've, like what we spoke about earlier, like I've sort of pulled myself up and been like what the hell? Like I've been scrolling through my phone while Lee's here, like having fun, and I just haven't given him the attention. But that's something I've been really mindful of lately, especially since coming home from that last trip overseas, to make sure I don't do that. And but yeah, no, no hacks. I think maybe one of the things that I think is great about me as a dad is that, and not that I'm the best dad, but I'm, you know, because I'm young and able, you know, I can just get so involved with the play. You know, like me and I'll both have scooters now and we'll go on a scooter ride together, or we'll go to the park together and I don't know if it's the right park etiquette, like we spoke about, but I'll go down the slide and I'll go on the monkey bars and I'll go on the fly.
Speaker 2:That's what she was, and yeah, I suppose it even been like five foot four. Yeah, exactly, I feel you. But yeah, I'll get right into the play and I actually play with her like I'm her little friend, you know, and rather than sitting back and just sitting on the bench and watching her run around, I'll get right into it and yeah, I love that. I love getting into it and actually playing with her like she's my best friend. That's awesome, yeah that's cool.
Speaker 2:One thing that I like on the other side is with your partner. That I think I learned a little bit more is like because we moved away from Melbourne and don't have much support up here, and like we had our baby and then, four months after Andrew had his baby, we didn't really I don't know. It was hard to really spend that time with your partner and go on dates and things like that. And because Andrew had a baby as well, we didn't feel right to be like hey, can you look after Ilar, even though you've already got Lee, who you know can you look after so that we can go out for dinner and stuff. But we eventually just come around to that idea and you know we'll you know, once a month try and go out on a date and like Andrew will look after Ilar and then just repay the favor and go yeah, you guys go out to your anniversary.
Speaker 2:Or you know you guys go out today and we'll look after Lee just for a couple of hours so you can go out and spend some time together as your partner. Because that's like such the big change when you become a parent is that you don't have much time for you and your partner, and it's so important to keep that spark and that relationship between you two. You know, keep the importance on that and, you know, just put the effort in. So, yeah, that's certainly something that we've come around to learning and something that I try and get better at, because it's you know, it's hard when you sort of just always spend the family, always looking after your kids. You need to look after each other too.
Speaker 2:Totally, and it's a foundation to the family right For sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I feel like there was there's this life before having kids. That is much longer than what this space is, you know, especially in. You know, your experience so far is like you only had kids for a few years now, but you guys do that for much longer and there are those things that you guys experience together that made you fall in love and stuff and to not sort of like go back to that or something is.
Speaker 2:That's it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like a detrimental to yeah.
Speaker 2:And pre-kids. That was something that was really like something we love to do, like we love going out for dinner or love going out for breakfast and, yeah, love just going out together and having a meal and just sitting at the table, just you two. And then, obviously, when you have kids, you sort of almost stop doing that. So, yeah, it was something that we, yeah, I guess, try and be a bit more conscious of to keep that alive, because that's, yeah so important and we love doing it. So why stop just because you've got kids? Like you know, there's ways you can work it, make it work.
Speaker 1:Very easy to put it in the two hard bus.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1:And just yeah, just go with the flow.
Speaker 2:And, as I said, like I felt bad and like Andrew can you look after, I like, because he's already got his hands full with Lee, but it's like it's actually, oh, they'll play together, and actually sometimes makes things a little bit easier when they play together and you know you can sit and just watch them rather than happen to be the one doing all the entertaining. So and then like you go out for dinner and that and like you go and pick your kids up in like two hours time or whatever it might be, and like that time flies if you just look. Enough of a two hours. I was a breeze whereas, but you've had this two hours of just alone time with your partner. That's just so valuable. So, yeah, you just got to make it work and realize how beneficial it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you both come back to so, so stoked and happy and happy and at 100%.
Speaker 1:Your kids have taken up on that fight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. That environment you tune like the energy that you two have with each other is going to rub off on your kids. So you've got a really big conscious of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So there's probably a load of fellas listening. They want to hear a tiny bit more about boxing, yeah. So I reckon, yeah, like what's what's in the pipeline, what's what's next for you guys, like you just come back from from about overseas.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And yeah so. So, Andy, you want to. You want to tell us what's next.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm sort of on the rebuilding phase at the moment.
Speaker 2:So I just lost my world title, had a trilogy with an American fellow, josh Franco, who beat me the first time and took the title off me.
Speaker 2:We then had a no contest where I should have won, but we won't go into that the second one, which then called for an immediate rematch and we had the trilogy just gone and unfortunately I came up short in that fight. So I'm now sort of rebuilding and working hard in the gym to try and improve as much as possible to get that world title back. So the plan is to hopefully have a fight here in Australia in December and get a win on the board and get myself back up high in the rankings so that hopefully early next year or sometime 2022 that I can again fight for world title and get back to the position I was. So that's where we are and I'm just trying to wait. The moment there's no date set, but I'm really hoping that we can organize something for December because, as Jason mentioned, we've only fought once in the last 12 months and it's nowhere near enough and obviously need to get back to winning and get back up the rankings and put myself back in a good position.
Speaker 1:So where are you sitting now?
Speaker 2:Oh, it depends. Like there's four different sanctioning bodies and I'm sort of.
Speaker 1:People don't understand.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just gonna be a very hard answer, but probably like roughly sort of top 10, but I really want to get back up to like top five and in some of the sanctioning bodies I'm not rated in the top 15. So I really want to get rated in the other organizations because once you're in the top 15, you can get the opportunity to fight for world title at any time. So I just really need to get ranked sort of across the board if possible in all of their organizations and work my way back up to top five and just really put myself in the position that that world title opportunity can come at any time. And then it's just up to me to stay in the gym and stay ready and wait for that call.
Speaker 1:That loss put some fire in your belly, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, definitely. Boxing is a very cutthroat sport. Unless you're at the top and you're fighting for world titles or have a world title, you really don't make much from the sport. So I've also got a family that I need to provide for. So that's my motivation that I need to get back to having a world title and back to that top level so that I can make good money and provide for them and provide a good future for my son. So that's the motivation at the moment. So working hard every day to make sure that I get back there and get hold of that world title and provide a good future.
Speaker 1:Yeah, awesome man. What about you Jazz?
Speaker 2:Yes, I just had a fight in August and had a good win against an American who was rated number four in the world. So I'm sitting really good. I'm sitting at the number two contender in the world at the moment. So I've been ordered to fight in a world title eliminator, which would mean that the winner would go on to fight for a world title. So my manager's working on things. At the moment there's two world titles that I'm in contention for. One I've been ordered to fight a guy from Scotland, and another world title I've been ordered to fight a guy from Thailand. So we're trying to work things out at the moment.
Speaker 2:I'd really love to fight before the end of the year, but when there are these big fights it can take a bit of time to sort of piece it all together. So I might just have to wait until early next year. And, yeah, I'll fight a world title eliminator, hopefully in January or February. And then, yeah, next year will be the year I'll become world champion and achieve the dream and start setting up my family and giving them the best life I can give them. So that's just something that's so important to me. Obviously, you started boxing. It was all about me winning a world title. It was just something that I wanted to do, but once you bring a family into the picture, yeah, it's certainly very important for me to give them the best life I can. So winning a world title and achieving that dream will certainly go a long way to giving them the best life I can.
Speaker 1:And guys, there's not many Aussies that are in these positions. So get behind the boys in the lead-up to these fights and give them all that sort of encouragement and support, because it definitely goes a long way. These guys, you know see all the messages and stuff of support and you know it definitely adds to helping the cause. And who doesn't love Senna? Bloody good Aussie can't jump, say yeah, why not get behind them?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, we definitely appreciate everyone's support and, yeah, hopefully we can both become world champions some stage very soon and do Australia proud.
Speaker 1:And where can everyone follow along on your journey to see us again and yeah, social medias at Andrew Maloney, maloney spell M-O-L-O-N-E-Y.
Speaker 2:So yeah, follow me on all the channels. And yeah, really appreciate your support. Yeah, and I'm just the same at Jason Maloney and we've got a website, teamaloneycom. So yeah, jump on, give us a follow or jump on the website. And, yeah, follow the journey. And yeah, we hope we can provide some entertainment and do everyone prayer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, awesome. Any more organisations want to get out, you know, get behind these boys too. It's like hit up their managers and you know, if you want to give them some support to help the journey and stuff, it'd be, you know, welcome.
Speaker 1:So yeah, but boys, I'd like to thank you both and thank Chelsea and Georgia too, for letting you guys come on and allowing you to be open about your stories and share with us some real chunks of wisdom. And yeah, it's just, I think there's loads in this conversation that's going to help that sort of navigate the crazy yet beautiful journey of fatherhood. And yeah, you guys are absolutely gentlemen and yeah, it's so stoked to have you guys on the dad podcast.
Speaker 2:So, thank, you Thanks for having us on, mate. We love what you're doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think it's great Like there isn't many sort of instruction manuals out there or anyone you know for advice. We wouldn't read them either, but you know, you do feel like you're just ringing it at times, and we are, but you know, a place that people can come listen and get a bit of advice is definitely going to go a long way.
Speaker 2:So for sure mate, love them what you're doing. So, yeah, look forward to following the journey and listening to all the episodes and yeah, mate, it's unreal and stoked to be a part of it. So thanks for having us on.
Speaker 1:Cheers boys.
Speaker 2:Thank you Good on you, Lisa.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much for tuning into this episode, you bunch of legends. If you enjoyed the show, could I please get you to show me some love by subscribing and leave a really nice review, also for loads of extras and to stay up to date with all things? Dad podcast. Head on over to at dad underscore podcast on Instagram and give us a follow. Huge love to you all, daddyos. Catch you soon. We'll see you next time.