2022 Year In Review (Hosted by Becca Tiell-Krekeler, Wife, Mom, all-around badass)

**Transcript is Auto-Generated**

00;00;00;22 - 00;00;23;29
Matthew Krekeler
Welcome to Girl Dad Nation. I'm your host, Matthew Krekeler. And with me for this very special 2022 Year In Review episode is my lovely wife, Becca, and I'm going to hand the podcast over to her. So here we go.

00;00;27;19 - 00;01;08;06
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
All right, so we are doing this special podcast. I pitched this idea to Matt because I wanted listeners land to have a chance to get to know the man behind the microphone. Love it. So we're I'm going to host Girl Nation today and along with our other special guest, Maggie, who is here with us as well. And we're going to hear from that a little bit about what inspired him to start the podcast, what he learned this year, and hear some of his thoughts and musings on being a dad.

00;01;08;24 - 00;01;20;08
Matthew Krekeler
Thank you. Yeah. And Maggie is just a little over one month old. So sorry. It's been a little while since we've released an episode, but yeah, there's kind of been a lot happening in our family as a group since.

00;01;20;15 - 00;01;35;07
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
We've been busy. Oh, we have been busy. So the first question is, what was one of the favorite things that you learned from your podcast guests this year?

00;01;36;13 - 00;01;39;09
Matthew Krekeler
Oh, wow. Okay, so what did I learn from my guests?

00;01;39;20 - 00;01;43;21
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Well, maybe you just share a couple of things that you learned. Some of your favorites.

00;01;44;12 - 00;02;10;29
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, man, I've just through this experience, it's just been really awesome to get to connect with so many different dads. You know, I've had dads who their kids are now grown. They're adults, they're out in the world doing their own thing. And then one of my guests, his daughter, is only like a month old. So we talked about like all the anticipatory stuff about like, well, he was excited about being a new dad.

00;02;10;29 - 00;02;56;24
Matthew Krekeler
So I totally had the spectrum of guests in that regard. And man, I've had some really inspiring conversations. One of my early guests, he was homeless and addicted to drugs for like ten years. And he told his story about overcoming all of that. And then now he's able to, like, reengage as a dad with his youngest daughter. And he even started a homeless shelter, you know, go at driving through those same spots where he was living on the streets and kind of seeing people in that same similar situation where he was just a few years ago and really wanting to build that homeless shelter, create that community, to really give back and all of those

00;02;56;24 - 00;03;25;16
Matthew Krekeler
amazing ways. Another guest on my podcast is an astronaut or was an astronaut. He went on three space missions and that was really cool hearing his story and all of the unique challenges there. So but you know, through all of it, every single guest said that they wouldn't change it for the world like we talked about. You know, do you ever feel pressure, like, to have a son or do you ever feel like you're missing out on certain things?

00;03;25;16 - 00;03;59;15
Matthew Krekeler
And every single one of my guests has just been like unanimously said they love their daughters. And, um, and each of those experiences, they're like, well, even the space mission guy, I was like, I wouldn't trade that for anything. Like, I'd much rather have the time with my girls back at home than all of these crazy adventures. So that's just what inspires me so much, hearing those stories and just being inspired to appreciate all those moments that I have now with my girls.

00;04;00;21 - 00;04;09;00
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
All right. I guess follow up question, was there something that you learned that in this this we didn't prep, so we're just.

00;04;09;02 - 00;04;09;26
Matthew Krekeler
We're all right. Yeah.

00;04;09;26 - 00;04;11;06
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
This is freestyle in here.

00;04;11;18 - 00;04;12;13
Matthew Krekeler
Shoot them out here.

00;04;12;17 - 00;04;39;01
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Yeah. So was there something that kind of inspired you in the way that you need to think about your parenting style? Something maybe you wanted to add or just anything that kind of inspired you, like listening to other people's stories. Was there something that made you think about your parenting style and there's anything you wanted to do differently?

00;04;40;15 - 00;05;14;08
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, a couple. A couple conversations come to mind immediately. Um, one was with Taylor Chalamet's do Dad. And he talked about the analogy of like using different tools and even parents can kind of adopt like, their own style of parenting, maybe a different tool depending on what the child needs. And yeah, so that's that sort of approach or it's like sometimes like the gentler approach is really what like your child might need.

00;05;15;01 - 00;05;50;18
Matthew Krekeler
And oftentimes fathers are kind of seen as like this, like the authority and the power and all of those things. And, you know, there are certain aspects where, yeah, it's you, you do use those certain traits and there's positives in that too. But, but having girls and just my experience with all of that, watching other parents and just the way that they have to humble themselves and the way that inspires myself to be humbled in my parenting and just understanding that it's all right.

00;05;51;24 - 00;06;21;07
Matthew Krekeler
It's going to be challenging. Keep doing the best you can, keep showing up keeping president. Sometimes that gentler approach is okay and then also inspiring our daughters to be the best person that they are and to take those risks to do things that the society oftentimes and sometimes even within our own our own families, we kind of set limits or limit the expectations with what we think they're capable of.

00;06;21;21 - 00;06;43;07
Matthew Krekeler
And I look at people like Brian Johnson, who has four girls, and they all skateboard, and it was awesome interviewing him. And one of the things that his motto he keeps telling his girls is, be brave, be strong, and try hard things. And he teaches his girls that whether it's on the skateboard or just in any other challenge in their life.

00;06;43;19 - 00;07;09;16
Matthew Krekeler
And those stories and those models just inspired me so much. And I got an opportunity just recently to teach my oldest Kaylie how to snowboard. It was very brief. We didn't go up to the mountain, but just in front of our own house when we got a huge snowstorm. It was awesome. Just strapping her in the board and pulling her along and just watching her try something that she's never done before.

00;07;09;16 - 00;07;32;25
Matthew Krekeler
And it's cool that we get to watch these videos. It's awesome how we're so interconnected with the Internet. There are some challenges, but there's also positives with being like so interconnected and being able to pull up the video and watch really awesome people do amazing things, whether it's like in action sports or in other worlds. But just watching her light up and she was like, I did it.

00;07;33;04 - 00;07;37;22
Matthew Krekeler
And just the way that she was proud of herself just made me so proud of her.

00;07;38;22 - 00;08;00;25
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Yeah, well, this question that I have for you is a little bit more of the behind the scenes of making a podcast. So you would have this goal in mind for a little while, and it took some time to kind of come to fruition. But you were you worked really hard to launch last year around this time.

00;08;01;04 - 00;08;04;28
Matthew Krekeler
Yes. Yeah. First episode was January 1st. Yeah, yeah.

00;08;05;12 - 00;08;14;14
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
So tell us about what were some of the things that you learned about running a podcast?

00;08;14;28 - 00;08;20;27
Matthew Krekeler
That's a great question. And there's dozens of podcasts to tell you about how to make a podcast.

00;08;20;29 - 00;08;21;09
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Yeah.

00;08;21;24 - 00;08;24;04
Matthew Krekeler
And I've probably listened to about half of them.

00;08;26;15 - 00;08;55;24
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. I mean, there's there's so much that I've had to learn and I think there's still so much to learn. I think I'm a constant student. My daughter's kind of waking up a little bit. Yeah, I think podcasting a lot like parenting is something that like oftentimes it's like, Oh, I'm never ready. You know, like I had this idea for a while and it's like, Oh, I have to have everything in place and I have to know everything and read every book.

00;08;56;15 - 00;09;16;06
Matthew Krekeler
And there comes a point where it's just like, Are you going to do this? And I'm so glad they kind of took that challenge. And I recorded my first episode actually probably six months before it launched, and I was like, I just need to get something. And it was awesome. I reached out to one of my good friends.

00;09;16;06 - 00;09;39;02
Matthew Krekeler
Now, Loni Anderson, he's an amazing artist, has two awesome girls. And like I just reached out to him, I was like, I have this crazy idea. It's not even anything. I don't even have like a channel. You know? And I was like, Would you just record an episode with me, see what happens? And like, I want to kind of figure out the the flow of the show.

00;09;39;02 - 00;10;07;20
Matthew Krekeler
I think that's kind of the most important thing is what do you have to say before you figure out all the technical stuff? And it was awesome. We talked for like 2 hours and I was just so inspired, so stoked to be a dad after that. And his girls are much older. His oldest just got accepted into Stanford, so she started her freshman year at Stanford and just to kind of learn from his experience was amazing.

00;10;07;20 - 00;10;47;25
Matthew Krekeler
And I'm like, This is awesome. This is the whole point. I want to share these amazing stories with other people and then all the technical stuff. It's crazy. So I host this through Buzz Sprout, which is just an online platform. There's probably a dozen other platforms and that, and then it gets distributed from there to all the major platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts and there's, there's so many different podcast platforms to listen to these, but that was kind of the initial approach and then like tackling all the social media stuff.

00;10;47;25 - 00;11;09;26
Matthew Krekeler
So I'm still trying to figure out how to spread this. I love the concept. I'm still going to do a podcast, even just for myself. Like if no one listens to this podcast, just having conversations one on one with other dads of daughters. I just get so inspired to be a dad by that, that I'm like, That's worth it in itself, but I hope to grow it.

00;11;09;26 - 00;11;39;10
Matthew Krekeler
And that's the part that I'm still trying to learn is all of the social media aspects. How do you make something go viral? How do you get something out there that somebody else wants to share and get them as jacked about it as you are? So that's what I'm trying to learn. I, I mentioned this before, I'm sure, but I often joke that I'm the most boomer and millennial when it comes to social media because I haven't I didn't have a Facebook like I don't think until after I was in college.

00;11;40;17 - 00;12;06;01
Matthew Krekeler
And then I didn't get an Instagram or Twitter until the podcast. And the whole reason I got one was literally just for the podcast to put out the stuff that I was posting on the episodes. So I'm still learning so much, but it's been awesome to network too, with a bunch of people, a lot of the guests that I've been able to get and have the privilege to interview, I've been able to make connections because of social media.

00;12;06;24 - 00;12;29;09
Matthew Krekeler
So that's that's pretty much it. The other thing, I have a background in video which has been super nice. So in terms of the technical editing and software and all that kind of stuff, that's helped me out a ton. I love to push video content. It just takes a lot more effort on the post-production side to produce video.

00;12;29;13 - 00;12;56;26
Matthew Krekeler
So hopefully all of these episodes will be in video form streaming on YouTube eventually. But yeah, in terms of equipment, it's pretty simple. Anyone else listening to this that wants to kind of do what I've done? I'll let you know. I've got MacBook Pro. It's like the cheapest MacBook Pro that I could buy and then I've got a Blue Yeti USB mike going to the MacBook Pro.

00;12;56;26 - 00;13;25;26
Matthew Krekeler
There's like an adapter in there and then I record this through Audacity. So Audacity is the main like audio recording thing. I also for the guest interviews, I record it through Zuma, so I use Zoom audio and video just for simplicity to record remotely these interviews and then I edit it them all through Adobe Premiere. And that's what my background mainly is as Adobe Premiere.

00;13;25;26 - 00;13;50;16
Matthew Krekeler
I'm a video editor kind of by practice. I work as a post-production manager, so that kind of gives me a sense of sort of files and all that kind of post stuff. But that's sort of my workflow for anyone that wanted to know more of the technical stuff. I know my wife's making fun of me because I'm like, nerding out, all of that kind of stuff.

00;13;50;21 - 00;13;54;08
Matthew Krekeler
You could hopefully you could just like skip fast forward through that and.

00;13;54;18 - 00;13;55;09
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Yeah, it's.

00;13;55;09 - 00;13;55;23
Matthew Krekeler
Too boring.

00;13;55;24 - 00;14;15;24
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Get that question if you're like, yawn. All right. So as we said, you launched the first episode January 1st, 2022. And so thinking back to that a year ago, what were some of the goals that you had for the podcast this year? And did you meet them?

00;14;17;00 - 00;14;44;04
Matthew Krekeler
That's a good question. Yeah. You know, starting anything, you kind of have all these lofty goals and then you have to kind of dial it back and it's like, okay, what's realistic? And one of my goals was to launch the episode or launch the podcast with several episodes at the beginning, because I wanted to give people sort of a sense of what the podcast is once I was just starting out.

00;14;44;04 - 00;15;04;13
Matthew Krekeler
So they could at least have a little bit of sampling of what I hope to accomplish with it. So when I launched, I launched with a New Year's episode that was my resolutions for the year, which I kind of talked about the podcast a little bit, what I wanted to do as a dad. And then I launched with the launch episode, and then the launch episode actually was so long.

00;15;05;08 - 00;15;28;00
Matthew Krekeler
I've kind of learned a little bit. I've done shorter interviews, which I think has been better on my end and for my guest, but it was awesome. It's just great having just such a candid conversation with Loni that that became the episode and then I cut it in half to kind of make it more consumable. So it's a part one, part two of Loni is episode with the additional episode of New Year's resolutions.

00;15;28;00 - 00;15;48;22
Matthew Krekeler
And I had like a little intro about me episode just about my personal life and who I am and my background and kind of that. So that was sort of the initial thing, which I was proud of. And then my goal was to release an episode every week for 52 weeks of the year. And, you know, I really stuck to that.

00;15;48;22 - 00;16;18;08
Matthew Krekeler
I was so dedicated to that, which I'm really proud of. On. And it was so hard finding guests right at the beginning, you know, I was like texting anyone that I knew that, like, had a daughter and was like, hey, do you want to be on my podcast? And I got some polite to clients, which is fine. I know it's such a personal thing, but then I got other people that were like really excited about it and on and that was really cool.

00;16;18;08 - 00;16;38;01
Matthew Krekeler
And I kind of like sort of had to develop that. But I'm producing that's 100% like by myself. So it was like every aspect of it, like reaching out to people and booking people, then recording and then editing and then publishing. Each one of those aspects takes a ton of time. And so I was like, okay, I need to do an episode a week.

00;16;39;04 - 00;16;59;25
Matthew Krekeler
And I think I made it about six months. Like no fail, maybe a slight fail first six months where it was like consistent an episode a week. And I wanted it to be consistent on like a specific day. Unfortunately, it was just like as long as I got an episode of Week one came out like Tuesday or another one was like, you know, midnight Saturday.

00;16;59;25 - 00;17;23;25
Matthew Krekeler
I was like, Oh, I kind of got it within the week. And that was kind of my thing. The other thing was with my guest is awesome to get like these people's time, so I tried to stretch an extra episode out of them. So with Brian Johnson talking about his daughter skateboarding, I did an episode about how to get your daughters on.

00;17;24;09 - 00;17;44;09
Matthew Krekeler
What's the practical way to get your daughters skateboarding, skateboarding with your kids so that was really cool. So there's a lot of shorter episodes that kind of go along with my guests talking about specific things. Gabe Barrett talks about his top ten wargames games to play with your kids, and that was like a special bonus episode as well.

00;17;44;09 - 00;18;11;23
Matthew Krekeler
So that's kind of one way that I've sort of been able to stretch it, even when I couldn't record as many episodes all the time. But unfortunately I did. I hit that goal on ultimately at the end of the year, we kind of were expecting Maggie. She was a little bit unexpected, but then we were expecting Maggie and she's been really sick.

00;18;11;27 - 00;18;28;06
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, and she's been a great blessing. But then again, like October, November, like, we got so sick, like I had to take time. The girls were all sick, and it was just like our whole house. Yeah, yeah, you were really sick, but you didn't have as bad of a man called as I did.

00;18;28;17 - 00;18;31;09
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Two months pregnant.

00;18;31;09 - 00;18;33;09
Matthew Krekeler
And, yeah, you're nine months pregnant and said.

00;18;33;10 - 00;18;33;22
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Back.

00;18;34;18 - 00;18;37;26
Matthew Krekeler
And I was like, You don't believe like the kind of cough that I have?

00;18;38;05 - 00;18;38;29
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Yeah.

00;18;38;29 - 00;18;43;03
Matthew Krekeler
You don't believe the kind of pain that I'm in right now. And you're like, my wants.

00;18;43;04 - 00;18;49;07
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
To be very much. Yeah, but yeah. The man cold was so real.

00;18;49;07 - 00;19;12;11
Matthew Krekeler
So unfortunately it's been at least over a month since I've released an episode and it was like, man, because of all the sickness and then all the craziness with new baby, all the different stuff. So, but yeah, a lot of the girls, I didn't really have a goal specifically for how many listeners like how I was going to monetize it.

00;19;13;07 - 00;19;38;17
Matthew Krekeler
I just wanted to build an audience. I want to create content that was worthwhile and that's still my goal as my main goal is just keep building content that's worthwhile. And I hope that the ways to monetize it will sort of come and the listeners will increase. I'll get followers on social and all that kind of stuff. So that's sort of my next goal, I guess would be how do I grow that?

00;19;38;27 - 00;19;42;15
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Yeah, well, moral of the story is like and share.

00;19;42;24 - 00;19;48;27
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. So if you've listened this far like 20 minutes into this and you haven't subscribed, please do.

00;19;50;16 - 00;19;52;11
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Follow my on social media.

00;19;52;19 - 00;20;05;28
Matthew Krekeler
And if you haven't paused this and jump to another podcast, then thank you since yeah, there's a million other podcast out there, but I appreciate you listening.

00;20;06;04 - 00;20;20;21
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
But this one the best. Okay, so I think this question, it gets a little bit more personal in terms of who you are as a dad. So we have three girls.

00;20;21;03 - 00;20;21;16
Matthew Krekeler
Yes.

00;20;21;16 - 00;20;51;29
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
And we it's been three years with Kaylee, which I can't even believe we have. Yes. Three year olds. She's a real trip. We know she's really busy and sassy, but it's been three years. We have three girls now. So tell us, what is your favorite thing about fatherhood?

00;20;51;29 - 00;21;29;10
Matthew Krekeler
Wow. There's there's so much that I could say. That's yeah, I think I've asked other people this too, and it's a great question and that's something that I appreciate different aspects of it on different days, on. It's not always easy, but it's always rewarding and the reward might not be apparent right away, but always, always. I find ways in reflecting it to just bask in that like appreciation.

00;21;29;10 - 00;22;04;16
Matthew Krekeler
And and for my girls, one of the greatest things I think, is the way that, like your kids look at you unlike anyone else, and they have amazing aunts and uncles, they have an amazing mom and like, there's nothing that I can do to replace their mom. Three, Please see you back. And I, I appreciate you so much in the way that they look at you and go to you for it.

00;22;04;25 - 00;22;39;06
Matthew Krekeler
Just that motherly care that you have. But the way that our girls call out for me on just is the greatest feeling in the world. And and it's that it's that privilege, really, of a father where you can look at your kids and this amazing gift and you're like, you kind of brought them into the world. And even like adopted fathers, you know, like you are entrusted with this can on.

00;22;39;11 - 00;23;21;05
Matthew Krekeler
And they still look at you like, you know, this very unique special bond and it's amazing to do things like taking my daughter snowboarding and all the time. It's so funny. Like, I went snowboarding with like my brothers in law, I guess I would say, like my wife's brother. And then, you know, they're like brother in law. And we like just as pros, like went snowboarding and my daughter was like so sad and at home and she was telling my, my wife she like mommy, like, why did daddy not take me?

00;23;21;05 - 00;23;38;05
Matthew Krekeler
Is it because I don't know how to snowboard? And but she so badly wanted to go, but she realized that she didn't know how and she was like, Would Daddy teach me? And like, of course, like literally day after we got home, like I got her on the snowboard. Now we're going it's going to be just in front of her house, but like we're going.

00;23;38;26 - 00;23;44;19
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Well, Kaylie says about everything. She's like, Yeah. So she's like, I don't know how to do that yet, but Daddy will teach me.

00;23;44;21 - 00;24;13;19
Matthew Krekeler
Oh, yeah, yeah. Whether it's skating, like I play hockey and it's awesome having my girls come and watch my hockey games and she's like, Yeah, Daddy teach me and like, it's awesome having her with her little stick and like, you know, put two hands on the stick, okay? And like all that, it's, it's awesome. So greatest thing about being a father is all of those moments that you get to share with your kids, you get to teach them, and then you get to experience things too, like in a whole new way.

00;24;14;08 - 00;24;40;05
Matthew Krekeler
And often, like, you know, re-experiencing, like we go to the zoo and just the amazement that you see on your child's face, like seeing these animals, like sometimes for the first time and you just like sometimes we take those things for granted, just like how amazing a giraffe is. And it's awesome to sort of relive those moments and then those memories that we have doing the things with our parents, with our own dads.

00;24;40;05 - 00;25;04;11
Matthew Krekeler
We can pass those on to our kids and teach them things. All of us valuable lessons too. And like. The other main important thing is like to teach them to be good people, to love those around them, and to know that they are loved. And that is so, so cool. Oftentimes, like when we lay them down for bad, we always say like, mommy and daddy love you.

00;25;04;11 - 00;25;25;12
Matthew Krekeler
And then the other thing I say is, I'm proud of you. And then to hear them echo that for themselves, they're like, I'm proud of me. And they'll say, When we do things, they're like, I'm proud of you. They say that back to us and the way that they care for each other. It's awesome to you, like kind of joke, like, oh my gosh, the craziness, the chaos of having three kids.

00;25;25;21 - 00;25;52;18
Matthew Krekeler
Like it would be so much simpler with just one or even two. But now the way that they care for each other is just so much more amplified. And even though it's crazy, it's like you can see that in themselves and they have that immediate way to share that with one another, that just is amazing. They'll care for each other, bring us diapers to change the little one and like they know and they care and they love.

00;25;52;18 - 00;25;55;09
Matthew Krekeler
And that is the most amazing thing to witness.

00;25;56;12 - 00;26;17;00
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Yeah. So in 2022, what do you feel was one thing you learned about being a dad? Like what was like one new thing you either tried or one new thing that kind of surprised you, humbled you. Perhaps.

00;26;17;00 - 00;26;45;25
Matthew Krekeler
Wow. Okay. So I first became a dad and in 2019 when Caylee was born. So, you know, it's 20, 22 and now 2023. So I've had a little bit of practice at that. So yeah, in the past year, was there anything new that I learned? And honestly, I think it all revolves around the whole dynamic of all the sisters.

00;26;46;10 - 00;27;11;14
Matthew Krekeler
And like managing two kids and three kids is a lot different than managing one kid. And I've kind of talked a little bit about sort of like the challenges, but also like the blessing of that. When we had one kid, it was so easy to just be like, okay, we're going to set her down and nap right on this corner of the couch and we'll be able to like, watch our thing, do our thing.

00;27;11;28 - 00;27;28;23
Matthew Krekeler
And we could trade off and then two kids, it's like, okay, well, we each kind of split up. We each have a responsibility. Sometimes they're both crying, but, you know, we each have one. And then now with three, it's like sometimes all three of them are crying and all three of them want to be held and you only have so many hands.

00;27;29;02 - 00;27;48;26
Matthew Krekeler
So that's kind of the hard thing. We've often heard the analogy of. Now once you have three, it becomes zoned parenting. You know, you can't do man on man. And I've like that analogy. I'm more of a hockey guy. So I personally like the power play analogy. Like kids are always on the power play and we have to be on the penalty kill.

00;27;49;03 - 00;28;18;02
Matthew Krekeler
And so it's yeah, that's like high energy all the time, but that's sort of what Becky and I are sort of figuring out is like, how do we manage three? How do we kind of trade responsibly at ease with that? And then also ways to where we can encourage them to kind of be self-sufficient on our middle. Nora Like she learned to put her shoes on and her socks on, which is like super cool and she's only like 18 months.

00;28;18;16 - 00;28;27;02
Matthew Krekeler
And so there's little ways to where it's like encouraging them to have that independence and that helps us out. Well, yeah. Oh.

00;28;28;05 - 00;28;36;14
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Yeah, yeah. It's been a transition, I think for all of us to learn how to be a family of five.

00;28;36;21 - 00;28;39;13
Matthew Krekeler
And yeah, absolutely.

00;28;39;14 - 00;29;02;28
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Like the girls had a hard time with the transition, understandably. And I think you and I have learned a lot in just a month. Yeah. And things have been challenging, but there's good things that come out of those challenges and we all grow stronger, more empathetic, more compassionate or patient with each other because we know we're all learning.

00;29;02;28 - 00;29;31;04
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
But that's been something that I've really noticed and I'm really proud of for our kids, like how they've practiced and learned more empathy and compassion. Yeah. And even empathy and compassion for us. Yeah. Like their and so yeah. So we'll keep learning. I guess we'll keep you posted as 2023 unfolds. The more we learn it, that's about to go on.

00;29;31;04 - 00;29;37;22
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
All right. So for 2023, what are your goals for the podcast this year?

00;29;37;22 - 00;30;04;03
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, this is something I've thought about a lot. I want to kind of revisit that main goal that I had back when I started last year was just released, content release, an episode a week, try to be consistent and do that for 52 weeks and then, you know, at the end of this year, I hope to have close to 100 episodes if, if possible.

00;30;04;23 - 00;30;30;22
Matthew Krekeler
Um, some other goals are just like reach out to different people, try to get names that are more recognizable to you, and then also try to find those like little small stories, people that might not be as recognizable, but have those really cool stories like like Ralph and Lonnie and all these kinds of people that I've been able to interview.

00;30;30;22 - 00;30;59;08
Matthew Krekeler
So, yeah, so that's my goal for this year. I do have podcasts that I recorded in 2022 that are still in the edit, so I hope to release those too. Along with new episodes that I get to record this year. So yeah, so I'm also looking for new stories, new guests on so feel free to reach out to me at Girl Definition Podcast at gmail.com.

00;30;59;08 - 00;31;28;11
Matthew Krekeler
I love all of those suggestions that feedback, reviews and any other things you that they want to throw out there. I've also heard someone say suggest dude dad joke of the episode so I don't know, I, I talk, I say a lot of dad jokes. So kind of compiling those puts too to many dad jokes, but maybe like throw some of those into some episodes.

00;31;28;11 - 00;31;29;19
Matthew Krekeler
So I will see.

00;31;30;05 - 00;31;36;01
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
All right. And what are your goals for being a dad this year?

00;31;36;14 - 00;31;58;13
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, that's the more important question. I think. I think oftentimes I fall into the temptation of just focusing on all these, like, ambitious goals for like the podcast and things that I want to grow. I often have like a million ideas. My wife will tell you. I have like a million side ventures that I want to do it.

00;31;59;08 - 00;32;36;25
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, but the main, the main thing, and this is why I love the whole focus of the podcast, is it like reorients myself to what is the most important thing that I'm called to as being a dad and a husband? And I'm not always the best at it, but like that's that's such a good question. So thinking about that, trying to answer that in the best way possible, I think I really need to be finding ways to balance that more.

00;32;36;25 - 00;33;12;27
Matthew Krekeler
It's a lot to try to be doing everything all at once. I stay up late episodes and I'm not the best at balancing that, but I really want to be present when I'm home, both to my wife and my girls. So that's something that I really want to work on in the New Year and then finding ways to as it's so often easier just to be like, okay, watch patrol for the millionth time and, and do the quick little things to just like have the kids distracted so that you can, like, work on stuff.

00;33;12;27 - 00;33;35;07
Matthew Krekeler
But one of the cool things that I did this past year was build this awesome power wheels car. We took the street guns, took the seats out of the car. My daughters helped me spray paint it, wash it, and then I converted it from the standard battery to a drill battery with 18 volts instead of the normal 12.

00;33;35;12 - 00;33;57;27
Matthew Krekeler
So this thing has power and it was so cool to just spend a whole day and just dedicate that time to just doing that activity with my daughters. And yeah, that's, that's going to be one of those amazing memories that I'll just keep with me. So I, I want to make intentional time to do those kinds of things.

00;33;57;27 - 00;34;22;21
Matthew Krekeler
It won't be all the time. Won't be every day or every week, but maybe there's like little wears on even like little ways every week to do intentional time. And also because I have three to do something intentional with each of them in their own little ways, I think is my main goal for the next year.

00;34;22;21 - 00;34;40;15
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Yeah, well, we only have one more question. All right. But before we get to that question, I just want reiterate that for all those listening that that doesn't get paid if.

00;34;40;16 - 00;34;42;01
Matthew Krekeler
I don't get paid for this.

00;34;42;01 - 00;34;49;10
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
So that that's not really the point of it. Like the more it's that you you have a full time job.

00;34;49;25 - 00;34;50;23
Matthew Krekeler
That's true. You have.

00;34;50;23 - 00;35;24;06
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Three girls. And so this is been just a side venture, a side hustle that has brought you a lot of joy and I think it's brought us a lot of joy as a family to see it grow. But I think that I want to share like how proud I am of you and how it's really inspiring. And I hope that the people listening feel really inspired of the work that you put into this to make the world a better place.

00;35;24;18 - 00;35;29;20
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Getting to hear really cool stories and sharing the wisdom from dads all over.

00;35;30;18 - 00;35;31;29
Matthew Krekeler
And the dad nation.

00;35;31;29 - 00;35;57;22
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Yeah, dad Nation. Yeah. That, um, how impactful and how meaningful that is. And so I'm excited to see what is in store for our girl Dad Nation podcast in 2023. Um, but just like what we tell our girls and they tell you, but I'm really proud of you and you have a lot to be proud of. So this can be some great things for 2023.

00;35;58;15 - 00;36;01;02
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Um, all right.

00;36;01;02 - 00;36;20;10
Matthew Krekeler
So thank you. I just want to say that that means so much to me. And from the beginning, my wife Becca has always, always supported this. She is the executive producer. Naturally, I joke, the executive producer of the podcast and my daughter is that. Yes.

00;36;21;10 - 00;36;22;06
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Oh our household.

00;36;22;21 - 00;36;40;09
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. So yeah. From from the very beginning she has been on board with this encouraging me even one like we're spending our own money for like what little promotion we have, whether it's or magnets or whatever.

00;36;40;09 - 00;36;41;00
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
People love those.

00;36;41;00 - 00;36;43;11
Matthew Krekeler
So I'm glad I help people do.

00;36;43;11 - 00;36;44;09
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
I really do.

00;36;45;25 - 00;37;21;28
Matthew Krekeler
So that's just meant the world to me. And like she said, we often have amazing conversations together based on like ways that I've been inspired by stories that I've heard from other dads. And I'm like, This is so cool. Like, I want to do this sort of thing. And then we talk about that with our girls. Like Kayla was talking about skateboarding because we had a dad that skateboards with his daughters and all these kinds of things that are just super cool that we as a family have really been able to just appreciate together.

00;37;22;04 - 00;37;49;21
Matthew Krekeler
So thank you so much for always having my back on this, always supporting it, and who knows how long this will go on for. But for the time being, even though it's not making money, I'm so jacked up to still be doing this and I hope to see you guys all in 2024 continuing to watch this grow. So thank you.

00;37;49;21 - 00;38;00;12
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Oh, okay. So the final question that you end every single episode with, so I see you as the host of this episode must follow tradition.

00;38;00;12 - 00;38;01;12
Matthew Krekeler
All right. Yeah.

00;38;01;29 - 00;38;06;16
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
And the question that you ask all your guests and therefore we're going to ask you.

00;38;07;06 - 00;38;09;20
Matthew Krekeler
All right, I get this question. I'm so excited.

00;38;09;29 - 00;38;16;22
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
And people have said that this is a hard question. So we're going to we're going to end with a heavy hitter here.

00;38;16;27 - 00;38;17;12
Matthew Krekeler
All right.

00;38;18;01 - 00;38;21;28
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
But what is one thing you would tell your daughters?

00;38;23;17 - 00;38;25;00
Matthew Krekeler
That's such a great question.

00;38;25;00 - 00;38;25;24
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Oh, wow.

00;38;25;25 - 00;38;27;21
Matthew Krekeler
Like the secret sauce of the episode.

00;38;27;26 - 00;38;33;29
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Oh, well, they came up with that genius. I wrote the other questions.

00;38;33;29 - 00;38;37;00
Matthew Krekeler
I know those those other questions. Also. Amazing.

00;38;37;14 - 00;38;43;13
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Thank you. I'm a good fill in host so yeah.

00;38;43;24 - 00;38;54;22
Matthew Krekeler
For my girls listening to this possibly and I designed this question to for it to be almost like a time capsule and it's a beautiful way.

00;38;55;20 - 00;38;58;27
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Do you think the podcast will still be a thing in like ten years?

00;38;58;27 - 00;39;15;22
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, when you're watching it on your like virtual reality goggles or whatever, you're like, Yeah, I don't know. Like they'll have to like dust off like, you know, I don't know, like an I, iPhone 12 or whatever. And they're like, Wow, I know. Hopefully this is still like a thing.

00;39;16;02 - 00;39;18;22
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
So we'll see.

00;39;18;22 - 00;39;49;05
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, it's not like on a CD, it's like somewhat digital. So we'll see. I don't know. See, but I designed it to be like direct so that my daughter's listening or all of the daughters of my guests listening can take this little bit away direct from their dad. So to Caley, Nora and Maggie, I love you so, so, so much.

00;39;50;13 - 00;40;13;12
Matthew Krekeler
Your mom loves you so much. We say Mary and Jesus love you so much and I am so proud of you and I'm so honored to be your dad. And I just want you to take that with you for the rest of your life that no matter what you are loved, no matter what you know, God loves you.

00;40;13;12 - 00;40;52;18
Matthew Krekeler
There's a plan for you. And I am just so humbled and honored to be a part of this, to be asked, given this task, this amazing journey, this amazing responsibility, but this amazing gift of fatherhood. And so I think you and I love you and Caley, Nora, and Maggie always remember that guy.

00;40;54;06 - 00;40;58;11
Matthew Krekeler
All right. So thank you so much to.

00;40;58;11 - 00;41;00;11
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
No, thank you so much.

00;41;00;26 - 00;41;37;17
Matthew Krekeler
To my listener land and to the host of this episode, My Amazing Life. Back on. You know, like she said, we don't get paid for this yet and hopefully we can find a way. But thank you for listening. Please share this. That's the main way how this podcast grows. It's just word of mouth. If you found something in this episode or in past episodes that gets you excited about your journey as a parent, please share it, inspire others, and send me your feedback.

00;41;37;17 - 00;41;50;09
Matthew Krekeler
Send me your comments. I love receiving those. And until next time, there is no greater joy than being a dad again.

00;41;50;21 - 00;41;52;15
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Yeah, I was like, well, I do. I might as well.

00;41;52;21 - 00;41;53;19
Matthew Krekeler
Like unsubscribe.

00;41;53;25 - 00;41;55;04
Becca Tiell-Krekeler
Like in subscribe.

00;41;55;08 - 00;41;57;06
Matthew Krekeler
Smash that like button. Well.