Transcript of Eyes On Success #2633: Parenting with Babies Down, Bottles Up --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nancy: Hello, and welcome to show number 2633 of Eyes on Success, a weekly program empowering the visually impaired with expert advice, personal stories, and the latest in technology and accessibility. I'm Nancy Goodman Torpey. Pete: And I'm Pete Torpey. Well, I knew this was going to be a fun review when I listened to the first podcast of yours that I came across. So I thank you for actually making it a fun interview. This is great talking to you guys. Josselyn Williams: Thank you. Terrin Landry: Thanks for having us. Josselyn Williams: We were a little intimidated. We were like, no drinking on this interview. Terrin Landry: No, we got to be professional. Put your black box wine away. Pete: And as you can hear, this certainly will be a fun episode. So keep on listening. Nancy: The Babies Down, Bottles Up team brings humor, honesty, and real talk to blind parenting, sharing stories about family life, advocacy, and community. We'll talk with hosts Josselyn Williams, Terrin Landry, and LaKisha Holmes, and their producer Danny Romero about building a supportive space where visually impaired parents connect and learn from one another. But first for our tip of the week. This week's tip comes from Terrin Landry. Terrin Landry: I think that tip is your parenthood journey is your parenthood journey. And just because it may look different than someone else's, that doesn't mean that you are on the right, on the incorrect road. You're doing what's best for you at that time in your life for your family. So comparison is a thief of joy. Pete: There are many paths to happiness and success. Terrin Landry: Amen. Nancy: And I think, you know, every parent, sighted or blind or any other description, tries to do the best they can for their children and tries to equip them with the tools they'll need to be successful and happy adults. Terrin Landry: Very true. Samantha (over theme music): You are listening to Eyes on Success. Success. Success. Success. Success. Success. Nancy: We've aired a number of shows about parenting, either blind parents of sighted children or sighted parents of blind children. But these folks talk about parenting every week. So let's start by meeting the folks behind the Babies Down Bottles Up podcast, namely LaKisha Holmes, who sometimes refers to herself as Kisha, Terrin Landry, Josselyn Williams, and Danny Romero. Pete: I think today's episode is going to be rather dynamic. We have three very energetic and fun guests with us today. And they are friends who got together and now they host their own podcast. So I'm going to throw the ball off in the air and let you guys introduce yourself in the order you'd like to. LaKisha Holmes: Hi, I'm Kisha. Terrin Landry: I'm Terrin. Josselyn Williams: And I'm Josselyn. Pete: OK. And can each of you tell us a little bit about yourselves, what you do and where you're located? Because you're not all in the same place. LaKisha Holmes: Right. Yeah, sure. So my name is Kisha. I'm located in San Antonio, Texas. I am a mom of two. I have a boy and a girl. So whenever anyone asks if I want to have any more kids, I'm like, no, I have one of each. I'm good. Nancy: And how old are your kids? LaKisha Holmes: My son is eight and my daughter is seven. So yeah, they're pretty close in age. But I am a mental health therapist and my licensed professional counselor associate here in Texas. So I do mental health. I have my own private practice and I also I'm actually in the process of getting connected with a local private practice. But I'm honestly, I'm a Jill of all trades. I love to stay busy. I volunteer at my kids' school. This upcoming year, I'll be the PTA president at their school. I just like being busy, so that's me in a nutshell. Pete: Okay, who's next? Terrin Landry: So I'm Terrin. I am located in Colorado. We are a military family. My husband actually just retired from the Army, so we've lived kind of all over, and I have two daughters. I have a 15 year old and a 12 year old and I work as a case manager for children with developmental disabilities and medical complexities. Pete: And finally. Josselyn Williams: Yeah, hi, I'm Josselyn. I am also from Texas, but I live in Dallas. I've been married for about 10 years now and we have two daughters. Their ages are nine and five. And I do the podcast with my best friends. We are Babies Down, Bottles Up. And then I also work for a nonprofit and I am in disability awareness and advocacy. So that's kind of what I do and it trickles over onto what I do with the podcast as well. Nancy: So it sounds like among you, the youngest child is about five. How long have you been doing the podcast? LaKisha Holmes: We started the podcast in 2020. The youngest is actually our podcast baby. Josselyn was pregnant when we were kind of like in the midst of getting the podcast together, actually. Pete: Oh, so this was kind of a COVID adventure? LaKisha Holmes: Pretty much, yes. Kisha, take it away. Tell them the true story. Nancy: Okay, how did your podcast get started? LaKisha Holmes: So, I'm originally from Georgia and I was home with my family and before coming up with the podcast, I had a YouTube channel and it was just me showing the day in the life of a blind mom because... During the pandemic, me and my children's father, we were both blind. We had to get creative. They were younger. We had two under two at the time. And so getting out of the house was a must, even though we weren't supposed to. We would go take them to the park. We live near the Riverwalk here in town. And so we would go and sit by the river and just let them put their feet in the water. And so that's how it kind of started. I was visiting my family and I was like, you know, I want to do a roundtable of blind moms who are on different journeys on their, you know, different mom journeys and just sit around the table and just answer questions that people have and just, you know, build community. And I will admit, as I was planning this idea in my head, I was drinking and the more I drank, The more I was like, you know what, we're gonna do a podcast. Let's do a podcast. And so I reached out to five other moms and each mom, they were in different parts of motherhood. So I had, we had a mom that was pregnant. We had two moms or three moms that had older children. I think Terrin, your kids were in the middle and me and Josselyn, our kids are kind of close together. And so we were kind of like on the same journey. And so we started off as six and we slowly dwindled down to three. Um, everyone had different views and ideas of what they wanted from the podcast and us three kind of stuck with it and decided that we wanted to make, make it out of, you know, make it a business and expand more. And so for the past two years we've been able to do that and just seeing our growth, it's something that I didn't expect when I came up with the idea, but I'm very grateful that it turned into this. And we just actually celebrated having our 100th episode last month. So we've come a very, very long way. Nancy: Congratulations. LaKisha Holmes: Thank you. Terrin Landry: And we've bridged out to like digital downloads and other resources as well for blind parents. The podcast was doing so well and we were getting so many questions and actually so many similar questions that we really figured it would be nice to have like the most frequently asked questions or issues all in one place so that it's more easily accessible. So that's available on our website. Pete: Before we go over some of the topics that you do cover or have covered in the past, I'm kind of curious how you all got together. You're all geographically in very different locations. Josselyn Williams: Yeah, so we were, before Kisha came to us with the idea, we had a blind mom WhatsApp group and that's where she chose us from. And we actually didn't know each other. Kisha was the common link between all of us. Me and Kisha met 2015 doing adaptive sports. So that's how we met. And then her and Terrin met at a different time. I think you guys were at LCB. Am I correct? Terrin Landry: Yeah, she was a student and I was a graduate. I was living in the area. Josselyn Williams: Yeah, so we all kind of knew Kisha from different areas of life and she kind of brought us all together 2020. But I didn't meet Terrin until 2024. By then, we had already been online friends and really, really close friends. I mean, we're each other's support system now, but our friendship had really grown in all that time. So by the time I met her, it just felt very natural, and it was just the right next step. But yeah, it took a while. LaKisha Holmes: It did. Pete: Have all of you ever met in person at one time? Josselyn Williams: Yes, yes. LaKisha Holmes: We did. So yeah, I met Terrin, man, back in 2012, and then I met Josselyn in 2015. And then we all kind of came together in 2024, and we all met in Dallas. And so I will say, when I chose everyone that I did for the podcast, I wasn't expecting to get a sisterhood like I have gotten from Josselyn and Terrin. I'm such an emotional person I was like oh it's just I don't know it's just it's so beautiful yeah and it's just more than what I ever expected it to be and we are like even when we were on a hiatus from the podcast we still talked every day I don't think we've went a day since 2020 without talking to each other. Pete: So it sounds like you guys are not only dispersing great information to lots of visually impaired and blind mothers around the world. But you're also a good support group for each other, just going over problems and issues and just having some fun and sometimes some interesting drinks during the podcast. Josselyn Williams: Absolutely. Yeah, because that's what we are for each other. We are each other's support system. Terrin and I both have daughters that have autism. So I come to her when I have questions about some things that we struggle with or therapies and things like that. And that's kind of the vibe that we want people to get from the podcast. We want it to feel like moms just sitting around having a drink and talking about their kids and their lives and the problems that we all share. So we want our friendship and that vibe and that energy to also translate into the community that we want to build. Terrin Landry: And we've had a couple of like in-person meetups with our listeners and our supporters. And that's felt the same way, just like sitting around and talking and like, you know, asking the group at large, like, hey, this is something that I'm going through with my children. Like, what do you think about this? How would you handle it? And it just feels very natural because it's like we've all been talking this whole time every time someone turns on the podcast. Pete: You know, I'm obviously not a blind mom of any sort. And I listened to some of your podcasts just to get ready for this interview. And they were quite fun, even for me. I mean, you guys have a certain energy that comes across and enthusiasm. It's cheery and bright and you cover some interesting topics. Give us an idea of some of the more fun topics that you guys have covered. LaKisha Holmes: Some of my favorite ones. We did a Valentine's Day one. I think it was this year and I think it was really fun. We got to play some games, but the fun thing for me is whenever we do have our fun episodes are the titles are what like takes me out. Like it's just they're so fun. But I love to the games that we play. I only one episode we played I don't know if y'all remember MySpace, but where you would do those different surveys on MySpace and we did our own version of that and that was pretty cool to participate in. Terrin Landry: And I'm always a big fan of our fitness and fashion episodes. Those are always my favorite. And we always get so many questions specifically about like makeup and outfits and how to look presentable and how to build your capsule wardrobe on a budget and how to make sure that you look presentable for different kinds of events. And I always enjoy those episodes. They're so much fun. Josselyn Williams: For me, it's the guests. I love guest episodes. Some of the standouts for me have been we had a blind pole dance instructor recently on and that was a really, really fun episode. It was for the girlies. We talked about fitness and pole dancing and fashion. I also really enjoyed a lot of the Blind Dads episodes we dedicate the month of June to the dads and they bring such a different energy to the podcast because it is usually moms and a lot of womanhood and you know things like that but when we have dads on it just completely changes the vibe and I really enjoy getting to know the blind dad experience because it is different you know? Nancy: So you just mentioned that you focus on the fathers in June, presumably because of Father's Day. Do you think that you have blind fathers as listeners the rest of the year? Terrin Landry: Oh, gosh. Josselyn Williams: Oh, yes. Terrin Landry: There are supporters. They are. And they make themselves known as well. Josselyn Williams: We do. We do. We have a lot of Blind Dad supporters. Yes. Terrin Landry: And then also the information that we share, yes, we are mothers and we are primarily speaking to mothers, but it's applicable for any blind, visually impaired caregiver, a grandparent, an aunt, an uncle, a sister, a nephew, you know, anything like that. information is applicable for everyone. Pete: Well, and from the couple of episodes I've listened to myself, it's not like you're preaching to people, this is what you need to do or here's some ideas. You're just really having a discussion and it's kind of out there and people can take away from it what they want or not, which I really think is a nice presentation style. Josselyn Williams: Thank you. One of our favorite things, well, at least one of my favorite things that happens because we do vibe so well together, we agree on a lot of things, but some of my favorite content that has come out of the podcast is when we disagree about things. Yeah. That is my favorite. I remember specifically we were talking about driving and we were saying, you know, Oh, what will you do when your kids drive? Like, are you gonna be the type of parent that my kid, I pay for their gas, so they're going to take me everywhere. Or are you going to respect their time and ask them for a favor? And we disagreed on how we would handle that. And that was one of my favorite discussions. So Yeah, we definitely try not to preach because we're all learning together and that's what it is. And we're all at different stages and we're all learning together. And the people that listen to us probably are also learning as we go. Terrin Landry: And we learn from our listeners as well. They'll reach out to us or e-mail us and say, hey, I listened to your guide dog episode and I just wanted to give you this tidbit of information and then we will then disseminate it from there. But our listeners have great ideas too. Nancy: You talk about teaching your kids to drive and I'm fully sighted and Pete's totally blind, but he's a lot lower key than I am. And when our older child, who is also not such low key, needed to get taught to drive, you know, she and I just looked at each other and we're like, we need to make this work because you need to learn to drive and I'm your only choice. And it worked, but there's just one of those things that happens in a family with one parent who can drive. Terrin Landry: This is where we're at with my oldest daughter right now. She's very high anxiety. My husband was in the military for 20 years, so he has that kind of personality. And I'm like, I don't know, you guys. You've got to figure it out because you've got to learn how to drive one way or another. So the first time she really went on a big drive, she was like, mom, I need you to come just for moral support. sitting there in the backseat while he's instructing her. And I'm just like, you're doing so good, baby. I don't know for sure, but I feel like you are. Nancy: Yeah, we haven't hit anything yet. Josselyn Williams: Not yet. That's good. See, we have an emotional support producer. You need emotional support people in the backseat. Terrin Landry: That's right. That's right. Nancy: Oh, well, the funnier thing about that was that our second child, who was two years too young to get his learner's permit was in the backseat, but he had been playing a lot of video games like Grand Theft Auto. So he's giving her all this great advice about when to put on the gas and stuff. It was terrific. Pete: Even though he had never been behind the wheel of a car. Josselyn Williams: Amazing. I love that. Pete: And that frustrated our daughter no end. LaKisha Holmes: Oh, for sure, I bet. Nancy: He'd practiced doing these imaginary felonies. It was terrific. Pete: The other thing is neat is, I mean, you guys show that all this is possible can be fun and relatively easy if you just address the problems. I mean, you guys are all professionals, you work hard, you do your podcast, you keep active with the family and all that entails. And that's a really good role model for other people listening to the show to know that that's all possible and it can be a fun experience. LaKisha Holmes: And that's exactly why I wanted to do it because I felt like there wasn't anything out there like it. Yes, there were blind moms out there, you know, but there wasn't anyone out there showing that you can be a mom, you can work, and you also can be all about your family as well. And that is my main motivation for actually like coming up with the idea and we just took it to another level that I wasn't expecting, which I am very grateful for. Thank you for the compliment because we try. Terrin Landry: We do. Josselyn Williams: I will also like to add to that, that when we first started, we did struggle a lot with how unfiltered we were going to be because we wanted to be a resource for other blind parents, but we also did want to have fun while doing it because it was also our own support, you know, it was our own therapy as well. But we did struggle like there were episodes that will never see the light of day because A, we got too tipsy or B, we overshared, and so we had to also learn how much of our lives and how we were gonna share that and still make it sound authentic and be ourselves. So that was something that we had to learn as we went. Terrin Landry: And we've addressed some really heavy topics. We've talked about how to advocate for your child if you have a child with any kind of learning differences and IEPs and 504s. We also spoke about CPS involvement. We interviewed a mother that had her child removed from her custody before she ever even got to bring her baby home just based on her blindness and her journey regaining custody of her child, my own personal involvement with CPS with one of my children. So we touch on things that are just really powerful as well. So we talked about infant loss and miscarriage. Pete: And that is your producer. Terrin Landry: That's our initial support producer. Pete: You want to introduce yourself to the crowd. Danny Romero: Yeah, I'm Danny. They're the BW producer. I've been working on their podcast ever since it came back two years ago. They were on a hiatus for several years and then, yeah, decided to ask them to bring it back and we've been working together since. It's been fun. Pete: And how did you come to be the producer? Danny Romero: I was friends with Josselyn and then I knew Kisha here and there throughout the years, but I've been supporting the podcast from the moment they started it, you know, around the pandemic, 2020. Pete: And people do hear your voice occasionally on the podcast. Danny Romero: Yeah, And so they were like, let's have some fun, stay on the podcast. And so I decided to be featured on there. But I always wanted to give them space because I always knew what it was. And they're just such professionals who do such an incredible job. Pete: Well, you guys work really well together and you really have developed your own distinctive style that is really kind of exciting. And as I said at the beginning, pretty dynamic. Danny Romero: Thank you. Nancy: Thank you. This may have gone by our listeners kind of quickly, but Josselyn, Terrin, and Kisha refer to you, Danny, as their emotional support producer. Danny Romero: I'm the sleepy bouncer, emotional support producer. I got several titles, yeah. Nancy: I gather you do more than just twiddle knobs. Danny Romero: That's right, that's right. Oh yeah, most certainly. Josselyn Williams: Yeah. He's one of our friends as well. He's also in the group chat. He knows all the tea. LaKisha Holmes: Yeah, he knows. Danny Romero: I know all the tea. I have the coolest spot in the house. Like everybody's like, this is the coolest place to be. I get to see all the fun stuff, the drama, the tears, the happy, the fun nights, all the good stuff. Pete: You know, sometimes it's fun to witness the drama, but not necessarily be part of it. Danny Romero: Right. Exactly. Terrin Landry: I just envision him with popcorn like what did your husband say? I can't believe it. Danny Romero: I can't wait to hear. I'm like, oh wait, here we go again. Nancy: Oh man. Well you folks sound like you have an awful lot of fun doing this podcast. Josselyn Williams: We definitely do. It helps that we're best friends, and I think that really comes through in the podcast. We do have a lot of fun with each other. So it definitely does translate. LaKisha Holmes: And I also love that we do have a lot of fun with each other. And because we're best friends, we don't mind calling each other out and like making sure we're set straight if we need to get straightened out, you know? So it's a win-win for sure. Josselyn Williams: Very honest. But that's also something that we've had to learn is how to be friends and then also be very honest as business partners. LaKisha Holmes: Yeah. Nancy: Hey, you should try being married and doing a podcast together. Josselyn Williams: Oh, no. I bet. We need to interview you next. Seriously, yes. Nancy: Well, at this point, we have two children and four grandchildren. Lots of material. LaKisha Holmes: Aw, that's awesome. Pete: And we've been married for about 43 years. Terrin Landry: We need to have y'all on for a marriage episode. Pete: For sure. Danny Romero: 43 years is amazing. We have to have you guys on. Terrin Landry: That's amazing. Nancy: That could be fun. Josselyn Williams: And also just the dynamic of a blind and sighted spouse for sure. Pete: We've made it work. This has been a great interview you guys and really fun to talk with. Maybe you can remind people about the name of your podcast and where they can find it. LaKisha Holmes: Yes, so our podcast is Babies Down, Bottles Up. You can find us under that title on all your social media. We're on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, X. We have a Patreon. We have Apple subscriptions now. So we're all over the place. And you can reach out info@bdbupod.com . We love reading emails from everybody. Terrin Landry: And we reply to every single e-mail we get. So if you reach out, we will message you back. LaKisha Holmes: Yep. Josselyn Williams: Yes, and our website is bdbupod.com. Pete: Well, I knew this was gonna be a fun review when I listened to the first podcast of yours that I came across. So I thank you for actually making it a fun interview. This is great talking to you guys. Josselyn Williams: Thank you. Terrin Landry: Oh, thanks for having us. Josselyn Williams: We were a little intimidated. We were like, no drinking on this interview, guys. LaKisha Holmes: No, we gotta be professional. Terrin Landry: Put your black box wine away. LaKisha Holmes: Yes. Josselyn Williams: We came prepared. Danny Romero: They're not a sponsor. Terrin Landry: But we're open to it. Nancy: Oh, maybe you should have them. Pete: And you can find any information you might have missed in the audio portion of the show in the show notes with this episode, which is episode 2633. We'll also have links to some of our previous episodes of Eyes on Success that might be of interest to parents in those show notes. So check out those show notes. They can be very useful sometimes. Nancy: That's it for today's show. Next week on Eyes On Success, the emotional support producer for Babies Down, Bottles Up will be coming back to talk to us about his experiences in radio and podcasting. He's a seasoned radio pro who's been rocking the airwaves despite being blind and facing industry challenges. We'll talk with Danny Romero, currently host of the Blind Guy podcast, about his long and varied career journey, audio editing secrets, and natural pacing tips to make every single show sound completely human and natural. Pete: You've been listening to Eyes On Success, available wherever you get your podcasts. Nancy: For show notes, resources, and more information, visit our website at www.eyesonsuccess.net. Pete: Thank you for being part of our community. Until next time, I'm Peter Torpey. Nancy: And I'm Nancy Goodman Torpey. Thank you for listening.