We made it. This time last year, I was miserable. I endured a very challenging second pregnancy and a year go this week, Baby Kevin was born. You can expect a whole lot of sentimental posts this week, but contrary to the “sob posts” you saw when Brooke turned one on Instagram – you will see pure joy for this second child. Our experience with Baby Kevin has been NOTHING like Brooke. This post is meant to be real, raw, funny, and only slightly sentimental. People say, you really can’t prepare for parenting until you are there. You can read a ton of books while you are expecting, but actually living the whole parenting thing is way different from the books. And adding a second child, just adds to the chaos. Here we go, what I learned the first year as a parent of two:
You really do love your children the same.
Pregnancy #2 was much harder.
& NICU for the second time isn’t any easier.
Leaving the hospital isn’t scary at all the second time around. In fact, you can’t wait.
It is SHOCKING how different each child is.
Your heart is never divided, but your time is.
Parenting is really hard. Juggling two kids is even harder.
Seeing your kids love on each other brings so much joy.
Swaddle. Swaddle. Swaddle (we sleep trained twice successfully thank you jesus!!)
Invest in a double stroller.
Always use the double stroller, even if you are just “running” in the store.
Teaching kid #1 about parking lot safety is essential to survival and getting out of the house.
You just thought you never had alone time with 1 kid. Now, you really have none.
Getting them on the same nap schedule is perfection.
Cultivate sibling bonding and love from day 1 (actually before before birth even)
Some days, you feel like you are going insane.
Most days, you are really going insane.
Be prepared for chaos. every minute.
Toys become your new decor.
Leaving the house takes triple the time.
Don’t take anything too seriously. Seriously, always try to look for the good and make the best of things.
You will feel very overwhelmed. Then happy. Then overwhelmed again.
The baby food aisle is no longer intimidating and if you are like us, baby number 2 will eat table food way earlier.
There is nothing like a baby’s laugh… except two babies laughing.
Soak in every moment. They grow up way too fast.
For our family, the transition from one to two kids was extremely hard. Our kids are a little less than two years apart and adding all of life transitions to the mix didn’t help. However, we did it. We made it! So many times we looked at each other over this past year and said “if we can just make it to one… it will be so much easier” and IT IS!!! I’m sure there are a thousand more things I learned in the first year of parenting two, but these are few that came to mind quickly. I absolute love #momlife and our babies– being a parent is incredibly rewarding and one of the biggest joys I have ever felt. It is the best job in the world (and the hardest lol).