Getting my sea legs

I think one of the biggest misconceptions people have is that after your first baby you got the parenting thing down. For some things I agree wholeheartedly with this train of thought. You don't stress as much over the little things. You understand that when your baby cries it's usually because he or she is hungry, tired, has a dirty diaper, or just wants to be picked up (it's not that you are a horrible parent). You also know what to expect the second time around like the sleepless nights, feeding schedules, and how different your life is with kids.

Even with all this knowledge and experience from your first, when the second comes along it can be a whole new ball game. Each pregnancy is even different. For example, when I was pregnant with Evan I felt like some gave me a dose of happy pills. I loved everything about my pregnancy and how I felt. It was complete opposite with Logan. I had morning sickness, a bad case of pregnancy hormones and couldn't wait to be unpregnant.

That should have been my first clue as to how different two babies' can be. Evan was a laid back baby and everything seemed to come easy for him. He was sleeping through the night at 10 weeks. His laid back attitude to life even carried through to his milestones and how he hit them. He was perfectly content having us carry him everywhere (hence the reason he didn't start walking until he was 16 months old). All he had to do was whimper or look at something and I jumped up to get it for him (yet another reason he was delayed on his speech and didn't start really talking until after his 2nd birthday). At the time I stressed about it all. I mean EVERYTHING! In reality, having this laid back baby for our first was exactly what John and I needed. Especially if we were ever going to entertain the thought of baby #2.

As soon as John and I started feeling like we had this parenting thing down, we decided to try for baby #2, and soon after we welcomed Logan into this world. Logan has turned what we thought we knew on its head. From birth, he has been a mover and a shaker. Sleep was only something that hindered him,  which meant many restless nights of John and I taking turns to walk up to his nursery to attempt to get him to go back to sleep. He has been blowing by milestones left and right. Crawling and cruising sooner, starting solids earlier, and although we can't make out what he is saying the boy is a talker! He has also showed us that it is possible for your heart to grow even more and the love you have for your children to deepen.

At first it was really hard to adjust to having two children under the age of 2. The days of resting when the baby rest were over. Anyone with a toddler knows they only have two gears; high speed and sleep. I also found I got less help with Logan because people figured I had it taken care of being a second time parent. Couple the endless energy of a toddler with the sporadic sleep schedule of a newborn and less help and you are left with one disoriented, frazzled momma (that would be me)! Juggling two kids was hard. REALLY HARD! As the months went by I kept thinking it would get easier, but as with life the only thing that happened was things got busier. I was now juggling two babies, work, being a wife, housework, and trying to keep friendships up with those I cared about. 

Of course the good days outnumbered the bad (they always do), and I couldn't imagine my life without my two boys. But it took me almost 10 months to finally get my parenting sea legs. I'm now sleeping through the night (thank goodness for sleep training), I can make dinner, change a diaper, hold the baby, and play a mean game of pack the trunk.

Having two kids has changed my outlook on everything, and it's definitely made me more compassionate to parents with more than one kid (I don't even want to know how parents of more than two kids do it!) I'm content with my family of 4 and even more content that the fog is starting to clear and I'm feeling like myself again.