Our neighbors have two little boys, Pierce, who is almost two and Roman, who is 10 months (exactly two weeks older than you).
Last night we had the pleasure of watching Roman for a little over an hour while his mom took his older brother to the ER. Pierce ran into a bench and thankfully only ended up needing two stitches on the bridge of his nose. Poor little guy. I am so glad that I was at home and could help out.
But, the point of my post today is that I realized that having two children under the age of two is hard work and I only had to do it by myself for roughly 20 minutes before your dad got home. I don’t know how mothers do it!? Valium? You’ve got one going one way and the other going another. One needs to be changed, while the other wants to be picked up. It has to be a master juggling act, is all I can say about it and that I have A LOT more respect for mothers that do it and make it look so effortless today than I did yesterday. Especially working mothers, like my neighbor. Here’s to you, because let’s face it, there is NOTHING effortless about having a child, let alone TWO!
Don’t get me wrong, aside from you getting noticeably irritated/concerned/jealous when your dad or I held Roman, both of you were delightful together and very well behaved.
We want to have another baby (most days) and have them be close in age, but in doing the quick math, if all goes as planned (the stars are aligned and the universe is on our side) we, too will be members of the distinguished group known as parents of Two Under Two. I sort of shutter at the thought….
My question to all of you mothers of two out there is: A) how did you plan (timing/age wise) for your second child? and B) did you do so knowing that you would have two under two? And, lastly, is it as challenging as it seems? Don’t lie!! 🙂
The best is yet to be.
Day 36/100
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We wanted to have our children close in age…we aren't getting any younger! So we tried and tried for almost a year to get pregnant with a second child. I don't know if I told you this or not, but we had to go through fertility treaments to conceive Ethan and then ended up seeking help to get pregnant again…since we only got one the first time, we definitely were NOT expecting two the second time! Ethan and the twins are a week shy of being exactly two years apart. We knew going into it that having them close would be challenging, but that was okay with us.
Is it as challenging as it seems? YES! BUT…I'll be honest with you, the first six months after having the twins were extremely manageable. I won't say easy, because it was hard work, but I had it under control and was pretty confident in my mommy abilities. It has only been over the last month or so that it's been hard. I think that is for a couple of reasons. (1) The official Terrible Two Monster finally showed up. Ethan was never an "easy baby" but until just recently I never wanted to stuff him down a drain pipe (there it is again!!). But now it's like he has multiple personalities or something – he's fine one minute and the next minute he loses it completely…then he's fine again a minute later. I know that you read my blog entry "What Nobody Tells You About Motherhood", so you know the little tyrant we're living with. When the Terrible Two Monster showed up, the confidence in my mommy abilities dwindled to almost a zero! (2) The twins are becoming mobile now. They are scooting, rolling, and getting ready to start crawling. They are becoming more independent. I used to be able to go on a playdate or run errands and leave them sleeping or playing with a toy in their carseats…not anymore! They want out to be a part of the action. So it's a lot more difficult to go places than it used to be because they're more alert and want to be more active. They are no longer happy staying strapped in the carseat for long periods of time (I can't say I blame them, but oh it was sooo nice when they were!)
I don't know if this helps or if I scared the heck out of you. I tried to keep the challenges of having two babies instead of one out of my reply; I know my situation is different (unless you're lucky enough to have twins…then that will be a whole other conversation!). Just remember, if you have two under two, you will "just do it" because you have no other options! I say go for it. Have fun trying, and good luck!!
Wow, great advice up there from Natalie. Well, while I can't give you any advice from my own experience, I will say that I am very excited for your baby #2 and I will be there for you every step of the way!