Before our 2nd son was born, I had heard "just wait until you have 2" about a million times. I was fully prepared for less sleep, less time for me, less money, and less time with our older son. What I WASN'T prepared for, was the confidence and sense of ease that the second one brought (at least for us). Even though I had a quick labor and easy/fast delivery..I still wasn't prepared for how much calmer we would be and relaxed. These are the 5 things that having our second child REALLY taught us:
1. How to relax: When our 1st son was born, we weren't the "worst" 1st time parents but we definitely weren't the calmest. When Sawyer was born we realized that everything will eventually be ok. I could either cry about how little I was sleeping which would do absolutely nothing for me, or I could get over it and sleep for the 30 minute intervals I was getting. Instead of getting aggravated when Sawyer wouldn't latch quickly like I wanted to..I would just breathe and take a second and then try again. Complete OPPOSITE of how I was the first time.
2. How to take advantage of time with Jonathan: When Easton was born we would go to sleep as soon as he did and we would all sleep in different spots of the house at the beginning or have shifts so I could sleep and we would trade. We thought it was brilliant...until Sawyer came along and we realized that laying him down for the night at 7-8 was the easiest because Jonathan and I could watch tv together and both sleep...at the same time! We made sure to keep our routine of alone time "as normal as we could" so that our lives didn't seem SO changed in those first few weeks.
3. That EVERYTHING is a season: Seriously, everythingggg is a season. We thought once Easton was sleeping through the night that we were golden forever. Nope. We thought that he would always hate baths because he went 3 months screaming every time we put him in the tub. Nope. We still don't really know anything. But we DID know that when sawyer was waking up several times a night at 9 months old that it would EVENTUALLY end.
4. That we don't know anything: I don't know about any other moms or dads but for us, the 2nd child brought us a lot of humble ness. I thought that I "knew it all" because I made it through a long labor, a newborn, teething, etc. with the first. Ha! I may not be a newbie per say, but I definitely don't know everything about parenting just because we have more than 1 child. I felt like I had a HUGE head when we had our second child, but in reality the second one brings a whole new batch of different stuff. Different child means different sleep, eating patterns, attitude, etc. We learned that we are just constantly learning and to just drop the judgmental thoughts.
5. Your love will multiply: Everyone said that I would love my second child the same as my first but I just didn't believe them. Until Sawyer was born. It was amazing. I love them so much and just like it did with the first, you find this love that you didn't even know existed, all over again. My favorite part is how different they are but I love them the exact same. When Easton cleans his whole room by himself or puts his clothes on by himself and says "Mommy! Look! I did it all by myself!" I think to myself that I am so lucky and my heart is full ...until I see Sawyer barreling his way to me with his bow-legged self and throws his chubby little body into mine giving me the sweetest hug, and that is when I realize HOW lucky I am!
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