happy_mom_baby
Thank you to Joanna Steven for this guest post.

1. You look forward to being alone, instead of feeling lonely

Before you had children, you thought you'd spend your days joyfully nibbling little toes, tickling bellies, and nursing blissfully. Instead, you found yourself soothing a fussy baby, struggling with painful nipples, and considered making a sandwich to be a small victory. And the most difficult part of it all was that you were most likely alone a few weeks after delivery. Everyone had seen the baby, and they figured you didn't need home cooked meals dropped off anymore. Taking care of a baby isn't easy, but it's even harder when you can't have an adult conversion.

The second time around? Your first baby is now a big kid who is constantly talking, jumping, and entertaining you. Maybe you also know a bunch of other moms with whom you can have playdates. When you're finally alone, you really enjoy it!

2. You don't believe all the scary stories people tell you anymore

Are you nursing him to sleep? He'll never learn to sleep on his own!

Is he sleeping in your bed? He'll never want to sleep alone!

Is he still breastfeeding? He'll never want to wean!

How many hours did you spend on Google troubleshooting your child, wondering if all these stories were true? You don't do that anymore with the second child. You know it will all be fine

3. You know all about diapers, carriers, etc.

With the first baby, you'd wake up during the night only to find the diaper had leaked and there was pee all over the mattress (and you were thankful it wasn't actually you who wet the bed). You'd try on a carrier, and either you'd put it on wrong, or it hurt your back, or your baby would throw up as soon as he was in it.

The second time around? You can put a diaper on while your baby's in the carseat, and you can snap on a carrier with one hand. Your other hand is holding your first born, or carrying groceries, or removing your sweater.

4. You have someone else who needs your attention

How can you do anything when your baby needs you? They tell you not to react to all of their requests for attention, but what else is more important? Facebook? A long shower? Dinner? Everything seems trivial next to your baby's demands for a hug. But when you have another one, baby needs to wait sometimes. Butts need to be wiped, owies need to be kissed, tummies need to be filled. While this may or may not make your second baby more patient, one thing for sure is that it makes days go by faster, and whines don't pull at your heartstrings quite as bad.

5. You know which toys work, and you already have them

With the first baby, you're experimenting. Wooden toys? Plastic toys? Should they make sound? What about flashing lights? And next thing you know, you're buried under toys. They're in the bathtub, in the crib, in your bed, under the couch, in the dishwasher even.

With your second, you're not buying any toys. You just pull them out as you need them. It's way easier. And, you know which are entertaining, and which turned out to be a waste of money.

6. You know it goes by too fast

With the first child, the years may be short, but the hours are very, very long. Days resemble each other, and you never get a break. But when your second baby comes, your days are filled with classes, parks, play dates, and more, and you know that in the blink of an eye, your baby will be a preschooler. All this makes you appreciate your baby so much more. The giggles, the endless nursing sessions, even the sleepless nights. They won't last forever, and you know it. And if you're not having anymore kids, you know you won't ever get them again.

7. You know a lot of parenting tricks

How do you calm a fussy baby? How do you soothe sore nipples? How do you entertain a baby in the car? How do you make breakfast in the morning? All this seemingly unsurmountable obstacles are now a walk in the park. You can swaddle your baby with one hand, flip open a tube of lanolin with one finger, and you know all kinds of songs kids love.

8. You are stronger

You doubted yourself so much the first time around. And, people could sense it. (thanks for the horror stories, everyone!) Now you don't care what people think, because you know what's right for your family. And just like that, no one's "offering" advice anymore. Does your baby sleep better with you? That's totally fine. Does your neighbor frown at you breastfeeding in public? You totally don't care.

9. You're now a time management ninja

You thought there were not enough hours in a day to relax before you had children. Then you had a baby, and suddenly there were not enough hours to take a shower! Now that you have two kids, it's a completely different ball game. You set your preschooler to read books while baby naps so you can shower and quickly scrub the tub, you make dinner during the morning nap and keep it in the fridge or slow cooker for more relaxed evenings, you blend baby-wearing and walking to exercise, entertain baby, and talk to your older child. You do several things at once, but strangely, you do them all better and more effectively than when you didn't have kids.

10. You look forward to naps ending

Remember naps with your first born? You wondered how to get baby to sleep (rocking? nursing? or any of the gazillion sleep training methods out there?), you felt you couldn't leave the house, and you were always stuck between "nap time" and "it's almost nap time."

But, you desperately needed these naps so you could sit down and do dishes. Or just stare at the wall.

Now that you have two kids, you can't wait for naps to end so you can get out of the house and play with your kids. It doesn't matter if the baby is sleeping. You have another child to take care of. So you might as well be outside having fun!

Joanna Steven is an Amazon best-selling author, and the founder of The Nourished Village, a nurturing community for moms and their families. She regularly shares kid-friendly vegetarian recipes on her blog, and interacts with other moms on her Facebook page and Twitter account.