There's nothing like having a second child . . .

s I'm right there with you. My dd1 is nearly 5 and dd2 is nearly 1- sometimes I feel all I do all day long is get them food. Could be worse, I guess! I could be working at Wal-mart!

The funny thing is when dd1 is at preschool or having a sleep over with grandma, I feel so free only having one kid. When dd1 was a baby, I had such a hard time just doing chores and getting supper. Now, I wonder how I wasted so much time?

It's only making us stronger!

With the food thing I found it easier to put healthy snacks in a place where my ds could help himself and then he wasnt constantly asking me to fix him something. Things definitly get easier when they get a bit older now ds is at school now But dh reakons that since i only have one at home during the day it must be time to have another :
Hope you find some time to yourself soon!!

Oh yeah. SO BTDT. It does get better because at some point the littler one gets old enough to play with the older one and they actually entertain each other (while totally destroying the house). Hang in there! You'll survive but some days you'll probably wonder how! :LOL

hehehe, sounds familiar...i always have just enough time to mop the floor, then I sit down for lunch and ds#2 wakes up! :

Some days go by pretty smoothly, and some, like today, are just a disaster every time I turn around. It just got worse this evening - I told dh that I had to go out for awhile. I was gone for about 1.5 hours, and when I got back, the baby was asleep (dirty and not in a nighttime diaper), and dh looked like he'd been hit by a truck. He said at one point ds1 was throwing stuff at his head (trying to play) and ds2 was biting his neck (a very painful phase he's going through!).

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I think I hear ds2 waking up, so I may have to stop abruptly, but I'll write what I can.

Ds1 is often so great about playing quiety by himself that it never really occured to me to institute a specific quiet time. The problem is that I can never time when he's going to play quietly and when he's going to want me for every little thing. I don't schedule anything - naps, meals, etc. - because I personally don't like being on a schedule. But I can see where it might be important to save my sanity.

To top off the craziness, there are some days we think about having a third. But then a day like today hits, and I can't even imagine it.

Oh boy, I hear you! I've just started to experience all this..DS is 3 1/2 and DD is 11 weeks..I thought this was the hardest time, but I guess it doesn't get too much easier for a while...DS used to still nap and I was so pleased about that, but he miraculously stopped the day DD was born And he doesn't get teh concept of quiet time. But he is in playgroup 3 am's a week and I get to have some quiet time with the little one. When they're small enought to pop in the sling I still feel as if I'm having "me" time; can poke around the stores, read a book, get on MDC, etc. Also I've been regularly getting out for a walk in the evenings when DH gets home. Even 10 mins alone changes things for me. Hang in there mama.

Oh, when I saw the title of this thread & the little preview, I just HAD to read! I was just talking about this with someone the other day ~ just like when we had our first, we wondered what the heck we ever did with our time before having children, I have that same feeling now! I'm amazed at how much free time I used to have with just DD#1!

That said, I completely agree with this PP -

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For us, having two has been a really smooth transition. DD#2 seems to have a very mellow temperament, and so there haven't been many challenges with fussy baby & trying to parent a toddler as well.

One thought, can you carry your baby in the sling while he naps? I know that DD#2 would not sleep more than 15-20 minutes if I lay her down during the day (night time is a completely different thing and she'll sleep 6 hrs in the evening lying by herself... go figure!). I wear her to sleep in the daytime, and then I can tend to myself and to my eldest DD without too much trouble. Honestly, without the sling I don't know what I'd do!

Oh, and DD#1 also does a lot independently now. She gets her own snacks (we have a child-friendly set up for food and drinks) and I keep a damp cloth in the living room for messy hands and faces (she likes to be clean, lol!)

hmmm... something else I wanted to write, but baby needs a bit of zzzzzzzzz!

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Carol, how did you accomplish this? Did it sort of happen on it's own? I asked this question on the Toddler's board but no one seemed to know.

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This was NOT my experience. I am not saying that having my first was not life-changing, but I was able to take it in stride so much easier than adding a second to the mix. DD2 is 17 months, and I am still trying to get it under control. It is obviously much easier than say, at 3 months, but I would not say it is a walk in the park.

For me, part of it is that I need a certain amount of alone time. Having 2 kids with different needs around all the time can be draining to me.

Course, we all have different experiences and different kids. :LOL

I have tried to make a certain amount of peace with the current situation by remembering that they are little now, and it won't be like this forever. Now can feel like a very long time, but the evidence does keep reminding me that they do indeed grow up and become less dependent on mama!

:LOL BTDT too!! :

Though I didn't have an exhausting time with first ds, I did find that once #2 came, 23 months later that I was exhausted. Thankfully I did have two very easy babies, that slept through the night VERY early ( they were both in the 10-11 pound range at birth which I think helped). It was more the alone time for me and that amount of extra things I had to do. I also found that my oldest didn't get as much attention I would have liked for him to get when #2 came, not enough hours in the day and he seemed to get the short end of the stick. Even now they are 5 & & dh and I agree that having one kid at this point would be the easiest thing in the world ( that is if we had either one of the boys we have and not another unknown being:LOL) We are very happy to have both and would not change a thing but things would be vastly different if we only had one.

I agree that it does get better but just as busy, now instead of changing diapers and rocking to sleep we need to coordinate schedules for baseball, hockey and that sort of thing. Good luck! s:

Mama of twins here lurking and nodding enthusiastically My friends with only one have NO IDEA!!!!!!!!!!!!! :LOL