Have another kid, it’ll be easier with two they said…

As some may be aware, my partner and I have welcomed our second kid into the world in May, after having our first 13months prior – may as well smash out all at once, hey?

Going into this ‘2 kids under 2’ scenario I thought that it’ll be easy; the kids will get along, best buddies (especially since having two boys!) and that since our first kid was such a breeze, that it’ll be fine. I think if anyone who has a ‘good’ kid as their first, they definitely approach any other kids thereafter very naively – which my partner and I did…. Unfortunately….

Last year, Lincoln, our first kid, was born and the usual 3hr cycle of sleep, eat, repeat system was in full force. However, after a month or two we were ‘blessed’ to have it down to every 5hrs and overnight he’d sleep from 7pm – 6am! We said to ourselves “This parenting thing is such a breeze, why do people complain?”. Things continued to work well over the next year… that was until Fletcher, our second kid, was born.

Fletcher is only 2months old now and the situation has been A LOT different. He doesn’t take a dummy to soothe himself, he sometimes struggles to burp, he cries more and, worst of all, and he just doesn’t sleep during the day without being held! We jump on google and take whatever stupid idea that we see and try it… hell we just purchased a $70 toy that is meant to help the kid sleep – still hasn’t made any difference, just yet!

However, this begged the question… was my partner and I just in the ‘honeymoon’ period with our first where we were in awe of this young human that we forgot about the crying, the restless nights and the fact we held him countlessly throughout the days? How could we possibly forget all this we thought, it was only last year!!

It has been a tough 2months for my partner and I, with our patience wearing thin with having two kids, and with some days thinking “This was a stupid idea”. I hate to say it, but it has crossed my mind a few times where I’ve thought that life would’ve just been easier without having a second kid, but you look into his eyes and watch his face and that alone is worth all this.

But for anyone who is thinking of having two kids so close together, be prepared. It IS tough and what we’ve learnt so far, is that no kid is the same and that what may’ve worked with the last kid certainly doesn’t always work with the next! Also, I think there is some sort of blindness that overtakes you when having your first kid. It is so new and unbelievable that you are happy to sit and hold your kid for long periods, tolerate the sleepless nights and everything is just so new and exciting!

However, every day is a step closer to more consistency and it will eventually get better (or so we keep telling ourselves). One thing though, I sure as hell can’t wait to have these two boys playing footy with myself in the backyard!

The adventures await!!