- What's it like having two?
- What do I need to be thinking about/pre-planning?
- What's something you wish you'd known three weeks before the second one came?
Some details you may not already know:
- My six weeks of maternity leave takes me right up until the last day of school. So I don't really have to go back to real work / the daily grind until I report for the new school year.
- Margaret will be in school until the second week of June...so I will have about eight weeks at home with just me and the baby during the day.
- Margaret is almost three...so she's at the "big helper" stage. She follows directions really well (except when she gets distracted...but come on, people, Clifford books are really enticing when you're supposed to be getting your hairbrush for mommy).
- Jeremy will be at home with me and Ross for about the first three weeks. And, he has a flexible enough schedule that if I'm having a freak-out day, he can come home and help.
Okay...that's all the info that I can think of passing on at this time. Now it's your turn to comment with some reality statements of which I need to be aware!
9 comments:
Enjoy that precious time with just you and Ross b/c it will fly by.
My one piece of advice is...if your nursing Ross, (don't know where you stand on that) then invite Margs to sit beside you. Not so she can just watch and make you feel weird. :) Rather to invite into the lengthy experience, and let her know that you are paying attention to her even when it seems like Ross is getting all the attention.
GREAT advice Courtney! I will do this...Margaret loves to read...so we can feed Ross while Margaret reads to us.
Relax, it will be fine! You know kids so you will do everything perfectly. But even though you don't really need advice, I'll give it to you anyway: every time someone comes over to coo at the baby, use it as a chance to brag on Margaret, what a great big sister she is. This will help her not get jealous of the baby. BUT as Ross gets older, you'd better shift the attention back to him, or you will have some serious "second born" syndrome on your hands. (This is coming from a second born!)
Baby Ross should have a gift for Margaret when she comes to the hospital to meet him for the first time. LittleMan brought PrincessGirl a barbie and a Big Sister T-Shirt. For the longest time, PG told everyone that the barbie was in mommy's belly WITH her brother and they came together. My favorite thing about having two is that DaddyMan and I can still take 'em one-on-one when we go out to dinner, etc. Advice??? Think about putting practical things that Margs may need to get for herself (sippy cups full of juice or milk, healthy snacks, etc.) on a shelf she can reach. You will be so thankful you did when you are in the middle of a diaper change or feeding and she needs a snack. When you get home from an outting, repack your bag. This will keep you from rushing when you are ready to go out again. Lastly, don't feel guilty about taking Margs to school while you are at home with Ross. She had your one on one attention when she was born and he will need it too!
Thanks Jennifer! Love you!!
I tried to take pictures of the kids by themselves as well as together. That way each one will feel special when they look back on them one day. They won't always be in the picture with the other one. I wish we would have taken more video of Jackson. We have so much of Bryson, but very little of Jackson. We just didn't take the time to do it. Try to take pictures of Ross with his grandparents and other relatives, also. We have so many with Bryson and extended family, but hardly any with Jackson. I only have a couple of him and my mom before she died. Now that mine are older, I try to spend time with each of them individually and I try to make it special. The boys refer to them as our "dates." The last piece of advice is to not pressure yourself to be perfect. I would just tell myself, after a bad day, thank goodness they are too young to remember this! Just go with the flow and do the best you can at the time. Don't be too hard on yourself if some things don't get done! Oh, yeah, and get some sleep!
you may not believe it but I think its just as easy...MORE mess but not hard AT ALL...my girls are so sweet and they honestly get along about 90% of the time...gift for Margs, totally...have Margs sit with you while nursing, yep, that's good...we always called it "mommy's milk" and Gwen does still to this day.
Just relax Miss "Discipline, Strategic, Achiever" all will be well...just relax and enjoy...oh yeah and after about a month try to get them on the same afternoon nap schedule...this will save your life...obviously, babies sleep all the freakin' time but if you can get them to nap in the afternoon around the same time, this will be HUGE help later on...I don't know girl, just relax and enjoy...smell his head, kiss it and sleep now, cuz you won't in 3 weeks:)
let me speak to you as a reformed high school & middle school administrator... don't worry now.... worry when they are teens! :-)
Three has been rough on us. I don't know if it's gender, age, temperament, personality, or some combo of all of those. I'll be praying that three is easier on Margaret! I just thought I'd give you a heads up...not wantng to be negative. I breathed a sigh of relief when Ramsey turned 3 and wish someone had said, "you aren't out of the woods, yet!"
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