A little under a year ago I wrote this post on having two kids under two years old. After re-reading the post, I can say that I’m very, very happy I’m not in the newborn phase anymore. Isabelle didn’t make my life easy, that’s for sure. And in that post I said that I had heard that having two kids about two years apart gets easier after 3 months.
But now, fast forward 9 months… I’m not sure it’s gotten much easier! Now it’s just a different kind of difficult.
The easy part is that both girls generally nap for at least 1.5-2 hours at the same time in the afternoons. And Isabelle sleeps well during her morning nap. And they’re just generally on a routine that works for our family – most days.
But when the girls are awake… oh gosh it’s difficult. I have an active toddler (this kid is so darn physical!) and a fussy baby and both are draining. Isabelle sometimes plays by herself now, but when she’s by herself it means that she’s destroying something or doing something she isn’t supposed to do. If Clara is by herself it also means she’s destroying something, but probably even more effectively than Isabelle. If they’re together, chances are that Isabelle is going to get knocked over for touching the wrong toy, so I can’t leave the unattended for longer than 20 seconds.
I’ve learned that my sanity is only saved if I take them both out of the house in the morning so they can’t make a huge mess while I’m trying to clean up a previous mess. However, leaving the house with two small children is no small feat and that means Isabelle would miss her nap – which we do often but it never ends that well.
If I could sum up my SAHM life right now it would be this:
- Playdates
- Pleading (“For the love of all things, can’t you PLEASE keep your shoes on? WHY ARE YOU TAKING YOUR JACKET OFF, TOO?! We need to LEAVE!”)
- Coffee
- Vacuuming. Repeat. Repeat.
- Answering questions (“Why?”)
- Pouring milk
- Pouring water
- Encouraging/cheerleading (“Great job ______!”)
- Breastfeeding
- Organizing activities
- Playing
- Doll babies
- Making breakfasts, lunches, snacks (Not for myself, though – somehow I always forget to eat!)
- Taking photos/videos (you know, preserving all of the memories!)
- Being exasperated (“DO NOT KNOCK YOUR SISTER OVER!”)
- Cleaning all surfaces in the house. Repeat. Repeat.
- Picking up toys
- Messy buns and leggings (so cliche, I know)
- Trying to find hats, gloves, socks, etc.
- Counting down the minutes until naptime
- Cloth diapers
- Wondering if I ever had my sanity
- Preschool, gym, swim lessons
- Reading books. The same ones over and over and over.
- Laughter
It’s all a juggling act, and kind of a monotonous one some days. I will say that life is more fun now than it was when Isabelle was a tiny baby. (Wait, scratch that, she was born at 10 lbs… she was never tiny. Let’s go with ‘new baby’.) I absolutely love the time of day after Clara wakes up from her nap because I bring Isabelle into her room to say hello and they both get HUGE grins on their faces. Then Isabelle climbs onto Clara’s bed and they practice clapping and jumping together.
It is so stinkin’ cute and it lasts for a pretty long time (until Clara remembers that she gets a snack after her nap and insists on it immediately). Because of moments like these, I have optimism that it will continue to get easier in some ways to have two girls so close in age. Perhaps (one day!) they’ll start entertaining each other without me needing to play referee!
A mom can dream.
Do you have two close in age? When does it get easier?! (Please tell me it gets easier!)
