Guest Post - Trouble times Two

I have a wonderful guest post today from the lovely Rachel at Three Years and Home.  Rachel will have two little boys from early next year as well and much like me is wondering what she is letting herself in for! 

           Like Bex, I already have one troublesome toddler on my hands who will turn two at the end of this month. Just as things started to calm down at the end of last year and we settled him in to a routine that both my husband and I could cope with, those pesky hormones took over and persuaded us that yes, now we get time to eat meals while they are still hot and enough sleep to not render us exhausted come 3pm, let’s go through it all again! So come January, our family of three will become a more complete four. We’ll have two little boys on our hands; trouble times two!

Looking back to when CK was born, I can’t believe how overwhelming everything was. Was I feeding him enough? Was I changing him enough? How often should we bath him? Should I entertain him every waking moment? Could I take a shower while he sat in his bouncy chair? Was it okay to leave him in the playpen while I popped to the kitchen to make a cup of tea? Not to mention the horror of him refusing to be weaned before 7 months and not sleeping through the night until 14 months. And everywhere I turned, I received conflicting information. It was hard not to panic.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and now I can say that essentially, I worried for no reason. This has made me determined to take a more relaxed approach with trouble number two. I have more of a sense of what to expect and now know to just let things happen. Baby’s take their own time to develop and while books are great for general ideas, they’re not to be relied upon religiously. 

I am a little concerned that my husband and I are going to lose our tag team approach during the tough times. Two versus one is great to see you through the nights of teething and illness where you can work in shifts. With two wanting and needing our attention, I imagine there’s going to be very little rest in our small apartment. I picture myself snatching a mere moment to take a shower with trouble number two settled in the bathroom in his cradle and trouble number one pulling back the curtain every second to play peekaboo. It might not be glamorous, it might not always be fun but right now, I can’t wish for anything more. 

I am definitely going to be more relaxed second time around as Dylan has taught me that they all do things in their own time and worrying doesn't do anybody any good! You can find Rachel on twitter as farfromhomemama