Ten Days

Ten things I didn't expect with two kids under two

1. To fall in love so fast-

With my first it took a while to be as bonded to my child. It was almost instant this time.

2. To have gotten a shower every day-

I may just get showered and return to wearing sweats, but I am pretty impressed just with the showering. Sometimes I even get my hair done and makeup on. I know right?

3. To have recovered so quickly-

This time my body feels almost normal already- it may not look it though seeing as how I inevitably gain 50 lbs or more with my pregnancies.

4. So many people to be so kind-

my mom has been over several days for two to four hours since we came home, not to mention watched Kate while we were at the hospital. My sister amy just came from Arizona- she drove all though the night to arrive at five in the morning, just to start cleaning my house. So many friends and neighbors have made us dinner. We've been home for ten days and only not had dinner two nights from someone- but we had tons of left overs so i still haven't had to break into the frozen dinners I had set. Others have taken Kate for play dates or special little outings..... THANK YOU EVERYONE!

5. To be this sane so far.

Not that I don't break down almost every day at least once, but that is not too bad considering all the changes and hormones. It doesn't hurt that thus far Samuel is a pretty good eater and sleeper. I am a lot less worried this time and I rarely wake my child to make him eat. I followed this advice with Kate and woke her every two or two and a half hours to nurse- making a baby who wasn't hungry- tired and angry and a mommy very sleepy. This time I let him sleep, and have had a few four hour stints at night of sleep.

6. To change so many diapers. Our Sam likes to eat- but that means he has to poop also. His 15 diapers on top of a few of kates and we are up to 20 diapers a day. That is a lot of changing and a lot of diapers. To top it off Sam has a yeast infection from the antibiotics they gave me during labor, so changing him is a five step process of vaseline and ointments. Often we finish just to hear him poop five minutes later. Kate hears him and says- "Baby Sam pooped again".

7. That the schedule in our household would change so much-

Of course I thought we would be waking up earlier, but I also forgot about how newborns don't go to sleep until 11:00 at night. Jake and I were getting quite use to our two hours to ourselves in the evening after Kate went to sleep. It had been easy to spend time together with just one child, but I can see that this may not be as much the case now that we have two.

8. To feel so bad for Kate-

I knew I would worry about her while we left her for a few days while in the hospital and I did. I didn't realize how sad I would feel when she asked Dad instead of Mom to read her a bedtime story, or told me no when I tried to play with her, or how much it would hurt my heart when she goes and sits in the corner to play with a toy by herself when I pick up the baby again to feed him. I also didn't expect the tantrums.

9. For Kate to seem so old-

She was a baby when we went to the hospital, now she is all grown up some how. When I get her dressed I can't believe how huge her arms and legs are, or how heavy she is. I can't believe all the things she can say. She speaks in sentences, counts to ten, helps me around the house. It is amazing how much different I see her now that she is not the baby.

10. How foreign it would feel to have two- Two car seats in my car, two children to bath, two bedrooms with children themed decor. Nowhere to put groceries in my shopping cart because it is all full with kids. With one child, I still felt young, not that far removed from newlyweds with no children. She was my child, but also like my little buddy I brought everywhere. With two, I am a mother. We are a family of four- almost the average size family nation wide, and I feel like a family and that makes me feel a little old.