ADJUSTING TO TWO KIDS

The other day I was watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians, I know, don't judge, and Kim said something that resonated with me. In conversation with her mom, she said they were talking about having multiple kids and she mentioned that her mom said "one kid is one, two kids are like twenty." I couldn't agree more!

Isn't it funny how life changes so drastically from no kids, to one kid, to two kids? Now Jack and I say how easy it was with one kid and when we had one kid, we thought our lives were complicated and rushed. We had no idea what was in store for us.

This is not to say that we don't love our kids more than anything in this world, but boy it's challenging. Being working parents and truly always rushing through life is hard! Our kids are almost four years apart and though this may seem like a long gap to some, I find that this is perfect for us. Elliot helps us in small ways but huge to us. Now that Oliver is rolling over like a roly poly, forgetting a diaper when changing him is an accident waiting to happen. I'll ask Elliot to bring me one and those small favors are awesome!

The harder parts are when although Elliot is older, he still doesn't understand why Oliver needs a little more attention sometimes, or how come I don't have eight arms. If you're a mother to more than one, you know that when your kids need something at the same time and screaming for it is like grabbing a baseball bat, laying your forehead on it, then spinning it on the ground twenty times then trying to get stuff done after. Okay maybe a little extreme but sometimes it feels that way.

Also, brotherhood ensues. Elliot will be lying down drinking milk and Oliver is next to him pulling on his cup, or his hair, or his shirt, or whatever he can get his little hands on and Elliot will whine and complain that his brother is bothering him. It always makes me laugh and I secretly love it. Then other days, Elliot will pretty much lay his entire body on top of Oliver to kiss and hug him and I have to remind him that Oliver is still so little and fragile. If he knew what's to come as siblings! For us as well since they are both still so little and we've been doing this two kid thing for a very short period of time.

Now that Oliver is seven months old, I feel that we have found a groove that works for us. We have our morning routines during the week down finally and we each know exactly what we need to do. Same thing with coming home and bed time. It took us a while to figure it out and things still get out of control sometimes, we are still always rushing, but for the most part, we have a pretty good routine. It's all about doing what works for your family and definitely having a schedule to do things, especially for you kids' bedtime routine, we put Oliver to bed an hour to an hour and half before Elliot to be able to spend time with him one on one. Having support from your significant other is so important. If I make dinner, Jack cleans up, if he makes dinner, I clean up. Little things like that matter so much when it comes to keeping your sanity. These two boys are the best of brothers and love each other so much, makes all of the craziness definitely so worth it! I'm sure this will have to change again as our kids get older, but for now, this is what works for us. If you want to know more about our routines, let me know!