The Top 5 Things I've Learned From Having A Second Child
5. Sleep is for the weak. And sometimes I'm weak.
There was a time when I first went back to work that I fiercely counted the hours of sleep I was getting each night. If only I could get five whole hours of sleep (not straight through, we're talking cumulative), I could make it through the day. Okay, maybe four and a half. That time has long passed. Not because I'm getting a good eight hours (not even seven. six on a good night), but because I have evolved. I am no longer a creature in need of eight hours. I am a super human mommy type, able to sustain herself on as little as five hours a night. That's a lie, of course. On the odd Saturday morning when Adam senses that if I don't get some more sleep I will probably eat my own young before lunch time, I surrender to the sleep monster just like any mere mortal and revel in my own weakness.
4. Balance.
No, I don't mean I've learned to balance the whole working girl + mom + wife + business owner + super hero thing. If you figure that one out, let me know. I'm talking more like balancing a bottle under your chin so you have a hand free to brush your four year old's teeth (left handed). Or balancing a baby on one hip, the phone under your ear, a pair of mickey mouse underwear in your hand, and a bottle of apple juice under your arm while you pour into a cup being held "steady" by the four year old, trying to avoid the spit up dripping down from your shoulder. You thought your balance was good after one kid? Have a second. You'll be ready for the tight rope.
3. Sometimes there's just no substitute for a mommy with two free arms and time to cuddle.
Four year olds and four month olds alike are not impressed by my amazing balancing act (no matter how proud I am that I finally got to wash my hair and shave my legs during the same shower). Sometimes there is just nothing like some uninterrupted, undivided mommy time. The blow dryer will have to wait, I guess.
2. I am irrationally bothered by comparisons between Max and Cooper.
This is me being crazy but when the fifth person in a day tells me how much Cooper looks like Max it takes every last ounce of sleep-deprived will power I have not to freak. Look alike?!?! But Cooper has hair! And it's kind of red! And his eyes are lighter. And his face is squarer. And his eyes aren't almond shape like Max's (and mine). And one of his ears is kind of pointy like an elf ear. Don't you see these things? But, of course, I don't say these things. Because 1) they do look alike and 2) it's generally frowned upon to let people know how irrationally crazy you are. Unless it's in a blog post, where no one believes you anyway. (And if you're one of those people who has said how much they look alike, please don't feel bad. I know it's true. That's just me being crazy).
1. There is room for both.
You know. In here. ♥
3 comments:
The only thing left to learn is how to make your eyes look in two different directions at once. This skill is learned when both of your children are independently mobile and want to play on opposite sides of the room, back yard, playground, swimming pool, whatever. It took me a while, but I eventually learned it. You have always been a much faster learner so it should be a pice of cake for you!
BTW-isn't that Max in the first shot and Cooper in the second?
<3 this post.
you are so very strong!
That would be a nice touch, but alas they are both Cooper.
Rachelle, thank you!
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