Easier the Second Time Around?

I get asked all the time (and by "all the time" I mean "once in a while") if it's easier the second time around - having a second baby, that is. I really don't know how to answer that question. So much is different and so much is the same. It's hard to organize my thoughts around this one. So if you were one of those people who asked me that question and you were just making small talk and wanted a short answer - too bad. Because here comes a long one.

Obviously, when babies are...well, babies...their schedules are all the same. They cry, they eat, they sleep. That's it. However the way I approached it with Karis was much different than the way I approached it with Brooke. Brooke had my undivided attention. When she was a baby, it's not like I really had to watch her. I mean, I did watch her. I really did. But she just laid there looking around or sleeping (a lot, because that what babies do) and to be honest, I was bored a lot of the time. So bored that I organized my tupperware cabinet. But with Karis, there has been no down time, because while she lays around looking and sleeping, Brooke is busy being a crazy toddler, making a mess, and just being needy in general. So no boredom and definitely no organizing tupperware. In that sense, it is NOT easier the second time around.

Then consider trying to get out of the house for library story time and working around Karis and her FOUR naps a day and trying to pack the diaper bag for both kids and anticipating everything that we may possibly need on our hour long trip to the library. The first time around, I only had to anticipate for one baby. Two is a totally different story. So, again, in that sense, it is definitely NOT easier the second time around.

Obviously, though, the second time around does have it's pros. For instance, breastfeeding is a cinch with Karis. I was really nervous about it at first, because I had been done nursing Brooke for 8 months. I thought that I would forget. But it's like riding a bicycle. (Sorry boys, for this paragraph, but it's a big pro for the second time around). Also, the stress level has definitely decreased the second time around, for both feeding AND sleeping. Though I was (and still am) a major stickler for nap time and stressed about sleeping, I don't stress about whether Karis ate enough, or if we're out running errands when it's her nap time, or if she fell asleep in my arms and therefore will never fall asleep in her crib ever again. So concerning the anxiety level experienced, it is definitely easier the second time around.

Plus, time is flying up in here. Mother of two for three months already! The second time around FLIES by.

People say going from one to two kids isn't as hard as going from having none to your first. I disagree. Being pregnant with your first and sleeping/eating/"insert anything else here that you want to do" when you want to do - now that is easy. Being pregnant and chasing around a toddler up until you pop out a second baby is not easy.

With all that said, you take some and you lose some (freedom, peace of mind, sleep, you name it...) the second time around. And it gets easier - it always does - and it already has. Either that or my perception of how it was, along with my sense of reality, has shifted and I just think that it's easier. Either way, I'll take it. Whatever gets me through the day - in the easiest possible way.