As time goes on and the girls get older, despite being faced with plenty of new challenges along the way, overall its getting easier, it’s getting better and I am loving being a mum of two. If you’ve followed me from the start you’ll know that we were desperate to give Alyssia a sibling and we were so blessed to welcome her sister into the world just over a year later but it’s no secret that I found the transition from 1 to 2 quite challenging, much more difficult than I had imagined.
I had heard so many others say that they had found it really easy which in all honesty made me feel so lonely, I think thats why its so important to share these kind of posts. Its okay trying to pretend you’ve got it all together but its also completely fine to admit that things are a little bit tough sometimes and its more than likely that someone has felt the same way – regardless of whether they post it online or not.
The newborn bit in itself was easy, for the most part Isabelle was a very chilled out baby, much different to her big sister who suffered with colic in the early days, those nights were awful! But balancing my time between the girls and throwing potty training, terrible twos and breastfeeding into the mix meant that I found it quite difficult to adjust. I suffered with postnatal anxiety for the first 6 months and if I’m honest its not until she was 6 months old that I finally started to feel a bit better and felt like I was starting to know what I was doing..
I started to take them out on my own a lot more, Alyssia had just turned 3, ditched her dummy, come out of pull ups and settled into nursery. Big things were happening. Isabelle started weaning, rolling over and sitting up at 7 months which meant that the girls could finally play together. I think when Isabelle was born, Alyssia assumed that she’d instantly have a new friend to play with but it doesn’t quite work like that. Isabelle started to crawl at 8 months and they’ve not stopped chasing eachother around since. I think with your first baby, its harder when they start moving around but with your second, you just want them to be able to play together. The girls love playing together, and love climbing up at the wooden kitchen.
The girls started sharing a bedroom when Isabelle turned 9 months and she has slept through the night ever since. 9 months was when it all started to unfold and I felt like life as a mum of two started to become pretty amazing, before then of course I felt grateful for my children but I was always worrying about something. Now that they’re older, Alyssia nearly 3 and a half and Isabelle one next month (sob!) everything is that little bit easier. They have their own routines, their own preferences and I just love it. I’m starting to find myself again too. I dont think I’ll ever be very fashionable but I recently bought myself some clothes that actually fit whereas before now I would always put everybody else first and probably spend the money on something silly like a new toaster or kettle for the kitchen.
I keep being asked when we’ll be having another one but in all honesty I’m not sure we will. It’s really sad to think that the baby days are nearly over with Isabelle turning one soon but I’m just starting to get my life back on track and feel better in myself. Life is so good now. With two babies, yes everything changes but with three for us it would mean we’d have to move house, change our car etc aswell as adjusting to life as a five. Oh but don’t you want to try for a boy? Not really, I’m not feeling it at the minute and am just really happy and grateful for the two beautiful girls we have. Maybe I’ll change my mind when they’re both at school but for now, I am loving life as a family of four and just can’t believe our littlest is turning one next month, it’s crazy! We have lots planned for the summer and I am loving spending quality time with the two of them.
For anybody struggling to adjust to life with two, trust me when I say it will get better!
