First things first. Congratulations goes out to three dear friends who all gave birth to precious little ones over the past week, Juliet Carys, Joseph Daniel, and Rell Viola. They are absolutely adorable babies and have been born into the most awesome and caring families ever.
So babies. They're pretty much the most amazing thing ever. It's unbelievable to comprehend the fact that two people could create such a 'being.' They smell wonderful. They could not get any cuter.
When you have your first baby, everything is surreal. You can't believe you are a parent. You are responsible for someone other than yourself. Someone who is very small, doesn't do very much, but is very, very needy. If they are anything like our little ones, they cry, quite frequently to be in fact, and don't sleep nearly as much as you were told they would. You realize that your life will never be the same, and although you may think that is not so good at first, it is very, very good. They become the center of your universe and you have a hard time remembering what life was like without them in it. That's baby number one.
Enter number two.
Before you actually become a family of four, you have no idea how you could ever love another child as much as you love the first. Completely and absolutely possible. They add to the family more so than you could ever imagine. For us, we became complete. And for me, many lessons have been learned.
With two, there are many things that a parent must posses.
A million hands...because 2 just doesn't cut it. A tolerance for noise and a messy house...24/7. Patience...and a lot of it. A double stroller...key during good weather months to get you not only some much-needed exercise, but to get you the heck out of those four walls! The ability to be a referee....especially with 2 of the same gender...they want whatever the other one has ALL THE TIME. And even if you have something 'similar' to replace it with...nope, that's not good enough...it must be the EXACT same thing. Alone time...everyday...even for 10 minutes...essential. And finally, a really good sense of humor...because if you don't laugh at a lot of what they do, good luck to you.
But in addition to all of these things, the most important thing that I've found that I MUST have is this...playdates. When I had just one baby, I never really took playdates so seriously. They were fun to have here and there, but I didn't need them like I do now. We went through a period of three weeks when we couldn't get our group of 4 moms & 8 kids together and I nearly had a mental breakdown (kidding...sort of.) After finally getting the chance to reunite today, I am back to normal. There is something so great about it...can't put it into words at the moment, but it's just rejuvenating. The kids go and play and us moms can talk about anything. And that's what we do. We drink coffee, we eat chocolate cake, we laugh. It's just so good to hear that other people are going through the same things that you are...it makes you feel human again, which is easy not to feel when you have kids...
I love my 'playdate moms.' Whether you have one, two, or ten children...I highly recommend finding your own. If you find a group as great as mine, you will love it just as much and it will be one of the highlights of your week as well.
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