Like any mother, I love my kids to bits. And there it is. The reality. That I have two kids now. Definitely not the same as having one kid. And after five and a half years of having (just) one, it’s safe to assume that I have no idea what I’m doing.
One thing most people kept saying to me when I was pregnant with James is that you tend to be relaxed. I can say that’s true. There’s no obsessing about every little thing when you have a second baby. Not because you don’t care. And not because you know everything. But because you simply don’t have the time or the energy. You suddenly become more chilled with your first child too. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve caught Georgie watching Ben and Holly’s on his tablet and quickly realising he may have been glued to that thing for over an hour! And of course I feel bad.
I also feel sleepy. All the time. And I yawn. A lot. Since Georgie turned three we’ve had a pretty good nighttime schedule that basically involved him in bed by 7 and papa and me getting a good solid four hour stretch of ‘me time’. However all of a sudden I am being called in the middle of the night for water or toilet runs. And then there’s James who one week will slip into the perfect bedtime routine and the next will cry bloody murder every two hours. And just when there is finally some peace and quiet and my head hits the pillow I remember that I haven’t even unpacked Georgie’s school bag let alone fix his lunchboxes for the next day.
And then there’s the process of going out and about with two kids. Generally we’re a family that enjoys eating at restaurants, going to the movies or on a Sunday day trip. Sunday trips now consist of multiple stops to comfort or breastfeed the baby. 
Eating at restaurants means breastfeeding at the table and taking turns with papa holding the baby while the other eats. A trip to the supermarket is another fun time. Especially when you end up pushing a pram with no baby in it because he wants to be held while your older child squeezes his knees together because he needs to go to the toilet. Right. Now.
It’s a reality that occurs with every family with more than one child and now it’s my reality. It’s hard and absolutely exhausting. And I don’t want this post to seem like a rant because it isn’t. It’s about admiration for all those parents who have two, three, four and five kids. You all rock and deserve a bloody medal!
