From One to Two Kids // The Balancing Act

Photo by Bohac Photograpy

Hey, Loves! Thank you for catching up with me on another blog post. I have had this post on draft for way too many days but thats what happens when a newborn is in the picture! Time seems to slip away from you and your to-do list gets thrown to the waste side. Times of change are always hard on my Type A personality but I do try my best to remember that “this too shall pass“. Although…I do not want these newborn days to pass at all to be honest. Miss Reina Ruby has been the sweetest little babe! I just want to keep her small and fresh forever! Today I am talking all about life from one to two kids. Just like the title of this blog post says, it is a true balancing act!! Every minute of the day is accounted for and it takes true teamwork with my Hubby to get anything done. He calls it “man to man defense“. If it’s not one its the other and we quickly realized that one is one and two is twenty!

Photo by Bohac Photography

We always knew that Noelia would make a great Big Sister and that she was ready to take on this new role. She definitely proved that to us once Reina joined our family just 4 weeks ago. She loves to help and insists on holding her. Yes, insists! She is a little protective and “bossy” when it comes to her Baby Sister. I am very happy that she is so welcoming and loving of Reina but at times it does get in the way. If I am changing Reina’s diaper, Noelia has to do it or if I am burping her, Noelia has to do it. I appreciate the help but allowing a 3 year old to care for a newborn without Mommy’s help is too frightening for me! We try our best to have Noelia help in every way that we can either by grabbing us more diapers, wipes, swaddle blankets, etc. Usually Noelia will always do it for us. She really is a huge help!

The biggest thing we have noticed is that Noelia has become a tad more whiney. She definitely gets upset faster over the smallest things and it takes her a while to calm down. I would assume this is due to her knowing all our attention cannot just be on her anymore and its her way of saying “HEY! I need help, too!”. I completely get that. A new baby brings a lot of change into her life! She went from being the only child and baby of the entire family to having to “share” her parents and grandparents to this new baby. I believe she’s handling it very well but there are days where we cannot make her happy no matter what we do or say! It’s definitely true that the older siblings can be more work than the actual baby ;).

Going from one to two kids has honestly been a smooth (for now) ride for us. Brody is a teacher so he had all of July and half of August off. Can you say perfect timing?! When Noelia was born, he only had 5 days off and the New Mom role definitely took a tole on me since he was gone a lot. I had no idea what I was doing back then (still feel like I don’t some days) and being alone waiting for him to come home was really hard. Thankfully, my parents live close and were always happy and willing to watch Noelia to give me help and/or a break. Flash forward to today with Reina, I am so thankful that he has been home with us so much because I cannot imagine handling both girls alone so soon. Noelia is at the age where she is just bored at home and that is completely understandable. Keeping her happy and occupied with a newborn latched to my boob is a challenge. When I was working a 8-4 job, my Dad cared for her during the day and took her to places with him. Now that she is home with me, it arises even more change in her life and change for myself as well.

Noelia is starting a 3 year-old program this week. This will the first time that a non-family member will care for while she is away from us. I AM NOT OKAY, MAMAS! How are we already to this point?! Besides my feelings of separation, I do feel that this will be really good for her. To have her interact with kids her age and learn how to listen to other adults will be a huge learning curve. I know she will flourish at it! My Mommy heart is just so sad that “school” is already in the picture. Time is a thief.

I asked you guys last week to send me questions on my Instagram (@nickyschmaderer_fit). I rounded them up into 3 questions!

How do you feel about the age difference?

I love the age difference. Noelia is 3 and Miss Independent. I am not sure if it is an age thing for her or personality, but she does very well at taking care of herself. She loves to get ready on her own, go potty on her own, play on her own, etc. Like I stated above, some of these things have changed a bit but we believe it is natural due to the big life changes. She really has been the greatest help and I love how the girls will be together for a couple years in Elementary school and one year in High School.

How do you get enough sleep/naps when you also have to take care of Noelia?

Thankfully Brody has been home up to this point which has been a huge help. Reina is a great sleeper (Praise Jesus!) which is the opposite of Noelia. I could not put Noelia down for anything without her waking up immediately or crying. Reina is super happy and content either way. She sleeps great at night to the point where I have to wake her up to feed her. I know this isn’t the scenario for everyone with having their significant others home so much but this is our reality for now. Soon Brody will be back to teaching and coaching football so we will see how things change then. I am not ready for him to go back :(. We have never had this much time together!

Hardest challenge?

Feeling like I am doing enough. I think this is every Momma’s challenge. Am I feeding her enough? Is my milk supply sufficient for her? Is Noelia happy? Am I spending enough time with Noelia? Am I being too lax with blogging/influencing? All these thoughts come to mind! We were told at Reina’s 2 week appointment that she was underweight and that took a toll on me. I felt like she was eating on me every chance she could so it just really got me down that something was wrong with me as a Mom. Did I not notice her being hungry still? Do I pump more? Why is there not enough milk coming out of me? I know these are all lies that crept into my mind but they were true feelings I had. Postpartum is a challenging time and it is even more challenging with 2 kids. Thankfully I have a great husband, family, and close friends that do more than enough to ensure I am okay. This is a blog post in itself! Stay tuned for that 😉

I know that once I am home alone more with two girls, the balancing act will only get harder but I am confident we will conquer our new normal. These days, months, years with our kids are HARD but I believe in the truth that they are the best years of our lives. I am terrified for the day that my babies no longer “need” me. As challenging as some days are, I would take them a 100x over. Thank you all for reading thus far. If you’re a Mama in postpartum balancing going from one to two kids COMMENT BELOW. I would love to hear your experiences.