Being a mum of two | Life as a mum of two

I honestly can’t remember my life before children – and my oldest is only four. Perhaps it’s lack of brain cells through all the fizz that they drive me to drink or maybe it’s the fact I haven’t had a lie-in for almost five years.

As much as I don’t like to admit it, motherhood has changed me. It has a crazy old way of doing that right? As Arlo is now 20 months I wanted to reflect over the last 608 days of being a mum of two. Before Arlo arrived on the scene I was worried, but all the things I worried about were soon erased. The love was there and so was my new job as ‘mum referee’.
But what else had changed?

Vanishing time

Do you remember when there was just one offspring? They went down for a nap, you got shit done or hell, maybe you put your feet up and caught up on your trash TV for an hour or so. Now – one has a nap and the other doesn’t. Goodbye free time.

Goodbye money

Double the trouble? Yep. Double the food? Yep. Double the clothes needed? Yep. Double the nursery fees? Yep. Double the decibels when they both have a tantrum? At the same time? Yep. But it is double the love and I guess money can’t buy that. Good job really, as you don’t have much left.

Split yourself into two

No I’m not talking about the labour, though there’s a high chance you may well have done that then too. I haven’t yet worked out which child it’s more difficult for – the firstborn suddenly having to share the love, or the second one getting half the attention the first one ever did. It’s also a huge adjustment for us parents – get a calculator out as you’ll need to learn to divide love, energy, patience and time.

Farewell free time

Remember when you had one bundle of joy? Well now you have two and it’s not as easy to get a willing family member to take the gruesome twosome as a pair. Date nights definitely become a rarity. And when they do happen, you’re too knackered to even bother.

Getting out of the house

Is a complete military operation with two. You hold one while the other legs it in the opposite direction, while you battle with the changing bag, picnic bag and whatever soft toys have been thrust into your arms whilst trying to double lock the front door.

The double buggy/buggy board dilemma

Who knew this was even a thing? When you have one child, they sit in a pram/buggy. Throw another one into the mix and the oldest may be big enough to walk but let’s face it, they still have lazy legs. And half the time, it’s easier to keep them locked in. This is where the big parenting dilemma comes in – double buggy or buggy board? I went with the latter, but soon realised that if Sofia fell asleep in the car, I couldn’t balance her on the board stood up asleep, so I soon ditched that in favour of a double.

What dramatic changes did you discover when you had a second…third…or fourth child?