From one baby to two babies

 Going from one to two 

Let’s talk about going from one baby to two babies 

Having two kids was always my dream. I always wanted a boy and a girl. Nevertheless, I never thought about the transitions from one to two until a few years ago when a colleague of mine had a second child and said her first had had a really hard time. In a way I couldn’t believe what she was telling me. As I am the middle child, I always thought it was normal to welcome a sibling into the family. After this, I heard many more friends telling me the same.

So, when I found out I was pregnant with my second baby, I was so excited. My dream was becoming true, I was becoming a mama of two. However, I had fear about what my boy would think and how he was going to take this news. 

During the pregnancy he knew I was pregnant and growing a baby. However, we didn’t mention the baby too often until the last couple of weeks. Nine months is a VERY long time, especially when you are a 2 year old and don’t understand the notion of time. When the time did come for me to prepare baby’s crib, Moses basket, put the clothes in the wardrobe, put the diapers away and prepare the hosptial bag, I made sure he was there “helping” me out. I let him climb into her crib and everything that went into the hospital bag was then taken out by my son so think I had to redo the hospital bag five times. The month before, I bought a couple books about the arrival of a sibling. My favourite was Pirate Pete’s, “I’m a new big brother” which was GREAT. It even explained that papa and mama would be going to the hospital and that grandpa would come to play for a couple days. I honestly think that booked helped him understand what was going to happen.

The day I went to the hospital I was having such mixed emotions. Of course I was happy, I was going to meet my little girl but I was also feeling so guilty for changing my boy’s life upside down. Also, in Spain you have to stay in the hospital for three days and I had never spent one day away from him. I recall leaving the house hugging my boy with tears in my eyes.

Once my little girl was born we didn’t know if having my son come visit the hospital was a good or bad idea. I then made the decision that it would be best for him to stay at home with his grandparents where he was the king. I didn’t want him to be upset when it was time to leave and not understanding why mama and baby C couldn’t come home with him. So we FaceTimed and my husband in the evening would go spend time with him for dinner, bath time and bedtime.

For us this worked well.

Finally I made it home and when we arrived all he wanted to do was hold his baby sister. So we went on the sofa and let him hold her. Right there I could see he was so in love with her. 

There is no jealousy and yes we did have a sleep regression two weeks after baby C was born. And definitely more tantrums but he is a two year old with big emotions and opinions. So I don’t know if that was part of the “terrible twos” or because his life changed. But, one thing I know is that I’m so very proud of my boy and how he took this arrival so well. He is truly the best big brother who wants to squeeze/hug her a little bit too hard at times.

And baby C is crazy for her big brother. She laughs and smiles at him all day long and today I even saw her reach her hand out to touch his hair. It was so cute.

Now, I can’t wait for their friendship to grow and for the two of them to play together. 

If my kids ever read this someday you have no idea how much mama loves you both equally and how proud I am to be your mama!