Life with Two children..

So, they told you two-year age gap was the perfect gap, and now your here with a demanding, highly emotional, always hungry, Full of energy, toddler & a newborn that wants endless cuddles and copious amounts of attention. yeah look, I fell for it to. that perfect Two-year age gap, where your children will grow up “best friends” & their bond will be unbreakable (I don’t doubt they will be, but right now it’s hard).

honestly, we weren’t totally naive, we knew two children was always going to be more challenging than one, but we figured we will find our feet just like we did the first time... Right?

Well it wasn’t until I was 9months pregnant and my oh so perfect baby entering toddlerhood decided she had found her sassy boots, her big girl voice, that now only could say “NO” to every reasonable request & for some reason she no longer wanted to use the toilet, sleep in her bed, eat all the nutritious meals I made her. She looks me dead in the eyes and screams “HUNGRY” at me multiple times a day and I will make her up something to eat only for her to slide it off the table, throw it on the floor or just simply demand something else ... it was somewhere around then that I really learnt to pick my battles. My sanity for a pack of potato chips. you got it! I was to pregnant to argue, I didn’t have the energy and part of me was already feeling guilty that my first born was no longer going to be the baby of the family so quite frankly she could have whatever she wanted and she knew it!

Now let’s fast forward to my new baby entering our world, there was that brief newborn bubbles of becoming a family of four, and feeling so beyond blessed with the two beautiful children we had, the novelty of a little human was all so blissful, everything was going smoothly right up until the moment my first born realised... hang on, this new addition is staying? And let me tell you it didn’t take long for her to realise this new baby was getting a lot of attention, and if the attention wasn’t on her than she better force it to be on her. Que the epic tantrums, hitting, kicking and throwing everything in sight, sleep regression & constant accidents. We’ll let me tell you, this craziness lasted about 6-8 weeks, where I just felt like I was treading water, not swimming or floating peacefully just treading water trying to keep afloat. And for the most part I was okay with this, I was aware those first weeks are a big adjustment to everyone, so it was going to take some getting used to.

Once 8 weeks had passed, I started to feel a bit out of touch, like I had finally run out of gas... I was running on empty. my temper was short and I was finding it hard to get on top of everything that I needed to do and still manage to fill up my own cup. This is when I had a good chat with Jake and voiced how I was feeling, ultimately it came down to me needing some time to do things that were just for me so I could fill my cup and then be the best mumma and partner that I could be. We started with a veggie garden, I love gardening. This gives me time to step away from the chaos and unwind for a few moments each day, I also started to see my friends a bit more, and did little errands on my own when I could. Just these tiny changes really helped me, to feel like I could catch a break.

Now at almost four months post-partum, I am finally finding my feet in this new world of two crazy children that depend on me & just to keep me on my toes Jake has returned to FIFO work so we can knock out all our house renovations and really prioritise family time. So again, another adjustment that I need to work through and develop a routine for... If there is anything I have learnt from becoming a mum of two, it is to just let go of what you can’t control & make sure you are filling your cup, because you can’t pour from an empty cup. so, find your hobby, self-care or solo outing to recharge and keep yourself from burning out.

- Love Alyssa xx