OK, I admit: I don’t really know who “they” are and anyway, they probably HAVE told someone these things but no one told ME these things, but that wouldn’t have made a very compelling blog post title. So. Here are 5 things that I didn’t know about having two kids and learned them when I was knee deep in motherhood and all of the feelings and things that come along with it. 

YOU WILL FEEL LIKE A NEW MOM AGAIN. Before having my second baby, I thought I kind of had figured out some of this motherhood thing. (Well, at least the first 2.5 years of it.) HA. Oh, silly me. Sure, it’s easier the second time around. Time doesn’t stand still like it did the first time. Milestones don’t seem as important, and there isn’t such a giant life shift that took place after going from 0 kids to 1.

But there’s something I hadn’t accounted for: after my second baby was born, I was a new mom again. I had never been a mom of two. This was all new to me.

I felt like a new mom the first time I left the house with both kids on my own. The first time I had to figure out how to bathe the baby and make dinner for the toddler. Or bathe the toddler and nurse the baby.  

YOU’LL NEED TO LEARN HOW TO DO A LOT OF THINGS ONE-HANDED.  Yesterday, I peeled a hard-boiled egg with one hand while I was holding the baby with the other. Last week, I poured the toddler her milk and while nursing the baby. I could count on 2 hands the number of things I’ve had to do with only one hand. 

YOU WILL THINK WISTFULLY ABOUT ALL THE FREE TIME YOU HAD WHEN YOU ONLY HAD ONE CHILD.  The stars have to align for me to be able to get both kids to nap at the same time. But when I just had one child? Naptime was a daily luxury that I can now confidently say I didn’t fully appreciate.

Two kids ISN’T twice the work. Somehow, in the face of logic and math, having two kids is like having 5 times the work. (And yes, 5 times the love, too.)

YOU WILL HAVE A FAVORITE (BUT IT WILL CHANGE BY THE MINUTE). Who is currently sleeping? (Favorite.) Who is snuggling? (Favorite.) Who isn’t crying and/or whining and/or asking the same question over and over? (Favorite.)

My favorite child changes a thousand times a day until I’m left at the end of the day after they’ve gone to bed looking longingly at my camera roll at their sweet faces and wondering how I could love two humans SO SO SO MUCH. 

THERE WILL COME A TIME WHEN YOU CAN’T REMEMBER LIFE BEFORE THEM.  Don’t get me wrong. I vaguely remember free time and sleeping in (until 7 am) and being able to drink a whole mug of coffee while it is STILL WARM without having to reheat it 4 times and ultimately forgetting it in the microwave until the next morning when I go to microwave my next cup of cold coffee.

But other than that, I don’t remember much about life before those 2 sweet faces who have changed everything I thought I knew about love. 

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Have you guys checked out the Kid’s section of the NSale yet?? SO many cute things! I just scooped up these adorable shoes for Harper. (I mean, if you can’t wear them when you’re 3 years old, when can you?)

I know it’s hard to think about fall and winter right now, but do you know what makes it easier? Seeing all of these adorable winter jackets on major sale. Now’s the time to get your little one set for the upcoming cold (especially if you live in the Chicago area. You know it’s riiiiiight around the corner. Yikes.) 

Find more bits about motherhood here!