Parenting From One to Two

Doesn’t it always seem like no matter how hard you try, there always seems to be another mom out there that has it all together just a little bit more (or a lot bit more) than you do? She’s the one doing the Pinterest themed birthday parties, or making their own baby food, or keeping her house super organized, or maybe doing those amazing chalk boards with all the stats about each month of their baby’s updates (etc., etc.). Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE seeing all these things (and actually pinning all these things on Pinterest). But I also used to get kind of down on myself that I wasn’t keeping up with these other moms and doing all of these things for my own kids; like I wasn’t mom enough or something. How crazy is that??!!

As a full-time, working out of the house mom, I should be happy with myself 100% of the time. Not only are my children fed, clothed, and {mostly} clean, but my house is put together, we can stick to a schedule, and above all, my family is happy. I found the biggest change in my demeanor was the transition from one child to two children. I used to constantly worry about what other people would think and how I would look as a mom. I’ve become a lot more relaxed. Have you ever seen those Luvs commercials illustrating the difference between the first kid and second kid? Well, I’m not going around handing my second kid to a random mechanic but it’s probably pretty close. I brought up this discussion with some of the other contributors in Detroit Moms Blog to see if they too felt the same way I did. We shared some of our similar #secondkidstories and decided to share them all with you too, don’t worry, our kids are all still surviving today!

First kid: She becomes mobile – full gate system and padded floor implemented; also watched at all times.

Second kid: He becomes mobile – crawls over to unaware parents and hands them the Glade plugin out of the outlet. #secondkidstories

First kid: Grocery shopping – full cart wipe down and cart cover placed before putting the child into the clean cart.

Second kid: Grocery shopping – maybe in the cart; likely still in the car and used car side pickup {there’s no such thing as shopping with two kids and one mom}. #secondkidstories  

First kid: Diaper changed every hour on the hour.

Second kid: Diaper is checked and say “eh, it’s just pee” and carry on. #secondkidstories

First kid: No screen time until two years old.

Second kid: Knows all Disney characters by name at age two. #secondkidstories

First kid: All organic, homemade, and natural foods.

Second kid: Mcdonald’s is his first word. #secondkidstories

First kid: Name brand and organic for everything.

Second kid: Eats store-brand puffs {if you even remember to go down the baby food aisle}. #secondkidstories

First kid: Each outfit matches, every layer from head to toe.

Second kid: Well . . . at least it’s clean. #secondkidstories

First kid: Fully stocked diaper bag at all times.

Second kid: Toss an extra diaper in your purse on the way out the door. #secondkidstories

The moral of the story? You are doing fine. In fact, you are probably doing great! As moms, we are so hard on ourselves and struggle to maintain perfection because let’s face it, we brought these perfect little bundle of joys into this world and we want nothing less than to give them perfection. I know I’m not perfect, there’s no one out there that is, but I know that becoming a mom was the closest thing to perfection to ever happen to me. I will work hard every day to provide the best that I can for my kids, even if some days that is just a McDonald’s Happy Meal at the end of a long day.