Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be a mother, let alone a mother of two boys. My husband and I were hoping for a girl (or twins:)) with this pregnancy but a healthy baby is what we wanted most. Since males are dominant in both our families, we weren't quite that surprised to learn that our little one was another boy.
*Cue male fist pump from the Husband*
After telling family and taking a little time to process the fact that there was going to be another boy in the house, I realized quickly that this was for real. This was life, folks, and I wasn't ready.
My fear wasn't having another boy (although with the stuff happening in the world, I feel some kind of way now); my fear was trying to figure out how to balance time and attention with both. Obviously the baby would need different and slightly more attention than my 6 year old, but how was I supposed to that without feel guilty?
I asked around to my friends who have more than one child and everyone came back with the same response: you will figure it out. And you know what? I think we slowly but surely are figuring it out. While the baby sleeps, I spend time with the 6 year old coloring, watching cartoons, etc. When grandma and grandpa come over, the 3 of us sneak out and go hang out for while. My husband is great about hanging out in the 6 year old's room with him each evening.
When you are a parent of multiples, don't beat yourself up if you don't get a chance to do every single thing with each child the way you want. Kids are forgiving and you should be too. After all, all we can do is our best. My advice to new parents of multiples is to take one day at a time. Find ways to incorporate everyone in an activity and designate child tag teaming so that they each get their quality time with each parent. Trust me, you will thank yourself and they will thank you.
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