Hello everyone welcome back to another video today I’m going to be talking about how the adjustment from one to two kids has been so far my youngest is now 6 months old and my older son is three years old he was 2 years 9 months old
When my second son was born so I’m going to talk about the hard things about going from one to two kids the best things about going from one to two kids and then I’m also going to give you guys a few tips for things that helped us as
We made the adjustment from one to too if you’re new here hi my name is Meredith I’m so glad that you’re here and if you’re a returning subscriber welcome back here on my channel I talk about motherhood lifestyle things as well as living well on a budget as a
Stay home mom so if you like that kind of content I encourage you to subscribe so that you don’t miss future videos and give this video a thumbs up if you found it helpful or enjoyed it without any further Ado let’s jump in all right starting out with the best things about
The adjustment from one to two kids in no particular order number one the sweet moment between the boys this I knew I had a feeling would come but I didn’t know how early it would happen and literally from birth Noah has been so sweet with Jesse and then as Jesse has
Gotten older he interacts with Noah more and smiles at him all the time and talks to him and Noah will say things like look Jess watch me Jess and Jess will smile and laugh and just encourage Noah in whatever Noah’s trying to show him and it’s just the sweetest thing Noah
Helps me put Jesse down for his nap and when we’re closing Jesse’s door he’ll say things to Jesse that we have always said to Noah when we’re putting him down for bed and it’s just really sweet seeing that Bond grow and it just happened a lot sooner than I thought it
Was like Jesse just barely started sitting up on his own can’t crawl yet can’t walk anything like that he’s only 6 months old but that bond has already started to grow even though they’re not like really running around playing together yet so loved seeing that develop number two is seeing our family
Together I knew ever since I was a young girl that I wanted to be a mom I’ve always wanted to have kids so when we first had my first son Noah that was a wonderful start to Motherhood you know having one kid doing so many things with
Him but I definitely felt like we were not done yet and I knew I wanted more so now having a second son and I see like my husband and my two kids and we just have this family unit it’s been really sweet because of that lifelong dream of
Having kids not a kid but always wanting kids and being a mom to multiple children so I’ve loved that number three is watching Noah help Jess with his toys with his learning with his growth he’ll cheer Jess on when Jesse is bouncing in his bouncer or if Jess is sitting up
Playing with a toy he’ll say good job Jess and kind of like pass him a toy to play with and play with Jesse’s toys with him Side by side kind of like you know wanting to be part of Jesse’s growth and learning and play so that’s been really sweet and I’ve loved seeing
Noah play with Jesse with his love every toys so we haven’t bought a whole lot of toys for Jess just because we had things from when Noah was a baby and I try to live pretty minimalistic um what you see behind us in addition to a few toys in
The kids’ rooms are really all we have as far as toys go and then we have arts and craft stuff in the kitchen in a cabinet that I keep been there but I try to kind of limit our toys and make sure that the toys that we have are quality
And will be helpful for the kids development and growth and things that they really enjoy to play with but I don’t like to just keep run a ton of toys if the kids aren’t actively playing with them if that makes sense so with love everyy I just love their mission to
Do the research for you so that you don’t have to find out what toys are great for your child’s current development they do that work for you so when you get the subs description kit of toys in the mail it’s perfect for your child’s age and for the growth and
Development and the skills that they’re working on right there in that season of their life so Jesse has some really fun toys from the sensor play kit for five and six months we’re going to get a new kit soon but he’s been loving those toys these past two months he’s able to
Really engage with all of the toys now and play with them the way that they’re meant to and you can just see his wheels turning as he plays with them and Noah to come alongside him and sit next to him and play with those toys as well
With Jess so that’s been sweet to see Jesse’s enthusiasm and love for these toys as he’s playing with them and to see Noah come alongside him and play with him as well and the number four best thing that I’ve been able to see with my boy so far just in the first six
Months of Jesse’s life is their Brotherhood Bond and the way that Noah treats Jesse like an actual um brother not just like the little baby of the family if that makes sense I’ve seen a shift where Jesse was you know just a little baby couldn’t do anything as a
Newborn um but now that he’s sitting up Noah is interacting with him like a brother versus just oh there’s the baby mommy’s with the baby it’s like now Jesse is um like considered kind of a playmate for Noah somebody to play with somebody to talk to somebody to love and
I just think that that Brotherhood bond is such a sweet thing to watch to really watch Noah be the big brother and guide Jesse and take on more of that leadership role of like now he has somebody watching him all the time somebody looking up to him Jesse wants
To be just like Noah and so Noah gets to kind of Step into the role of big brother older brother the one that somebody’s looking up to versus when it was just me Luke and Noah he was always the baby of the family but he’s not the
Baby anymore now he’s the big brother and that I know that sometimes that can feel like a little bit of a negative thing like there’s so much pressure on that older child but we don’t pressure Noah in any way we appreciate him for the three-year-old that he is and where
He’s at there are still so many limitations to his life he can’t do everything on his own but he can do a lot and we encourage him to be a leader to Jesse because Jesse’s watching Noah and wants to be just like Noah and Noah really loves that and loves that he has
A little brother watching him who wants to grow up and be like him okay so those are some of the sweetest I’m sure there’s more that just aren’t coming to my mind right now because Mom brain but let’s move into some of the hard things and most of these things I foresaw as
Being a challenge so it’s not like anything was out of left field um the only thing that was out of left field was Jesse’s dairy allergy and the fact that he had colic the first two months of his life before we discovered that it was a dairy allergy and then going
Through a whole bunch of different trial and error things with figuring out um the best way to feed him cutting out Dairy trying hypoallergenic formula that not working because his allergy was severe enough that he needed amino acid based formula and um that whole thing
Was a thing but besides that um we were really kind of prepared I I feel like for the first scen challenges that may happen when adjusting from 1 to two so let me go over those but they probably won’t be too much of a shocker so number
One is feeding the baby with a busy older brother around so when Jesse was born Noah was 2 years 9 months old so almost 3 years old and he’s very independent to an extent but also at the same time needy so the way that Luke and
I kind of describe this um Luke is my husband if you don’t know um it’s like he’s a like kind of like a big a big kid but still a baby at the same time and I don’t really know better words to put that into but he is independent he knows
How to do things on his own he wants to do everything on his own even if he’s not able to do everything on his own but then at the same time he gets frustrated he needs help with his emotions um he needs help doing things that he wants to
Do but can’t quite do and of course as all children are he still very much wants our attention and wants us to be watching him doing things with him playing with him which is all very normal late two early three-year-old stuff so nothing that was too shocking
It was just hard having a child who still needed us a lot and wanted our constant attention while also having a baby to take care of so that’s something that all parents going from one to two children deal with and it was especially apparent when I was feeding Jesse um if
I was breastfeeding Jesse Noah was the most prone to want to do anything to get my attention and get me to play with him and a lot of the times that came out in negative behavior I’ll just share the helpful things as I share the hard things the tips that help the hard
Things the tip that helps that hard thing is to give Noah or your older child attention in like 10 minutes of undivided time right before you go to feed the baby so that way you’re filling their love tank and they’re less likely to want to act out while you’re feeding
The baby because you’ve already given them that one-on-one time so you know 10 minutes is a goal if you can’t do that do five minutes 2 minutes whatever you have try to give them oneon-one time whatever they’re playing with join them in that don’t try to like make your own
Activity for them let them feel like you’re joining them you want to be with them playing with them and if they’re not playing with something then you can get out an activity or a toy and do that together read them a book something just oneon-one where you’re filling their
Love tank so that they’re less likely to try to act out to get you know the attention and their love tank filled while you’re feeding the baby number two kind of goes along with this but for me it was really hard where I genuinely wanted to be with Noah I wanted to play
With with him but I had my hands full with Jess and this was especially challenging when Jesse had colic because I would wear him in a wrap and have to bounce on a yoga ball in a dark room and that was one of the few ways I could get
Him to calm down during those first two months of his life he was really upset often um really fussy he like wouldn’t be put down if I put him down he would cry and it was just challenging even when I was wearing him I’d have to be
Like bobbing and swaying or else he would cry so if I wanted to get down on my hands and knees and play with trucks with Noah Jesse would cry and then i’ have a crying baby strapped to me while I’m trying to play with Noah or Luke was
Home on fraternity leave for the first two months so Luke would go outside and this was summertime because Jess was born in July so Luke would go out and play with Jess or sorry he would go out and play with Noah and I would want to
Go out and play with them because I love summertime but I was stuck inside in a dark room holding Jesse bouncing him on the ball trying to keep him content and I just felt like I was missing out with Noah and really wanting to play with
Noah so that was a challenge and the fix with that goes along with what I just shared you know it can be hard if you have a really fussy baby and you feel like even 10 minutes playing with my older child is a huge challenge but sometimes like don’t hear me wrong here
But sometimes if the baby’s just fussy no matter what anyway like they’ll be okay if they just fuss for a few minutes and your older son or daughter your older child needs to see that they’re still important so it was a challenge but sometimes I would just put Jess in
His bouncy chair here and he would fuss and I would let him fuss while I played with Noah for a few minutes and it’s hard as a mom to hear your baby fussing so that was really hard for me but I needed Noah to know that I cared for him
Too and I he was still important to me as all of our children are equally so important to us as parents and sometimes there are children who have greater needs and need their parent more in certain seasons of their life so Jesse did technically need me more because of
His call in his discomfort and it was just really tough and he was a needy newborn but Noah still needed to see that I wanted to be with him and help him and play with him as well so even if it’s just small increments of time making sure that the older child um
Still gets that one-on-one time with Mom and feels and knows that they’re important to mom as well even though the baby is taking up a lot of her time and I will say if you have an a more easily tempered baby then that’s not a problem
You can have your baby play on the floor next to you while you play with your older child like that’s what I was expecting and envisioning but when you have a ky baby it’s a whole different game and colic is the hardest thing I’ve ever been through I’m not going to lie
And Luke would agree and if you’ve talked to a parent who’s been through colic with a baby they would most likely agree really one of the most challenging mentally physically and emotionally things I’ve ever been through but we made it through um but yeah it’s really
Hard and it just feels like it takes every ounce of you there’s nothing left of you and even just doing simple things like going to the bathroom and feeding yourself is extremely challenging when you have a Cy baby so if you’re in that um my heart goes out to you it is really
Challenging but it will get better and um do the very best you can to help your older child know you know that they’re still important even if it’s just small little increments of play here and there number three hardest thing is having two kids crying at night so because of the huge
Adjustment for Noah being an almost three-year-old and then having a new baby join the family he Lo has always loved Jesse which I’m so thankful for he loves Jesse but it was still a big adjustment for him and then having a collicky fussy crying baby is really
Hard anytime we would have to go in the car with Jess we chose not to really go anywhere as often as we could because Jesse would scream bloody murder in the car but if we had to go somewhere in the car poor Noah was stuck in the car next
To a screaming baby I am not exaggerating when I say screaming baby the entire car ride everywhere we went um that was really hard for Noah like that’s hard for Mom and Dad but that’s hard for the three-year-old too to be right sitting next to in your car seat a
Screaming baby and he would be really like sweet and say sh it’s okay Jess because that’s what we would say to Jess so he would kind of copy what we say but that was really hard for him having a colicy baby in the house I’m sure was hard for him a three-year-old a
2-year-old at the time doesn’t how to put that into words but I’m sure it was hard for him he with all that being said he would wake up and cry a lot more in the middle of the night like he would never wake up really hardly ever unless
He was sick before we had Jess he slept through the night 12 hours was a great sleeper um didn’t have a nap anymore stopped napping at two years old but would sleep like 12 hours from 7 to 700 so he’ go to sleep around 700 wake up
Around 700 it was fabulous and then once we had Jess he started waking up and crying multiple times in the night and I’m sure it was just because of the huge life change for him and in the huge adjustment and I don’t blame him and so it was really challenging having a baby
Crying at night and then also having the older an arc son but an older child crying at night so that was something that was really hard because it was kind of like okay if one’s asleep um then the others having issues and it just always felt like that and of course it’s easy
To over dramatize it in your mind be like Oh I’m never sleeping if one’s crying the other one’s um sleeping and if that one is finally sleeping then the other one’s crying and you know it feels huge at the time looking back Noah is sleeping better now now that we’re like
Better Jesse isn’t KY anymore it’s been six months he’s more adjusted to having a new brother so he’s sleeping through the night um pretty much every night now which we’re so grateful for and if he does get up it’s just a quick fuss and then back to sleep so really grateful
For that but I wasn’t expecting our really good sleeper to start waking in the night crying and having issues with that so that was definitely challenging and with that my biggest advice is um try to talk through with your older child like talk to them
About what’s going on try to put it into words so it kind of makes sense to them like Jesse has a really owie belly so he screams and cries a lot I know it’s really challenging to listen to it’s challenging for mommy and daddy too um just kind of like talking them through
What’s going on and then just giving it time and I know that that tips really hard but it did get better with time just like it was really hard for Luke and I to go through just having colic it was hard for Noah to adjust to that
Having a crying baby in the house and having a baby brother as well so time and and talking to your older child so that they have a better understanding of what’s going on um even if they’re really little just trying to put it into words so that they can kind of adjust a
Little better to what’s going on but yeah um those are the best things and the hardest things I’m sure I’m missing things on the hard list and I’m sure I’m missing things on the best list but that’s what popped into my head when I was thinking about um how the adjustment
Has been for us from one to two kids and I know that sometimes the hard things it’s easy for that to like stick out in your mind more but if this is any encouragement to you I’m like already thinking about having another baby I’m not saying we’re having another baby or
Trying for another baby I’m just already like wow this is amazing growing our family I love having two siblings and I love having another baby again and even despite it being so hard I just love having a baby and I love having multiple um like two kids two siblings and I
Could just definitely down the road like see our family with more I’m not saying we’re doing that I’m not speaking for my husband here I just I’m not even going through all this hard stuff I’m not saying no to that um it’s so worth it having kids it’s so fun for us growing
Our family it’s still extremely hard but it’s been such a gift and such a blessing so um yes things are hard but in the grand scheme of things I know that the hardest months in that that first year is usually the hardest as far as like the dependence on
You and things like that goes two is hard to three is hard to but um things do get easier I can already see things getting easier with our older son he’s almost three and a half and I am just seeing things get easier three has been really really hard harder than two for
Us but three and a half feels like we’re turning a bit of a corner and things are getting a little more um manageable and I’m learning you know just how to help him through his emotions when he is struggling with wanting to do something
But not being able to do it and you know things that the three-year-olds go through so anyways I hope that’s encouragement to you guys even though it’s hard it’s totally worth it and if you are about to make the adjustment from one to two kids you can do this and
It’s a beautiful thing growing your family and it’s a blessing from the Lord so hope you guys enjoyed this video please give it a thumbs up if you liked it and don’t forget to subscribe for more motherhood and living well on a budget content in the future and I’ll
See you guys in my next video bye
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