Navigating Another Newborn

What’s it like to go from one child to two? On this episode of Learn With Less, Ayelet ruminates on the first week home with a newborn, the second time around. Baby’s first days of life are amazing, but the first few weeks with a newborn are the hardest – even when you’ve done it before! Great resources we mentioned in this podcast episode (in order they were mentioned): Learn With Less: Music For Families Album The Learn With Less™ Curriculum Leave an iTunes Review of the Learn With Less podcast Connect With Us: Ayelet: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest BIG CHANGES Well, it has been quite a week here at the Learn With Less headquarters, as my family and I welcomed a new baby into our home. This is my second baby, but my first time becoming a mother to a new baby while living close to two sets of grandparents. I feel incredibly thankful to have the benefit of lots of extra help and very happy distraction for my toddler so that I can enjoy a few moments with just my new baby. I am also lucky to have had a VERY straightforward birth the second time around, and my physical self already feels better after a week than I did after 6 weeks with my first baby. I can see how that affects my emotional self, my ability to “roll with the punches,” and enables me to write down little thoughts and musings to be shared with you today! FIRST TO SECOND TIME AROUND The first time around, the early days and weeks of parenthood – in particular, motherhood, is often a blur of wonder and awe, vulnerability, feelings of elation mixed with absolute frustration. A new world where hormones and effects of sleep-deprivation rule, for better and for worse! For me, so far, the second time around feels similar… but I could call it a “lite version.” WHAT’S CHANGED I trust myself more. I trust in the process of parenting an infant… I already know that there are tough stages, and I know that those inevitably end (always to be replaced by something else new and challenging in a different way!). More importantly, having done it before (albeit with a very different human being!), my partner and I have a nuanced sense of the fact that changes will come, as well as how they might look and feel. This knowledge helps me on so many levels, and while dealing with so many different parts of newborn-land, whether it’s sleep-related, feeding-related, or simply feeling like I know what feels “normal” or not. I can trust my gut. I know I’m not likely to break my baby. I also know that I’m incredibly lucky to even have the ability to sit and reflect on all this, to have had two healthy and relatively uncomplicated babies. “TIME TRAVELING” One thing that’s really been throwing me for a loop is what I’ve been referring to as “time traveling” – I sit here with this tiny baby, who often looks very similar to my first baby, and I’m taken back to those days with my first, remembering and recalling, comparing and contrasting, and activating something akin to muscle memory about how to hold him, how to move with him, how to calm him… And then I look up to see this GIANT of a toddler – this big boy who just over a week ago seemed still such a sweet little monster – running and giggling and thinking and talking… and I can’t quite believe that all of that happened so fast. I also cannot believe how HEAVY my big boy has become – the first time I picked him up after having my newborn, I felt he must have gained 10 pounds overnight. These moments of cognitive dissonance have taken me by surprise, and I’m finding it fascinating! HONEST TRUTHS Of course, there are moments – many moments – that are less than “fascinating” and more about survival, many moments of feeling like I’m failing to meet my older son’s needs, and utter terror and panic about how on earth I’ll be able to do this. It’s mid-morning, I’ve had the luxury of a little lie-in with the baby, and my husband and toddler have gone to the grocery store, so I get to sit here with my coffee and feel relatively normal, able to speak to you and enjoy the moment… but you should have seen me last night at 3am, crying on the toilet while my husband rocked the baby on the yoga ball, because I couldn’t calm my baby and I was overwhelmed and I just needed to hit the “reset” button. But… you do “get through it,” don’t you? You just “get on with it.” And you learn coping strategies. And you remember to take it easy. And you try not to freak out about everything. And patterns form, and everything changes, and then they become more independent, self-sufficient beings, and you wonder where it all went… I want to sing a set of songs now that I’ve been singing to my older son since he was born, as a sort of lullaby medley. The first of these songs, Down In The Valley, you can hear on my album, Learn With Less: Music For Families, available for purchase directly from my website, or on iTunes and a number of other digital media outlets. These songs, for me, have become so intertwined with infant and toddlerhood in my home, and I want to share them with you. Down by the valley, the valley so low Hang your head over, hear the wind blow Hear the wind blow, dear, hear the wind blow, Hang your head over, hear the wind blow Roses love sunshine, violets love blue We are a family and you know I love you Know I love you, dear know I love you We are a family, and you know I love you Go to sleep you little babe Go to sleep you little babe Your mama’s gone away and your daddy’s gonna stay Didn’t leave nobody but the baby Go to sleep you little babe Go to sleep you little babe Everybody’s gone in the cotton and the corn Didn’t leave nobody but the baby You’re sweet little babe You’re sweet little babe Honey in the rock and the sugar don’t stop Gonna be my ever loving baby Sleep my child and peace attend thee All through the night Guardian angels I will send thee All through the night Soft the drowsy hours are creeping Hill and dale in slumber sleeping I my loving vigil keeping All through the night All through the night As the creator of the Learn With Less™ Curriculum, the week-by-week development and activity guide for infants and toddlers, birth to three, I’m very excited to get to follow my own curriculum now as a parent! I know that it will continue to evolve, just as I do as a mother. For those of you currently following the curriculum, I can’t wait to chat in our members area as an active “participant” going through it alongside you. For those of you who’ve been thinking about purchasing the curriculum, have a look – it, or the DIY version (my bestselling books) is a great gift for any new or expecting parent, grandparent, caregiver, or any educator, therapist, or medical professional who works with infants! The post Navigating Another Newborn appeared first on Learn With Less.