Life with Two

"So, how's life with two?"
I feel that there are three kinds of people who ask me this question. The first are parents of more than one child. They ask in an encouraging sort of way. They did it. They know I can do it. They want me to know that I can do it. The second kind of people are parents of one child. They ask me because they are terrified.  They want to know that having a second child will not cause their life to fall apart. And the third kind of people are folks without kids. They usually ask so they can hear my horror stories and be glad they don't have a child, let alone two. *

* I freely admit to stereotyping these three kinds of people and want to note that I have genuinely caring friends in all three of these categories and this post is, in no way, a judgement on them!

After some reflection I decided that many things about having two children are easier but the hard thing is that EVERYTHING takes more time. Having two children makes it much easier to establish a schedule, something I haven't previously been good at. (I just ended a sentence with a preposition, yo!) But getting two kids in and out of the car? It somehow takes more than twice as long as it takes with either one.


I used to find it pretty easy to get up in the morning, get Gideon fed and dressed, and then get on with my day. But now a typical morning looks like this:

I'm up to feed the Zeke at 4:30. Back to sleep. Silas's alarm goes off. He jumps in the shower. I feed Zeke again. Silas lets Gideon out of his room. I change Zeke's diaper and sometimes his onsie if he had a leak during the night. Gideon tries to help. Silas leaves for work. I settle Zeke down and change and dress Gideon. I jump in the shower, keeping an eye out to make sure Gideon doesn't bother Zeke. I get dressed and manage to make it down stairs with the boys. Zeke wants to eat. Gideon wants to eat. I shove a granola bar at Gideon while I sit down to feed Zeke. Gideon and I play with Zeke for a few minutes then I go to make Gideon something to eat. I make Gideon sit at the table to eat. He spills his water cup but eats all his food while I unload and load the dishwasher. Gideon is done and wants to be cleaned off. I tell him to wait a minute while I finish the dishes. He gets down and smears eggs and fruit juice all over the couch and wakes up Zeke with goopy kisses. I clean up the table and the couch and turn on Dora for Gideon while I feed Zeke again. I look at the clock. It's noon and I haven't eaten yet.


But I don't want this to sound like complaining because despite the fact that I not always thrilled to be constantly dealing with crackers, milk, or poop, most of the time I'm pretty content. I'm raising human beings! It's a great privilege and there isn't really anything else I'd rather be doing (except for those few minutes I kinda wanna rot my brain on facebook with a cup of tea). And mornings really are the hardest part. In the afternoons there are actually times when nobody needs to eat or have their butt wiped! They both take an afternoon nap at the same time and I have two hours to myself. And to be honest... I kind of miss them when they're asleep.