second baby

Dear  first-time-mom-Jill,

Try not to be such a super mom. Try not to read every book and have all the milestones memorized the month before he should reach them. Try not to drop everything every time he makes a noise that sounds like he might be slightly discontented. Try not to judge that mom of 2 in Babies R Us who’s letting her infant cry while she chases her toddler down the aisle. Try not to keep everything so clean. Try not to learn all the words to so many lullabies and nursery rhymes. Try not to buy so many toys. Try not to work with him so much on reaching with purpose, rolling over, and crawling.

3 years from now, you will not have time to read. You won’t have any idea if your second baby is hitting any of her milestones. You, frankly, won’t really care because, well, she seems healthy and happy, so that has to count for something.

Your second baby will cry. She will cry often. There’s really not anything you can do about it because the toddler who just pooped in his laundry basket and possibly smeared a little on his wall needs to be dealt with more than the crying baby. Her cries in public will not bother you as much because you’re too busy FUH-REAKING out at the 3 year old running away from you in a parking lot.

She will spend her days playing in an exersaucer and jumperoo that have a healthy layer of dog hair and baby puke on them. Her immune system is going to be AWESOME. The jumperoo doesn’t even have batteries in it. She does not seem to care.

You will have forgotten all those lullabies by now, but you will know the words to every Katy Perry song because your 3 year old son is slightly obsessed with her. You lull her to sleep with a slow version of California Girls.

Daisy dukes… bikinis on top

She will have about 5 toys… that are age appropriate. Your 3 year old will also shove Hot Wheels in her chubby hands, and she will chew on your iPhone. You will not have time to wave mirrors in front of her to get her to roll over. You will, honestly, not be in a big hurry to get her to crawl because crawling leads to walking, and before you know it, you will be chasing her in a parking lot. She will probably be running the opposite direction of the other one running away from you. You will want her to remain immobile as long as possible.

First-time-mom-Jill, try not to be so awesome. You might have a little less guilt the second time around, and you might save yourself a bit of sanity. Turns out all that stuff you are so neurotic about now is really not that important.

Love,

Jill from the future

Kendall is 3 years old and Leyna is nearly 6 months old