From 1 Baby To 2: The Highs, The Lows & The Chaos That Follows

Carolijn Braeken (Olivia 2,5 and Filippa 7 months) 

“I think the highs are higher, but the lows aren’t as low. It’s a sweet chaotic mess, a soft familiar fatigue, a warm blanket of experience and confidence. It’s a blurry head, a body that keeps on going, tired eyes. It’s a house that’s never clean, cold coffee, unfinished meals. It’s a lot of memories alternated with new meetings, an ongoing déjà vu mixed with new beginnings.

It’s the tear falling on her head while I sing her to sleep — fully aware of the time passing by, the growing independence, her world getting bigger, our world getting smaller.

It’s my heart bursting with love — this time stronger than the hormones and insecurities. It’s the smile on my face when I look at her, the thousands of little kisses on her forehead, our fingers intertwined in the middle of the night.” 

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Josefine Ekstrand Of Leo Leo Copenhagen (Leopold 5 and Hilma 2)

“I’m a lonely child and that is exactly what it was for me sometimes, lonely! Having two children reassures me that no matter what happens in life, they will always have each other. At least that’s something I strive to teach them. Respect each other, try to be friends and be a good brother and sister to each other, always!”

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Courtney Adamo (Easton 14, Quin 12, Ivy 10, Marlow 7, Wilkie 2)

“When one becomes two, some new juggling skills are required: you’ll find yourself bathing a toddler with one hand while breastfeeding the baby in the other. You’ll be sitting on the sofa feeding when all of a sudden your potty-training toddler suddenly and urgently needs the toilet. They’ll both want your attention at bedtime, and meal times and alllll the time. You’re pretty much never not doing at least two things at once. However, it is the start of the most beautiful, intimate friendship you’ll ever experience with a third-party perspective. And every single moment of connection between your two babies will make the juggling struggles seem well worth it, times a million trillion. To give your child a sibling is the ultimate gift you can give them.”

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Rachael Davis of Rococo London Interiors (Mimi 2,5 and Octavia nearly 3 months)

“I’m 3 months in and there’s no doubt about it, for me it was hard adjusting from one to two – I can only describe every day as a constant relay race! However, with the hard work comes the happiest moments. When my daughter met her little sister for the first time was indescribable. I have never seen a little face light up as much as it did!”

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Felicia da Costa aka The Travelling Toddler (Alba 6 years and George 4 years) 

“While our firstborn, Alba, was the easiest baby on the planet (in retrospect!), our second kid George proved to be the exact opposite- and it only took us about two years to stop trying to change him and adjust our own lifestyle instead. We forced ourselves not to compare our second with our first breeze of a baby, and honestly, that makes all the difference. However, I cannot help but secretly pray that their soon-to-arrive sibling will at least be a mild mixture of both of them!”

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Sophie Pearce (Poppy 23 months, Goldie 3 weeks)

“I feel it’s quite soon to be making a comment on what the jump from one to two little humans is like. My baby is nearly three weeks old and so far I am finding the change definitely manageable thus far. I personally found the jump from no kids to one a bigger shock as I feel like every facet of my life changed whereas this time the changes have already been made.

I will say that with two the day can go from “I’ve got this” to an absolute shit show (literally and metaphorically) very VERY quickly!!” 

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Amanda Woodward-Brown (Violet 6 and Isla 3) 

“There is a saying that ‘one is a pet, two is a zoo’ and I think it perfectly encapsulates the chaos that comes with having two or more children. Yet what makes it all worth it is the love. It is something inexplicable you can’t describe but it is the start and end of everything.”