Been there, done that - the joy of experienced parenting

When Calvin was born, I experienced all of the typical first time mom worries.  I was concerned with leaving him with someone else whenever I had to go to work. I tracked his physical and mental development and stressed about reaching milestones.  I wasn't particularly high strung - I'm still a fairly laid back parent - but that nagging sense of "am I doing it right?" was always on my mind.

Now that I've "been there and done that," my experience with Lucy is completely different.  I am even more relaxed with her than I was with Calvin.  Lucy isn't rolling over? That's ok. She will eventually.  "Is she eating enough?"  That question has actually NEVER even crossed my mind.  The absolute freedom from all of the worry I had with Calvin is extremely liberating. I learned that whatever I did with Calvin didn't damage him in the slightest, so I'm OK. Kids are plastic and resilient. It is difficult to do anything too wrong at this point. This is the warm fuzzy time when they can just be babies.

It is an absolute joy experiencing parenthood the first time around. Everything is new and fascinating and even though things aren't "new" with Lucy, it is almost even more enjoyable because I can relax and let her set the pace for her own development.  I know she will eventually sleep through the night just like Calvin did and she will discover the world in her own way.  I know what is coming - the belly laughs, crawling and walking. The nonstop movement that keeps me on my toes and on high alert for falling books and toys.  There is no need to rush into all of that because it'll all be here in two blinks.

Part of the great part about having multiple children is that I am still experiencing the "newness" with Calvin while simultaneously relaxing in my experienced parenting bliss with Lucy.  I am still learning how to coax him into eating more protein and begging him to sit on the potty.  I am still blindly figuring it all out with him as he paves the way into unexplored toddlerhood territory.

Most surprising of all, is that I get to watch them experience life together as siblings. Calvin adores Lucy.  He must kiss and hug her goodnight as part of his bedtime routine. It warms my heart to see them together and to watch them bond so early on.

So for now, I'm going to take a lesson from what Lucy has taught me and I won't stress anymore about whether he will be potty trained this summer or next. It'll happen eventually, just like everything always does. I'm just going to relax with my cup of coffee and watch Lucy sleep.

An Accidental Homebirthing Experience - Lucy's story

"You know... not everything we do needs to be extraordinary..." Jonathan said this to me as he was loading me into the back of the ambulance outside of our house while I held our newly born daughter in my arms.

We never intended on having a home birth.  Our plan was always to head into the hospital as soon as my contractions were 5 minutes apart, lasting for 1 minute, for 1 hour (basically the 5-1-1 rule).  There are people who do plan on birthing at home and they have a midwife on call and a general plan for emergency back ups in case something goes wrong.  Some women seek out home births because they feel more comfortable in their familiar surroundings or because they want more control over the environment.  There are the rare occasions we all hear about where a woman doesn't make it to the hospital in time and has to give birth in the back of the car on the highway or in the back of an ambulance.  For most people, this is a "worst case scenario" and it freaks people out. Rightly so.  Not being in control of your situation can be a scary thing and most people have zero experience delivering babies.  Shockingly,  WE ended up being one of those families who didn't make it to the hospital, or even out our front door, because we underestimated well...everything.