So I haven’t blogged in a long time because I kept meaning to write up my “2015 review” (which is kind of like an annual tradition, but occasionally skipped, and mostly posted MONTHS after the year ends), and find the time and space to record my thoughts and musings on having a second kid. But honestly, Baby-Ao’s (hereafter also known as “Big Boy” or “Big Bro”) in-the-flesh exploits seems so much more interesting than talking about a yet-amorphous seedling. At the same time, it seemed wrong to continue writing about Big Boy, while ignoring the elephant in the room (Baby #2), so I just didn’t blog at all. And to be brutally honest, I’ve also been somewhat lazy… opting to watch brain-slushifying TV (on Netflix, because we don’t own a TV set) instead of penning (typing) down my deeply profound, highly original (;-))thoughts.

Anyway, Baby #2 (hereafter known as “Baby-Ef” or “Baby Bro”) has been out for about 3.5 months, and he has very quickly and definitively entrenched himself as a member of our little family. In terms of looks, he’s a spitting image of Big Boy when he was young (except earlier, e.g. Baby-Ef at birth would look like Baby-Ao at, say, 1-2 weeks, because Baby-Ef was born at 39 weeks & 4 days vs. Big Boy’s 38 weeks, and was a heftier baby). He is a very happy and joyous baby, like he has an inner light/radiance that gives him joy.

So how is it having 2 kids?

Second time round is much easier than the first! I think it’s down to a mix of us being more confident parents, and Baby-Ef being a really sweet Textbook / Angel baby, whereas Big Boy was more of a spirited baby. The fact that Baby-Ef was a hefty baby (3.7kg at birth vs. 3.25kg for Big Boy) probably helped as well, because he never really looked very newborn and fragile, and he had much more fat stores to draw on, so he generally only wakes up once a night for feeding, even from birth. And on the rare nights he doesn’t wake up (even in week 1), we just slept in more instead of waking him up to feed as we’re supposed to do, oops ;-p (we *did* wake him up to feed once or twice, then we decided to forgedabouddit and get more rest instead!)

On the other hand, having 2 kids means more work, even if #2 is an easier baby than #1. Big Boy generally LOVES Baby-Ef, which is super sweet. He’s always saying “MY baby!” and wanting to kiss and hug him. And when he’s having fruit, which he usually shares with Papa and Mama, he always also sets aside a portion for Baby Bro (which I eat, and we tell him Baby-Ef has it indirectly through my milk :-)) But even though he loves Baby-Ef, he’s still a 3 year old, which means he still needs and wants attention, so, for example, he will suddenly want us to help him pee, just as we are changing Baby Bro’s nappy. Or when Baby-Ef cries, he will suddenly find an excuse to cry or whinge too… So that’s a bit challenging to deal with. But as soon as Baby-Ef is in bed, or if he is quietly amusing himself, Baby-Ao is back to his angelic, lovely self.

But overall, we’re quite lucky that Big Boy is usually able to play Duplo or puzzles on his own for 30 minutes – 1 hour without needing our help (all the credit to the Boy, who always manages to achieve this. Whenever I try it, it doesn’t quite work and he keeps bugging me to play with him, maybe because he knows i’m a softie ;-))

I’ve heard from parents with >= 2 kids that it gets much easier once the younger kid get to 1 or 2 years, because the kids can then play together, even if there are sometimes fights requiring intervention. I’m looking forward to that day. But as it is, having 2 kids is easier, in many ways, than I had expected it to be.