Tips For Juggling Life With Two & What’s Helping Me

Since getting back to work after maternity leave I’ve been so exhausted both physically and mentally by Friday. Everyone says that having 2 kids is a big adjustment and well quite honestly they are right! It hasn’t been as tough in some ways as I imagined but in other ways it’s just been more draining than I ever thought. Most of that has to do with having little to zero time for myself every day. I’ve become pretty good at the actual act of juggling both of the girls at the same time, even in the evenings and mostly by trial and error to see what works. I’ve partnered with Ivory on today’s post — a heritage American brand that we’ve been using for years. Let’s just say that one of the highlights of my week is my Friday night bath :)

So, here are a few tips for what’s helped me with the transition from one child to two….

-Have something to look forward to at the end of the week for MYSELF. Right now I really don’t get much time to myself, because I work whenever I can throughout the day, and after dinner is made, cleaned up, Piper is bathed and put to bed its usually almost 8pm, and at 9pm I have to start Flora’s bedtime routine which means I’m also in bed for the night (more on that here). So I have from 8-9pm most days and I like to shower at night (ME TIME), maybe catch up on Pinterest and quite frankly a lot of the time those 30 minutes are spent finishing a blog post or online shopping for an upcoming project or post. So at the end of the week I usually feel like I haven’t focused on myself too much aside from those 30 minutes alone at night I spend showering and on my skincare. On Fridays I like to have a large glass of wine and take a bath. A nice long soak — it’s really fuss free, a few bath salts and a bar of gentle, pure Ivory that hydrates my sad winter skin and I grab whatever book I’m reading. I love that Ivory is 99.44% pure and free from dyes and heavy perfumes. It’s so gentle that I use Ivory Free & Gentle Body Wash with Pear & Sandalwood on Piper’s super sensitive skin and my husband likes it for his eczema prone skin, too. It includes the #1 Dermatologist-Recommended moisturizing ingredient.The kids smells so darn good after I bathe them with Ivory, the scent is so nostalgic!

The Ivory Original 3-bar has a new look and is still the same pure clean trusted for generations. The Ivory Original Body Wash is free of dyes and heavy perfumes – perfect for our family!

-The first 2 weeks we both tried to give Piper as much undivided attention as we could and we took this very seriously. For the most part any time she asked for me or wanted me to do something I dropped everything to be with her. I did not want her to feel in any way neglected with the arrival of her baby sister. I think this really really helped with the transition for the family.

-After those first two weeks we gently introduced the concept that Piper would need to exhibit patience with her baby sister and sometimes I couldn’t hold her if I was nursing or maybe she needed to wait a minute for me to help her if I was changing Flora’s diaper. I always try to explain to Flora (so Piper could hear) when I need to help Piper so Piper would get an understanding of sharing my time. Mama has to help Flora get a diaper changed, and now Flora, mama has to help Piper put on her shoes.

-We never try to use Flora as the reason or excuse for not doing something Piper wants. This is soooo hard to refrain from saying but we’ve really tried to do our best to not put a negative association with the baby (i.e. You can’t listen to loud music because Flora’s sleeping, instead we’d say, let’s do something quiet like a puzzle while Flora sleeps and when she wakes up we can all dance together to music!)

-If I’m going to be alone with the girls I always try to think about an activity that Piper can do on her own that she won’t need help with and I can direct her to when I need to nurse or change Flora.

-I’ve embraced more screen time for Piper. At the end of the day if I’m alone with the girls and trying to make dinner and Flora needs me, it’s okay for Piper to watch one of her shows!! I felt so guilty about this at first but now, what the heck — whatever works!

-I try to include Piper in helping take care of Flora. She looooves when she gets to watch her take a bath, frequently “helps” with diaper changes, picks out her outfits, gets me burp cloths and blankets, throws things away for me. She loves the concept that she’s a big girl and big sister and can do things to help mama. (She also loves cooking and setting the table)!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Ivory. The opinions and text are all mine.