on having a second child

I just had my second child two weeks ago and while the nights are still sleepless and the laundry is never ending, here are a few things I learned along the way that are different this time around.
1. Labour

During my first labour, I was in so much pain that I swore up and down that I would never have another child (don’t we all).  Well, this time around, I got an epidural at 3 cm and was smiling versus at 4 cm and experiencing hell.

2. Postpartum emotions
While I experienced baby blues after my eldest was born, I didn’t this time around (at least not yet).  Yes, I still get emotional here and there (hello hormones); I am afterall, the same girl that cried through her entire wedding speech!

It’s not easy being a male baby model!

Of course every parent believes that their baby or child is the cutest, and John and I were no exception. In fact, the first thing that my husband John said when Kyle was born was “he’s so cute!”* over and over again.

When Kyle was around 3 months, my brother and sister-in-law were telling me about a friend of theirs who had her son with a modeling agency. I contacted their friend (thanks Jenn) and asked her what she thought about the agency and the overall experience. She said that it was actually a lot of fun! So I immediately went and signed Kyle up. It wasn’t long before we received an e-mail for his first photo shoot. It was a cover-shoot for a Harlequin romance novel, how could I say no 😉 For those of you picturing Kyle with his shirt off rescuing a girl baby from a burning building, it wasn’t quite that cool. He was wearing a sailor’s outfit though!  And it was a lot of fun.

The best group I ever joined

One of the best things that I did with Kyle his first year was joining a mom’s group. We came together as each one of us knew one person, who knew another, and so on, until there were 8 of us (some months later, a few other mom’s joined as well). The youngest (my son Kyle) and the oldest baby were only 2 months apart in age. Our weekly get-together’s were full of stories, discussions, giving / taking advice, listening, laughing, and of course lots of crying, playing, hungry and sleepy babies. In fact, of all the activities I did with Kyle, this was his favourite. He didn’t need my constant attention as he was able to run and play with all his friends* and I was able to socialize without feeling guilty. Ok, maybe it was my favourite too!