Second time moms group starting
The leap from 1 child to 2
Having your first baby is an experience like none other. Your life changes in unimaginable ways from being pregnant one day to becoming a mom the next. It’s hard to wrap your brain around all the things that are new, different and require an extreme level of adjustment when you have your first child. But that’s not what we are going to be talking about here. Imagine that you have finally arrived at a point in parenthood where you can fathom “doing it all again.” It is likely that your brain has acted in a protective manner to help you forget the challenges of having a newborn so that the human race can continue on at a rapid pace and families decide to have more than one child. As you begin to embark on this new adventure, you may be thinking about how having your second baby might be daunting in very different ways then it was to have your first was.
Thoughts on going from 1 to 2 children
While I would never attempt to speak for how all moms feel about the jump from 1 to 2 children, I can still remember how I felt with this impending transition, which was now nearly 10 years ago. First and foremost, I wondered how I would find room in my heart to love another child as much as I loved my first. Being the parent of one child (who was a toddler at the time) was so all consuming in both physical and emotional energy, and I felt like just being her mom took up all the space I had within me. And then I wondered what I was supposed to do if/when both of them were crying at the same time and needed me. I wondered how I would ever get out of the house with a toddler and a baby in tow knowing that just leaving with the toddler was challenge enough (why is it so hard to just get your shoes and coat on???). I wondered how I would manage two children with entirely different developmental needs, and in particular, different sleep schedules. And I wondered if things would ever again be back to “normal.”
What was I thinking?
Prior to my 2nd child’s birth, I remember being at the park with our playgroup of friends. Nearly all of us were pregnant with our second child and one was about to travel to China to adopt her second daughter from China. I distinctly remember standing around the swings/slide/monkey bars as we monitored our toddlers and all of us talking about how our lives had finally become “easy” again but yet now everything would be hard once more. We were now all on the brink of diving headlong into the next big leap of parenthood with baby #2. I am happy to report that we all did survive this leap.
Second time moms group now forming!
For years I have been asked to run a group for second time moms. I have always wanted to but really just needed the time to pull it together. The next 4 week session of The Chicago New Moms Group’s Second Time Moms Group (you can also be a 3rd or 4th time mom if you have time in your super chaotic schedule for such a group) starts on Thursday, March 21st at 1pm at NY Kids Club in Lincoln Park.
Discussion topics will be (but not limited to):
Adjusting to your new, bigger family
What is different this time around?
Helping your older child become a big sibling in the easiest way possible.
Sleep! Because now you need it more then ever so you can keep up with your older child.
Coping with your even busier life.
How to balance time, love and attention for multiple children.
Going back to work or staying home? Is this new since your family grew or are you returning for the second time?
You can register for the group here!
The group is open to moms of second (or 3rd or 4th) babies ages 0-6 months old. While I hope that the moms will continue on to provide support for one another and meet up outside the group with their older children and their older children can make new friends too, for the purposes of the actual group, this space will be just for moms and their babies. Moms will need to make arrangements for childcare for older children. The focus of this group is on the experiences of the moms in the room, and let’s face it, it is very challenging to have an adult conversation with your toddler running around.
I can’t wait to start talking through all of these issues with moms in this group. I hope you can join us! Please spread the word to all of your mom friends so this program can benefit all those second time moms in the way that The Chicago New Moms Group has helped so many 1st time moms for the last 9 years!