Childrearing
I Had My Kids Close Together Because I Hate The Baby Stage
I’m a mother of two, but I don’t really like babies. Don’t get me wrong—I loved both of my babies to death, and I definitely waxed poetic about their tiny hands, dribbly chins, and newborn-smelling heads.
But sometime in that first year, I began to subtly ask other friends with older kids the question, “Does it get better?”
The first six months of a baby’s life are Baby Boot Camp, no doubt about it. And just when you master a feeding, changing, and sleep schedule, the baby morphs into a demon spawn teething monster that cannot be satisfied from roughly 6 to 10 months. That was my experience with both of my sons, at least.
So, yes, babies are cute and oh-so-cuddly, but when the mobile toddler stage arrived at about one year, I wanted to jump for joy. I am still waiting for my second (and last) son to reach the one year mark, where we will then celebrate and smash all of his baby rattles with a giant hammer, Gallagher style, or something like that. Goodbye to babyhood forever!
Well before my husband and I had kids, we always talked about having kids close in age. There were several motivating factors. We figured that they could potentially be close to each other growing up (although I know it’s not a guarantee), and I would be able to get pregnancy out of the way. As I’ve already stated, pregnancy and tiny babies are not my favorite things in life.
Our initial life plan was to have three kids, boom boom boom. What a terrible idea. We shaved one imaginary kid off the list and went for two kids instead, 16 months apart. That was entirely on purpose, though I’m sure many people in our social circle raised an eyebrow when we announced pregnancy #2 so soon after our first son was born.
I do acknowledge that my husband and I have a really unique situation that makes the near “Irish twin” phenomenon totally doable in our house. We both work at home full-time, so we can juggle baby and toddler duty throughout the day. I might have reconsidered our master plan if I was a stay-at-home mom or working at home alone with two kids all day long.
