Pregnant with a Toddler?

I don't think that I'm much of an expert, but I'm going through an experience that I didn't know for sure how to handle. So I figured I would share my experience and possibly help someone else out.

So you know what it's like to be a parent of a toddler, right? 

Roller coaster mood swings,

TEMPER TANTRUMS,

 changes of appetite,

 learning of new words/phrases/hand gestures, 

TEMPER TANTRUMS,

repeating of every little thing you say or do,

discovering "new" parts of the body, 

TEMPER TANTRUMS,

watching the same cartoons over and over, 

reading the same books over and over,

TEMPER TANTRUMS,

chasing a naked butt with clothes while trying to get ready to go out,

walking down the toy aisle before leaving every store,

TEMPER TANTRUMS,

cuddling and hugs on his or her terms,

getting thank you's for the least significant things that mean everything at that moment to him or her,

NOT getting thank you's for the big things that you do for him or her,

big "Good job!" 's for every little accomplishment,

discovering of new ways to get under your skin and driving you BAT CRAP CRAZY!

"MOMMY! MOMMY! MOMMY? MOMMY! MOMMY??! MOMMY!! MOMMY???? MO--".... AAAHH!

I could go on and on. There's so much to taking care and raising a toddler.  They are very much like Sour Patch Kids. One minute they're sour and the next, they're the sweetest thing in the world. And then the next minute, they're being spit out in your hair for you to discover later on when you're already in bed about to close your eyes for the night. 

Haha, that last part isn't true.  It sounds about right, though, doesn't it? 

But, seriously. You can't ever tell how your day is going to go, because it all revolves around what mood your toddler is in or what your toddler feels like doing that day. Especially if you're a stay at home parent. But it also applies to parents that work too. To me, it would be a hard day at work if I knew my child woke up with a temper tantrum and I had to leave him with someone else while I was at work. I'd be checking in constantly and yadda yadda. On the other hand, if you're with your toddler the whole day, trying to get things done around the house and spend time with him or her at the same time... the way they act definitely affects your day.

Okay, so that's the hardest part, right? 

WRONG.

When my son turned 15 months (still breastfeeding AND bedsharing), we found out that we were expecting again. 

Yes, another baby! Unplanned, but we weren't necessarily "not trying", if you know what I mean?

I quickly scanned over every little thing I went through with my first pregnancy and immediately thought that it was IMPOSSIBLE to be pregnant and raise a toddler at the same time. 

With a lot of prayer and encouraging words from God and my husband, I calmed down and began to put behind my worries of not being able to handle it and I looked towards the future.

My mothering instincts instantly kicked in after I put my worries behind me. I let God lead me forward and I made sure my selfish worries weren't going to get in the way of me being who I needed to be not only for God, but for my self and my family.

I pulled up my big mommy panties and we took the next step forward: told our family.

Of course, we received nothing but a positive reaction from everyone (to our faces). (Especially my dad who seemed to literally jump a foot in the air for joy when he read the note that our toddler made for them.) 

Some made comments, "Already? Wow, they're going to be really close in age." 

or "You're going to be the mother of two babies under three. How are you going to handle that?"

or, "You're still breastfeeding, aren't you? What are you going to do about that?

 and my personal favorite, "Y'all didn't waste any time, did y'all?"  

No, we didn't waste any time, but we didn't exactly plan to not waste any time either. 

LOL anyway, I just replied with, "We'll manage just fine. We're excited and we'll be ready for sure." 

On comes the first trimester symptoms:

Nausea (plus, trying to wean my first born from breastfeeding)

NO ENERGY (plus, a toddler that was learning how to sleep in his own bed, had energy that seemed to never end and always wanted a playmate)

Bloating (plus, a toddler that wanted me to hold him all the time)

Eating all the time (plus, a toddler that wanted some of every snack I chose to eat, no matter how much of it there was)

There were so many times I wanted to just cry and just let everything out. So what did I do? 

I cried.

And let everything out.

Then on came the SECOND trimester symptoms:

Weight gain (plus, a toddler that was growing like a weed as well)

No more nausea (YES!)

Still not as much energy, but more than in the first trimester. (Definitely a plus!)

Still some bloating, but not as much. 

We also found out what the little one was going to be during this trimester! Everyone was hoping for a little girl this next time. It didn't matter to me, because I knew that whichever gender the baby was, it was going to be spoiled and taken care of! Only a few people thought it was going to be another boy.

I went in to the ultrasound room with my mother-in-law and toddler next to me. I let the ultrasound technician know that I didn't want to know the gender yet. I told her that I wanted her to see it, print it, and put it in an envelope for me. Because I was going to let my husband be the first one to know by handing him the envelope to open first. 

Well, we were having fun watching the little one move around and the ultrasound tech was just a talking to our toddler, pointing out things on the ultrasound for him. Then she looked back at the screen and all of a sudden she said, "AWW! You're going to have a little BROTHER, (enter my toddler's name here)!"

She obviously forgot my plan. But I was sooooo happy and excited that I didn't even get mad or upset or anything! I made sure I called my husband as soon as I got out of the room to tell him. And we gave our little baby boy the name that we had already picked out. 

After that appointment, I immediately went home and started sorting out everything that we saved of our toddler's (which was pretty much EVERYTHING). I'm pretty sure our second boy is set with almost everything he needs, because of everything I saved from my first born. Which is awesome about having them close together, because everything I already have isn't out of date or out of style. Plus, it didn't have to sit for too long, so it wasn't nasty smelling or anything.

Our toddler would help me sort out things and he'd also go behind me and UNSORT out things. So it took me awhile. I also started nesting and organizing everything... while my toddler came behind me disorganizing everything. Never ending process. 

During this time, we also weaned and helped our toddler learn to sleep in his own bed. It was so hard. Having that connection with your child is so fulfilling, every time I had to tell him no and put him in his bed at night, I wanted to cry. But I knew it was time for him to take that step, even if I wasn't ready for it. 

I know of some people that continued to breastfeed while they were pregnant and on through the next few years after their next baby was born.  I have no idea how they did it! Breastfeeding takes so much energy out of you and I was already losing energy from baking a little human inside of me. Keeping up with a toddler adds up in there too. So I felt like it was best for all of us and didn't give up after I made my decision. 

 We all succeeded. Our toddler now sleeps in his own bed and doesn't cry or wake up for breastmilk. Every now and then he'll point to my chest and say, "(Toddler's name)'s chocolate milk?"  I'll reply, "Now, it's (second son's name)'s milk."  He just nods his head and repeats what I said. He's learning and I'm so very proud of him for how far he has come. 

Now, we're in the third trimester.

I say "WE'RE", because being pregnant isn't just the mommy's responsibility. It takes the whole family's cooperation to keep things going. Especially with a toddler in the home.

A little more energy, but can't move around as fast. I call it my "Slowww energy". 

Still growing some, but it's not as drastic as the last trimester. 

Uncomfortable sitting up for a little while. (we've had to move to the back pew in church so I can lean on my side on the side of the pew without feeling inappropriate, haha)

Rib cage ligament burning.

HEARTBURN!

Achy muscles EVERYWHERE.

Heat flashes.

Braxton Hicks Contractions 

shortness of breath.

Definitely lost the ability to focus on anything for more than 20 minutes.

Forgetfulness. 

Procrastination is ten times worse (Should I be putting this as a pregnancy symptom? Maybe I've just gotten worse in general. LOL)

We're also in the midst of potty training our toddler. (another post for another day, sheww)

We've taught our toddler that there's a baby in mommy's belly and that I can't do exactly what he wants me to do all the time. Like, crawl around on the floor with him on my back or hold him all the time. He still gets a little upset when I have to tell him, "No, mommy's got a baby in her belly. I can't do that right now." And it definitely makes me feel a little sad. But I keep in mind that after I heal after the birth, I'll be able to do all of those things again. The only reason why he gets upset is because he doesn't understand completely just yet. 

We've also taught him to love on mommy's belly and to be careful around it. He loves blowing raspberries and kissing my belly. He'll come up to me with a toy tractor in his hand asking, "Tractor on belly?" Then he'll run his tractor back and forth over my belly while the little one inside is pushing his little limbs up at him. My first born will cuddle with my belly to sleep and the little one inside will move around and try his hardest to get my first born off. 

We've also gotten our first born familiar with the little one's name. That way when the little one is here, he'll know who he is and how to communicate better with us.

I really feel like their relationship as brothers has already started, just by me and my husband teaching him how to do those things. Even though he's a toddler, I feel like it's important for him to have a relationship with his siblings from the very beginning. 

I've definitely gotten more emotional during this pregnancy, because not only am I dealing with my emotions... but I'm dealing with my toddler's emotions too. When he's sweet to me, I get wrapped around his little finger and my eyes fill with tears of joy. 

When he's rebellious and pitches a fit, I get so mad and I have to go in the other room to calm down (I have to be honest, I've yelled at him a few times. Immediately regretted it after I did it. But with these extra hormones, it's hard to control that.) 

When he acts silly and tries to get me to laugh, I laugh so hard that I cry. 

He's an emotional roller coaster and I'm an emotional roller coaster. Put us together and we're both big babies that need attention and extra love to make it through the day. 

I  feel bad for my husband and I don't see how he's put up with both of us for this long. But I can honestly say that he is the best husband and father in the world and I am so thankful for him.

Our family of three (plus our spoiled rotten dog) is about to become a family of four (plus our spoiled rotten dog). We are beyond excited and we are all ready for our little guy to be here. We don't have everything figured out and we know that everything that worked with our first born will most likely not work with our second. But we're optimistic and know that God has everything under control.

God is our strength and if we continue to make Him our strength, we can make it through ANYTHING!

One of the most famous Bible verses there is, "I can do ALL things through CHRIST, who strengthens me." -Philippians 4:13