I am the lucky mom of two amazing girls. Preparing for your second baby is quite different than getting ready for your first. Here are some things that I was so glad I did for Round #2!
Taking Weekly Pictures
When I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, my husband took weekly pictures of me standing in front of a blank wall in our home. I was able to use PicMonkey to add text to the picture and wrote down my cravings, gender guesses, etc. each week. I compiled these into a Shutterfly book and had it printed after my little girl arrived. To this day, it’s one of her favorite books to look at. I decided for my second pregnancy to do the same thing and was so glad I did. The books match and both girls will now sit down together to compare how little their fingers and toes were.
Maternity Pictures
Getting maternity pictures done for my first daughter was a no-brainer. But anyone with more than two children knows that the second pregnancy is tricky. It flies by faster, I felt less confident in my body, all the things. I knew that I would regret it if we didn’t do maternity pictures though, so we made it happen. And boy, I am so glad that we did! I am amazed looking at those pictures now about how young my oldest daughter looked. Still debating maternity pictures? Check out this post about why you may want to consider it.
Dates with My Oldest Daughter
During my second pregnancy, I took my oldest daughter on weekly dates. She was only 16 months when we found out we were pregnant with baby #2, but the dates were more for me than her. I wanted to spend uninterrupted time with her when she had all of my attention. Looking back, she doesn’t even remember those dates to Friendly’s or Flamig Farm. But I do. And that is why I did them. I wanted to look back and be glad I invested that time when I could without distraction. It definitely helped ease the mom guilt too, when all of a sudden a lot more time was spent at home with baby #2.
Preparing for Your Second Baby: Weekly Letters
It took us a little while to get pregnant with both of our girls. To help get through those times, I wrote my babies a letter every week. Writing these letters became a habit and I still do it now. Yes, the girls have about 500+ letters right now. Thank goodness for Google Docs! I did this with both girls because I never wanted there to be a day that my oldest had something so significant and my younger daughter didn’t.
Baby Book
Ah, the baby book. When I was pregnant with my second daughter, so many people told me that I wouldn’t keep up with the details like I did for my first. If you know me at all, I took that as a personal challenge and rose to the occasion. Both of my daughters have super detailed baby books and I am so glad that I took the time to write down all the little things when they happened. At the dinner table the other day, my daughter asked what her first word was. I literally had no idea. For story time that night before bed, we pulled out her baby book. Ironically, her first word was “book”. But if I hadn’t recorded it, I never would have remembered that detail that I thought I never would forget. The Mom brain is real, especially with Baby #2!
The reason I wrote this post is to share some ideas about what you could do to celebrate your pregnancy and your second child. Preparing for your second baby looks different for everyone. Give yourself grace though. I am a crazy, Type A personality and I wanted to do these things. If any of these things stress you out, you do you. What’s important right now is your health and your baby, so don’t ever feel any pressure to do more than what you’re doing already, mama. You got this and your baby is so lucky to have you.
