I will admit that I had concerns about adding another member to our family. Would it upset the beautiful party of three we had? Would we have enough time and love to spread? Would our daughter feel left out or less connected to my wife and I? It turns out those fears were completely ridiculous because having a second child has done nothing but enrich our family and make us even more loving. The sweetest moments of my day are watching my two year old kiss her infant brother and say "I love you baby." She does it so much now that we have to preface each time with "be gentle sweetie" or "careful." She loves him so much that we are worried she may smother the poor kid. It also turns out that love is infinite. How could I have ever worried about not being able to love more kids? My son is so cute that it almost hurts and I find myself just staring at his tiny face and ignoring the world around me.
Now it hasn't all been perfect. We have had a little jealousy from our toddler. She definitely makes "power moves" to get cuddle time with me every now and then and sometimes fights for our attention when the baby is crying or we focus on him too much but that is to be expected. What we didn't expect was a comment she made to me one afternoon. Completely out of the blue while I was getting her out of the car on our way home from school she said "Mommy doesn't love me anymore." I immediately stopped in my tracks and asked her why she could even think that. She replied very matter of fact, "because she had THAT baby." With that comment my heart tore a little and we spent that evening showering her with affection and talking to her about the baby just needing more time from mommy but it won't always be that way. Our daughter is surprisingly good at understanding rationale in my opinion and she said "ok" and we haven't heard anything more about that.
Time has definitely become more precious with two at home and all the normal commitments of work, school and life in general. I can't be more thankful for my amazing wife taking things in stride. I am in the home stretch of finishing my MBA and there is light at the end of the tunnel but leaving a few nights a week to attend classes isn't easy. Last night I had a final exam and it was like torture trying to put my daughter to bed in time to get on the road. How can I deny "another milk daddy?" or "please don't go to work"? This is what marriage is all about; supporting each other and a give and take of time to meet the day-to-day priorities. Now that the semester is over it is my turn to repay her hard work.
So far I am loving our party of four and can't wait to see the sibling bonds between our kids grow with time. One thing is certain, my son is in for a bossy, protective but loving older sister. Welcome to the world big guy, you add to our family in so many wonderful ways!
