Baby girl #2 is here! Meet little miss Dakota Rae DeMarco, aka “Baby Sis.”

She was born October 15th at 5:15pm; weighing in at 6lbs 11 oz and immediately transformed our family for the better. In honor of her one week birthday, I wanted to share some bits and pieces of my experience this time around. No two pregnancies (or babies) are the same (thankfully, because last time was full of crazy, rare, and pretty traumatizing symptoms, some of which returned and others did not. Thank. Goodness. While this pregnancy was much easier in some ways, it was also much more challenging in other ways…

First and foremost, being pregnant while chasing a toddler is not easy! (hence the lack of posting!) I replaced those glorious warm baths, afternoon naps, prenatal yoga classes, date nights, and other common pregnancy indulgences with the exhausting/hilarious thing called toddlerhood. It was a LOT harder to prioritize self-care throughout the pregnancy and I’m sure it’s about to get even harder…cue the momguilt. Anyone with two kids under age 2 with any words of wisdom, send them my way…please…I need ALL the help I can get!

I must say that (although at times, it felt like I had been pregnant for three years since it wasn’t so long ago with #1) chasing a toddler does make time fly. Ready or not, here she is! Emotionally, it was a little bittersweet for me, to be completely candid. One minute, I’d feel overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement and the next, my heart would break a bit thinking about losing 1-on-1 time with my “big” girl (who really is not so big at nineteen months old.) I worried about how this change would affect her, how she would react to a sibling, and how the heck I would handle two little ones when sometimes one was hard enough. Apparently, I was told by many older, wiser mothers that these feelings are somewhat normal in this situation.

Now that she’s here, (most of) the worries have changed to love and gratitude. I fell in love all over again and already can’t imagine life without baby sis. It’s incredible how you think that your heart has grown to capacity…and then it doubles. Rowan is already the most amazing big sis and I can’t wait to see their bond as sisters and best friends grow. While I realize that it’s going to be tough to balance my time, it’s all worth it in the end. Right now, thanks to help from family (it takes a village, hi mom!) it’s been more doable than I thought and I don’t feel like I’m missing out, rather that I’m incredibly blessed to have two to love.

Thanks for tuning in and thanks for your patience as I learn to navigate life with two (wish me luck!) Thanks for understanding that my family is my #1 priority right now and keeping up with OHH has taken a backseat…hopefully temporarily.

One Healthy Breakdown: twice the babies = twice the love <3