Hi friends + family!
Baby Riley, our sweet little girl that we were blessed with a whole two months ago. Riley is such a fun, sassy little girl and honestly we are so lucky to have her as a part of our family. But of course having a baby is an adjustment right?
Theres a newborn in the house.
Having Riley has been such a big change for us. Ivy and Aria are 7 and 6 years old and very independent little ones. There’s no diapers, there’s no breast-feeding, there’s no buckling them into their car seats. They are big kids. So of course having a newborn is such a big change.
But the change has been an eye-opening experience for our whole entire family. Though we are still adjusting in the last two months we have made some small changes to help us adjust a little quicker. Today I share my 3 tips on adjusting to life with a newborn after having older kids.
Adjustment doesn’t happen overnight.
For some people adjusting can be very easy in life. They have no problem jumping right into something new and just sticking with it. But for a lot of us that’s not the case. Especially when it comes to having a newborn. unfortunately there’s no magic rule on adjusting. And there’s no super magic tips either. Rather you read this blog 1 million times or take tips from someone else adjusting happens on your time and your time only. Never feel bad because adjusting doesn’t happen overnight, but it will happen. Plus like I said we are still going through our motions of adjusting but I’m still so happy to share with you guys what I’ve learned in these two months to hopefully help make things a little bit easier for you.
3 Tips on adjusting.
1. Ask for help & let your big kids help: I think this is the tip that kind of goes without saying but it has been the biggest lifesaver for me. Asking for help when having a newborn is extremely important. As women we go through so much in our fourth trimester and it’s important that we allow others to help us. Rather it’s something as simple as ordering a grocery pick up or some thing more complicated like finding a babysitter. When we ask for help we alleviate a little bit of stress that we don’t need. Having someone help you can make adjusting easier. Also having the bigger kids involved is really fun too. I cannot tell you how many times Aria has asked to change her little sister‘s diaper. Or how many times Ivy has picked out Riley’s outfit. Allowing them to be big siblings it’s so much fun to watch. It’s really a village. Even if the village includes tiny people themselves.
2. Creating some sort of routine: Now this one can be a little bit hard. When you have so many kids or even when you have an older one and a little one sticking to a routine is not always easy. Ours goes a little like this.. when I wake up the bigger kids in the morning they get ready and then they come help with their little sister. After school they have their snack we do homework and then it’s playtime. In between all that is work, errands or house chores. Adjusting has been so much better being able to at least have some parts of our day be routine.
3. Writing things down: In your fourth trimester you tend to still forget things as you did when you were pregnant. The dreaded “pregnancy brain” still exists. Writing things down for me in my notes in my phone or my reminder app helps me remember everything it is that I need to do. Some days the big kids have swim practice or Riley might have a doctors appointment or I might have a nail appointment. Getting into the habit of writing things down can make adjusting way easier.
You got this, keep going!
So well my tips are fairly simple and maybe even some things you’ve already started to do but every little bit helps right? You’ve done this before! If you’re like me you’ve done this twice before maybe once maybe three times maybe five or six. But with each new baby comes new challenges and new ways to adjust. You have a new baby and you are way stronger than you think. You’ve got this! Keep going and one day the word adjusting will be a thing of the past. The best of luck and enjoy that new baby.
