Mom Life: Keeping Two Kids Happy

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Being a mom of two is great when both kids are happy. It’s better than great, actually. When Mazen is home I am almost always wearing Birch in the Solly wrap – it’s the only way I can help or entertain Mazen with at least one hand. And Birch loves being worn.

Sometimes, despite best efforts, both boys are crying at once, and that really shoots my anxiety through the roof. This most often happens between dinner and bedtime. Or when we’re rushing out the door! It’s always a little easier when the parent-to-child ratio is 1:1.

Mazen has a few weeks (WEEKS!) off of school, and it’s keeping me on my toes. He is a total extravert and always wants a playmate.Luckily we have wonderful neighbor friends, but they aren’t always at home or available at all hours of the day. He’s not a big fan of quiet solo play. We also limit iPad time to one hour on the weekends, so that means I have to come up with lots of activities to do with Mazen when he is home from school. Since he is really into painting these days, we recently rolled out some paper and watercolors and spent an afternoon working on two masterpieces.

He is quite the artist! The first painting was of the character Jesse from Minecraft. (I think?!) M drew the sketch and instructed me on the correct colors to put where and we painted together.

The second painting was of a glittery Christmas tree! Note the giant globs of white glue : )

All the while, Birch was happy and then fell asleep in the Solly wrap.

While baby wearing is such a lifesaver, there are some things that are hard to do while baby wearing.

• Loading / unloading the dishwasher (or anything that involves bending over)
• Pumping
• Exercise other than walking
• Showering (a waterproof wrap would be pretty cool for a double shower!)
• Cooking hot things on the stove
• Eating soup or cereal or pretty much anything that might drip
• Driving (impossible, haha)

Ya know, just a lot of the things one might want to do in a day! B wakes up after only 20-30 minutes if he’s put down, but in the wrap he will sleep for 1.5-2 hours. Once he is older and taking good naps in his crib, daily activities will get a little easier.

But for now, baby wearing is the solution for being able to keep both my boys happy and getting longer nap stretches.

Happy winter break to all you moms!

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