By Lacy Jo Donald 
As families grow, lives change and so do the people in those families. Sometimes the changes are expected. Sometimes the changes are not at all what we had expected. Either way, we grow into our new roles and our new family structure and grow to love the way we are. Here are some of the “growing pains” my little family has experienced since having one child, then two.
Getting Ready Pre-Kids
I used to be able to get ready so quickly in the morning. I’d shower, blow-dry my hair, run a straightener through it, put my make-up on, and I’d do the whole bit – foundation, powder, 3 colors of eyeshadow for that flawless look, eye-liner, mascara and blush. The whole bit took me 30 minutes, 45 minutes tops.
Getting Ready Post-Children
My mornings are much different, now. I shower the night before because, let’s face it, I just don’t have time to do that in the morning anymore and if I did, I’m not going to risk waking anybody up who still might be sleeping. The longer they sleep, the quicker I can get ready. I’m lucky to get my hair done, and a quick coat of mascara on in addition to my foundation and powder between getting my kids ready for the day and catering to their still-not-quite-awake-yet whines. (I really do love them like crazy, I promise!) I am less perfected for my day, now, but it takes me twice as long.
One Child
Of course our lives changed after we had our first, we had a child who’s needs needed to be put before our own, but with two of us and one of him, it really wasn’t that bad. Plus, we had a really laid back kid, which made the early years especially easy. We thought we had this parenting thing pretty well down. So, we thought we’d have another…
Two Children
…and then we had another. Our second wasn’t nearly as laid back as our first, and the laid back thing with the first started to catch up with us as we started potty training and introducing new things into his life (like a little brother). We thought that having two would be just a little more work, probably not double since we had gone through it once before. I now laugh at how naive we were. Our lives got a lot more complicated in the blink of an eye, but now that’s all we know. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
Going Anywhere Before Kids
What’s the discussion? Let’s go. Grab a coat, put on some shoes, check your hair and makeup and let’s go! Stay out as late as we want. We only have each other and my job.
Going Anywhere After Kids
How important is whatever this is? Do we have time to get there? Will the kids behave? Did they get a nap? Is this going to make them miss their nap? Okay… we’re going. Get the diaper bag packed. Don’t worry about how you look, you don’t have time for that. Are the kids’ clothes some-what coordinated? Double check the diaper bag again. Do we have both the children? Get everyone’s socks, shoes and coats on. Get the children strapped into their car seats. We for sure have both of them, right? Did we remember the diaper bag? Do I have a purse somewhere? Okay. I think we’re good to go. Oh wait, the oldest has to potty and/or the youngest just spit up all over their outfit. Get shoes back on, back into the carseat. Okay. Now, we’re ready to go… When we get where we’re going we realized we did forget to put something in the diaper bag. (P.S. It does not take twice as long to get 2 kids ready vs. 1 child. It takes longer.)
The First Child
Like I said, our first was laid back, easy going, chill. He was pretty easy as a baby. He liked certain bottles, binkies, blankies… We knew what to expect with the second.
The Second Child
Everything we knew, everything we learned, went right out the window. We have two boys, full brothers, that are polar opposites.
We laugh, we cry, but most of all, through all the changes, through all the learning, through all the memories, we love. A growing family is a lot of things, but above all, it’s beautiful.
by Kimberly Keys 
by Bree Sprual 
by Vicki Bahr 
by Jaybie D. 
by Brittany Moore 
by Charissa Bates 
