Parenting with Your Partner: Surviving the First Year
As a mother to twins, I often find myself trying to find more hours in the day when they simply do not exist. When you have a baby (or in my case, babies), a tricky thing happens; you need to learn how to balance your pre-baby life and relationships with your new day to day life, one that’s filled with spit up and nap schedules. For some, this balance is not really a priority. However, as someone who greatly values social interactions, I knew I needed to figure out a way to keep my relationships in my life, despite a total lack of time. Friendships matter greatly, but an even more important relationship for me is the one at home because, let’s face it, if that relationship is going to sh*t, everything else becomes infinitely more difficult — especially when babies are involved.
Bringing two babies home was the start of a marathon. The first year was the hardest. Truly, it was one hell of a year — one filled with totally incredible moments, milestones and laughter; but as a family, we also faced our share of challenges. The toughest time was the first three months. We were literally in survival mode. I don’t know what it is like to have one baby at a time, but I gather it is also a ton of hard work. My first piece of advice (because I have lived this experience and wish someone had said this to me) is to just cut yourselves some serious slack as a couple…
