The Good & Bad of Having Two Under Two

When I realized I was pregnant with my second son, my first son had just started crawling. 

Two under two. It felt like an achievement level in a video game, or a new badge to sew on to a prestigious club vest.

Nearly everyone who asked about my boys’ ages had the follow-up question: “Did you plan them to be born so close in age?”

Nope.

Not in the least. But now that it’s happened and we’ve done it, I highly recommend it! It was the best thing for our family.

Two Under Two Pros

  1. The Clothes – If you have your kids super close together, you get double the use out of a lot of those expensive baby clothes you bought for your oldest. Bonus points if your kids are the same gender! As my oldest son grows out of something, I just move it straight into his brother’s closet. No putting it in storage or anything. Then as the baby grows out of things, they get sold or given to their cousin.
  2. The Sleeping – When my baby was a newborn, we had the boys in separate rooms. Once the baby could consistently sleep through the night though, we tried putting them in the same room….and they LOVED it! Suddenly we had a spare room again that quickly became the designated playroom, thus returning my living room to its sanity. 
  3. The Stuff – Just as with the clothes, I have all the baby gear ready to go. We never really had to put anything in storage or rebuy things. Our original car seat hadn’t expired, so we could use it again. Since we know (or are pretty certain at least) that our family is complete, we can give away or sell the gently used baby gear and toys as they are outgrown – keeping our closets and attic free of clutter.
  4. The Playing – My boys are 14 months apart. Even at the young ages my boys are, they play together. As they continue to grow and the developmental gap becomes less and less, they will enjoy each other all the more.
  5. The Interests – Right now the boys both are interested in similar things, just at different levels. Looking into the future, I’m so glad our boys are close in age. I’m not going to lie, I’ve also thought about how much easier things like vacations and extra-curricular activities are going to be if their interests continue to stay along the same lines. 

Of course it’s not all rainbows and sunshine. My nearly Irish twins can have me running for cover some days.

Two Under Two Cons

  1. The Sleeping – If you have two under two, you will more than likely have to buy a second crib. This is annoying because cribs are expensive and big and bulky. If I were to do it all over again, I would have bought a less expensive crib from a big box store (i.e. Target) instead of a boutique. The reason – so that I could buy a second matching crib for brother. Instead, we have two very different cribs in their room. It looks funny, but it works.
  2. The Stuff – Double strollers are the worst. I’m telling you now that if you are pregnant and know you want another baby within the next five-ish years, just go ahead and invest in a convertible stroller. I wish someone would have told me this when I was pregnant with my first. Instead, I have a single jogging stroller that rarely gets used, a side-by-side double stroller that I hate, and a small profile single stroller. Why do I have all these? Because I didn’t want to fork out the money for a quality convertible stroller. Your stroller is your vehicle to getting out of the house. Invest in a good one that can take on two (or more) kids.
  3. The Playing – There can be a lot of jealousy. A lot of kicking and hitting and crying because Mom is helping one brother at the moment and not the other brother.
  4. The Interests – Having two little humans who both need supervision, but at different levels is exhausting. For instance, the older one wants to ride the camels at the zoo, but I can’t leave the baby alone who just wants to sit in the stroller and look at the trees. Somehow, we still make outings work.
  5. The Body – Mom’s body that is. You are basically pregnant for two straight years. Pregnancy for me was not easy at all. Carrying two babies to full term back to back definitely took a toll on me. Nine months after my youngest was born, and I feel like I’m still recovering. 

Are there cons to having kids so close in age? Yes of course! Basically, it’s really hard. But you know what? You figure it out and life goes on.

Obviously, the pros outweigh the cons. So, to the Mama who still has one in diapers and just saw that positive pregnancy test: it’s okay! It’s going to be amazing!

My oldest just turned two years old, so I can no longer use the hashtag #twoundertwo; I’m actually really glad about that. Now, I just have two littles. As they get older, things might smooth out or they might get crazier – who knows? But what I do know is that they are a great blessing and I love them more than I could have ever imagined. 

I would have never chosen to have my boys this close together if I had been left in charge. Thankfully God had other plans for us.

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Clancey Stewart
Oklahoma City has been home for me from day one. My husband Chris and I met at our church in OKC in 2013, and were married a year later. He works for the FAA, and I work my Real Estate and health and wellness businesses from my home-office. We have two boys under two years of age and our big fur-baby, Solomon. You’ll find lots of family time, DIY projects, cooking, a balanced lifestyle, and love in our SW OKC home.

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