[blparent] And now there are two!

[Melissa Ann Riccobono]

Hello Jen,
Congratulations on your new little one!  My husband, family, and I will soon
be making the leap from 2 to three--which is actually making me a little
more nervous than the leap from 1 to 2 did.  I think a lot of this is
because our son and daughter are almost 3.5 years apart, and our daughter
and this new baby will be only a little over two years apart.  I am sure all
of you will figure everything out.  Just give yourselves time and relax.  I
guess I would say having a carrier of some type to carry the baby, or a
double stroller that holds an infant seat for the baby if you don't
like/can't use carriers, would probably make getting from one place to
another easier.  I guess I would also say to try to spend extra one on one
time with your older daughter when you can.  This is obviously a big
transition for her too.  My husband and I actually got tickets to a kids
show we knew our son would really enjoy, and it just so happened to come to
town about a month after our daughter was born.  By that time I was lucky
enough to feel mostly "normal" and the new baby was old enough to be left
with someone for the length of the show.  And our son got some extra special
mom and dad time--we were really able to talk it up as something he got to
do because he was the big brother, and the baby had to stay home because she
was so little.  Of course there are tons of other things you can do with
your older daughter that don't involve spending any money at all--and she
might be too young to sit through a kids show or movie at this point, but
this is just an example of something special you can do to help her not feel
left out.  
	I'm sure there are more things I could mention, but I'll refrain.
Please feel free to ask more specific questions as they come up and I'm sure
everyone on the list who can will be happy to give you answers.  Also, if
you want, you can email me off list at
melissa at riccobono.us
I certainly do not have all of the answers, but I have made the leap from 1
to 2, and will soon be in a similar situation as you with two kids less than
3 years apart.
Melissa

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Jennifer Bose
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2012 2:34 PM
To: blparent
Subject: [blparent] And now there are two!

Hi, fellow blind parents.

I post pretty infrequently on this list, but I've learned a great deal from
all of you. I'm Jennifer Bose and I live in Brookline, Massachusetts, with
my husband Sunish Gupta, who worked several years ago on the project to
build the early model of the KNFB Reader. Yes, I'm bragging on him a little.
Naming our babies has been interesting since we've tried to find names that
would represent their backgrounds; I'm American and he grew up in India. We
have our 2-1/2-year-old daughter, Abigail Tulsi, and as of last Friday we
have a newborn daughter, Tara Isabel. We're both very happy with two.

I remember asking this list how blind parents manage two children and we got
great responses. It's not that I don't believe it can be done; I know we're
certainly not the first. My head knows that there are all sorts of
solutions, but my emotions play tricks on me. Well, I'll put that down to
normal parental anxiety and ask any of you who have multiple children to
tell me everything I need to know. I'll take any tips you care to send
along, especially about managing a toddler and a newborn. My husband and I
are generally pretty independent and have done very well with one child, but
with two, we're in a new zone. So please let me know what you've done or
what you would suggest for us.
I'm grateful for any and all help.

Thanks so much. This is a tremendous resource.

Jen

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