Guest Blogger- Iris Polis

Hello blogging world! Let me just start out by saying I am very excited to have been asked by the beautiful Rachel to write a little blog post. I also have no idea what I am doing so be nice 😉. 

Now let me introduce myself. My name is Iris and I am originally from Connecticut (Go Huskies!!! [jk I don’t like sports]). I am an army wife and Roman Catholic. I have two beautiful babies (both under 2 years of age 😱) and I am 20 years old. I bet you are wondering how I can have two kids under two and survive without wine…. it’s doable, my friends. 

Here is a picture of my gorgeous babes!

I love my babies! I also love dark chocolate, watching movies with my husband (I love and miss you babe!) and I have recently realized that vacuuming my house is a very satisfying experience.

But anyway, 2 under 2! It’s not for the weak, I will say that much. I have only been doing it for just over a month and I am already exhausted. Well it was exhausting weeks before my daughter was born to be honest. Do I have superpowers? No. What I have is coffee. My Keurig is currently my best friend. The beginning of my second pregnancy was not bad. A little bit of morning sickness and fatigue but that is about the worst of the 1st and 2nd trimester for me (Praise the Lord!). But then the 3rd trimester came along like a dump truck, ran me over 4 times and then dumped it’s contents all over my body. I said a whole lot of Hail Mary’s and Our Father’s during this time because I needed to draw my strength from something bigger than my cup of coffee. This feeling of exhaustion peaked around my son’s first birthday (38 weeks) and didn’t stop until I gave birth (41+ weeks). So for about 3 weeks it was pretty hard to get me off my couch because my ankles and feet were so swollen (one of the beautiful symptoms of pregnancy 😉).  My son and I did get some good pictures for his birthday, though! 

I just want to squish those bigs cheeks! The mama in me LOVES this picture because he is so cute but the OCD in me cringes at the memory of having to clean him up. Can you tell that he hasn’t started playing in the dirt yet?

Being pregnant 38+ weeks pregnant with a one year old definitely had it’s challenges. I remember having to get on my hands and knees and clean stomped on poop out of the carpet, out of his jumper and out of his toes. That’s what happens when you take a nap. 

While some moments were challenging, others were beautiful. Watching my son hug my belly, his unborn sister, always melted my heart. 

And then she was born. 

The princess. The diva. My sassy little beauty. 

I love my gorgeous babes but man has this been an adjustment. A lot of people will say, “The transition from 1 to 2 kids is one of the hardest transitions”. I didn’t believe them but they were right. Maybe it’s because mine are both so little, maybe it’s because I had a mini meltdown because I almost ran out of dark roast coffee. It honestly could be either. 

So I have some “fan” questions! That’s what I will call them for the purpose of this blog:

1. Who is your biggest support? Well this is a somewhat difficult question for me to answer. My husband is and always will be my biggest support. However, since he is not here right now I had some family members and the godmother of my baby girl come down to help out. And they were a HUGE support for me when my husband wasn’t able to be here physically. 
2. How is Marius [my son] adjusting to being a big brother? He is adjusting really well. He is so interested in his sister. He has been really gentle considering he is just over a year old. Although he did almost sit on top of her head one time but I am pretty sure it was an accident. He has his moments of jealousy which is understandable because he had all of my attention before so he is still getting used to sharing me. Overall he is doing great!
3. Did you have to get a game plan in place when you found out that you were pregnant with Thalia? ie; figure out when to start weaning Marius so you'd be able to nurse Thalia? I really did not want to tandem nurse but it was actually convenient for me because I had only planned to nurse my son until he was a year old. It actually turned out that my son didn’t like the way my breastmilk tasted when he was around 7 months old so I had to give him formula instead. Goes to show that you might have a plan but God has a plan of His own. 
4. How has it been? I know that they say "sleep when the baby sleeps" but with two, it's a minor miracle that they are both asleep at the same time. It has been going pretty well. The first few weeks I was HORRIBLY sleep deprived. As the days go by my kids have gotten into more of a rhythm with each other. I don’t want to jinx it but my kids are pretty awesome sleepers. Seriously. They pretty much sleep through the night. Other than Thalia who wakes up to nurse but she only wakes up once in the middle of the night. I am very thankful for it because while some people get hangry, I get tangry. I had to look that up in urban dictionary but it means being so tired you get angry. So God really knew what he was doing by giving me babies that sleep well. However, if my son wakes up during a nap and makes a lot of noise my daughter will wake up instantly. Overall, I can’t complain because things could be so much worse. 

I am so incredibly blessed. Motherhood is amazing. I have learned several things about myself that I didn’t know until after Thalia was born. I learned that I am strong (like my coffee). I am thrifty (because every dollar counts). I am brave (I took my kids to run errands within a week of me giving birth). And I am resilient. Being a mom isn’t easy. I am surrounded by poop, vomit, boogers and a lot of other germs. I am stepped on, hit by the occasional flying toy, and I step on a toy at least 5 times a day. But I also get to kiss booboos, see their first smile, help them problem solve and watch them grow into beautiful people.

So to finish up, having two under two has been the most difficult but rewarding thing I have had to do in my 20 years of living. It’s a lot of work but so worth it! 

I think Mother Teresa says it best with this quote: “Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.”

I wake up every morning and smile because I have children who love me unconditionally and remind me of it every time I look at their beautiful little faces. They make me love without getting tired. 

But I mean… how can you not love these faces?

**Quick thank you to LoLa Photography! She has done photo sessions for both of my children and will hopefully be doing our family portraits when my hubby comes back from deployment.**