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Easier!! You don't really realize just how easy newborns are until you have one AND a toddler. Although I was blessed with easy babies, so I imagine others have a tougher time with it. We also continued to send Xander to daycare full-time, so during the week, most of the time was just me and the baby, which definitely made things easier.

Easier. The hectic moments are limited because E goes to daycare and DH is always home on weekends. It also doesn't bother me if he cries....it happens!

Easier, DD2 is so much easier than DD1 as a baby, she just goes with the flow & loves her car seat. DD1 is so good with her, I would say my biggest challenge is just dealing with a 2 year old who thinks she's a teenager, but that was an issue before DD2 came along

Way easier!!!

Easier. I by far handled sleep deprivation better the second time around. Although my second was/is a better sleeper than the first.

I also felt more confident this time around, like hey I did this before and I can do it again. Plus there is just no time to dwell on every little thing when you have two.

It is hectic trying to get out the door on time with 2.

Easier because I'm much more confident and relaxed, and because I had a much smoother delivery, recovery and first few weeks, but it's also been harder because my girl is still struggling with the change to our family and is having a major potty regression

Wow, this thread is making me feel much better about welcoming #2 in November!

I'd say easier but that doesn't mean it's been easy at all. Just not as completely life-altering as going from 0 to 1. I'm still finding it pretty overwhelming most days.

easier! But we have a super easy DD who started STTN at 2 months.

On these threads, I always wonder about parents who have two high needs kids or two bad sleepers---anyone out there like this that wants to weigh in?

Our toddler was and still is a horrible sleeper. After she turned 1, she started having brief periods of good sleep, but always followed by another bad streak. The past three nights, she was up literally 4-6 times each night, scream crying. Not sure if her molars are coming in, if she's coming down with something---but this happens very frequently.

So I do sometimes wonder how I will cope with her AND a newborn if the newborn is as bad of a sleeper as my first (didn't sleep through the night even once till she was a year old, and then only infrequently since then).

Anyone?

Easier for me, because R is a very easy baby.
But I'd say it's much, much harder for my husband.

Easier for me because I knew what to expect. It was a tough transition for DS and DH though and the first few months were pretty stressful for everyone.

@Anagram: My boys are not horrible sleepers but they aren't great either. But I don't have high expectations. They are babies and I assume they will have average to crappy sleep. But I know this is a short phase of their life. They both have low sleep needs and need me to fall asleep. My 2.5 year old has co slept since he was about 7 months. He now usually starts off in his toddler bed and then climbs in with us if he wakes up. My 1 year old is in his crib and I would say STTN 60% of the time. The other 40% he wakes up somewhere between 3 and 5. I then go get him and he joins us in the bed. This is the only way I get nice decent sleep.

DS1 is not high needs at all. DS2 is a bit more of a challenge. He's a mamas boy that is clingy to me. However, now that he is almost walking it's getting better.

Unlike most of the other posters, I think toddlers are way easier than newborns/babies. My almost three year old can tell me what he needs and entertains himself. I lucked out with him - he's a breeze. Babies are mysteries to me! And I did not have those newborns that only sleep and eat.

I was worried about taking care of two, but you do what you have to do! Seeing them together is worth it 100%!

@oliviaoblivia: Seriously, compared to a toddler, newborns are easy. I'm more confident this time too. We went out two days in a row at 2.5 weeks old. J went to E's daycare yesterday for parent teacher conferences. Huge change from with E. Now just waiting for him to gain enough weight to wear him in the K'tan and Tula to keep getting out minus the stroller.

@Mamasig: I wish cosleeping solved our LOs sleep issues. This whole week, either we've taken her to our bed or DH has slept with her in the bed in her room---and no dice. She's still up crying every other hour or so. Ugh. She has 2 months for her sleep to improve before this new baby comes.

I also think (aside from sleep) that my toddler is way easier now than as a baby. But I guess she was a challenging baby and she's a very laid back toddler...during daylight hours. Not super tantrummy, very good at entertaining herself, generally pleasant, a good eater. As a newborn, she never slept, wouldn't eat, cried if I put her down ever.

Maybe this baby will be totally different.

Harder
I never expected how hard a colicky high needs baby is in the beginning along with adjusting to being a SAHM with a two year old and new baby. Even now at 4 months sometimes I feel like we are finally settling into our new normal and other days I feel like I have nothing figured out. The colic has subsided but the baby is happiest when she has 100% of my attention (which is obviously not possible with two). This thread is making me feel a little bad with everyone's easy second babies and adjustments

@Anagram: that's why it was so much harder for me. Both were extremely high-needs and are terrible sleepers. My first screamed her head off for the first 6 months of her life straight, and only slept on me. Didn't STTN regularly until over a year old. My second screamed for 3 hours straight every single night for the first year, and woke sooooo much at night until after a year old. Neither has ever napped well, if at all. Both scream(ed) in the car for at least 1.5 years. Both want to be held all.the.time. My oldest throws raging tantrums regularly. My youngest has just started throwing them, too. My youngest didn't let me wear her much, and protests being in a stroller, making getting out with both exceedingly difficult for quite a while. They are 22 months apart, so I've basically had 2 high-needs babies at once. For me it was so, so very hard. I dealt with really terrible PPD and PPA for the first year after my second was born. It was so exhausting, overwhelming, and all-consuming. I actually sold my business because I couldn't handle it all. 16 months into it, it's WAY better now.

@autumn865: my wee guy is pretty chilled out but my big girl has struggled with the change to our family and we're both finding the transition difficult. Throw in a major toileting regression / refusal and the late onset of the "terrible twos" and life isn't a bunch of rainbows at our place!

Harder. If I only had to deal with my newborn, it would be fairly easy. But I'm a SAHM, so I rarely get a break from the two of them and it's exhausting.