5 things Kate should know

A new royal baby, a princess in fact! With all the buzz surrounding the birth, I have 5 things I want to share with Kate, and any new mums (and dads!) of 2nd babies, especially of girls.

1. Sleep (or lack, thereof)

It may not be clothing related but by gosh, is it a thing!

Before your first child, you thought you knew ‘tiredness’. You have your first baby and think ‘oh, so THIS is what tiredness really is, my child-free friends who are ‘tired’ after a night-out know NOTHING’.

Then baby no.2 comes along. Wowzers. It’s like they tag team at night just for fun. It’s OK though, you just get used to never overcoming the exhaustion.  And when people say ‘sleep when they sleep’? You will want to laugh out loud in their faces. Don’t, it’s not befitting of a Duchess. Just scream inside a little and smile and nod.

2. Girls

‘Hooray! A baby Princess!‘, I cheered. Then I gasped. Oh no, what will she grow up wanting to be if she is already a Princess? A ballerina it will have to be then.

You can try and dress her in stylish neutrals, but the chances are she’ll rebel (like mine did) and reach 2 and a half years of age and ONLY want to wear that which is pink and or sparkly. Preferably both. Good luck with that.

Pink glitter pumps, Next

3. Washing

Not you, though you will become even quicker at showering when you’ve two littlies vying for your attention. Thought you couldn’t get any privacy before? This time around you’ll never get to use the bathroom alone.  Sorry, #justsaying.

No, here I’m talking about laundry, though I suppose you won’t have to worry about this if you are married to and mother to heirs to the throne.  As above with sleep, you were shocked with one at the extra loads, but you’ll be astounded still by the amount of laundry created by just one tiny extra person.  Add that to the three (or more) people already in the house (palace) and it’s like the laundry basket has morphed into a magic porridge pot of clothes.

You are fortunate though if your eldest is a boy, because I imagine that he, unlike my eldest daughter, doesn’t insist upon changing his outfit 4 times a day, just because he ‘felt like it’.

4. Hand-me-downs

Despite writing an award-nominated style blog (vote for me to actually win something here!) I confess to frequently dressing my youngest daughter in some shall we say interesting looks, very different to that of her sister at that age.  Mainly because a lot of her wardrobe is a combination of hand-me-downs from her sister and her cousin (for which we are SO grateful!), but this means her outfits have much more eclectic styling than a concise edit and I print clash more because there are many more colours, prints and styles in her wardrobe.  I then just top up with the essentials and plain basics to bring the looks together – in theory!

I’m much happier to spend more on my eldest’s clothes now – especially as they are both girls – knowing that the better quality will last and be handed down to the youngest still in good condition.  This has meant I’m also willing to go more girly (or rather forced to thanks to Princess Coco of Tooting’s – so my midwife called her!-penchant for pink!).

In your case however, Kate, you have the luxury (just one of many, mind!) of passing on George’s neutral navys and taupes, tans and greens on to his little sis in the form of stylish, unisex, outerwear, shorts, knits and trousers.  These will of course look adorable teamed with florals and more feminine colours, should she so wish.  That and of course your little Princess will be gifted every dress her heart should ever desire.

T shirt and socks, Next

5. Time

Last but not least, and another non-style related but important thing I want to share with you is time. You will feel like it was only 5 minutes since you were pushing your eldest out. You will be reminded every day how much the eldest has grown and of all the little things they did when they were tiny and wince a little at how scarily quickly the time has passed and want to cherish every moment that little bit more this time around.

Do.

I’d say the washing can wait, vacuuming crumbs your eldest has left on the floor can wait, brushing your hair can wait, just embrace the time you have in the baby bubble.  But you, Kate have the luxury of people. People who can do all of these chores for you. If there’s one thing so many of us ‘normal’ mums are envious of, it’s that you can forget about all those things if you want and just enjoy the moment while you can.  So enjoy it.

Bonus thing

Oh and one more thing, I’ll give you this one for free, the ‘after pains’ second time around – SO much worse. #thatisall.

 What did you find out second time around (or third, or fourth!)…