I am Melanie from Brisbane with Jack who will be 4 in Feb, and Thomas who is 2. There is a 19 month age gap (would have been 20 months but Tom was in a rush to meet us!).

I had planned a small gap, as there is 6 1/2 years between oldest to youngest in my family growing up, and I didn't have a lot in common with my youngest sister until we were adults. I knew that having two within 2 years was going to be a lot of work. And in some ways it was harder than I thought, and in other ways easier.

The biggest issue for us was that after a very easy first baby, the second had colic and screamed for 12 weeks solid. That put a lot of stress on all of us. Most of what I remember from that time is a blur. But after coming out the other side of that, things have been busy but good (although of course there are always "some of those days". You might like this blog entry - https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...6-my-life.html - as an example of "one of those days.). The boys are very close which I love, and it actually makes life easier as they will happily play by themselves (and really have done so for a long time now). Also I know Tom learns so much from Jack.

Some tips for coping in the early days:
- Accept that you will out of action for at least 3 months so don't plan anything
- Have frozen meals prepared beforehand
- Get a cleaner
- If you don't already have one from the first child, buy a sling. It is the greatest way to soothe the baby while doing other things, and easier to get around than using a pram when out
- Talk to the older child lots about what is going to happen, how he can help and why mummy will have less time for him. This helped our DS so much he had no jealousy at all
- Get the older child to "help" as much as he can to feel involved
- A playpen can be a good idea to keep baby and toddler apart if the toddler is too rough

I also second Anna's comment - one of the hardest things of having two close is being pg with a toddler.