Surviving pregnancy with a toddler in tow

To say being pregnant is exhausting is an understatement. And being a mom to a toddler is definitely challenging at times (okay, a lot of the time). Being pregnant while also raising a toddler is the most exhausting thing I've ever done. And so far it's even more tiring than raising both a toddler and an infant.

Have I scared you yet? No? Good. Here are some things I've learned along the way to survive pregnancy while raising your toddler.

Sleep now or forever hold your peace. No, seriously, take advantage of your sleep-through-the-night child now because who knows what will happen once the new baby's here. For us the new baby means our once great sleeping toddler wakes up regularly between 2:00 and 3:00 AM most nights. And believe me, trying to put a 2 year old back to sleep is much harder than getting an infant to sleep.

Spend as much time with your toddler now. Friends told us that once the baby was born our oldest daughter would become increasingly more demanding and good Lord they were right. But it's much more difficult giving her all of the attention and time she's asking for when we have to care for an infant, too. So while I was pregnant I spent a lot of one-on-one time with her and tried to remind myself to enjoy every moment...even when she was being difficult and challenging.

Get everything ready now. And I mean everything. We didn't find out the sex of either of our babies so our nursery was set up in a gender neutral scheme/theme that we could reuse for baby #2, but if you plan on changing up your nursery, do it now. It's a miracle if you can get both kids to nap at the same time and when you can, you'll want to do nothing more than nap or veg on the couch (and this is coming from the person that can't sit still and has a need to clean/organize all of the time).

Get thee to a spa. Pregnancy is rough on your body no matter what, but being pregnant while also needing to care for a toddler takes an even bigger toll on your ragged broken down body. I had sciatic pain from early on in my second pregnancy, which was only made worse by needing to be down on the floor to play with my 2 year old. A prenatal massage can do wonders to take that pain away. Plus it's a nice block of "me" time. And while you're at it, get a manicure and pedicure. You'd be disgusted if you saw the condition my toenails were in right now, but there's just no time anymore to get a pedicure, especially since I'm nursing baby #2 and all of our free time is spent getting things done around the house.

I'm sure there are other things you can do now to help you later on, but this is all my sleep deprived brain can think of right now. Feel free to share your tips!