With more than 15 million fans following her every Internet move, model Abbie Herbert is used to setting the tone. But when it comes to having two kids under the age of 2, well, did TikTok have an influence?
"It's a new trend right now," she joked of welcoming son Jagger March 13, two months before daughter Poppy's second birthday May 11. In all seriousness, though, the idea of simultaneously raising a newborn and a toddler has proved far more daunting than the reality.
"You hear, like, 'Oh, two kids, is it scary?'" she detailed in an exclusive interview with E! News. "I think going from no kids to one was more intimidating than one to two because that anxiety, that new mom feeling of, like, what do you do?"
Take diaper-changing, for instance. In the hospital with Poppy, "I didn't change one," Abbie admitted. If her husband, self-avowed "diaper king" Josh Herbert, wasn't handy, "I had all the nurses do it because I was so nervous. But now I'm like, 'Give me all the diaper changes!'"
Though bringing home now-2-month-old Jagger taught Abbie just how true the all-babies-are-different messaging is in Huggies' The AlphaButt Book: An ABCs of Baby Butts and Bodies.
"Poppy was very tiny, very petite—she was in newborn diapers until she was, like, 3 months old," Abbie recalled. "My son Jagger, he's already in size two. He's got the chunkiest thighs I've ever seen."
So when the avowed Huggies girlie ("You don't want the leaks, you don't want the blowouts and we have not experienced that"), was approached to promote the brand's charitable book (all proceeds will be donated to the National Diaper Bank Network), she gladly dreamed up her own #HuggiesBabyButts dance to their new baby booty-themed bop. (Sir Mix-A-Lot, you're on notice.)
"I was like, 'This is literally the life I'm living right now,'" the Pittsburgh native said of the all shapes, all sizes tone. "Poppy was in the sixth percentile. And you have Jagger in, like, the 96th percentile."
But other than having to give away boxes of never-used newborn-size diapers and onesies and figuring out a new changing technique ("You learn quick to keep the diaper covered"), Abbie feels she's got the two-under-2 sitch handled.
"I still remember the first night bringing Poppy home, it was very, very overwhelming," she admitted. "And with Jagger, I was just like, I know what to do. We got the diapers by the bed, we got the wipes by the bed. Every time he wakes up to feed, change the diaper. I just felt good and confident."
Just two months in, she's already become a master at finding the calm in this new form of chaos.
"This morning, I walked out of my room and I was like, 'Josh, you had her right?'" she recounted of their debate about who was on Poppy-duty. "He goes, 'No, you had her.' We found her in her playroom on top of the playhouse. I'm holding Jagger, he's screaming, she's on the playhouse."
In the moment, she said, imitating her keep-calm-and-carry-on demeanor, "You just go, 'Okay, Poppy, get down. Come on.' So, yeah, I guess it's pure survival at this point."
Because, while she and Josh each strive for an hour of solitude each day, there's no guarantee she'll get through her bath without a toddler barreling in.
"I try to lock the door, but that is hard when the toddler's running, 'Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!'" Abbie detailed. "Josh tried his best, he tried to keep them out, but what can you do? I let her in and then we played."
So, yes, while she's not above joking about scheduling Josh for a vasectomy, "I love the life I'm in now," she said. "We all have those moments of, 'This is a lot, it's overwhelming,' but then I remember they're gonna grow up one day, and they're not going to want to run in the room and scream, 'Mommy! Mommy!' So I just remember, like, deep breath, take in this moment and enjoy it while I can."
With that mindset, she's already captured more than a few core memories.
"Last night he was in his bouncer and she walked by him," Abbie said of Poppy. "And just goes, 'I sorry, Jagger, 'scuse me.' That moment just made my heart melt—just the thought that they're going to grow up together and they are so close in age. Because these two under 2 times are a little bit hard, but I hope that they grow up as best friends."