Maggie, My boys are 9 months and 24 days apart...yes you read correctly my husband and i are completely insane. The work was there of course and the tired, but my second is my cuddler, my lover baby, my singer. They are 4 and 5 now and we are expecting a new sibling in December. They are all sure the new baby is a girl and secretly i might be praying they are right. Somehow the second was less work than the first in many ways, but that may just be because my first was entering a climbing phase while my second was learning to sit up.... but by the time the second reached that climbing phase it didnt matter there was nothing left in our house to climb we had already been there and done that and gotten rid of it.... by the time the second figured out baby latches and baby gates it didnt matter we had already compensated for his brother and improvised bigger and better safety measures cause...we had been there and done that... have no fear you will make it through and it will in its tiring way be a great joy, and in a few years you will hear or see some younger mom wondering how shes going to deal with two and you will tell her she will make it cause its twice the fun and you know cause you have been there and done that.... Steff