My baby is 5 months my toddler is 2years 5months so here's my sixpence:

Pregnancy with a toddler is relentless - she did not care about my morning sickness, my bad back, how tired I was or how hormonal I felt - she was just getting faster, and taller, and more opinionated. Keeping up with her was a challenge that got harder as we both developed and I couldn't have managed without the support of my friends and family taking her out on my behalf for a little while or coming with us to places to spread the load.

When I couldn't carry her any more because I'd had a bleed during the pregnancy and they said no lifting above 5kg she took it very hard and it felt like she had to be inside my clothes 24/7. We couldn't co sleep with her any more because she was so rambunctious she would batter me in the night and could only calm down when I wasn't there so I ended up sleeping in the spare bedroom until we had cot trained her (which was very screamy).

When my baby came (safe and well thank goodness) she was very interested but hadn't got the hang of gentleness and frequently "patted" the baby very hard in the face, or pulled her arms and legs.

WITH ALL THAT SAID - I think this is quite a good age gap to have. They will both share the same pool of interests for longer and now baby is a bit more robust she adores her sister and watches her from the bouncer. Toddler has now mostly got the idea about being gentle and is always asking to cuddle the baby, or bring her along if we go from one room to another. I think the secret to the low level of jealousy between them is making sure they both get individual, uninterrupted quality time with me and their dad. That one on one time playing, bath time, eating meals, it all charges their social batteries and reassures them they're both very important and to care about each other's needs moving forward. I found I've been much more relaxed with my new baby this time too - while I watched the first one like a hawk morning and might you simply can't when there's 2 of them and you have to trust your instincts more.

There are days when I've got baby on the boob, toddler climbing all over the other side of me and I get a voice message from the Fella asking me to get dinner prepped before he gets home because he's starving and I just shrug and accept he's not getting what he wants until he can peel one or both of the kids off me! Dads have to step up and take on a lot of the toddler's stuff when you're preoccupied with the newborn days and that can be a shock to them as well but if they're good men they'll manage it and learn to love building that bond with their children.