One of the great things about being a financial planner is that we work with clients in all stages of life. We get the benefit of their collective wisdom on money, careers, marriage, parenting, and just about everything in between.

Before maternity leave for our second baby, one common refrain from clients with more than one child was, “Two kids are harder than one.” Three months in, I can safely confirm this is true!

But I’ve also been surprised by how much easier some things feel the second time around. Things that felt so hard with my first are now just part of the routine. And the new things that initially felt impossible with two? You do them a few times, and those become normal, too.

The biggest difference is perspective.

I still worry. I still obsess over which baby product will solve the problem of the day. And I still have plenty of moments when I have no idea what I’m doing. But this time around, I’m better at recognizing what deserves my attention—and what probably doesn’t. Experience has a way of doing that.

The same is true with investing. Markets give us an endless supply of data, headlines, predictions, and reasons to wonder whether this time is different. Taking the Long View doesn’t mean ignoring what’s happening around us. It means having the perspective to recognize what matters and the discipline not to react to what doesn’t.

Maternity leave has given me another kind of perspective, too. Like all of us at Hill, my family is also a client of the firm. Over the past few months, I haven’t had much time to think about markets or financial headlines. And honestly, that’s been just fine. We know where our plan is going. We trust our team and the process. Our financial life doesn’t require our constant attention, which has allowed us to give our attention to something that deserves all of it.

Having a second child has also prompted bigger conversations with my husband: How have our values as a family changed? What do we want our kids to learn about money? What do we want to prioritize as a family? What do we want our money to make possible, now and decades from now?

Those questions matter far more to us than what the market did this week.

Having a second child hasn’t made life less complicated. If anything, it’s made it more so. But it has given me a little more perspective about what deserves my attention—and what doesn’t. And I’m learning that’s a pretty valuable perspective to have in parenting, investing, and just about everything in between.