DD is 2yo and a delight. I work 4 days some weeks, 5 days other weeks, DH has just set up his own business. Our whole house needs decorating, we have three sets of parents (mine divorced and remarried) to fit in who all mosn we dont see them enough, money isn't specially tight but we can by no means be frivolous. I'm pg with DC2.
Life feels like a fucking grind. Weekend plans often go out the window for one reason or another - either we are too knackered to rush about to get out early or DDs nap (1-3pm roughly) breaks the day in half, or someone pops in and we get delayed, or DH and I actually try to have a full conversation and that delays us! If we have family day out its usually nice but we feel bad about all the stuff that doesn't get done. If we don't have a family day out we feel we're doing DD a disservice as we don't have that time with her in the week.
Our parents offer to babysit but it never feels like a real genuine offer because they often after then say they need to be back for the dog/cat/bed by a relatively early time. And to be honest because our time is so stretched already we feel reluctant to ask as they already help with childcare and we know (because they've all said or hinted) that they'd rather see DD if they are coming over. I feel reluctant to ask them to babysit during the day at weekends because I don't see DD all week.
DH pops out to watch the football 2-3 times a month. I see my friends on my day off in the week and we have a set night out once a month but DH don't do much together just the two us. This isn't helped by being pg as I'm knackered but I'm really conscious that life is about to get more hectic and I want to try and resurrect some fun before we are one of those bored lifeless couples.
Are we being martyrs or is life with small children simply a bit of a drudge? It all feels so functional. We used to have big fun busy social weekends, now we just feel flat and tired and dull.