Lunch - possibly the worst time of day?

[Nooneelseisallowedafergus]

Lunch is so stressful for me. I have entertained them all bloomin morning, we come in all a bit tired and hungry. Serve up a healthy lunch (today scrambled egg on bagels) which invariably gets all over table / floor / clothes and just as last mouthful is eaten, toddler and baby dissolve in tantrums / tears due to sudden need for sleep. So I have to quickly pick everyone up, stripping off dirty clothes as I go, get them settled, and just when I think 'oh good, cup of tea time' I walk into what used to be my kitchen but now looks like a bomb site. On go rubber gloves and clear up operation begins.......and just as kettle boils for my long awaited cup of tea, toddler wakes up.
Lunch time has got to be the worst. Closely followed by breakfast and dinner of course.
Parenting is hard hard graft.

it is but it's all worth it.

If I were you I would firstly leave the washing up till later and secondly think about moving lunch forward half an hour. Just a thought

Wow that sounds tough.

I have a fairly easy time of things because I can't be arsed with routines. Lunch for me I do at 12ish because DD gets grumbly, but sometimes it's 12.30 and occasionally 1. Whatever goes. I like DD to sleep after her lunch but 50% of the time she naps earlier so then we have lunch later... Whatever really :-)

Scrambled egg is pretty tough to eat, to be fair. I get covered in bouncy yellow balls and I'm 34. Chopped boiled egg or boiled egg and soldiers would have exactly the same nutritional value but served up with less mess potential?

Once DD starts chucking food I get her down and she potters off for a play. I wash up. I put music on and DD dances at her reflection in the oven or something while things get cleared. If DD gets covered in food, I'd probably change her after her nap. Or at least remove the soupy sleeves but not go all out over it.

But I'm a bone-idle sod, me.

Don't worry about dirty clothes - that's the uniform of toddlers and babies Change them after the nap if you really have to.
HAve your cup of tea first - you deserve a break too, You'll feel more able to tackle the bomb site after that. If it's not finished before they wake, leave it til later or start getting hte toddler to help a bit while you finish off.

I leave the bombsite for DH to tackle when he gets home - washing up is HIS job. A five minute rationalisation is plenty - basically if the kettle boils before you've finished tidying, leave the rest. What time is lunch? Sounds like your two might be a bit overtired by the time they get to it. Mine have theirs at 11.30 and in bed by 12. I eat with them.

Oh my goodness, I feel like I have written this post myself lol. I have exactly the same issue! We go to a baby group in the morning or out for a walk, come back dd is really tired but needs lunch, hardly touches it then really needs sleep and I barley have time to sit down cause the dishes need doing ( and they always need doing before u make dinner otherwise it's chaos cooking). So not much advise but just a friendly "I know what u r going through" I just don't know how lunch times got so difficult :(