3 under 3.5? Need advice from those who have done it with little support...

[Misby007]

I have DS 3.5, DS2 18m and DD 6m. I feel like I am constantly running around firefighting and not doing anything well at the moment :(

• The baby's sleep routine is out of whack because she is cat napping when we are in the car, I can't find the time to start BLW with her, so she is just eating Ella's pouches - oops.

• The 3.5 year old has just started school - how does everyone do school runs with 3? I can't see another solution from lugging 3 small children into the car, getting them all out of the car to go and pick the eldest up from his classroom (waking the others up to do so), and getting them back into the car to drive home. (This is really hard at the minute because we live abroad and it's 40 degrees outside)

• The 18 month old is going through a clingy phase, and obviously can't communicate all that well verbally yet. He also wants EVERYTHING DS1 has, and they need quite a lot of supervision to make sure they share/don't fight over things. Which means the baby is parked in the corner...

• I also can't find the time to do any of the things I feel I should be doing, like reading practice with DS, cooking nice food, playing with the baby etc.

We live abroad so have no family close by. DH is great with the kids but works all hours and travels a lot, so I can't rely on him during the week at all. It's just so relentless during the day and night and I am exhausted. How does everyone else manage? And does it get any easier????! I am pinning my hopes on that it will get A LOT easier when DS2 is 2 and can speak a bit more? Please tell me it will get better soon...

Boy oh boy. I don't have experience of this but two things come to mind: first, the baby will be fine on Ella's if need be and second, is there anyone nearby who you could carpool with? would halve the school runs. it will get easier as they get older.

oh and could you give your 3.5 yr old the job of keeping baby awake in the car?

oh my i have 2 children 22 month old and 7 month old and im finding it difficult at times but to read your post my heart goes out to you my youngest is on food jars like ella and hipp organic because my 22 month old is full on at the mo i agree with the idea minipie has of the 3.5 yr old keeping baby awake in the car what about writing a schedule and preparing meals for 6 month old in advance freeze them and take out in morning to defrost later ... if you spend most of your time downstairs with your children designate a small area of chest of draws etc to put clothes nappies etc so it cuts your limited time also i found with my 22 month old that i was persistant with naps i would take him to bed at 7 or 11:30 for nap and it took 3 hours then 3 hours it will take and eventually he slept at them times within 10 minutes. i tend to find that i used distraction with my eldest to see to my youngest and it was usually things like creating a similar thing to a play group i.e. a small bowl of water to splash hands in a ball pool to climb into a makeshift tent a cardboard box to climb into if there is alot there to distract maybe 18 month old wont be so interested in everything 3.5 year old has whilst 18 month is preoccupied with all toys take 3.5 year old aside to read book etc
im sorry if this is no help at all i hope you find a solution soon x