Anyone out there with two under two, having day of chaos

[hazeyjane]

I have two lovely daughters, 18 months and 4 months, some days (like today) it feels as though I'm trying to juggle a hundred things at once, in fact I can't believe that in the rare half an hour that they are asleep at the same time I am on Mumsnet ( I'm a bit of a newbie here ), of course I'm also surrounded by a sea of toys, lunch stuff etc etc. I just thought I'd see if there was anyone out there in the same boat, as sometimes i just want to sit down in the middle of it all and cry. Of course if you have any other combination of children or just the one I know its probably exactly the same. Going to get strong drink now (tea - before anyone throws there hands up in horror)

Thanks for all the moral support, I sure needed it today !!
Now sitting with a glass of wine and waiting for dh to cook dinner. He is very good.
Jennster, I figure the same as you with the food, and she also sleeps all night and is very active but very petite which is what worries me more.

I shall just grit my teeth swearing under my breath and survive the next two months and hopefully it will get better.

DD2 is still swaddled at the mo at 15wks. Tonight she has gone to bed with her grobag on and her arms trapped underneath, I will let one out at a time I think. She has her hands in her face all the time.

Anyway gonna go and enjoy my wine.

Snap just poured a glass of wine. Nearly finished packing. We are going away on Thursday and FOR ONCE we are organised. DD 21 months is very petite too. DS 3 months is the opposite. A very efficient feeder too.

Lulalullaby, we stopped swaddling ds a couple of weeks ago and he has been sleeping through the night for a week. It's the thumb sucking that does it I swear.

jennster, she just keeps rubbing her eyes and waking up. Tonight is particularly bad, she has woken 3 times already. now back to being swaddled. She had her jabs last week and still has hard lumps under where the inj site was. I wonder whether that is causing her pain as she hasn't been settled since then.

A little at our wits end with her sleeping. So different from dd1 whos slept like a dream.

Ah well dd didn't sleep through the night until I got pregnant with ds and refused to do night breastfeeds. Made dh do them with a bottle of formula which suddenly she didn't want Makes me think she could have gone without them for a LONG time before she gave them up. So this is luxury

I need to keep his nails short though because he has slashed his face to bits getting his thumb their though.

can i join u? i have ds 20m and dd 2m and i don't know how anybody survives this! i feel really bad but i've put ds up in his room to play for an hour. does anyone else do this? dp thinks i'm really mean but i so need some time to get essential jobs done like making up dd's bottles, and i need a break. dd wont sleep cos ds is keeping her awake. he will usually nap in the afternoon but half term means there hasn't been any playgroup/toddlers for 10 days and he's sooooooooo bored. he's just started headbutting the hard floors in our house too when he can't get his own way. i do wonder what the hell was i thinking having another baby so soon but i just hold onto the thought that it will get better (hopefully!) when they're a little older xx

Hello everyone, just had my mum up for a few days, and whilst it is lovely to have someone to cuddle the baby, I always feel more exhausted, (will I need that many cups of tea throughout the day when I get older!)I think its just that having one more person in the house just increases the chaos. I loved what you wrote Knakered, it gave me a warm glow.DD1 (19months) hardly eats anything at the moment, teatimes are just a nightmare, because she doesn't want to sit in her chair, and will maybe eat a finger of toast and thats it-strangely at the toddler Halloween party today she ate about 6 cocktail sausages, and her own weight in spider cakes so she obviously has an appetite! Does anyone here have tea with their older ones? My DH and I still have our meal after she has gone to bed, and I'm wondering whether it would make a difference to eat with her (I have breakfast and lunch with her.She too has always been on the small side, and yet dd2(5 months) is huge!Sorry to hear your having a hard time with dd2 sleeping, lulalullaby, we swaddled for ages, because dd2 thrashed about so much. Now she sleeps a lot better, but wakes up in the middle of the night singing and blowing raspberries (so loud that everyone wakes up), it would be funny if I wasn't so kanckered.

Yes we eat most nights with older child. It definitely helps.

HJ we do the same as you and eat when they have gone to bed. We keep saying that we should eat before with her but never get there. DD1 went to docs tonight as she is now losing weight. They suggest regular weigh ins with hv. Checked her out everywhere and she is well.

sprogger, dd1 also slept through and I think that's why we find dd2 soooo hard. I am contemplating going onto more ff with her but I enjoy bf. It's so difficult.

Loopy, my dd headbutts the floor also and lies spread eagled on the floor. You have to laugh otherwise you would run screaming from the house !!

Went to playgroup this morning, and have a couple of friends who are in the same boat. They are having the same difficulties, so it's reassuring that it is the same for everybody, and if they say otherwise they are lying !!

I don't think I have had a moment (yet) where I have regretted having them so close (TBH the thought of having to do the whole baby thing again, but a few years down the line would scare me more). Thats not to say that I don't have several moments of the day when I have to stick my head under a cushion and scream into the sofa! Again, I just keep on holding onto the idea that things will get easier when they get older (of course then I'll be looking back wistfully on these days - or maybe not). My dd1 was referred by our HV to the hospital for being really short, I was totally freaked out because growth hormones, were mentioned, and I kept getting the feeling that there was something I should be doing, but the hospital seemed to think that a bit of a fuss was being made about nothing, and said that HV's do too much worrying about weight + height.I hope this goes for your dd, lulalullaby and that it is not too much to worry about.
Spent practically the whole day walking around the village with the girls dressed as cats, lifted my spirits so much to have all the comments about how lovely they looked, and loved watching dd1 chasing her tail and miaowing, that I'm thinking of doing it every day!

dd is short also, but I am only 5ft3" so it probably runs in the family.

I also hold onto the hope that she will eat if she is hungry, although she gave me back a biscuit at playgroup, very odd, chocolate chip as well.

Anyway off to bed soon as house quiet. Goiong away for a few days tomorrow so prob won't post for a little while.

Wish me luck. We are off to Lanzarote [anxious] tomorrow. No idea what it's going to be like but 4 hours on a plane.......

Hope you have a 'relaxing' holiday.

That is the crazy thing,Lulalullabye, I am only 4'11", and my dh is not exactly the leggy type, so I would assume that both my dd's are going to be shortarses like us. Dd2 is surprisingly long, however - 95th centile last time she was measured, I expect we'll get referred because she is too tall!Have a good time away.

Have any of you started weaning yet. Have just started, and am having an absolute nightmare, trying to work out when to give dd2 the baby rice, as we seem to be out for most of the day at the moment. With dd1 our day would revolve around the time that I gave her a teaspoon of rice for her to dribble down her chin. Although have just spent the entire morning trying to make some pear puree, and am now surrounded by every toy in the house, but have 9 small cubes of pear puree in freezer.I think I need a lie down.

I have just 12 months between my 2 and can totally understand where you're at. They are now 3 and 2 and so much easier. They adore each other and play really well together.

Hang in there - it will get better. I promise.

Oh Sprogger, that hour of yours sounds very familiar! Things are loads better now that DD2 is a few weeks older , and so a bit less random, as for DD1 she just seems to get more and more random!
Hope the weekend isn't too chaotic!

Hi all...

My 2 boys are 18 months apart, so I'd just like to offer a glimmer of hope...

They're 12 and nearly 14 now, and have just been the best pals ever since ds2 was about 2. Yes - they fight sometimes and the first 18 months of DS2's life were SHEER HELL for me - but ever since then it's been great.

Hi all 2 under 2 mums!

I have teo lovely daughters who are 16 months apart. They are nearly 2 and neary 8 months old......

I totally flipped out when I found out i was pregnant as it wasn't planned to have them so close as I just kept think "How the hell am I gonna cope?????"

I found it incrediably hard at first (and still do at times) juggling them both, but now I really pleased I had them so close together as DD1 is so loving and caring to her sister (at the mo anyway!!) and they are both into similar toys.

We are not having more though......

Would be nice to chat to other mums with similar aged gap children.... [email protected]

Sarah x

Lady at work is Grandma to a little boy whose 1st birthday is on Thursday - and mum is overdue for no.2!

Hi there, I have 2 under 2 until Thursday, when ds1 has his 2nd birthday. Love what knakered wrote - gives me hope and makes lots of sense!

Re eating - we always eat with the LOs now at about 6pm. They can just about last till then and it's not too hideously early for us. DS1 seems to eat better as a result, and I think it's something I feel is really important, eating as a family. The other advantage is that you don't have to start cooking again once they've gone to bed, so you really can just sit down and relax. DS2 has been a terrible sleeper so some nights when he was smaller we didn't even get round to dinner, which was all a bit depressing. Most nights ds1 and sometimes ds2 will eat the same as us, or a variation on what we're having, otherwise we try and keep the freezer reasonably well-stocked with stuff for them if we know we're having something they won't manage.

hello everybody, managed to get to a computer and thought I would update you. We seem to have cracked dd2's sleeping at night. Decided on wed night that she would go to bed in her grobag and that if she cried I would not go in to her. Well, she slept from 6.30 till 02.30 and then from 3 till 7.30. It was as if she was just saying that she will still win. Good though.

Having a nice weekend with friends. I have both dd's with me but it is great to have people around me all the time.

Anyway will post when I get home again.