Did you have children around 21 months+ apart?

[cockle]

For lots of reasons, we want to start trying for Number 2 soon - DS will be about 1 year old when we start so the age gap could be as little as 21 months, if we succeed.

However I'm finding it hard to imagine handling a newborn with a toddler in the house. First time round it was hellish trying to manage the newborn only! How on EARTH do you manage feeding, routines, sleep, transport, ..... ??? (I'm a SAHM and not planning to use a nursery till DS is about 3.)

Please give me the lowdown on the pros and cons, for the early days and beyond.

20 month gap here! Absolutely crazy at first and very exhausting but as long as you don't expect to do everything then you'll cope (by everything I mean cook dinner every night, housework, etc) It does calm down! My youngest is 14m now and when the two of them play together it makes feel all warm and cozy inside!

Aww!

I have a 21 month gap - dd is 2.4 and ds is now just turned 7 months. No I don't regret it, but others have mentioned hard work at the beginning - what that means for me is that I don't get 'chores done' until they are both in bed at night and its typical for me to finish essential tidying (not discretionary stuff but essentials like keeping on top of the laundry, unstacking dishwasher etc) at around 22.00...and that's despite having a cleaner for 6 hours per week. I don't get a darned thing done during the day because one or other of them is making demands upon me. Then again, dh is never around to help so maybe that makes a difference.

Not meaning to be discouraging - would reiterate that I am glad that I have gone for this age gap for the reasons others have mentioned, but just thought you should know what real drudgery it is at the beginning. Forewarned is forearmed.