Couple struggling with being parents - is this normal?

[LCE85]

Hi, we have a just over 2 year old and just over a 6 month old so as you can imagine it is full on beyond what we ever imagined.
For some reason, the last 2’ish weeks have been a hell of a lot harder than usual (not sure why) but it’s just completely and utterly full on and it’s really starting to effect mine and my husband relationship.

Our daughter (the 2 year old) is very, very lively and has definitely hit the terrible 2’s, all normal toddler behaviour I’m sure but it’s incredibly difficult.

Then we have our son, who is just over 6 months old, thankfully he is pretty easy although wakes up to 4 times in the night which is really hard as we’re both in our 40’s
so need sleep a lot more these days!

it’s just all getting too much lately, and neither of us are enjoying life really at all, we dislike it more than we like it, it’s causing quite a lot of friction between us which is really sad as we used to have a great, solid relationship.

Neither of us have ever been maternal which I know contributes to how we feel sometimes, I just wish we were able to take daily difficulties with our children in our stride rather than get so stressed…

Not sure what I’m after but can anyone else relate in anyway??

Yep.

i had twins and it was bloody hard work.

i’d recommend trying to get some time for yourself if you can - beg family, put kids into childminders for extra day etc.

it will get easier… in about 3years time… when they can play together and you’re through the toddler years. Do you have any help? Even just getting out for a drink or dinner for a few hours might help you reconnect a bit. It’s tough those early years.

6 months old is such a weird age because they’re now old enough to want to be entertained but not remotely entertaining themselves 😂 the thing with babies though is that they change so much in a short space of time. My two are now 2.5 and 11 months and it’s such a wonderful contrast compared to six months ago. Today for example they played together in the paddling pool all morning, we all sat outside and had a bbq together and then came in and stuck Balamory on, my partner and I sat on the floor with them and played with them whilst they largely played with each other. We would never have been able to have a day like that when my little one was 6 months. At this age now they both find the same things funny, both enjoy similar toys and I can honestly say that most days with them both are wonderful, I certainly didn’t feel like that six months ago though.

In addition, my youngest now pretty much sleeps all the way through the night, and she was a newborn who fed every 90 minutes allllll bloody day and night! The sleep deprivation nearly killed us. My point is, it gets easier and better!