It definitely gets easier, I found 12-15 months a tricky phase because both of mine seemed to get quite frustrated - they wanted to walk/talk and until they’re steady on their feet it limits how much they can do.
I would definitely look for a job, even if it’s one or two evenings a week in a pub you wouldn’t need childcare then as DH could watch baby and it’s so nice to earn a bit of money and have some adult interaction/go to the loo on your own!
Everyone talks about the terrible 2’s but I definitely preferred 15 months (ish) and up from that in-between mobile baby phase. As they get older you can feed the ducks, colour, do crafts, go to the park, which were the kinds of things I was looking forward to doing when I had children.
What’s the sleep like? I would work hard on getting into a good nap routine, benefits the nighttime sleep and means you get a bit of a break. I would also power through and get out of the house everyday, it breaks up the day and I found they got bored around this age being at home which led to worse behaviour. If you’re nervous about leaving the house I would start with playgroups. You want a village hall or church group type set up rather than a 30 minute baby music class. The village hall type groups are great because they’re usually about 2 hours long, hot drinks for adults and a snack for the little ones. They all sit and play with toys maybe do a bit of singing or playdough/crafts and the mums sit and watch and drink coffee! They’re usually very cheap too. They were great because all I had to do was get them there and then they were contained and could crawl/walk around without having to be in the pram.
Walk to the park/to feed the ducks (baby will probably enjoy watching this now). Library bounce and rhyme type groups are free and you can sit and read books together. NCT walk and talk groups again free I believe and a good way to build a bit of a mum network. Swimming - don’t have to do formal baby swim lessons at this age, find out which leisure centre pool is warmest and take baby for a swim. It’s a bit of a faff but I found it worth it because they always had an amazing nap afterwards!
Soft play or a role play cafe/village - again they are contained and there’s a chance you can drink your coffee for a bit.
With my first she would nap happily in her pram out and about so we spent all day out quite often. My second isn’t like that so our routine was to go out in the morning to a group or similar. Come home, have lunch, she would be worn out from the morning so have a good nap for a couple of hours. Wake around 2:30 and then would play happily because the toys were all “fresh” and exciting because we’d been out. A little snack, then try and head outside for a little play in the garden (toys on a picnic blanket, crawl/toddler around the grass with a ball) or a little walk to the park. I tried to make dinner early in the day and reheat/slow cooker/finish because I found mine were grouchy and miserable at about 5pm and it was stressful trying to do all the cooking then. Have dinner, bath time, start books at about 6:40, in bed for 7. Then I had the evening to myself.
Baby is probably still on 2 naps in which case I would head straight out after first nap or they’d have a car nap and I’d go through a drive through for a coffee for myself then sit in the car park for the group before it started and read a book with my coffee while they finished sleeping/till group started. Second nap will be later in the afternoon so that gives you more time without having to rush home but similar principles to the routine above.
Work wise - if you do want to go back to work I am part time and love it. Nursery waiting lists can be insanely long so I would do some research and find out if any of the local school nurseries take from 2. If they do put their name on the list now. I would also research private nurseries and get their name down /find out how long the waiting list is, you can always ask to delay it for a few months if they are offered a place but it gives you a potential return to work date to look ahead to and will allow you to plan when you could work and what hours etc.
I do think the personality of the child makes a big difference, some children aren’t keen on being babies in my experience! Mine were much happier when they could do more and so was I. My youngest is 2.5 now and I am really enjoying it now that we’re in a good routine and she can do more.