HELP - how on earth am I going to cope? Practical tips needed please

[Phew96]

After 8 months of being out of work, DH has got a job starting on Monday. We have a 16 month old DD and a 6.5 week old DS.

DD is very much a 'daddy's girl' and has gotten accustomed to him being here most of the time. She very rarely plays by herself, even for a few minutes and is going through a bit of a difficult phase with lots of clinginess and tantrums. DS is bf and still feeds very often.

I'm beginning to wonder how I'm going to manage the pair of them now that they are used to 2 full time parents. It's the practical things such as DD's bath/bed time that I'm really concerned about, as well as a couple of upcoming hospital appointments for DS.

Does anyone have any tips please? Or just any experiences they can share that might reassure me? Sorry for the lack of detail, typing one handed whilst feeding. Can give more information if needed

do you have any family you can rely on to look after your DD for the appointments? Anyone who can come and spend part of the day with you to help entertain DD?
I sympathise, am in a similar position though mine are thankfully both older.
The weather is getting better - do you have a garden? DS at this age spent hours pouring water about and playing on his little plastic slide while I sat watching & reading. Is there a park nearby?

as for bathtiem - neither need bathing every day, so can you do it when your DH is back? If not can you bath the older one earlier oin the day when the baby's asleep?
Bedtime - well I find that hell when DH isn't around and sometimes when he is! But then I am still bf the older one. I'll let someone with better advice post about that!
Congratulations to your DH btw - must be a relief for you all

SPB thank you for your response. I do have some family that can come round occasionally to help entertain DD as they can bring their kids round too. It's mainly a hospital appointment this week that I'm concerned about as there will be no-one available to help on that day so I'm going to have to get them both there on the bus.

If I get DH to clear the garden a little, we should be able to go out there more. I hadn't even thought of that so thank you. Luckily there is a park only a few doors away so I can see us spending a lot of time there.

Regarding baths, we don't bath DS a lot at the moment so when he does need one, I could always dunk him in DD's then get him dried and dressed in the bathroom while she splashes around a bit more. I really want to keep DDs as much as possible as she was such a ba sleeper until a couple of months ago and it seems to really help