Worried about life with 2?

[hullywully]

I had my daughter 11 months ago and now I'm pregnant again. I'm so worried about looking after two under 2's. People keep saying how challenging it will be. Does anyone have any good ideas about coping with 2 under 2? Or does anyone want to make men feel better and just lie and say how easy it's going to be. Thanks

I'm due in July and will have a 20
month gap, and I'm pretty terrified. DD is fab and not too hard work as toddlers go, but I'm worried she's going to feel pushed out. She also still wakes up twice a night!
We have my parents nearby but both work full time so can't be much practical help in the week, IL's live abroad, DH works really long hours with a long commute, we can't afford a nursery and none of the pre schools here take children until they're 2. I'm planning on getting out as much as possible to toddler groups etc and sticking as much as we can to our existing routine.
Congratulations by the way! I remember feeling completely daunted when I found out but it has subsided a little as DD has got older. There's a big difference between an 11 month old and a 20 month old.

Vouchers are based on tax bracket. Basically they allow you to buy childcare up to a certain value, from your pre-tax salary. It's like offsetting a certain amount of childcare against tax. So they're income based in that you have to be paying income tax to make them worthwhile (ie earning more than 10.6k) and also normal rate taxpayers can claim more than higher rate. But you can't claim any more on 20k than you can on 30k, iyswim.

Also, remember the tax credits limits increase when you have 2 DC. We're middle income too, and weren't eligible for childcare tax credits before DC2. But now we have two and our income is lower due to 9 months SMP and 3 months nothing, we qualify (it helps that most of SMP isn't counted as income for tax credits purposes either). However you can only get tax credits on the amount you're actually spending after the vouchers. So if eg your childcare is £100 a week and you pay £70 a week for it by using the vouchers, any tax credits would only be calculated as a percentage of the £70, not the £100.

Lady that's incredible helpful. I have already emailed HR at my place of work so see if I can enrol now. I loved to take full advantage of this. I'm not planning on sending her until Easter next year when she'll be nearly two. Do I still enrol now? Can I just save up my child care vouchers? X

You want to enrol asap because apparently the scheme is ending in August. It will be replaced with a new one, but the new scheme won't be as helpful for people who just have small childcare costs which it sounds like you would. Also you'll want to make sure you can keep getting them even when you're on maternity leave- they can't deduct from your SMP so you'd get them on top without sacrificing any salary. I'm not entirely sure how that works (DH gets the vouchers, not me) but it comes up a lot in the employment forum. Yes you can stockpile.

I should've said if you're in the scheme by August, you can stay in, but it's closing to new entrants. Hence the need to do it quick.

Hi I have a 3 yr old and a 2 yr old and I am pregnant with DC3.....its tough, its non stop all day

but when they are asleep, they are happy and content...then it does seem worth it. I let my DS2 stay over my in laws for the weekend as my DS1 was unwell and I am having pains what not....and I missed him soooo much. I kept calling my MIL to ask how he was.

Kids are like that..cant live with them and cant live without

Just to add that I would second the advice to get a double buggy. I found that DS1 was too little to stand up for long periods especially in the cold and rain (and it was often much easier to load them both in the buggy and walk to places rather than get everyone into the car, put the buggy in the boot, out everybody out again, then safely into the shop/playgroup, etc).
Good pushchairs like out n' about or Phil and Teds hold their value quite well so if you can find a decent second hand one you'll get a good chunk of your money back when you sell it on.