Hellobee Boards

Mostly good. T's sleep/wanting to sleep with us is an ongoing issue. She's a great eater. She's such a happy baby with a lovely disposition. We recently had our concerns about her legs confirmed with X-rays- she has orthopedic issues. We have been referred to Shriners- so that makes my Mama heart sad, I'm anxious to hear about interventions. But she seems to be progressing fine with her physical milestones.

So-so. I've been reading up on Janet Lansbury and I really want to implement a lot of what she teaches, but it's so hard! So I'm being kinda hard on myself that I suck at following through and being firmer (with myself), etc.

Also feeling guilty how much screen-time she gets sometimes b/c I cave

We just moved, and my house is a big old disaster, and painters and workmen and all sorts of people are all over it, stressing me out, and I've completely run out of patience for my 3 year-old. And he can totally tell. It's awful. I'm trying so hard to stay calm and patient with him, but I'm just done. So we've been watching a ton of TV, which makes me feel like an awful parent.

But I'm rocking it with my 6 month-old, who just started sleeping through the night and is so happy and easy. But that's more about him than me.

I go pretty easy on myself about a lot of parenting related things. So I think I'm doing pretty good lately. Maybe my standards are low, haha.

Mainly I miss my girls a lot now that I'm at work. I feel like I don't get any quality time with them because I come home and have to rush to feed the baby and put her for her mini nap; then I have to rush to unpack all the daycare food items and my pump items and clean them; Then I have to rush to start making dinner. The 2 year old is mainly ignored during all this (luckily, she's good at playing independently). And then the baby wakes up and I have to wrangle both through dinner and getting ready for bed. It's so rare that I get to actually PLAY with them now. Such a big departure from my whole maternity leave where I was with the kiddos all day and could give each some individual attention while the other was napping. That's all rough, but I don't blame myself.

@JoJoGirl: @hilsy85: hugs! Been there more times than I can count lately...

Not feeling too good right now. I feel like I'm constantly yelling at the 3 year old to stop doing thiS and that, and she just doesn't listen and I lose my shit. Ugh.

I feel like Im doing pretty good right now but that's all because I have been off work for 3 months but E has still been going to daycare - so I've had unlimited time to get her up and out of the door in the mornings, plenty of time to do housework and errands, lots of time to rest and therefore lots of patience with E in the evenings/weekends. I'm really not sure how I'm going to fare when I go back next week and its back to the old, intolerable routine.

Mostly good, but that's because my almost 4 year old is the most easy going kid in the world, not because of anything special I'm doing. She has been getting into a little "teenager" phase the past couple weeks which is so not like her (talking back, throwing mini tantrums). I'm assuming it's a part of turning 4??

I feel like we're doing okay overall. We got out of an unhealthy childcare situation involving my mother at the end of last year (she was great to DS, but it was horrible for the adults), so DS has had to switch to an in-home daycare provider at the beginning of this year. He's transitioned beautifully despite how awful the transitional playdates went. BUT DS has been sick off and on since Christmas and is getting this canines and biscuspids at he same dang time so there's lots of crankiness, MOTN waking, and illness going around. He's being a totally normal 16 month old so I can't really complain about him, its just all the external stuff that has nothing to do with him that we're trying to control so that our parenting and marriage doesn't suffer, you know what I mean?

I feel like right now anxiety about the next few months is my biggest issue. DS' MOTN wakings are wearing me out, DH and I are both about to enter an extremely busy season at work, we have to assume DS will have to be out of daycare for illness during this time, and I'm due with LO2 in May.

I'm trying to proactively keep myself from losing it from the stress and doing the best I can to prepare for the worst. Right now this means that I'm working 3 days a week while DS is in daycare 5 days a week, which gives me 2 extra days to go into the office to do overtime or stay home with DS if he's sick or to clean/shop/run errands. I spent the holidays finding and lining up a list of sitters who may be able to stay with DS on a sick day and creating a line item in our budget for extra babysitting. I also contracted with a nanny agency for back-up nannies in case my sitters fall through.

I'm trying to get the house organized enough to hire a regular housecleaning service and to schedule larger maintenance things to get done at the house while DS is at daycare. For example, we have a major tree trimming happening this week, I need to get the filthy carpets cleaned before the baby is born, and we have to get our rusting bathroom sinks replaced. I'm meal planning and trying to batch cook and freeze all our meals so that I can pull and thaw things quickly over the next few months and not stress about meals.

Hopefully these preparations will help me and DH to peacefully co-parent and be supportive of each other. I'm just so tired from the pregnancy and DS' night wakings that its hard not to be completely wiped out when DS comes home from daycare. We only get him for a few hours in the evening on the weekdays, so I want to have them be good interactions, but I'm so. dang. tired. that its hard not to stare at the clock until bedtime.

@travelgirl1: bed time is the best time for random thoughts and deep insightful conversations.. at least according to my son haha

This thread is awesome!!!!! Thank you thank you all for being real. I've been feeling so down about struggling at home with my two LOs. I feel like no one wants to hear it in real life but this shit is HARD! I have two kids at home all day. My husband is gone 13 hour days and is exhausted. Someone is always awake in the middle of the night because kids. I am tired. This first year of parenting two kids plus residual pp issues plus a move to a new city with no support has been killer. I hate to say it because it was also the first year of LO2's life but it's honestly been the hardest year of my life so far.

@Applesandbananas: first trimester there was so much tv. But sometimes we would snuggle on the couch while
She watched and that made me feel better at least. And sometimes I fell asleep mid episode and she would wake me up saying Hi mommy!

@Mama Bird: screw them. You're doing a great job!