Hi,
I have been a lurker and sometimes poster for a couple of years. I am 38 and pregnant with my 2nd child. I have a 14 month old son. I work full time (but have summers off because I teach). My husband works 2 jobs and is not home much, so I have family that helps out here and there.
Somedays I am wiped out (and that was before I was pregnant...now...forget it!) and I am getting nervous about have a second. There never seems to be enough hours in the day now...that I cannot even imagine what it will be like with 2. How do you "do it all"? and how do you have the energy to do it? My lo is in bed by 8-830 and I am usually not that far behind which means that nothing gets done..lol.
Thanks!
Re: any working moms w/2 lo's
You don't get it all done. Okay, in those first few months, things will not get done. You will, at some point, have both crying at the same time and be unable to soothe them simultaneously. They will not be scarred for life by it. Just laugh. It's going to happen. Then go on. I had it a bit easier as my DD's bedtime was 7 pm, which helped enormously. I still kept my stuff though to the minimum. I tried to do as much in advance as possible. FWIW, when DS was turning 1, both DH and I noticed that things were getting a LOT easier. He could feed himself for the most part. He could entertain himself more often or play with DD. But in that early time, my house was certainly not spotless, the weekends were often laundry marathons and dishes weren't done every day. I figured as long as we were all healthy and happy, that's what mattered. And yes, I sometimes left dishes in favor of going to bed to get sleep. And I would do that again.
So in short, you just do it. You muddle through. And it will slowly get easier.
DD -- 5YO
DS -- 3YO
I remember asking this question when I was pregnant with Jack and faced with being a single parent of 2 children. How am I going to do it all? The short answer is - I don't. Jack may not get a bath every night. I don't cook every night. The laundry only gets done on the weekends. You get the picture. I do have a friend come about every other week and clean the house for me. I use the crock pot a lot. We eat a ton of leftovers. Before I go to bed, I do a once over and pick up random toys and socks all over the house and clean dishes. I make lunches and get clothes ready for the next day. Do as much the night before as possible. It's not easy, but eventually you will fall into a routine.
What you get done, you get done. You have to figure out what's important *(family & sanity), and what's not. Then you set up a schedule. I remember watch John & Kate plus eight before #1 was born, and thinking she was so weird for being so organized. Now I am impressed. 2 kids does take a lot out of you, so make arrangements for help to come over on a regular basis, so you can pick-up the house, cook for the week, what ever it takes.
Good luck, and hope everything goes well! (BTW, I only Bump between 5-6AM. That's the only time I have!!)
DD#1 - January 2008
DD#2 - September 2010