Survival guide: Two under Two.
There are ways and means to get by day to day with little ones. I'd like to say that alcohol helps, but realistically, it just causes me a headache and you can put money on the sprogs waking up more than twice each on the night I decide to have a drink.
So with a husband who has to work reeeaaaally long hours this means the childcare and running of the house is a challenge at times, so with this in mind I wanted to put together a survival guide for other Mums of young ones (and as I type this I have a 2.5 year old repeating 'Mummy, MUMMY, MUMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYY' in my ear 17 million times an hour so please bear with me if there are spelling mistakes or typo's or if my general tone seems slightly annoyed!)
Mr O is out of the house by 6am, so I have to be super duper organised in the mornings. Especially the mornings William is at Preschool. Set your alarm to get you up and out of bed at 7am (regardless of the fact that your little one had you up three times in the night and you are flipping knackered). Get a strong coffee on the go and get the littlens up, washed and dressed and teeth brushed. Try not to lose your rag whilst they turn from cute baby to mega strong Octopus who won't get dressed without a tantrum. With beads of sweat on your upper lip and a slightly raised blood pressure from the stress of trying to get them dressed, get their breakfast ready and leave them to it whilst you get yourself sorted (for me this means apply concealer, foundation, and bronzer with a trowel and do something with what used to resemble my hair). I generally bring my make up and clothes into the dining area so I can do my thing whilst keeping a close eye on them in case of choking/spillages/attempts to escape. I find sticking Peppa Pig on repeat helps keep them focused on the task at hand (ie get food in their tums and set them up for the day). Yes that's right, I am one of 'those' mums who rely on the TV to help me get through the day, show me a Mother of two or more who DOESN'T use a device to distract their kids so they can get something done?! God bless Peppa Pig!
Coats and shoes go on asap after brekkie then I stick them both in the double pram in front of the TV whilst I finish what I am doing (which is typically scraping weetbix off the carpet, stepping over toys, and wondering when/if I will ever be able to leave the house in a tidy condition). Then off we walk to Preschool. Once the drop is made I generally head home to clean/iron/wash things and play with little Lily. I'm a wee bit OCD about cleanliness/tidiness and cannot go and enjoy a coffee unless everything is straight at home (I know, how gay is that?).
So with a husband who has to work reeeaaaally long hours this means the childcare and running of the house is a challenge at times, so with this in mind I wanted to put together a survival guide for other Mums of young ones (and as I type this I have a 2.5 year old repeating 'Mummy, MUMMY, MUMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYY' in my ear 17 million times an hour so please bear with me if there are spelling mistakes or typo's or if my general tone seems slightly annoyed!)
Mr O is out of the house by 6am, so I have to be super duper organised in the mornings. Especially the mornings William is at Preschool. Set your alarm to get you up and out of bed at 7am (regardless of the fact that your little one had you up three times in the night and you are flipping knackered). Get a strong coffee on the go and get the littlens up, washed and dressed and teeth brushed. Try not to lose your rag whilst they turn from cute baby to mega strong Octopus who won't get dressed without a tantrum. With beads of sweat on your upper lip and a slightly raised blood pressure from the stress of trying to get them dressed, get their breakfast ready and leave them to it whilst you get yourself sorted (for me this means apply concealer, foundation, and bronzer with a trowel and do something with what used to resemble my hair). I generally bring my make up and clothes into the dining area so I can do my thing whilst keeping a close eye on them in case of choking/spillages/attempts to escape. I find sticking Peppa Pig on repeat helps keep them focused on the task at hand (ie get food in their tums and set them up for the day). Yes that's right, I am one of 'those' mums who rely on the TV to help me get through the day, show me a Mother of two or more who DOESN'T use a device to distract their kids so they can get something done?! God bless Peppa Pig!
Coats and shoes go on asap after brekkie then I stick them both in the double pram in front of the TV whilst I finish what I am doing (which is typically scraping weetbix off the carpet, stepping over toys, and wondering when/if I will ever be able to leave the house in a tidy condition). Then off we walk to Preschool. Once the drop is made I generally head home to clean/iron/wash things and play with little Lily. I'm a wee bit OCD about cleanliness/tidiness and cannot go and enjoy a coffee unless everything is straight at home (I know, how gay is that?).
Other ways of coping is to buy a good sling, or a wrap of some sort.
Quite often I cook dinner with Lily Pops in the wrap on my back, depending on whether she is having a clingy day or whether I am just too tired of playing referee between her and William (it seems William antagonises her to the point of her biting in frustration, yep got myself a biter!) the dinner needs to get done as tummies need filling for the night time - empty tummies mean even more night waking (please god not more night waking). She is 15 months and still loves to be wrapped - heck William is 3 in March and he still loves to be wrapped! There is no end to the benefits of carrying your baby close to you - facing inwards that is. I don't believe carrying your baby facing out (for long lengths of time) benefits anyone - it's uncomfortable, goes against the anatomy of an infants body and isn't a natural carrying position. Lily loves being wrapped or slinged facing me or on my back, and is asleep within moments. I began my baby carrying journey with a high street carrier, The baby bjorn, and swiftly moved on to an Ergo as the bjorn was a bastard to get comfy in, and felt unnatural for both myself and for William. The Ergo made life comfy and a lot easier! Then I went on to stretchy wraps and wovens because its ADDICTIVE! Wrapping her means things get done, and Mr O considers me a superwoman (his words) with awesome wifeskills, which is lovely but to the detriment of my sanity because kids they drive you bonkers!
Some days you just have to get out of the house and let them burn off some energy. Some days as much as you know you should get out of the house - the realism of the fact you are so tired and simply cannot be arsed wins and you can declare it "one of those days" where you spend the entire day chasing your tail, picking up toys and mess and crap, only to turn around and there be more toys and mess and crap, so despite cleaning up all day long your husband will still get home from work and utter the words "oh dear what happened here then?!" As he steps over three or four toys (which has just been frantically reduced from the 1789 toys that had previously been laying there). My advice to you ladies is to basically get out of the house as early as you can, stay out ALL day and make mess where it's somebody else's problem (AKA play dates/soft play areas/coffee shops etc) which as we know is unpractical as; A). It costs a fortune to feed yourself and two small people when you're out B). Being out all day means nothing gets done around the house and C). Sometimes you just need to contain the little people where it's child friendly AKA at home!
In summary, it's physically exhausting and frustrating bringing up little ones when every move you make has to be explained, you can't do a poo in peace and god forbid you should ever expect to
eat a bar of chocolate without having to share it HOWEVER, there are a million moments every day that make it the best job in the world, and I am so grateful to Mr O for working so hard for our little family so I can be the one who stays at home and bears witness to all their funny little ways. William willingly, without coaxing, gave Lily a kiss on the lips before bed tonight (never happens) and I got all soppy. Bless my little people, I am so lucky to have them. And I adore being Mama.
Ps. It's a sign of the times that I actually started drafting this post when I actually had two under two. I literally don't get a monent to blink. Srsly.
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