Am I Crazy?

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

My beautiful DD is 10mths old this week and #2 is on the way.
#2 wasn't part of the plan but we are over the 2hrs crying when i first found out and are quite excited at the prospect.
My little ones will be roughly 15mths apart (if all goes to plan) and i was wondering if anyone else has kids this close and if they have any advice for me on the following:

1. Making sure my DD Ava doesn't feel left out:
She's a little too young to understand whats going on and is pretty good with kids @ MG etc but i'm not sure how she would be with me and a bubs all the time.

2. Is it as horrible as they say:
Some people i know have 2 kids under say 5, they said it was the hardest 2 yrs of their life.
Their kids still don't sleep well over night like my precious DD who is 10mths and sleeping 12hrs and their 2nd child grunts at people instead of talking.
I believe it's all about routine and being calm, will that work for me?

I try to have a positive attitude going into this, we are also looking at building a house at the moment so plenty of big decisions but i don't want to start out thinking it's the doom and gloom of my life havnig 2 so close together... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me it isn't so!

[Arimeh]

Miss M and #3 will be around 15/16 months apart - and DS and Miss M are just under 19 months apart.

The first 6 months was the hardest. Now that DS is 2.5 though, he understands a lot more and is happy to let me settle Miss M to sleep (which was always our biggest struggle to do that without him screaming the house down!!)

I'm not expecting having 3 under 3 to be a walk in the park - its going to be difficult. But DS and Miss M are extremely close and love playing together and I love watching them. I don't think Miss M will have delayed speech issues because she is always trying to copy what DS says. Or I ask him to teach her words, so she repeats them back to him - so there is another "person" (as such) teaching her words.

As for sleeping - well both of them don't sleep through at the moment, so whats one more

[BekZ]

Firstly congratulations.

My first 2 were 25 months apart and I had very similar concerns. My main concern was how DD1 was going to cope with another little person in the house. Unfortunately she didn't cope very well for the first few months. She was quite naughty and rejected me big time (prefered her Dad and still does). However she got over it and my girls play wonderfully together now (19 months down the track). A new baby didn't change my DD's great sleeping habits at all and she is exceptional with her speech (speaks 2 languages). Currently we have a 4 week old and life is very up and down for all of us but we'll get through it.

Things that I found that helped:

Dont try and do too much in a day.
Always spend time with your toddler when bub is asleep
Give bub to your partner and do bath or bed time with your toddler
Engage your partners help (they need to help a bit more initially)
If you have rules don't let them go by the way side
When you are tending to bub engage your toddlers help or talk to them whilst you are changing a nappy or feeding.
Take 10 mins every couple of hours for yourself
Always explain to your toddler why you can't help them at that moment if you are busy with the baby. They understand more than we think
Have quiet/sleep time at the same time most days. But don't expect all your child to go to sleep at the same time, you'll just get upset

Don't take rejection personally they soon come back to you

Eventually you'll get into a groove as family unit and all will be sweet. Goodluck

[Jellyfish]

Me and my brother are 15 months apart

My Mum said the first year was hard but once we could play together, things got easier because we could entertain each other. She said she used to fence off a safe area when my brother (the baby) was asleep and sleep on the floor with me (the toddler) crawling and walking all over and around her.

Congratulations. I have always loved the closeness in age between me and my brother so hopefully it works out well for your family too

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Thanks, it's great to know plenty of people survive
I know it's not going to be easy but just want to sort out some ways to make it better on myself.
BekZ thanks for the list of ideas, will see how they go... i'm sure once it all happens you can see how i'm coping.

[mbear]

I have 4 children....5 and under.

My rules are;
Go with what works.
Dont leave the house unless you have too
Buy two of everything (so you dont have to pop out for milk, bread etc).
Stay on top of your washing....i do 3 loads of washing every day
When babies in bed...do something for YOU - even if its for 1 hour of a night...
Buy a slowcooker
Get as many cuddles as you can throughout the day
Learn to love coffee...
If someone needs you, drop what your doing. Housework, phone calls, paying bills, belly belly....can all wait till the evening....
Enjoy it - they arent little for that long.....and then you will enter yet another parenting learning curve....