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[quote=Anonymous]This is manageable!!!

My dear friend and I are both SAHMs with chronic illnesses.  She has big kids and I have little ones.  Lots of tips:

your first priority in your new home is to create a “room of yes.”  Gated/lockable door, no furniture other than their beds (if it’s a bedroom) or a beanbag or similar soft chair (if a playroom).  Keep all the toys in the closet or on a wall-mounted shelf at your eye level.  Cover all outlets and pad all the corners.  This will create a place where everything is safe for them and you can relax and not be on top of them every second.  You can catch your breath and even pee alone! Keep toys in manageable sized bins and get one bin down at a time so the mess is never bigger than one bin worth.

Build your routine so it is Rally-Crash-Repeat.  When I had two toddlers, on a tough day, our routine was:
Wake up and get diapers changed and get dressed in our room of yes
Go straight into high chairs and play with small toys/maybe even watch a short tv show while I make breakfast, snack, lunch and dinner.  I would get it all 100% out of the way at the beginning of the day, e.g., scramble some eggs and make pbj sandwiches, then parcel out some fresh fruits and veg into containers/plates for breakfast/lunch/snack, then put chicken and frozen veggies on a sheet pan with sauce and cover with foil in the fridge.  Could do it all in 30 minute burst of productivity, then sit down and eat breakfast with the kids.

After breakfast, wipe their hands and go straight from high chairs to car/stroller and go outside for a bit.  At that age I would find a small tot lot with a fence or a sandbox or a courtyard where you can bring some sidewalk chalk and a ball.  Low-expectation.  45 minutes outside. Eat snack outside so less to clean at home.

Go straight from outside to the room of yes, give them a bin of toys and collapse on the floor nearby.  They got some energy out and will be ready to relax with toys until lunch.

Your next burst of energy is feed everybody lunch and get them settled for nap-time (or quiet time).  Then you get to collapse again for a bit.

After nap I try to do some kind of activity with them that requires a bit more supervision from me like playdough or fingerpaints or stickers but do it at the high chairs, then into the bath.  After bath they go back in the room of yes and I collapse until dinner.

Another big push to feed everybody dinner and get pjs/teeth brushed/stories read/into bed, then I go to bed myself.  Leave the dishes in the sink for my husband.

That is my “I can just do the bare minimum” day.  They get their needs met but I am never “on” for longer than an hour in a row and I get long stretches to literally lay on the floor if I need to.  If I am having a better day, I take advantage by adding folding laundry or mopping the kitchen or wiping down the bathroom.

As for holidays, just do the basics.  Get a cheap artificial tabletop tree that is 2 feet high and let the kids color some paper ornaments.  Buy them each 2 presents and a favorite snack for their stockings and call it a day.  Tell DH your gift to one another is hiring a local teenager to help unpack and break down boxes for a few Saturdays in a row.

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