u/AnxietyInternal4302

Hi everyone! Lately, I’ve been finding myself getting easily irritated by my 2 girls (3.5 and 1.5). My 3.5 year old is just that, 3.5, but my 1.5 year old is having a hard time sleeping at night and wakes early. Because of this, I get sooooo annoyed. I’ve come to realize it’s because I have very little uninterrupted time to myself. My 3.5 year old does quiet time for 1 hour everyday while my 1.5 year old naps for 1.5-2 hours so I have that. But even then, my 3.5 year old calls me into her room a few times to get her something or ask when quiet time is over (yes, we have a light that turns on when it’s over so she knows that).

I guess I’m asking for advice on how to deal with such a lack of uninterrupted time for yourself? I really value this time and I usually get it at bedtime but lately our 1.5 year old hasn’t been going down easily. My husband is so supportive but he works full time and has side hustles that sometimes cause him to work later into the night. He is around in the evenings and is 100% available to help, we switch who does bedtime with which kid every night, etc.

I know this is just a season of life, so I really am looking just for input on how to cope with it in the moment when I’m losing that time for myself if that makes sense?

Hello! I come from a somewhat small family, so I have always wanted a bigger family of my own. I’ve always wanted to raise kids close in age since all of my siblings are much, much older than I am.

With that being said, I have 2 little ones, 23 months apart. One is 20 months the other is 3 years old. We decided this time around we wanted a bigger age gap because 1-2 was MUCH harder for me than 0-1 was.

Every few months my 20 month old goes thru sleep regressions that last days to weeks. I am such a baby with little sleep - I’m cranky, sad, and get headaches. For some reason, this is so much harder to me than newborn lack of sleep or even infant lack of sleep. And when this time comes around, I’m always questioning if we actually want one more or if I’m living in some fantasy world where it would work.

My husband is SO supportive and is okay with just our 2, but also is okay with more and would actually prefer more. I have ALWAYS wanted 4, so when I’m clear headed I’m like omg I definitely want at least one, if not 2, more kids.

Anyways, I’m just looking for stories on how you decided to go for more, if you look back and see why you might have stopped at just 2, if you’ve been in my shoes, or if you just have general advice on how to cope with little sleep 😅 this post is kind of all over the place in terms of what I’m looking for advice but again, working on very little sleep.

Also, I’m a SAHM and my husband is extremely supportive - splits the parenting load when he’s off from work, works from home 3 days a week, splits cleaning duties, gives me time away (and actually encourages this) to let me be by myself. Just an amazing husband and father.