u/Kathwino

Things like sending returns! Finding appropriate packaging, can't find a bag/box the right size, realising you have no tape, packing it securely, printing a label or buying postage, actually remembering to take the thing to the place at the right time within the window of opportunity URGH it's like my worst nightmare of a task. Too many steps to complete, outside of my usual routine

And if so, did it get better?

Our firstborn slept great straight out the womb. She would go down drowsy but awake and just, go to sleep.

Sometime between 2 and 2.5, she started fighting naps and bedtime more and more. At first we blamed it on developmental leaps, teething, growth spurts, etc etc. But she's about to turn 3 and it's no better now than it was 6 months ago really.

I do think she needs a nap still, because if she doesn't she's an overtired grumpy mess by 5pm. Although we cap it at an hour, otherwise she won't go to bed until gone 9pm. But getting her to have said nap is like a hostage negotiation.

She does still nap at nursery absolutely no problem, I guess either it's the peer pressure or maybe they're just wizards, idk.

Anyway bedtime is like a 2 hour long rigmarole and I won't bore you all with the things we've tried, but we've tried a LOT. Once she's asleep she'll have a good stretch and then usually ends up getting into our bed, but I can live with that part, I just wish I weren't spending so much of my waking life and mental energy trying to get her to nap or go to bed.

If anyone had a previously good sleeper turn into a shit one, did you do something to improve the situation or did they just grow out of it? Or do I just have to accept that this is my life now and be glad it's not any worse lol

I will say actually now the days are getting shorter again at least she isn't waking with the sunrise at 4am. We get a solid lay in until 6am.

And I'm not even talking about doing the laundry (although that is a struggle). And tbf we've graduated now but I feel like it still fits the sub.

I mean the mental load of keeping up with what clothes fit them, what hand-me-downs we need to save for the youngest, remembering to get them out at the right season, taking outgrown stuff to the donation bin, who's stuff is who's! Probably more of a problem for parents with same gender siblings.

We're at the stage now where my youngest is rapidly catching up to my oldest in size. She's mainly in 12-18 months, and my oldest is just going into 3-4, but I've started having to check the tags to figure out what belongs to which child. But we've reached the point where something that's 18-24 months could realistically fit either, and I've given up trying to separate things for the most part lol

I feel like I have clothes coming out my arsehole!

From September it's time for us to apply for a school place for our daughter, so I've been weighing up options.

School A: 5 mins walk from our house currently, school itself sounds fine, but we live on... not the best estate, and we hope to move within the next few years

School B: Best option in terms of attainment, 7-10 min drive. Apparently frequently oversubscribed though

School C: 15-20 min drive, but if we chose this school we have a grandparent local to it who has agreed to provide wraparound care.

All 3 have a "good" Ofsted report. What would be your top choice if these were your options?

Does anyone else feel like they have to really graft at taking care of themselves. Like I really have to force myself to get out of bed, see to the kids, take my meds, remember to eat and drink, get an early night, show up for work, tidy the house.

And ultimately doing all these things makes me feel better and a more fulfilled person, but the whole time until my meds kick in its like I'm fighting against the ADHD that's kicking and screaming, telling me to go back to sleep, fuck it all off, quit my job, go on a bender. I will literally get ready for the day in tears some days but then once I've woken up properly, I feel great lmao. I feel like I'm always resisting the ADHD urge to ruin my life and chase dopamine.

While I was making a brew this morning I had the thought, I can understand why people used to think they had actual demons inside them. It definitely feels like that some days.

My kids are about 18 months apart and my oldest will start school in September 2027. I know we have a while to think about it but with childcare wait lists being so outrageous recently I wanted to get ahead of it.

Both my kids attend a private nursery at the moment with its own preschool, where my oldest will stay until she goes to school. At that point I'm debating what to do with my youngest. I thought we could apply for a place in the school nursery where my oldest is going, so that we're not doing 2 separate drop offs a day. But even then it will leave us needing wraparound care for my oldest, as we work 9-5.

My next idea is that we could put the youngest with a childminder, and have the childminder do the wraparound care for my oldest as well, drop off and pickup. But I don't have any experience with childminders, is that something they typically will offer?

Open to other ideas and suggestions really from more experienced grown ups!

2 year old has been getting up around 5am for the past few days and won't go back to sleep no matter what we do. This morning it was 4! She's always been an early riser but I've got to draw the line, I need my beauty sleep.

We have blackout curtains but the light creeps around the edges. Do those temporary paper blackout blinds help?