Need child care advice or ideas

As you may know, come november i will have a 20 month old and 2 newborns. DH will be maintaining his schedule of 3 weeks home, 3 weeks off.

So come december, i'll be home alone with the 3 babies for 3 weeks at a time. Though an au pair would probably be the cheapest/easiest plan, i'm not really down with the idea of someone living with us. My parents will be around, but they've got a busy schedule and i don't think i'd be able to hammer them down to a set time of when they will be over.

Any other ideas/suggestions?

Re: Need child care advice or ideas

As a twin mommy, I will be brutally honest... you will need help.

I am a very independent, do-it-yourself-er... I'd rather work myself to the bone/sick and just do things myself because I know they'll get done "right"... well... I had to get over it when DC's came.

You will have THREE babies and TWO hands and be a single mom for three weeks at a clip

You need another set of hands for most of the day... even if it's to play with your 20 month old and keep her occupied while you tend to the babies... and trust my there are moments when both of them will be fussy and want to be held at the same time.

To be honest, the day will be non-stop making bottles, meals for DC and changing diapers and virtually no time for anything else... But also know, after 3 months it gets a bit easier, at 6 months, even easier and by a year (and yes, you will survive!!) you will be able to handle ANYTHING in life with your eyes closed and your hands tied behind your back...lol.

Cooking... seriously, get a crock-pot. In the wee hours of the morning before everyone gets up... you can spend 5-10 minutes throwing the ingredients in... fastest way to make dinner w/o spending a lot on take-out. I have a lot of recipes that I can send you and you can find a lot on-line.

Cleaning... besides the very basic picking up after meals and wiping things down... this area is just going to have to go for a while... there just is not time and whatever time you will have you will have to sleep.

Errands... Peapod, diapers.com. Try to enlist family or friends to run errands for you for a while. I don't know what type of vehicle you have and the one you do have just might not be able to hold three kids in car seats... of course then you have to get three kids in and out of the store along with everything you need... forget it... path of least resistance is delivery.

I completely understand how you don't want a live in... I could never see myself having a nurse or a live in... it would drive me crazy but then again, I have a wonderful MIL who lives two miles away and was here everyday from 10-6 for the first four months... it didn't matter whether I needed her, the babies needed two more arms to hold them so therefore, I did need her. If she wasn't around I would have just had to admit to needing some help and hired someone.

It depends upon what you want help for?

If it's to keep DD busy and take care of her then you could do a mother's helper for most of the day and the girl could be younger.

If you want help taking care of the twins, I think the best caregivers are those experienced with twins. An experienced caregiver understands the importance of the schedule.

You will also just need a mental break from time to time... I know I did... just enough time to get in my car, drive to 7-11 grab a coffee and skim the newspaper and realize California didn't fall into the Pacific Ocean.

Oh, I wish I could help more

Did you read, "Ready or Not, Here We come". It's written by a mom of twins who already had a DD. She has some great advise, practical things I never would have thought of... it's also a very funny read.

Message edited 5/8/2008 12:31:59 PM.

Re: Need child care advice or ideas

wow, after seeing it all in writing i don't know if i should laugh or cry!

Re: Need child care advice or ideas

I was going to suggest a mothers helper too. Maybe you can get a college student who would have a flexible schedule.