Mummascribbles – I survived my first day alone with two children! – Mummascribbles

Yep, you read it correctly. After having the other half at home with me since Oscar was born on the 15th September, today he returned to work and it was time for me to parent two children alone. I am not going to lie, I have have been a little bit nervous about the prospect of being home alone with a 4 year old and a newborn. 

What would I do with Zach while Oscar needed feeding?

How would I be able to keep two children happy when their needs are so very different?

How would I do anything in the house other than look after them?

How would we even manage to get out of the house?

How on earth would I manage to cook Zach’s dinner?! 

All of these questions have been whirling around my head and probably made me over think absolutely everything! 

So when this morning came around, I knew I had to be on the ball. If I was still in my dressing gown come lunchtime, I think I would have felt like a failure. This Monday morning, it was important for me to be up and ready for anything! 

We all got up at about 7am, the other half still home at this point and getting in the shower. I made Zach his breakfast and fed Oscar and then the other half went to work. At this point, because Oscar had been fed, I knew I had time to have a shower so I took Oscar into the bathroom with me and Zach was in the front room watching the Cbeebies Prom which he is currently obsessed with. Oscar did scream for a couple of minutes but he soon calmed down and fell asleep enabling me to do everything I needed to do in the bathroom. I then took him into the front room on his Poddle Pod and nipped upstairs to get my make up, returning to apply it in the front room so I could keep an eye on my boys. I then had some breakfast while my hair dried a bit and then nipped upstairs to dry it properly. 

After that, it was mission children. Oscar had already been changed but it’s always a battle to get Zach to brush his teeth and get dressed. Today though, he was a gem and did it all relatively easily. I then put some washing on, unloaded the dishwasher and by this point, Oscar was ready for another feed. I then decided that it was time to go down to the shops. A little trickier here to be honest, I managed to get Zach in his hoodie and trainers, and Oscar in his hoodie, but needed to go to the car to get the pram out of the boot. Oscar was not happy about being put down and was screaming his head off. I managed to get the pram up and popped him in and he instantly settled with me just pushing him back and forth. I wrote a quick list and then we left the house. 11am and all three of us were out…woohoo! 

Another thing I have been worried about is being out with both of them. Zach has a tendency to just run at speed and I can’t keep up with him, especially with the pram. He was a wonder child today though (I’d had a word with him!) and he held my hand and walked alongside me the whole time. He couldn’t have made it any easier for me bless him! 

Once we were home, Oscar was still asleep (he loves sleeping) and I managed to unload the shopping, hang the washing out, make and eat lunch and discover Zach fast asleep on the sofa. There was a switchover and Oscar woke for a feed so I had a bit of one on one time with him which was nice! Zach slept for 2 hours, something he never does anymore (and the reason the other half is still upstairs trying to get him to sleep!), but he seemed to really need it. So I sat snuggling Oscar whilst watching The Holiday! 

Once Zach was awake, we popped into the garden to play some football which lasted about 60 seconds because then he needed the toilet and then he didn’t want to go back outside! I fed Oscar and told Zach I’d do his dinner whilst Oscar had a full belly (it’s all about the timing!). I popped Oscar on his playmat and the little legend that he is remained there, not only while I was cooking but also whilst Zach ate and right up until the other half got home from work! 

And that was it – our first day at home, the three of us and we survived. We didn’t do anything uberly exciting but we were all happy people when the other half came home. I know that it isn’t always going to be that easy, there are going to be days when I am tearing my hair out but it felt so important that today needed to be a success. It helps that my second child just loves sleep! He is amazing, completely different to how his brother was as a baby which is probably why I was so worried – I mean he actually lets me put him down for starters!