HOW TO HANDLE THE HOUSEHOLD

With a new and needy baby in the house, how can you manage?  Especially if you have another older but just as needy toddler to
attend to?

In short, plan your day. In fact, plan your week!  Try to find a routine that suits you. After a while, you'd get the hang of it!  Also by
trying to simplify everything, and not doing a lot of things.  ;-)  The housework can wait.  If you can afford it, having part-time
househelp would be great in keeping the house/clothes tidy & clean.  If you are breastfeeding your child, you are already saving on
the costs of buying formula. Some of these "savings" can go to hiring some help to keep your sanity.

BATHING TIPS
When I bathe my kids by myself, I either use the sink for the baby or our long bathtub.  I don't bother taking out the baby bathtub
because I'd have to keep it!  The bathing things (only bath lotion & a washcloth) are just kept at the side of the sink/tub & the
washcloth hung near my bathroom window to dry.  Water is just drained out of the sink/tub.  Nothing else to clear up.

FLOOR TIME
Since our Timmy was a rather "sticky koala baby", I tend to do everything with him.  Nursing him or holding him while I eat, tend to
the older kids, read, at the computer, etc.  I do almost all my stuff on the floor (including eating), so that I can be near him when he's contently playing on the  floor.

OLDER SIBLINGS
Having the newborn baby in a sling is useful for attending to the older siblings.  You can also be walking around the house nursing
the baby while reading or playing with your older child.  If your older child fusses or demands attention everytime you need to nurse
your new baby, you can try keeping some activities such as a box of "goodies" or a few special books or videos that are not for
playing with except specially for the time when baby is breastfeeding.
 

FOOD MATTERS
We will usually have either porridge, or macaroni for lunch - crockpot food.  Or even "claypot" rice or pineapple rice cooked in the
rice cooker (rice with lots of stuff in it? almost like fried rice, but slightly easier).

When we had only Sarah, our first child,  and it was not crucial for lunch(or even dinner) to be cooked - since Sarah was not going to
share my food anyway, I would  just bring her out to shop or run some errands.  While out, she'd tend to fall asleep.  I then take
advantage of her sleeping time to eat outside before returning home.

Dinner.  If you have no older children in the house, eating out could be an option with husband and baby.  Or having food bought
home to eat. Perhaps you can even arrange to have "tingkat" dinner meals delivered to your house.

I used to cook dinner either the night before or in the mornings so that it can heated up in the evenings.  Stuff like stews, curries,
rendang, etc.  Meatloaf & salad is also easy to do ahead of time. I throw stuff in the crockpot & then we have a pot full of nice hot
soup too!  OR  cook a whole lot and freeze them in small portions.  When you want to eat, just defrost & heat up with microwave.
Stuff like curries or stew or spaghetti sauce are great with this method.

If you don't mind bread, you can also make sandwiches for lunch to go with soup.  My easiest sandwich is to "boil" an egg in the
microwave (50seconds to 1 min - use one of those microwave egg cookers - 5 for S$1.99 at 1.99 shops!). Mash egg up with
margarine or mayonnaise for the sandwich.  You can add cucumbers as vegetables.  Sometimes I add some bacon chips.  So
easy!  Ready in 3mins!

Hope my experience helps!