I just need to have a whinge - newborn visitors
I just had a baby 2 weeks ago (and also have a 3 year old)
I'm not close with my dad's side of the family but they all visited today (8 people in total)
We have a fairly small house and not a lot of couch space/seats. I ended up standing or on an old hard dining chair most of the afternoon. My dad offered me a space on the couch once but I kept having to get up so it didn't matter because...
1. I preperared lunch for everyone. Sandwiches, cut up fruit for all the kids (there was two other kids 6+3yo, plus my 3yo) and sorted juice, biscuits etc. My husband was on teas and coffees in case you were wondering why he wasn't helping me, he was!
I served lunch up and then I was hovering about because my chair kept getting taken.
I held my newborn baby for maybe 10 minutes the whole time. Everyone was passing her around and eventually she got fed by someone else and fell asleep. She absolutely stinks of perfume now. Why would you soak yourself in perfume when you're going to visit a baby???
The 6yo was a nightmare and for some reason I was the one watching him, his parent didn't even pay attention to him at all.
He went outside into our garden because I had the back door open as I was too hot. He then started climbing all over our garden furniture, like jumping on it and I could see his weight bending the wicker. I kept telling him to come off the furniture but he would just jump off for 2 minutes then go back on. He then kept going round the side of our garage where its quite wild with trees and overgrown bushes. I told him again to come out of there, he came out with a massive 4ft stick and started waving it around and using it as a sword. At this point my 3yo was outside with us and he nearly hit him several times. I told him to give me the stick and he wouldn't. I felt like I was just waiting for him to hurt himself or someone else or break something. He was just running riot and nobody was watching him but me. He ended up bringing loads of my sons toy vehicles outside and throwing them across the garden. He then picked up a football and deliberately threw it over the fence into the neighbours garden. I was losing the will to live and told him he had to come inside. Later on I noticed him standing at the table taking bites out of all the pieces of fruit and spitting it out onto the dining table. There was just a pile of chewed up grapes and strawberries etc.
I'm sure kids will be kids and maybe I'm just not experienced with what 6 year olds are like yet but his parents would not watch him at all and it was making me so anxious.
The other 3yo was great but she kept picking up my baby's dummy and trying to put it in baby's mouth, which was sweet of course, but she kept touching the dummy on the sucker part and then shoving it in baby mouth when she was really content and not wanting it at all. I had to say oh I think baby is just sleeping she doesn't need her dummy just now.
I feel like I didn't sit down the entire time or cuddle my baby the whole time either and I'm so overwhelmed and overstimulated now..
Maybe I'm being too sensitive and whinging too much but I thought when visitors came to visit a newborn that the mum wasn't meant to be running about parenting their kids and making food etc... 😭