First Trimester Fatigue, with Toddlers...

Any chance you can hire a Mother's helper? Kind of like a babysitter, but you don't go out. You could take a nap while she's there, and that would really help you make it through the day.

Try making fruit and protein smoothies.

One thing I've been doing lately is cooking in big batches...

I like to get a lot of boneless chicken breasts and cook them up and freeze for later.

I usually cut them in half (they tend to be BIG and we don't need to eat 1/2 lb of meat each at a meal), and go ahead and cook using some of my favorite recipes. I then freeze them in a container and can take out just the amount we need for a meal.

At that point, I just add veggies, and the meal is done!

In the past, I would make a recipe of meat loaf that made two loaves.... eat one that meal, and freeze the other for a later quick meal.

Spaghetti sauce is a great one for making in big batches, and then dividing up into meal size amounts and freezing.....

If you can get your hubby to help, you can do some of the cooking and freezing on the weekend, and have those meals during the week.

What about using the crock pot for your evening meals? I don't know your morning routine, but maybe you can get that prepped in the morning before the kids get up.

I second the crock pot idea...that can be a godsend when you are so exhausted. Also, most all casseroles freeze well. So, if you are actually making a casserole, it is about as easy to make it in triplicate and freeze the other two for future meals. Breakfast for dinner is an easy one too. You can make waffles in your waffle maker (use pre-packaged mix) and add scrambled eggs and bacon/sausage to go with it.

You need to nap every day. I found with my third pregnancy, with a 2 and 4 year old, that an afternoon nap gave me the second wind I needed to make if to bedtime. I let my kids watch videos. Allow yourself this luxury, it will make your life s much easier

As to food, I too don't do processed, so I started cooking more on the weekend when hubby was home. I also brought out my slow cooker....carnitas, pot roasts, etc. sandwich night with homemade fries.

Also, start leaning about freezer cooking. I make up enchiladas, burgers, meatballs, chicken pot pies, etc. this will be a vital to your survival after baby comes. So start learning how to use a crock pot and freezer, and then fill the freezer with food during the second trimester energy burst. I really don't know what I'd do without my freezer meals now that I have a baby in the house.

I also make my own mixes. So I have pancake, waffle, muffin mixes in the pantry. I make them in bulk, and then I can skip the dry ingredient step. It's a nice time saver.

Congrats!!!!!,

My sister does a thing where she preps her crock pot on summer mornings, and then plugs it in *outside* for the afternoon so she doesn't heat up the house.

You can prep fresh fruits and veggies and put them in containers. Create a 'snack box' for each of them to eat from throughout the day: a yogurt, string cheese, apple slices, cut-up strawberries, a half-sandwich or some whole-grain crackers with a dollop of nut butter or another protein, or some carrot sticks to dip in it too. Almonds or another nut, a little box of raisins... the idea here is to go for variety and foods that 'hold up' throughout the day in the fridge. When I was a nanny, I made one snack box per kid per day in some households and they had to finish what was in the box before we started looking for other snacks that day. It also helped us to see what they were eating (usually more the yogurt, fruit and crackers) and what we might serve in that witching time between 4-6 when we are trying to get food on the table and they are hungry. "Go get your snack box then" was a common request.

The other thing you might consider is hiring a couple mother's helpers (only schedule one of them at a time, or they might end up talking to each other and not playing with the little ones) to keep the girls busy. A 10-12 year old who likes little kids and wants to play house or dress up with them, or play in the sprinkler in the backyard could be an awesome distraction for your kids. You wouldn't leave them unsupervised and it would cost less than a sitter. Good luck and get some rest. I remember that exhausted time so well!

I make about 15 crock pot meals and freeze them. I have a chest freezer so I'm not sure if you have the room, but even a few in advance would be nice. I just take my raw chicken, or beef veggies and seasonings in a big freezer bag. Then on days I make them i pop them in my crock pot add liquid and go. I also make spaghetti sauce in advance. Easy snacks I portion out fruits and veggies in snack bags. Also I have yogerts and cheeses available. Oh and there's nothing wrong with boxed snacks! You need your rest and congrats on the baby

If you don't already have one, invest in a good food processor to help with chopping as well as pureeing or making a quick salsa. You should also have a stick immersion blender... one of those hand held stick blenders that you can hold in a pot of soup and puree the soup with or stick into a tall glass and make individual smoothies with.

You can make hot or cold summer-veggie soups with multi-grain pastas. They're usually as easy to make as chopping the veggies, sauteeing them, and then bringing water to boil and adding some pasta or a grain long enough to cook it through.

Pre-cook pasta and freeze it in the portions you would use later in the week. Then all you have to do is heat it up and add it to whatever recipe you're using, or add seasonings and veggies and a light sauce.

Pre-cook chicken breast too. Steep it. Take several boneless skinless chicken breasts. Bring a large pot of water to boil that's salted. Once it's at a rolling boil, drop in the cleaned chicken breasts. Put the lid on the pot and turn off the stove. Let the chicken sit and steep for 25-30 minutes. You can even put the chicken in if it's frozen. It WILL cook thoroughly. Portion it out into freezer bags for later in the week. You can cut it up now or later. If you wait to cut it up, you can slather it with BBQ sauce later and then just heat it up on the grill and get some nice grill marks on it and let your husband or guests think you slaved over the grill. While the chicken does that, you can grill squash and zucchini in foil at the same time.

With chicken chunks, make chef salad. Put it into stir fry. Make chicken tacos with a kit.

Make vegetarian fajitas. They're quick and easy. Serve them with rice and black beans with saffron seasoning.

Once or twice a week, let the children "choose" supper and "make" it. You direct, they make. If it means peanut butter and jelly, great. It if means cereal, even better. Show them how to make fruit salad and tuna on crackers. Show them how to put celery or diced green peppers into tuna.

Make breakfast for supper. Every child I know loves that.

In that food processor, put in berries and bananas with yogurt and puree, then put into popsicles and freeze. Healthy snack right there.

Use your crock pot as often as you can (if you don't have one, get one asap!)
Keep lots of easy, healthy snacks on hand for the kids and yourself, cheese, crackers, sliced fruit/veges, yogurt, etc. Make some simple sandwiches in the morning, so they're ready to go come lunchtime. Quesadillas, scrambled eggs and soup (leftovers from your crock pot, or canned) make for easy lunches, too.
Nap, or at least lay down with your older ones every afternoon. I found laying down with my youngest on MY bed with the shades drawn would often make her sleepy. Even though she had given up napping on her own before two, she frequently fell asleep next to me, and of course then I could fall asleep too.
Let your husband take over some night time routines (not everything, you don't want him getting stressed out and overwhelmed before number three even arrives) but maybe he could get the kids in bed while you take a nice long shower and get to bed early yourself.
I found the worst of the fatigue went away after the fourth month so hang in there, it will get better!

Hi, there,
This is really easy-how about using tortillas to make "enchiladas". You could cover them with whatever the kids like (even cream cheese), roll them up, and your there. You could also experiment with other fillings and put the tortillas in the toaster oven for a quick dinner or snack. Another idea is to get creative with fruit-using it to make a smiley face or something like that. I've also used cookie cutters to make sandwiches in different shapes, so even if the kids are eating the same kind of thing, at least it looks different.
All the best!

Updated

One more thing-the idea about slow cooking dinner was great. Just throw some chicken and canned soup(cream of mushroom, cream of chicken) and veggies into the slow cooker and turn in on low for 6 to 8 hours. So easy and so delicious.

when I am tired... we all go upstairs and lay on the big bed.. I put on a Disney movie. they watch the movie and I fall asleep.. of course I am sort of half sleeping and I can still feel them moving around. and wake up if they need me.

quick and easy snacks and meals.. granola bars are fine.. fruit is fine. wash grapes and blueberrie and have them ready for the kids to grab.. have their water cups filled so they can reach them..

I understand the fatigue! As my screen name states, mine are very close in age and I felt the same.

For meals, a slow cooker is fantastic. Crescent rolls are great too.
(1) I put pizza toppings on them (cheese, pepperoni, pineapple, etc.), wrap them up, put on a tray and bake following the directions for the rolls, until slightly brown on top. Reheat for dinner time and add some pasta/marinara sauce for dipping.
(2) Put a slice of mozzarella (or use shredded) on a roll. Dunk precooked and warmed chicken strips (or halved chicken patties) in pasta sauce and put on roll. Wrap it around and put melted butter, Parmesan and seasonings of choice on top. Bake until slightly browned and you have fantastic chicken Parmesan. Reheat for dinner time.

Whatever you would make at night, make in the morning. Then just heat up. If it was winter a crock pot would be good, but those are usually winter meals. Grill outside, fresh vegies, salads. Summertime cooking is so much easier.