I’m having major anxiety about my father in law visiting next week and I don’t know how to handle it. My baby is 3 weeks old and I have a 2 year old. My husband and my FIL don’t have the best relationship and we haven’t seen him in over a year. Even before COVID we rarely saw him and he doesn’t call, my husband has to initiate all contact.

My FIL came to visit right after my son was born 2 years ago and all he did was sit on the couch and watch ESPN all day. He didn’t do any cooking or cleaning and he would only watch my son if he was sleeping. He also took naps on our living room couch every afternoon. So not only was he not helpful, we felt like we had to tiptoe around him while we were sleep deprived and trying to take care of a newborn.

Because of this, I’m very stressed about his upcoming visit. I’m afraid I’ll be stuck in the nursery for a week caring for my babe because my FIL has taken over my house again. Plus he’ll expect us to cook and clean and it’s so hard with a newborn and toddler. He also smokes and I hate having second and third hand smoke around my new baby. I don’t know what to do.