Upppeeeee mommy

This is hard because when you have an infant it's nearly impossible to pick up the toddler when you're holding a baby. I realized this too when I was big & pregnant and DS was 20 months. Mostly I tried to power through and pick him up a lot, but it got really hard when I was 9 months pg. What I would do is basically sit down wherever I was and let him climb into my lap. (Unless I was in a parking lot or something.) Otherwise I'd sit down in the kitchen, find a bench in a store, etc. I'd direct him to that spot ("Mommy will hold you if you come over here... etc.") and he might cry a little but then go over there. He learned really quickly. I think maybe there was one time when he melted down about it, but he was really tired. He also quit asking to be carried places because I basically never did it. I'd give him the attention but not carry him around. In your case you could maybe sit at the bottom of the stairs and say, "Come sit with mommy down here and I'll snuggle you." That would avoid the carrying up and down the stairs, which I wouldn't want to do when I was way pg!

Now I rarely hold both my newborn and toddler, but I do sit with them both in the rocking chair or on the couch. I also do make a point to carry the toddler occassionally... but not that often because my back starts hurting after a while!

HTH

I would try carrying the toddler in a "piggy-back" style on the back, its much less straining on your spine and a lot of the wright gets spread over your hips, that may help for when she REALLY wants to be carried. you can get really great baby carriers like ERGO or wraps that support toddlers on the back.

When I sense dd is about to ask to be carried, I try to get in first with some kind of game, like walking carefully along a line or seam in the paving, or counting something, or picking flowers, or looking for fairies. Or I'll try playing tag up the street, or take her hand and start skipping while singing a song and dancing a bit.

of course, if dd does really want to be picked up and its really too much for me, i talk to her about it, explain that my back is really sore, and offer some compromises, like perhaps sitting down for a few minutes and holding her then, or singing a song while walking together, then pick her up for the second verse, she walks for the next verse, and so on. I often ask my dd if she wants to give me a massage to help my sore back so that I have more energy to carry her, and she is usually happy to do it... and she is AMAZING! little hands are just so healing!