welp i'm 33 and single and this hits home so hard. My younger brother is 30 with two under two and he looks like hell most days. I can't imagine 3 hours sleep a night when i'm mid to late 30s. christ.
The first week of the first kid, we slept 3 hours in total (that is, 3 hours in the whole week)
I hear two kids is pretty brutal until they’re both 3+ years old.
3 years old is a full time thing, but there are things that are quite fun to do together. We play videogames, board games, or I just let her climb on me and enjoy that.
Also going to the pool together is really nice and they get exhausted.
Sometimes you TAKE your free time. Kids are bored and want to play with you, but you haven't had time for yourself in 5 days, you just take it, even if they want to play with you. They will get bored, but more often they will figure out something to play together.
Overall, pretty happy, when they are both 3+ we can play a whole bunch of things together that I'm looking forward to!
I can't tell how it would be with just one, but there are tradeoffs to both sides.
We don't use much daycare, our 3 years old goes to school 4 days a week for 3 hours only (purpose was learning, not babysitting).