Do you have 3+ kids??

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Hi there! i'm a mommy to 2 and DH and i are starting ot have 'the talk' about more kids or no more kids..you know the one

Well i was wondering about parents out there with more than 2? or less than 2? or 2?

Why did you not want more than 2?
Why did you want more than 2?

but mainly...HOW DO YOU DO IT???

sometimes i am just pooped at the end of the day ya know?? but i grew up with only one other sister and we didn't get a long and still really don't...i always wish there were more of us..i don't want my kids to fee l like that..but then i would think 3 is an odd number hahaah should i have 4?!?! and hten it goes on and on like that!! or i think the other way and i'm like well if we have another one that puts us in a Mod resort or 2 values hahah....

anyways what about you?? is anyone else having 'the talk'

 

[golfgal]

We had our first then twins so we didn't have a choice to stop at 2. My personal observation is that families with 3 kids seem to have kids that get along better then families of 2 or 4. I don't know why but that is just what I have observed personally. We stopped at 3 because we didn't want 5 and since we had one set of fraternal twins the odds were higher of having another set so we stayed at 3.

 

[tiff211]

I have 4 girls I keep stress juice on hand, that's what I call wine when the girls ask what's in my glass!!

My oldest is from a previous relationship and I got married when she was 8, then came #2. Since it was DH's #1, he was gung ho on trying for the son. I was okay then but agreeable to another. Then came DD #3. Okay, I wanna stop now, I told DH. I don't have time to fully empty my bladder most days. He agreed we could stop even though no son for him! Then before we could do anything about not having anymore SURPRISE!!!! Oh for the love of everything holy, please let it be a boy!! Oh course not, another beautiful DD! But that's it, I told DH, this baby maker is out of service, packing up and shutting down!! I told my OB she could take my tubes, burn them, cut them, donate them to science, I am done populating the world!!! She said she never saw such a smile on a person being rolled into the OR!!

I am still alive with 4 so I guess it can be done! DD14 (15 as of Friday) lives with her dad so I only have there in house that are making me crazy!! DD14 will be home in 3 weeks for the summer so I am sure she will make up for lost time!!!

 

[Rachie0507]

We have 2 now and plan to have one more, hopefully in the next year.

When my two were really little I wasn't sure I could handle another. They are 22 months apart and #2 was a really hard baby. But once they grew up a little we decided we weren't done. I'm used to having 5 or 6 toddlers in my house all day because I do daycare. We are planning #3 for next year because our second child will be starting kindergarten and my daycare will be slowing down a little.

I have felt very strongly for almost three years that we are not complete, that something is missing. DH didn't see it that way right away but he now agrees.

Good luck with your decision

 

[LisaNJ25]

I did ok because they were spaced out... when number 3 came the kids were 12,5 adn newborn. Well that 12 months and 1 week later #4 came.

I am still getting used to it and I am tired all of the time.

 

[Bunchkin]

2 for us and it's perfect! It's great being past the bottle/diaper stage too, no more lugging around all that extra stuff!!

Plus, shhhhhhh, DH had *corrective* surgery so no more for us!!
It was a mutual decision!!!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

For me it was also the feeling that we just weren't done yet and that something was missing. It took some convincing with my DH, though. We had the third child and all the kids were 3 years apart. I finally had that feeling that things were complete. When my third was about 4yo that nagging feeling came back and it didn't take much to convince my DH that time. He saw what a joy our 3rd was to us and knew that we almost didn't have him (and I promised him that we could move to a bigger house). It did take awhile for me to stay pregnant (had 3 m/c) and when our 3rd was 6yo we had our 4th.

Jake was such an easy baby I almost went for 5 kids, but then Jake turned into a holy terror at 1yo and I'm so glad that I didn't. Four has been a good number for us even though it's a bit hectic. Mine are spread far enough apart that I never felt as stressed as I could have and when Jake was 1yo my oldest was able to babysit. It was nice to be able to get out of the house for a date night, etc without having to call around for a babysitter (and yes, we paid our DD to babysit those times...).

Good luck with your decision!

 

[KimR]

We have 3 children and if all goes well, we will soon have 4. It was so much easier for me going from 2 to 3 and while I was somewhat unsure at first whether or not to go for that 3rd baby, I am so glad I did!! She is so precious and adds so much to our family. The biggest problem is trying to schedule all their activities; I think it's going to turn me into a crazy woman before it's all over. Maybe it's because mine are widely spaced (almost-14, 8, and 5), but life is fairly easy (and so much fun!) with 3 kids!

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Thanks so much for all the insight!! i do have that 'feeling' from time to time, but then it goes away when the kids are having trouble sleepign though the night

i do like the 'stress juice' idea very cute

 

[mickeymousemom]

We have 3 DD's, 16, 12, and 2.5. The oldest is from my first marriage, but was pretty much raised by now DH since she was 2. Yes, there's a huge gap between our middle and youngest. We tried off and on for years to have another. At times it felt right, but we couldn't conceive. We'd give up then try again another time. All the while it just felt as though something was missing. We started trying again about 4 years ago, and I finally got pregnant again. The void has been filled and she is our little Stinkerbelle. I can't say there was any huge epiphany or anything. It just felt like something was missing, and it felt it as though a child would fill that space. Good Luck to you in whatever you decide.

 

[llp479]

We started w/2 - identical twin dds conceived on our honeymoon! We figured if we survived that, we could handle one more. We were actually disappointed that dd#3 was only one.

They are now 12 and 9 and life is good! Of course four years from now when they're all hormonal teenagers I may not feel this way.

 

[ckmommy]

Check me off at having 5 kids. I tell ya, it isn't easy. In fact today, I really do not like being a mom at all.

As for how we made the jump from 2 to 3 ( or 4 in my case since baby number 3 turned into babies 3 and 4--twins), it was purely my selfish decision. Our DS5 (baby 2) was horrible. He had reflex, but it was not diagnosed until he was 11 mo.( we had terrivle insurance and had to swich dr. monthly or so it seemed). I had him screaming for 20 out of 24 hours a day for the first 8 months of his life. If he was not screaming, he was projectile vomiting. It was pure hell. I did not want my memories of a baby to be those memories, so we decided to go for another baby. I have to add, my DS5 is a super sweetheart now. I love him so much--although there were many days in the beginning that I did not think either he or I would make it through the day. He now has this raspy voice we think from all of the acid that he had in his throat for the first year of his life. It is soooo cute!!

Our last DS came along during a night of far to much to drinking compilled with stopping nursing the twins, my body was all set for another baby--although I do not know if my heart or mind was prepared for 15 month old twins and a newborn, plus and 3 yo and 5 yo.



As a point of reference:

Today, the baby somehow got into flour--just as soon as that was cleaned up, I found the twins with squeezable jelly on the couch. They squeezed the jelly all over the couch. I had to take the fabric off the couch wash it, then wash the floor. Then, I decovered that the jelly was not confined to the couch and living room, but on my white bedroom carpet. So-- now scrub the carpet, discover more jelly in the bathroom (I really was not cleaning up the flour for that long- so, this jelly thing must have been very quick fun). Finish cleaning everthing up and the baby throws up. We have been battling the throw up bug since April 30th. It now looks like it is making an encore showing here. Clean that up, go to change the wash loads and find out one of the twins dumped out some of the dirty mop water on the tile floor--which I slip on and now have a very large bruise on my butt!! It is only 3 hours until bedtime!! Only 4 days till DH comes home!!

One thing to remember, anytime the kids do get sick, it lasts and lasts and lasts... I hate throw up, so this is a big issue with me this week!!

I really do love all my kids. I keep journals for all of them and write all of the chaos that goes on during a week in them. It does give me a laugh at the end of the year when I read it. I still wonder how I am able to get through some days!!

Good luck with your decision!!

 

[DISUNC]

I have 4 girls I keep stress juice on hand, that's what I call wine when the girls ask what's in my glass!!

 

[DISUNC]

If you have 2 or 12...Parental stress is Parental stress...and you will ALWAYS be exhausted until the LAST one leaves your home. As long as your children are all Healthy & Happy is what really matters!

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Thank you all so much again! We feel really blessed with what we have and we seem to swing both ways on the third..we wouldn't be devastated if it happned as a 'surprise' it would actually make this easier! hahaha!!! but i'm a HUGE planner!!

oh and did i mention my 2 are only 11months apart?? so if we did have number 3 i would want him/her to be just as close so it would have to happen soon!!! soon!! soon!!
We have a December Birthday and a January!!!

 

[cats mom]

We have 4

I was an only child. Didn't much like it.
So the plan was to have 2 children.

DD #1 was born, then 3 years later we had DD #2
Both absolutely planned and our family was complete, or so we thought.

5 years later DS was born. Oops, so much for the plan.

Back to my only child thing.
With the girls 5 & 8 years older, my feeling was that DS would have grown up much like an only child... so we decided to have one more.
DD #4 was born 3 years after DS.

I get "how do you do it?" type comments all the time, especially with the spacing of our kids. But it has really worked out well for us.

I do have to admit going from helping youngest DD with her kindergarten homework to helping oldest DD fill out scholarship apps. the same night was a bit nuts! But probably a far better thing for me than dealing with a house full of closely spaced toddlers. That may have sent me over the edge, but I see a lot of people who do it.

Good Luck with your decision!

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Thanks again everyone for being so open and honest!!

 

[ahutton]

I also am an only child, as is DH. We had DD1, then lost a baby, then had DD2. They are just over 2 years apart. When DD2 turned 2 I wasn't feeling well and made a check up appointment. Found out DS was coming. Mine are now 6, 4, and 16 months. It is total chaos, and the day care bill is out of this world. I work to keep health insurance, and because I truly love my job. But I love those kids to pieces and would not have it any other way.

The biggest thing from 2 to 3 is there is no more man-to-man coverage, it is all zone defense. We do most things as a family, but do split into smaller groups more often now than we did when we had 2 kids. It used to be one of us would take both and the other got a break. Now the break is having just one with you while you are trying to get things done.

I live in a house that is not as neat and clean as I would like. There is a lot of laundry. I mean a LOT of laundry. But I prefer to live with slightly lower standards than make myself crazy. And pizza delivery is my friend!

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

ahutton, you summed it up nicely!! thanks for your input.

 

[Lewski709]

Thank you all so much again! We feel really blessed with what we have and we seem to swing both ways on the third..we wouldn't be devastated if it happned as a 'surprise' it would actually make this easier! hahaha!!! but i'm a HUGE planner!!

oh and did i mention my 2 are only 11months apart?? so if we did have number 3 i would want him/her to be just as close so it would have to happen soon!!! soon!! soon!!
We have a December Birthday and a January!!!

Well, like you, we thought if a surprise came, so be it. Then it be!!!! Then the OMG, I don't think this is good for us. (I am such a planner too.) What were we thinking? How are we going to do it? My DH has been clipped now. I certainly don't want more.

She's here and 10 weeks old. My other two DS's (7 and 3) absolutely love her. I go back to work in 1.5 weeks. THEN, I don't know what I am going to do. 3 out numbers you an DH, that's a big one.

A ton of laundry, more accomodations and squeezing into 4 seater type things (booths, taxi, etc), a bigger vehicle, different rooms at WDW, etc.

I wouldn't trade her for anything!