Going from 3-4 children (under 5)

[littleraysofsunshine]

How do you find this? We're thinking about number 4...

[NickyEds]

Honestly? Glutton for punishment

Can you afford it, both now in terms or childcare etc but also in 14 years when they're eating you out of house and home?
Do you have room?
Do you have support?
What do your instincts say?

If "yes" to all of the above then why not?

[wearejustlikeKevinBacon]

It depends, how old are your DCs? are you in a rush for any particular reason?

We had DC4 when DC1 was 6, there are pros and cons for having them all so young but having 1 a bit older has its advantages...DC4 is utterly doted on by DC1.

2 in nappies is ok, I wouldn't be so sure about 3 in nappies though! At one point we had teething, weaning and potty training all going on at once...the washing was something else!

I suppose another consideration would be how much family (or other) support you have?

[RosieMapleLeaf]

Number 4 was born 2 weeks before number 1 turned 5. The oldest is now 13.

They get along great and look after each other and have a fantastic sibling relationship. It is more challenging now that they are older because they each have their own interests and it is a logistical nightmare! We have no outside support at all so we spend most evenings ferrying kids around.

All four of them have turned out to have additional issues that have required organizing and in most cases we have had to pay for private therapy or testing - my oldest has Apsergers, the two in the middle both have eye issues, one has had surgery the other is undergoing therapy to try and avoid surgery; three of the four have had extensive speech therapy...those things take time and money and effort to organize also.

I am lucky that I work from home and as long as the work gets done it doesn't matter when it gets done, so I am able to do the running to appointments during the day. Working from home also meant not paying for childcare, if we had had to deal with that expense we would have stopped at 2!

All that said, I wouldn't change a thing.

[RosieMapleLeaf]

Ooh, just saw another thread about orthodontic braces...yup, one in them already, and two more likely to need them, we pay for all that too.

[ChocolateBreakfastBalls]

Hmm. Under 5 I'm not sure, DC1 was 6.9 when DC4 was born. It was bloody hard! They're now 8 and 18 months (with 7 and 3.9 year old in the middle) and it's starting to get easier. I can see the end of the baby days, finally! We are now entering the play date/after school club era and juggling with the toddlers can be challenging but not too bad as yet. I've noticed a huge increase in food bills though. Never mind uniform for 3 (it gets wrecked so I can never pass more than jumpers down), shoes. Shoes are the bane of my life, why do they keep growing out of them?! Then there's the cost of the clubs, uniforms for them. Entertainment in school holidays is hard.

I still love it though

[littleraysofsunshine]

Dd1 is 4.7, dd2 - 3 a couple of weeks ago, and a 16.5mo Ds.

Both girls am were potty trained at 2yo so that's not a worry.

We were thinking of trying so that when dc4 was born, ds will then be 2.4 ish? We've always wanted a big family, we manage well and we're fortunate to have family near by. We don't see them a lot but we don't ask for help.. Only for the odd date night baby sitter (we've had about three in four years)... I am in the process of starting work from home. OH works full time but home at weekends.

We probably would've had our fourth earlier but I couldn't handle the thought of pregnancy in the heat of summer lol and also I just wanted to feel better in my self/ PN body.

I don't think it would be much different to what we do now.. Maybe in the future yes?

Who knows?!

[littleraysofsunshine]

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