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Original poster

You know you've had too many children when...

327 replies

LynetteScavo · 26/08/2011 18:15

You nearly have a heart attack paying for their new school uniform, then struggle to carry it all home.

OP posts:
Shoshe · 31/08/2011 20:54

I can do the different decades.

DS1 in the 70's
DS2 in the 80's
DD in the 90's
A lot of M/C's in each decade, final M/C in 2000.

misdee · 31/08/2011 21:10

i have just been on FB asking the best place to buy plain white socks in bulk. Blush

am fed up with pairing up socks. the girls have to have white socks for school.

jugglingwiththreeshoes · 31/08/2011 21:26

Shoshe That's quite a spread. I'm sorry to hear you lost your millenium baby and for the other M/C's Sad

PacificDogwood · 31/08/2011 21:30

When you master the Dark Art of helping DS1 with his homework while DS3 is trying to climb on your lap while you are feeding DS4 and DS2 is shouting to get his bum wiped (don't ask, he is 7, but has bum issoos Hmm)

When your 18 month old DS4 manages to do a face plant onto hard, hard pavement with you standing right there, because you are distracted by the other 3 trying to commit suicide by looking like they are going to run across the road Sad

I must not really have a Large Family because I just don't care about socks all that much Grin.

And yy to the photo thing: all my babies look the same AND they have worn the same outfits over and over, so the only way to identify them on some photos is by accessories: "I only got those glasses in 2004 so that cannot be DS1" "We decorated the living room in that colour in 2008 so that must DS3" etc Grin.

And stones, sticks, dead bees Hmm, seashells, conkers (last years!), pinecones seem to just appear whereever DS3 happens to be... Today I found a Fruitshoot [sic] top, an mercifully empty nappybag and a.... large stone in the pocket of my work jacket.

RandomMess · 31/08/2011 21:47

I get excited about winter uniform, I have all dds so they can wear tights and they have age labels in, cuts down on the sock nightmare Grin

Our youngest 2 we can't tell apart in photos, thankfully lots have dates on them but apart from that we work it out from how old dd2 looks Blush

4madboys · 31/08/2011 23:04

lol to the photo thing, we moved house 5 times in 5 year when the yougest three were little and that is how we tell which baby is which!

and i am ashamed to say we have soo many pics of ds1 its untrue and then gradually less for the next two and then we got a digital camera, so have more pics but they are all on the pc and we never get around to printing any out!

clothes have been passed down throuhg all 5, today dd was wearing a fleece jacket i bought for £5 in tescos for ds1 so its 12yrs old and still looks new as fleece washes up briliantly, she did have on a rar ra skirt, silver tights and gap top tho underneath!! i have to dress her up being my only girl, she is my little doll Blush but she does where the boys old clothes as well.

anyway my tale today of having too many kids, met up with a friend and her three at thetford forest, LOTS of play equipment and it was very busy, kids dashing off here and there, bit of a communication error in that dp thought I was watching ds4, i thought he was watching him.......... so when we met up (having gone off with diff kids to diff bits of play equipment) he said 'where is rudi' .............. ooops took us over ten mins to find him! and he had actually been missing for at least 15mins before then but we didnt realise Blush anyway he was fine, playing on a climbing wall without a care in the world, not bothered that he didnt know where we were! he is three and fearless.... we did a LOT of headcounts from that point onwards for the rest of the day!

Iamseeingstars · 01/09/2011 02:42

This has really made me smile

TheHumanCatapult · 01/09/2011 06:33

mine is when the kids have the dress up day for history lessons and you relax becuase you have kept the costume you brought for the other dc to wear so you know which year they be studying what at primary

Luckily DD prefers boys costumes

Tanya28 · 01/09/2011 06:51

Fantastic thread made me feel not so alone with ds11, ds9, dd 17 weeks , dsd11, dsd6, dss3' and 10 weeks pg :)

deemented · 01/09/2011 07:26

When you have a huge memory box for your PFB, with everything in it including his first fart, a slightly smaller one by the time it's DC3, and DC4 doesn't get one at all. You know you puut his hospital band somewhere...

largeginandtonic · 01/09/2011 08:45

Tanya you have a 17 week old baby and are 10 weeks pregnant?! < faints >

I like the sock idea of pairing them inside each other. I went ballistic the other day when dressing ds5 as i couldn't find his other sock to put on. I knew i had bought down a matching pair. He had put 2 on one foot! He knew and was laughing at me...

We have sock inventory days. Everyone brings them down and we sort through them. I am a bit twitchy about matching socks.

Ragged hope the bug has not spread. A D&V bug is our worst nightmare in this house. Bring on the bleach and antibac!

ThisIsYourSong · 01/09/2011 10:13

When the council come around and accuse you of running an illegal nursery as reported by one of the neighbours. Actually happened to my SIL - her response was 'but I have five of my own.... why would I want any more?'

CardyMow · 01/09/2011 10:33

I think I'd be gibbering in a corner if I had a 17 week old baby and was 10 weeks pregnant! I wouldn't have gone NEAR a man that soon after having a baby! Congratulations!

CardyMow · 01/09/2011 10:36

And Ragged - you can keep the D&V cheers. Mine came down with it one after another over the Christmas hols / New year - when I was 8mo pg. DD had it just before Christmas and was ill for 3 days. DS2 had it from 27th Dec for 5 days. Then DS1 came down with it and was so bad he was in hospital for 3 days after he'd already been being sick and not keeping anything down for 5 days before that! Then I got it when I was a week before my Due date.

If ANYONE gives me D&V this year, I shall hunt them down! Grin

Jenstar21 · 01/09/2011 10:38

Wow! Great stories. :) Just the one here (and probably will remain that way!) but my parents are from big families, and sometimes I feel bad that DD will likely be our one and only.

I'm one of 3, and that was enough, but my Mum always called us by each others names, and yes, as the oldest, there are considerably more photos of me as a baby!

Mum had 5 brothers, and Dad is one of 9. I once counted up that if we were to get married, I would have 54 family members - aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents!

queenmaeve · 01/09/2011 12:21

d&v is without douby the worst thing that can happen to a big family. It demands a huge ammount of kitchen roll, buckets of cleaning spray, 10 loads of washing a day and you can't even get sick yourself!

peacemoon · 01/09/2011 14:11

Just hung out the washing and there were 22 pairs of socks (note I said pairs!) so that takes up 44 pegs not including the rest of the washing. So I would say you know you have too many when you need a large bucket to keep your clothes pegs in!

syskywalker · 01/09/2011 15:08

Haha, I only have 3 n agree on the socks never making it to the drawer, the stones, wipes ect in bag, except sticky stuff im very carefull there now, lol. but people are still asking if we having another, but maybe that s cos its a catholic school they go to, lol. We do believe in contraception just dont always work, lol.

but i should probably add the if you are embarrassed to admit you are having another, lol.

syskywalker · 01/09/2011 15:09

@peacemoon, get sock hanger things so they dont take up all the pegs n line, lol.

saladfingers · 01/09/2011 16:45

I have 2 DDs and 2DSs. (last 3 babies in 29months and not twins)
I dress them all in orange tshirts on days out(incl DP) so that i can keep track of them.People think we're on a school trip and are often referred to as 'Team Orange' it has started to catch on and on a recent holiday 2 grandparents and BIL/SIL also joined in.
My DDs were born at exactly the same time of day 4:03am
My DSs were also born at the same time 2:57am
That is 4 nights sleep i never caught up!
When we came home from hospital with DC4 we found a new flat screen TV in our living room from MIL. She normally buys a cot/carseat. We got the message!

4madboys · 01/09/2011 17:25

two of my boys got d&v over xmas, nightmare with a newborn AND our water was cut off at one point for repairs, so when ds2 shat himself in his sleep i went to shower him down... no water, ihad to use babywipes, omg it was horrendous!

i have just survived a trip to the supermarket with the youngest 4 and having to traipse round to three different pharmacies to find one with my prescription in stock, i could have wept. on a Grin point, sainsbury's had a sale on kids clothes, got dd a cute swimsuit and some shorts she can wear with tights Grin

westie04 · 01/09/2011 18:22

OMG i love all these and they applie to me and even worst when my 2 grandchildren are down lol ;)

Debs75 · 01/09/2011 18:39

Do any of you have picky eaters. My eldest is a nightmare, as is her dad so I often do 3 variants of the meal to suit everybody

4madboys · 01/09/2011 18:40

re baby books, ds1's is full to bursting point, ds2 i filled it in but nowhere near as well, ds3 bought one and filled in one page, ds4 and dd didnt even buy one Blush

i do however have their hospital braclets and ds4 and dd belly button clamps/stumps are sat in the kitchen windowsill!

HarrietJones · 01/09/2011 18:51

I'm only up to three dds but identifying with the socks and moving onto large pans. Just used a full bag of pasta for 5 of us for tea,

You lot are probably the people to ask about dc4. We have 3 bed rooms.Not high enough for bunks. One bathroom. Are we mad to consider it?