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

[LynetteScavo]

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

[queenmaeve]

Tallulah, my dad rang the school once to tell them to tell me to get the bus home as he couldnt pick me up. The principal informed him I'd left the school the year before!

[cheesesarnie]

im still going to have to stalk you,dirty floor or no dirty floor.thats what i do,tidy garage studio,ignore house.

[PacificDogwood]

queenmaeve, yours are good priorities .

I too had only 2 for a couple of weeks during the school holidays (thank you, Mum and Dad, from the bottom of my heart!) and it was bliss!. Even better were the 2 nights and 2 days I had alone with DS4 - considering that DS1 almost finished my off (demanding PFB), I could not believe how easy and fun it was to only have one to look after.

You know you have too many children when random almost-strangers, like the woman at the end of the road, comment when you are out and about without any of them .

[BikeRunSki]

You lot are nuts!

Anyone on here ever had hyperemisis then?

[Debs75]

I go through every name to get to the right dc, I tend to use the pets name as well, tis a family trait dating back from great granny and her brood of 11

Shouting 'girls, tea' is a favourite of mine. I have always wanted a gaggle of girls/boys

You need to keep replacing the car for one with bigger seats. We have 7 but when we replace it next year I am looking at a 9 seater, just in case

Too many children share your bedroom

A family mealtime means 2 tables and 2 packs of family sized chips/beans/sausages

Your weekly shop looks like your neighbours monthly shop

Coming back from having dc4 was like stepping onto the Sound of Music set

[misdee]

hyperemeis gravidium ewveytime

[misdee]

for most of the last two weeks, some of my children have been missing on sleepovers, camps etc. its so quiet with just one gone. one night my friend took the three big girls, it was bliss just having the babies,.

[nagynolonger]

When you've done A level results day 4 times and GCSE results day 5 times and you've still got more to come.

I was lucky Bikerunski I was never sick with any of my 5 boys and only 2/3 times with DD.

Only 3 teens at home now but I still mix their names up and we always need more milk.

If I had to start all over again and I knew I was having 5 sons I would have installed a urinal in the bathroom.

[PacificDogwood]

Nope, no hyperemesis here, but all sorts of other pregnancy related crap - I have no rational explanation for why I had the number of children I had - all planned and wanted, but why?? Dunno...

Too many children as this allows for infinite combinations of fighting with each other

[nagynolonger]

LOL at queenmaeve's dad.

I've managed to talk to school about the 'wrong' DS and confuse everyone. But they were all pupils at the same time.

[TinyWeeTeethGreatBigBite]

I only have 3 (all girls) and now this thread has reminded me that I really want more (girls)

Hats off to you all, for the marvelous job you do - I do the socks thing to, and as I said I only have 3

[BikeRunSki]

Big respect toMisdee.
HG twice in two pg, total of 15 weeks in hospital on drip. 32 weeks pg with DC2, and in 2 months time I swear, my childbearing days are OVER!

(Love the child rearing bit though).

[4madboys]

nagynolonger YES with the urinal thing, i only have the four boys, but i am forever wiping wee of the loo seat, the tiles by the toilet, the floor surrouding the toilet etc etc, drives me mad. i LONG for the day when i can have a seperate bathroom to the boys!

i am always amused when i am at toddler group and if someone new comes and you have the hi i am madboys convo and then inevitibly they ask if dd is my only one (if ds4 is at pre-school) or how the rather rude and dull how nice a boy and girl 'perfect pair' when i have the younger two with me and then i point out that i actually have 5!! another 3 boys as well and the look of mild horror and shock and 'omg how do you cope' umm quite easily most of the time, you just get on with it and we CHOSE to have a large family, its what we wanted. it may be busy, noisy, chaotic, means endless cooking, wahsing up, laundry etc but i wouldnt change it for the world.

it was lovely last night when the house was all quiet and reasonably tidy (ok i didnt mop the floor as i couldnt be arsed but i did sweep it) and i went round and looked in on them all as the slept, and i just get this amazing feeling that they I grew all these lovely children, four amazing boys and our bonus little girl, they are just great and i feel honoured to be their mum and have the job of watching them grow. ok that all sounds very puke worthy... but despite all the work involved it really is fab to have a large brood :)

esp now my eldest (just turned 12) can make cups of tea for me in the morning, and can also cook, which he LOVES to go, makes a dam good cheesecake!

even tho i know i am done at 5, part of me actually feels very sad that thats it no more babies, no pregnant bump and teeny tiny (well mine werent teeny) squidgy newborn. i just have to wait for my sister to have her first (and only) in the new year.

however at 32 i wont rule one more out, if we win the lottery, can afford a bigger house/car etc then i would def think about one more!

[CardyMow]

Yep, HG every time here. DD not so bad, cleared by 28 weeks, at which point pre-eclampsia kicked in. Absolutely awful HG with DS1, spent 19 weeks out of 40 in hospital on a drip, swore never again, no more dc, then had DS2 19 months later! With HG yet again. I spent about 11 weeks in hospitaal with him. With DS3, though my HG was just as bad, with the other dc being older, I couldn't stay in hospital, just had to take metaclopramide, and spend the entire pregnancy running ot the loo to throw up. Every time I say NO MORE! because of the HG. This time, I mean it!

[nagynolonger]

Their aim does get better 4madboys. Although my DS3 is now 18 and went to the pub with his team mates last night. I heard him come in and do a pinball machine along the hall and up the stairs. He also manages to spray the bathroom flour.

[thefirstMrsDeVere]

So how many had a sudden crisis when your oldest whent through teen hell and you realised you were going to have to do it 4 more times?

[jeee]

....you need to do a head count every time you leave a shop. (Yes, it was me that left that 4 year old in the book shop three days ago)

[4madboys]

nagynolong, i actually find its my eldest who is the WORST!! if i have to tell him ONE more sodding time to LIFT the toilet seat UP!!! i may go mad, he seems to stand off to one side when he wees. wheras ds4 who is only 3 is very good!

the middle two are variable and if they decide to have a 'wee fight' ie both wee at the same time trying to wee on each others wee........ thats one game i do not like!

mrsdevere, my eldest is just 12, and has been at high school a year now, the change is scary, the grumpy, sullen grunting and non existent answers etc. it IS scary, i can cope with babies, toddlers, pre schoolers and up to high school age and now it feels like we are entering a whole new world with ds!

tbf tho he is a good kid, never in trouble etc, works hard at school, and with a bit of promting with his homework etc, very sensible, too mature for his years (always has been)

its ds2 who is a bit of a livewire that i worry about becoming a teen, he can be bad enough now....

sticks head back in the sand la la la la

[Debs75]

DD1 has just done her GCSE's and the panic at exam time then the panic at result day was so stressful. Unfortunately we won't have that with ds and for the little girls it is 12 long years away.

When I was pregnant with dd3 we realised that I have been pregnant sometime in the last 3 decades, 1996, 1999, 2008 and 2010. can any of you beat that

[gorionine]

• When you cannot remember their names
  

• When you watch "Malcolm in the middle" and can identifie very strongly to how tired the mother feels
  

• you developpe an ability to ignore any noise under 1000db
  

• You say "come on troups" when you gather your children
  

• People keep asking you (very sarcastically) "are you going to have any more?"[anger]

[gorionine]

OOPs missed 2 pages and thread moved on

can I just add you know you have too many children when you cannot keep up with a 3 pages long MN thread.

[4madboys]

i had ds1 in 1999 (got preg in 1998) ds2 in 2001, then ds3 in 2003, ds4 in 2007 and dd in 2010, so two decades not three, but 5 kids in just over 10 years isnt bad going

[4madboys]

and right now i am debating taking all 5 into town, so i can get school bags and t-shirts and some new clothes for dd, 5 kids in town on a bank holiday wkend, on my own, the toddler is just out of the double buggy, so will have baby in the single but will take a sling in case i need to restrain ds4, that would be madness wouldnt it.......

[thefirstMrsDeVere]

4mad my DS1 was cheeky but easy going - then he turned 15 OMG (as the young people say)

DD was wonderful but she was very ill from 12 and we lost her at 14 so she didnt have normal teenage life. She did have a few moments though and could hold her own if a Dr rubbed her up the wrong way

I had mine yeaaaaaars apart.

DD 1992
DS1 1994

DS2 2003

DS3 2007
DS4 2010

DS2 is adopted so I had a 15 year gap between pregnancies

Then I had two close together (dec 07 - april 10) and I was terrified at the thought of going into labour because I remembered it all so clearly!

[tallulah]

queenmaeve

4madboys - we get the "is she your first/ only" and have to admit that no, she's the fifth. I like to describe her as the last of many. (we have a biiiiig gap - 25, 23, 21, 19 and 4)