Another thread about having 3 children, what changes did you make?

[mama2moo]

I am desperate for a third baby. DD1 is 2 next month and dd2 is 3 months old. Even though they are so young I know I want a 3rd to complete our family (I am one of three)

DP knows that I want another and out of the blue today said we cant. Reasons - Cant afford it, will need a bigger car and a bigger house.

We do struggle every month, we have a Passat and a 2 bedroom house. I want to move to a 3 bed house though.

Tell me honestly - Did having a 3rd mean loads of big changes? Can you fit 3 car seats in the back of a car?!

I have heard you can fit 3 car seats in a Passat. I know you can't fit 3 in our Ford Focus though as I've tried so we will need another car I don't yet know whether bigger changes will be needed when our 3rd arrives, hope not!

Can't help mama2moo but this is exactly what i came on tonight to look for so it's funny that your thread just appeared at the right time- I am thinking that I'd like number 3 too but dh isn't that keen.

I don't feel incomplete with 2 - in fact I'm not sure at all that I want three but i am interested to hear how others adapted (or found it hard to).

Mine are 2,5 and 6. We used to have a Renault Scenic, the seats fit in when my youngest was rear facing, but wouldn't fit when all 3 were facing forward. We changed to a Land Rover Defender with 7 seats, but this had a lot to do with our lifestyle and business as well.

I would imagine you already have a double pushchair so no extra costs there.

The other thing we did was have a loft conversion. My eldest is up there and loves it. We did it properly with all the permissions and although it cost £15000 it has probably added at least that amount onto the value of the house.

It's lovely having 3 close together. If you ask them who their best friends are they always say each other, and hopefully that bond will only grow stronger as they grow up together.

I would love another small age gap for my 3rd.

Im thinking 3 under 4 years old will be very hard work though. But, on the other hand there would be no school run to worry about IYSWIM.

Mine are 6, 3, and 4 1/2 months. So far the only major change has been a new car - I had a ford focus before and could not get 3 in. A passat, I'd think you might manage. (We now have a Toyota Verso, which I love, love the extra seats in the back too as the problem with having a "normal" car with three children is no space to carry their friends - probably not an issue for you now but might become one when your oldest starts school.) We are thinking of moving but honestly could manage without (though we have 3 1/2 bedrooms now; I think just two rooms might get a bit cramped. We mostly want to move somewhere with another bathroom or at least a shower.)
Other than a bit of extra food once #3 is older, and I suppose more money once they start wanting lessons and things, they don't cost that much - I expect you have everything! I have three girls so haven't even needed to buy new clothes; I bought cloth nappies for my first so they have been well used but what a great saving.

I've just found out I'm pregnant with no3! i have ds1 (2.2) and ds2 (10m). We live in a 2 bed house, already have the baby things etc. Haven't tried the 3rd car seat yet, but we do have a 7 seater, so I'm sure it'll work somehow. I don't think we're going to need to buy anything apart from nappies! Will look at moving into a bigger house once the baby is 6-12 months/whenever I feel I have the energy/time to move! But with them being so young I really don't think the size of my house matters so much to them

no, not a lot of big changes

we part exchanged our 2 cars for a volvo v70- can get 3 across the back in that, and huge boot

tried out the new ford s-max and galaxy courtesy of MN the other week and they were very spacious across the back, easily fit 3 in either of them

we already have a 3 bed house, although our third bedroom is currently an office
2 eldest curretnly share and baby is in with us. when baby is sleeping thorugh he'll go in with the others

We rent so moving wouldnt be a big issue.

If we didnt move I suppose we could have bunk beds and a cot in the 2nd room.

mamasunshine Congratulations I am very jealous! I would love that age gap with my 3rd.

I think dp would agree if I put a good case to him!!!

We found you really have to try the seats in the car to find out if they fit - same width car may curve in a bit more at head height and be too much of a squeeze for child seats that have head restraints.

We bought three set belt extenders which are a really boon when the child seats are so crammed in you can't get to the 'female' bit of the seat belt to 'clunk click'. We have mondeo (estate) btw.

Second comments about friendship between close siblings. My 3 ds's are in the same bedroom tonight for a special treat, age 3,6 and 8, they have so much fun together.

Do any of you feel that dividing your attention three ways instead of two means that any of the children lose out, or do you think the extra attention/friendship between siblings makes up for that?

i;m finding it easier to divide my time as mine get bigger. my eldest was 4.5 when the baby was born and it was quite hard.
since he started school he has had a bit of a hard time, becuase he wants to be home like his baby brothers, but he's getting used to it.
he is 5 and a bit now and I find that it's nice because I get time during the day to spend with the little ones, ds2 gets me to himself whnile ds3 is napping
and in the evenings we try and get the 2 little ones down to bed and then spend some time with ds1 by himself

so it all works itself out.

have just found out I am expecting number 3, have DD3 and Ds1. We have a 3 bedroom house and all the baby gear, hoping to avoid a double buggy...so th eonly change I guess we will have to make is our car. We have a ford focus estate and it seems you can't get three seats accross the back...has anyone managed this?
My other worry is that DS is a rubbish sleeper...he's got 8 months to sort it out or I will be double knackered!

We moved upto a 4 bedroom house 6 weeks before ds3 came along. ds2 was 26 months and ds1 4.5. had t o buy a double buggy and ds1 was squeezed in the middle with a lap belt till we could afford a 7 seater. They were the days before child seats were mandatory till 12 or 4foot something.

It is expensive but we figured we'd rather have 3 and have forgoe foreign holidays and weekends away, meals out etc etc

I had three children under three and it great close together for them. My three share a room even though we live in quite a big house they prefer it. I wouldn't worry just yet about a bigger house if I were you.

I have quite a small car and we had to try a few different car seats before finding three that fit in the back, so try to change your car seats before changing the car. If you live in a town with things walking distance and don't use the car too much one of you could always sit in the back, not ideal, but doable.

You don't say if you work or not because that could be a big factor if you have additional childcare to pay for.

we are expecting our 3rd in July (dds will be 4.4 and 3.2). We live in a 3 bedroom house but hope that dcs will share biggest room for a while, so we can keep a spare room for family. We have just got rid of our old car (which was knackered anyway) and bought a Zafira for £2000. So far that is the only thing we have had to buy, we had a Phil and Teds anyway (£250 on ebay, when dd2 was born) and we have pretty much everything else. No 3 will be a ds, so we didn't have many clothes, but we now know so many people with children, that lots of people have been very generous lending us bags of clothes.

Good luck with your decision