5 feels like a different societal step up. Probably a church van. Almost impossible to get a table for 7. More kids than parent hands.
Not financially worried but it definitely seems like a bigger decision than our 4th was.
Convince me another makes sense.
Growing up my siblings and I had close birthdays and my mom had one big party for us with extended family. Fast forward my kids are all winter birthdays and I do the same. Especially since money is tighter and my husbands family is very large and my family has to fly in from out of state.
We would like a fourth baby, but timing wasn’t right over the summer and now if we were to get pregnant the baby would be born end of summer or fall. So this wouldn’t work for a combined birthday 🙃. I’m 37, so I already feel old. But part of me is like do I wait and pray we get pregnant in one of the three months next summer to where the birthdays would be around the same time? But there would be a larger age gap between the last two instead of 2 years apart? Of just try now and see what happens?
I know this sounds stupid, it IS stupid, but for some reason I’m hung up on a combined birthday party. 🫠
I am pregnant with my fifth baby and my husband and I want to have more. I am still fairly young as I had my first at 18. I’ve been pretty much constantly pregnant ever since. Wondering how many kids do you all have and do you want more? I haven’t had any issues with any of my pregnancies and I feel like I should take advantage of this. Was considering going back on birth control after the birth but I am not wanting that now. I want to get pregnant again and raise our kids. Anybody else loves being pregnant?
How long did you wait before trying to get pregnant again after your third c-section? I'm absolutely terrified of c-section scar rupture during a future pregnancy. But my last pregnancy our son was very sadly stillborn and although nothing will ever replace our beautiful boy, I feel like it would be healing to be able to bring another (hopefully healthy) child into the world.
The only worry is I'm 35, struggled more with each pregnancy, if we wait a couple of years before trying again I'd be around 38 before baby was born and whilst I know people have children older than that, it feels quite a lot for me to have a newborn at that age
I've also been a bit put off by one of the midwives saying sometimes there's no signs of c-section scar rupture and it can take the life of both mum and baby quite quickly if it's not noticed. I'm scared to put myself through that
Sorry for the ramble x
Three kids under 8, part-time dental assistant, Boston metro. Childcare takes 40% of our take-home pay. I finally opened a Roth IRA last month with $500 and felt like I'd won the lottery, then I looked up the contribution limits and wanted to cry.
My question is for the 4+ kid crowd specifically. Are you actually contributing to retirement accounts regularly? Or are you just in survival mode and planning to catch up later? I keep hearing finance podcasts say to max out your 401k and Roth by 35 and I want to throw my phone. That's not happening here.
We meal prep, thrift everything, no car payments, and I still feel behind. My husband works full-time but his company stopped the match last year. I've looked into side hustles after bedtime and I'm too exhausted to trust myself with anything that needs focus. Tried transcription, fell asleep at my laptop twice.
What I'm asking is whether any of you found actual programs or strategies that work with this many kids. Not generic advice. Real stuff. Daycare cost relief programs that aren't scams. Employer tricks. Anything that actually helped.
I'm not looking for sympathy. I want to copy what worked.
The notebooks and pencils are easy enough to plan for. It's everything that comes afterward that gets tricky. Field trips, activity fees, extra supplies, something one kid needs that the others don't.
With multiple kids, even the small stuff adds up pretty quickly.
Do you set aside money for school expenses all year, or just deal with them as they come?
Ours is a BOB running stroller. Purchased new in 2010 — has carried 4 kids, will carry our 5th when he gets big enough.
What item has lasted you through the most kids?
We also have a few items that we have swapped back and forth with other families as we welcome more children — our bassinet has held 6-7 newborns in total!
I moved from Canada to the UK last year and had my second baby shortly after arriving. I'm pondering having another baby (ideally two!) while also pondering moving back home. We're living in 800 sq ft right now and it is tight in here. The thing is, in order to get a much bigger house in the UK we would need to earn significantly more and that's not really possible. The house we left in Canada was 1010 sq ft with an extra 500 of fully finished usable space in the basement. Also mini vans don't seem to be a thing here? It seems like you have to get a massive box van, which would be awful to drive on the winding country, roads of where I live in Yorkshire. We're also currently hang drying our clothes and can barely keep up, is a tumble dryer a must have? I would love to get an American style fridge but don't have the space for it. I only have two kids right now and I'm struggling to fit our family in this home. We could get a slightly bigger home but I can't imagine it would be easy to fit two more into it. So, with an average home size of about 1000 sq ft, how do you do it?
Expecting our third in December. Our daughter will be a fresh 4, and our son will be nearly 2.5. We are often out and about - zoo, aquarium, parks, neighborhood walks, etc. While my son prefers to walk, sometimes for safety I feel like I need a place to contain him. My daughter loves to lounge in comfort (lol) and will ask to ride in the stroller still at times.
We have a Mockingbird (with bassinet and rider board accessories) that I hate with a burning passion and never use unless I have to. The crossbar snapped and they had to send us a new frame. It takes up the whole trunk. The seats don’t fold so you have 1 million separate parts you have to stack in the car. We also have a compact single (Bombi Bebee V2) and a creaky old, used, Chicco Bravo for 2 that I need to sell - my daughter is over the 40lb weight limit.
I am trying to figure out what my strategy should be. Should I just suck it up and use the Mockingbird? Should I buy a side by side (this is my gut preference, but worried I won’t need it for very long). Should I get myself a nicer tandem option like a Nuna Demi Grow or Cybex Gazelle + rider board to give myself the option to carry all three kids? Less interested in a wagon.
Thanks for any insight you can provide!
We have 5 kids and are tying to fit in our 2021 Honda Odyssey.
Does anyone have any personal recommendations for booster seats (using the lap belts) that would fit three-across the back bench of a Honda Odyssey?
I’m looking for recommendations from people who have actually done this, ideally in Honda minivan!
My biggest concern is that most booster seats have a base that blocks the seat belt buckle, so it’s super hard to fish out the buckle and latch the belt.
Having three boosters across the back bench seems like it would completely block the buckles.
The diono connect3 booster markets itself as allowing for three booster to fit across — has anyone actually used three diono boosters (using the three lap belts)? Is it hard to latch?
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
Maybe I’m putting too much pressure on myself ATM. But for SAHMs of 3 under 3. What do you do during the day? I don’t have twins, I have a 2 & 1/2 YO, a 1 & 1/2 YO & a 1 MO old. I breastfeed & struggle with finding what to do during the day solo parenting.
I’m pregnant with my 3rd boy. We had originally only planned for 2 and, for reasons I won’t go into, the timing of this pregnancy is not great. I know I will love this little boy infinitely but I could still use some positive vibrations.
Soooo parents of 3 boys, give me your best! Can you please share some of the best parts of raising 3 boys?
Hello all, I am seeking some reassurance as I am 99% positive I am expecting baby #4.
Took three pregnancy tests (one hcg strip and two regular) and all had faint positives. Hubby and I had unprotected sex only twelve days ago (We were using BC methods but clearly failed). I feel like it’s really early to have detectable levels of hcg? Furthermore, these were all expired pregnancy tests (3+ years) cause I have not needed one since my last pregnancy. Google is conflicting and says expired tests can give false negatives but false positives are rare, though they can occur with expired tests. Planning to buy a pack of new tests in a few days to be absolutely certain.
For background, we have three beautiful babies already. A 9 year old, 6 year old and 2 year old. We have discussed the possibility of a fourth from time to time but have never really committed. We already have so much chaos, stress, exhaustion.. I physically and mentally cannot comprehend adding another to the picture. Money is not a huge issue, thankfully, but I do worry about being able to support them all as they get older (cars, college, weddings etc). My husband is extremely supportive and held me as I cried, reminding me that everything will work out and to not worry about “temporary stressors” like money, homes, cars. There’s also the worry of twins- oh my. All the things, scenarios, worries are running through my head.
Hubby and I agreed after this, he would get a vasectomy. We are also concerned about our age. I am 35, 36 next month. My husband is 39 and 40 right before baby would be born. I just worry we are past our “prime”, though we are experts in parenting at this point. I feel like parenting this time around might be harder because of our age.
My questions are as follows:
Thank you all so much for any words of encouragement.
I did not want to be a part of the parenting in bulk community. I was happy with 1, my partner wanted 2 and I thought it wouldnt be that different. We had twins - so now we have 3.
Can people tell me their happy 3 kids stories? Sometimes I find myself wondering how I got here.
Any big families in here live in an apartment? We’re currently a family of7 in a 3 bedroom apartment and trying to move. But lately I’ve been thinking if we really should. What’s your setup if you live in an apartment? How old are your kids?? Any goal to move?
My oldest of 3 boys (newly 4yo) is super sensitive and requires an enormous amount of coregulation especially around social situations and we live in a super social neighborhood where he plays with other kids all the time. I am in the trenches with him, my more resilient 2.75 year old and newborn (3 week) baby bro.
My question is two-fold. I am wondering if you have a super sensitive kiddo how you split attention between everyone when it seems like one gets so much more.
I would love 4 kiddos total but this makes me really pause because it seems like my hands are so full with him in particular but I also want to emotionally show up for all my kids and not sure how I’d do that with 4. So, if you have 4, does it feel like you know your kids as individuals and you’re able to be there for them emotionally and otherwise?
Thanks!