Larger Families Chatter ~ May 2008-May 2009

[Toomanytoomany]

To all those who are expecting or have 5 kids - a warning....you have offically lost it! 4 kids is still kinda normal but when you get to 5 it tips the scales of most peoples thinking. Even the hospital class you differently....a Grand Multi! Its amazing what that 5th child does, so to all those wonderful crazy people out there with 5 kids or more welcome to a life that is never ever lonely or boring! And think aren't our Christmas day backyard cricket matches better?

You are so right! Four is sort of big but conceivable. Five is.... "Woah! Five? FIVE?" (Uh, yeah, I'm pretty sure I counted right.)

I love that term, grand multipara. I wear it with pride!!!

[mountain mummy]

Hi,

We have just had #4, and I am soooo clucky (if you can be about your own kids!!) that even though our ds is only 6 weeks old, when I look at him, or even see other babies, I immediately want another one! Am I crazy or what?

What is it with people and the TV comments? When a guy at work asked DP if that was it, he said (our usual response) "we'll see what happens", this guy tells DP he'll buy him a TV just so he'll keep his hands off me!!! LOL! Funny thing is, we have a TV in our bedroom! LOL!

I only had one sibling growing up (with a huge 6yr age gap) so I always wanted a "big" family, and close together too. I have been lucky I think, so far, but I would really like for us to have another girl - besides, my 2 eldest (a boy and a girl) are not DP's biological kids, so I'd love to be able to give him a biological daughter (obviously our 2 together so far are boys!)

He keeps swaying though as to whether we will or we won't have more ... am I being selfish wanting more when my youngest is still so young? I'm no spring chicken anymore (35 in a few months) and with twins on both sides of our families, the odds are going to increase of us conceiving twins ... (which I wouldn't mind!)

I can't believe four is considered a BIG family ... but when you try to find holiday packages, or even just accommodation, most places only cater for 2 adults and up to 3 kids How do the rest of you manage it?

[halltribe]

Holidays - yeh save up. We took a holiday in March in the Sunshine Coast and stayed at a resort called Riverdance. They were great and we took Grandma with us as well and they did us a good deal. We were intially gonna stay at a camping ground thinking it was cheaper but because of fire regulation, blah blah they could only have so many bodies per tentsite/ cabin, etc and it was gonna split us all up and cost more than the resort!

Sometimes when we go places people must feel sorry for us and give us discounts on rides, etc! Whenever we go somewhere for the day though we always pak a lunch cos it costs a fortune to buy takeaways for a mob!

Out in the weekend with the family and some guy asked my DH if they were all his (meaning the kids of course) and he replied back quick as a wink - I'm still waiting on the bloodtests! Cheeky sod!

[mountain mummy]

We spent the day with a friend of ours (who has 5 kids) the other week, and we decided to get a couple of bbq chooks and chips and some bread ... later on when we thought about it, it would actually have been cheaper to get 2 KFC family feast deals and we would have got more! LOL! Go figure!

Yeah, we are finding it a little more expensive to go places - we rarely eat out, and even with only 5 of us eating, 2 large pizzas don't do the trick anymore! I am slowly adjusting to making bigger meals, but it's amazing how far you can make food go with some imagination!!

[KimB]

We have just had to knock back a holiday package cause it only catered for 2 kids lol. The lady trying to sell it to me didn't even try after I told her we were expecting #5 lol.

As for food, I have had to up my allowance to $400 per fortnight. I manage this by shopping at Aldi. I don't buy stuff I don't need and try not to buy junk food. Sometimes the kids talk me into it.

We buy dominos pizza on a Tuesday night when they are $4.95 each so can feed us all for under $20.

Halltribe I laughed when I read what your DH said. My DF thought it was funny too. He has 3 stepkids and this will make 2 bio ones. So heaven knows what he would say lol.

My GTT test came back normal yay. So now can concentrate on having the birth I want.

Will drop in again soon

Take care

Kim

[Dustmite]

...some guy asked my DH if they were all his (meaning the kids of course) and he replied back quick as a wink - I'm still waiting on the bloodtests! Cheeky sod!

I worked with a guy who was going through the checkout at a local grocery store with his wife then pregnant with his son. The cashier looked at the two of them then looked at him and said you must be real excited to which the guy looked at his wife then back at the cashier and with a straight face said "oh its not mine".

I guess the poor woman was speechless and had a horrid look on her face...wish I could have seen it. Actually I wish I had the guts to mess with people like that.

The closest I come is when people want to know if we are done or say something like "their all your kids?", I typically say "yup, what can I say - were breeders". Then of course there is the traditional "don't you know what causes this?" My wife was asked this by a good friend in church one morning who thought he was being really funny. My wife looked at him and said "yes and apparently we like what causes it". The guy turned real red and his wife about fell over laughing at him.

[mountain mummy]

hehe when i was pregnant with #4, we were buying bunk beds for the kids and the woman in the store asked if we knew what caused it. My DP was looking after our other 3, keeping them occupied, so I replied, yeah but we haven't found a cure for it yet!

Some people really should mind their own business!

[halltribe]

ha ha ha!!!

We have been asked whether we are Catholics or rabbits? Neither!!!

It REALLY REALLY annoys me when people think I have this many kids to get more money from the government!!! Are they joking?!?

[Dustmite]

truth is they should be asking you to have more kids! The tax base is shrinking because of small families - a larger family will eventually equate to a larger tax base which will raise the quality of life in society.