I am not that far apart from my two sisters, 2 and a bit years b/w each of us. I wasn't really that close to them growing up and sought out the company of my bff who was three years older than me. DP and his brother, 3 years older, are not close at all and growing up there were a lot of bullying issues.
Now I'm an adult I am probably closest to my youngest sister, four and a half years younger. But it's taken a long time to get to the same 'stage' in life (my middle sister doesn't look like having kids any time soon!).
We made the decision to leave at least four-five years between our children, for my sake and so that we could spend more time one-on-one with each child. I don't know how my Mum juggled three of us close together, but I do know we didn't get much of that individual attention. I wanted to do that more with my DD, I thought it might stop some of the jealousy issues I had with my siblings when young.
Also, I work for myself = no maternity leave. No way could I juggle more than one at a time and still fit work in. DP also works for himself = no time off. You get the idea...
DD is VERY excited about the idea of a younger sister (or brother, but not quite as keen LOL) so I'm quite happy we'll have between five and six years gap. She's going to be very much involved in the whole process (even if she can't choose the gender, to her dismay!).
I'm actually excited at the idea of going back to the baby stuff, it's not new, I'm going to savour it a lot more (knowing that I more than likely won't be doing it again) and I've got a whole other perspective on it with DD involved. I'm hoping it all comes back to me!
Last edited by Jennifer13; October 25th, 2010 at 01:05 PM.
I had my 1st 2 22 months apart and DD2 was a very difficult child so we left it awhile to go again, DD2 & DS are 4yrs 7mnths apart and I LOVE it, the girls are at school, they are both able to do things for themselves if im busy with the little one and understand more about it all and they enjoy having a baby brother, im going to have one more in a few years time
We have 20mths between our first three, then there is a 3yr3mth gap between 3 and 4. It has worked out so well for us. I am loving having the gap like it is because now I have DS2 at home on his own for another 2 years before he starts school in 2013. It's hard to explain why it works for us, but it does. he just slots into things perfectly. Even with there being 6.5yrs between DS1 and DS2, they are still really close and spend a lot of time together, so I think if they are going to be close, then the age gap is irrelevant kwim? I wouldn't have had it any other way and think life would have been harder if we had them all close together.
my eldest is turning 5 this week, theres 19 months between him and ds2, they are realy close, there is just under 3 years between ds2 and dd, they seem to get along realy well, shes almost 9 months old, but lights up when he walks in the roomand out of the eldest 2, he is the first to offer me help with her (getting nappies and entertaining her)
there is 11 years between my sister and i, i dont recomend that much of a gap! i never realy got excited over her, and she is now 12, realy clingy, wants to hug and hang off you, it realy bugs me!! df has more siblings, hes 22 has a 21yo, 16yo and 9yo sisters aswell as 14 and 15yo brothers the only ones who realy get along is him and his 16yo sister! i guess it all depends on the kids and if you get the older ones to feel included befor bub arrives so its not a shock in a sence to them?
No worries I've been thinking about it a bit more and I think it works so well because I have that gap of older kids who are pretty self sufficient when you need them to be and then only one that I was, until a few months ago, doing the 'baby thing' for. I have the older 3 kids doing weekend activities and DS2 just plods along for the ride. at this point in time, if i had all 4 of them doing stuff it would be too much. Plus I look at it from a car seat perspective and I can have DS1 in the front seat now and don't need to have a car full of car seats and boosters. It's also a big thing when it comes to preschool and school. I had one start school every two years - DS1 in 06, DD1 in 08 and DD2 this year - and I had a 5 year run of preschool (DS only went for 1 year otherwise it would have been 6 years) and it was madness! This year I have the three older ones in school and DS2 starts preschool next year, so I've only had school to worry about. Having that year off from doing both has been great and I'm really looking forward to getting back into the preschool life again, whereas by the time DD2 finished last year, I was totally over it.
Ooohh I think it would work out really well to wait actually. It's not like you are ever going to be "over" babies , and the last one will have the benefit of more time with mummy with the others at school/kinder. Mummy will have the pleasure of only having one baby at a time too!
It must be hard with the moving, DH away thing when it comes to planning though. xoxoxo
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I've been thinking about it a bit more and I think it works so well because I have that gap of older kids who are pretty self sufficient when you need them to be and then only one that I was, until a few months ago, doing the 'baby thing' for. I have the older 3 kids doing weekend activities and DS2 just plods along for the ride. at this point in time, if i had all 4 of them doing stuff it would be too much. Plus I look at it from a car seat perspective and I can have DS1 in the front seat now and don't need to have a car full of car seats and boosters. It's also a big thing when it comes to preschool and school. I had one start school every two years - DS1 in 06, DD1 in 08 and DD2 this year - and I had a 5 year run of preschool (DS only went for 1 year otherwise it would have been 6 years) and it was madness! This year I have the three older ones in school and DS2 starts preschool next year, so I've only had school to worry about. Having that year off from doing both has been great and I'm really looking forward to getting back into the preschool life again, whereas by the time DD2 finished last year, I was totally over it.
, and the last one will have the benefit of more time with mummy with the others at school/kinder. Mummy will have the pleasure of only having one baby at a time too! 
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