QOTD: 3/20

[Unknown]

Do you have siblings, and does it effect your opinion on how many kids you want and how far apart they are spaced?

[Unknown]

I have one older sister who is 4 years older. I loved having a sister, but we weren't very close when we were younger. I would like DD to have a sibling (can I secretly say I would love another girl, but don't tell DH), and I always wanted them 2-3 years apart, so a little closer in age.

[RedDDD]

I have a younger brother and we are 22 months apart. DH is the oldest of 4 and each one of them is 3 years apart. I guess I always knew that we wanted more then one because we both love having siblings. I think having 4 that many years apart is actually hard on their relationship. DH was out of the house and his youngest brother and sister were sill in junior high. They never really hung out or had much in common. My brother and I were always close and still are. Wondering if just having 2 keeps the bonds a little closer cuz there is just the two of you? not sure. But we are totally done....no more kiddos for us.

I loved being in school with my brother, I got to kick kids ass's when he got bullied which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Im excited that my two will be only one year apart in school.  They can support each other.

[carli]

I have an older brother and sister. My sister is 2 years older than me and brother is 2.5 older than her. As adults I'm very close with both. They are not particularly close with each other. I would love to have 3 children but my sister and mom both strongly disagree. My mom said 3 always felt like she needed 4 b/c there was always an empty seat at the table. Sister says the middle child gets the short end of the stick. I dont know though. DH only wants 2, he just has 1 sister.

[joi922]

I have one younger brother - he's 18 months younger than me. My husband is the middle of three, all spaced about 2 years apart. My husband wants "as many as I am willing to give him" and would be thrilled to have three. I didn't want kids for a very long time, and now that I have one and one on the way, am pretty sure we're done at 2. I'm not super close with my brother, but that's due to personality, not age. My husband is closer with his younger brother than his older brother, which I think is feeding into his desire to have a third. Honestly, once we decided to have them, I wanted them close together. But, given my own experience, I'm not convinced these two being close together in age will mean they're close emotionally.

[zoly1103]

I am an only child and growing up I wanted a sibling. I always thought I'd have more than one. But I also thought I would be able to get pregnant easily and that didn't work out and now I'm getting older and another child just may not be in the cards.

Being an only wasn't a bad life though. I probably was able to get so much more because there weren't any other kids. And I'm not talking about stuff, but things like dance lessons and vacations (which yes, still cost money). The only time it was hard being an only child is when I lost my last parent. But thankfully, I had my husband.

[junewife]

I have two younger brothers, spaced pretty far apart. I love them and we have close relationships, but the experience made me want to have my kids closer together.

DH is also one of three. We aren't sure how many kids we want, but I'm pregnant with #2 now. We're going to see how we feel after this one.

[sugarkissed]

I'm the oldest, I have 2 brothers 7 and 8 years younger than me. We get along but I wouldn't say that we are super close, so I wanted to make sure that my kids were closer in age in hopes of them growing up friends.

DD will be 21 months when baby #2 is born.

[legitsince86]

I have an older sister, were 15 months apart. We're not super close but close I guess. DH is the third of four siblings. His older siblings are about 5-8 years old. His youngest sibling is I think 18 months or something.

With LO #2 they'll be 25 months apart

[lilqt3929]

I have a brother who is a year and a half older. Growing up it was nice that we were close in age because we were interested in a lot of the same types of things. Once we got older (high school) we even had quite a few of the same friends which was good and bad. I really like the spacing between us now (even though we aren't really close anymore) because our kids are close in age also which makes family get togethers fun! DH has an older brother by 2 years so we both have similar experiences with our siblings. That said, I'd like for DD to have a sibling within 2 to 3 years so that means we would need to TTC soon. I'd like to TTC this summer with hopes of avoiding a winter baby since DH and I both don't like our winter birthdays (not such a big deal now but growing up we never had a ton of choices for parties and its just such a miserable time of year for me that I cant imagine going through the post partum stuff then too). If we're blessed with another LO and LO#2 ends up a girl as well, I may think about trying for a third but I don't know if DH would be on board.

[Unknown]

zoly1103, ((HUGS)) I hear you about struggling TTC and getting older. Its hard, but I wish you the best and hope you do have another!

[fiveohfive]

zoly1103 Unknown and wowcheezits -- big hugs to all of you along your TTC journey. I think about you and your struggles often and wish you the best of luck.

I have 4 older siblings 3.5, 5.5, 7.5 and 9.5 years older. I wouldn't say any of us are super close, but we all talk at least once/week. My sisters who are 7.5 and 9.5 years older have kids born within 6 months of DD which gives us lots to talk about, my bro 5.5 years older stops to visit DD weekly since he is a bachelor that lives nearby and my sister 3.5 years older and I probably talk the most to one another about more personal things and advice. All of my sisters live out of state which kind of stinks.

We are debating 2 or 3 kiddos total based on our house size, finances and babysitters ability to watch them. I guess we will see how things go after 2 comes in a few weeks.

[mommabakes]

I have an older brother (2 yrs older) and three younger brothers (5, 7, and 10 years younger) honestly I'm not close to any of them. It's definitely more of a personality thing than an age thing I think.

DH is the youngest of 3.

We are expecting baby #2, which means they will be just under two years apart. We ideally want one more, but we're waiting to really decide until after this one is about a year old.

[ajaan113]

I have a brother that is six years older. DH is the middle child. I would like more kids but age and my husband going to nursing school are some factors for us stopping with one. Genetics and clinical study prevents us from having more kids. There is always adoption if we were to want more kids.

[lilqt3929]

mommabakes, that picture of your DD is just so adorable. Her smile is infectious!

ajaan113, I applaud you for even contemplating the possiblity of adoption. There are so many children that need loving families and not enough families open thier homes/hearts to them.

[jlprybs927]

I am the youngest of 4. My 2 older brothers are 20+ years older from my moms marriage to her Hs sweetheart. My sister and I are 3 years apart and she was not a fun child or teen to grow up with. We were never close and that has strongly affected how I feel about having another closer in age with D. Hopefully we will be trying by the end of the school year.

Don't get me wrong I love all of my siblings but I am not close with any of them. I wish I had that close sibling bond.

[Deleted]

I have one younger sister. We're a little more than 3.5 years apart. I've always wanted at least 2 kids, unless my sister was being a horrible brat - then I always swore I'd have only 1 child to spare them from ever having to deal with a sibling. And, apparently, God laughed at that because I have twins. I would still like to have one more child - but that has nothing to do with me having a sibling. That has everything to do with loving every moment of being a Mommy.

As for spacing, again, having a sister doesn't even factor in to my plans. It has to do with a) knowing that I would have to do an FET to get pregnant again b) having twins to parent and c) convincing DH to have another child. I always thought I would try for a 3-4 year gap between kids. Then I struggled with IF, and thought that (since it was so hard to get pregnant) a 1-2 year gap might be better (knowing I'd be going the IVF route). But with twins (and believe me when I say I go to bed completely exhausted at night), I'm not quite sure when I'll be ready to try again. Last year, I had thought maybe when the girls were 2, but there is just no way I'm ready to be pregnant/have another baby right now.

[marley629]

I have 7 siblings and 2 half-siblings. I'm the 2nd oldest...I think my parents were insane Hahahaha. I would like 1 more. My older sister and I were the biggest gap until my half siblings and we are 2.5 years apart. I would have liked my kids to be closer in age than that but financially we have to wait a few more months before ttc#2 so we are looking at a 3+ age gap. Growing up with such a big family was hard, but now that we are all see, we get along a lot better and it's nice to have all of them to lean on during difficult times. Plus family parties are always entertaining haha

[littlefoot]

I have two younger sisters, one five years younger and one with an eight year difference. Growing up I was very close to the older one until she got into her teens and I became a mom. And now my youngest sister and I are closer than we ever have been. Until recently, I wanted to have more kids while DD was still pretty young. (like 2 or 3) But honestly, I think it'd be better for all of us even if we wait a few years.