Again.
Yep, we do currently occupy that role many times over. In fact, this will be little hombre numero cinco for their family. (No, they are not of Latino heritage, but nearly as pasty white as we are. That one just popped into my head, so I decided to roll with it.)
Anyhoo, we are super excited for them. Especially since this was a planned pregnancy. Yes, I said planned. But hearing about it really got us thinking. We are planning on a second child of our own - more on that in a later post - and we can kinda sorta imagine what it would be like managing a third child. But five? That's Cave Osborne territory right there. All in! Or alternatively known as "The Crazy Train". Okay, just kidding JCO.
There is no way we, or anyone living close by us here in Seattle that we know for that matter, could pull off raising five kids. Because It's too darn expensive here.
In fact, we know a lot of couples with kids. A LOT. And we tried to think of everyone we knew who had more than just two kids. We literally sat there stumped for a few seconds. Finally, we did come up with one or two local families with a third child including neighbors down the block with a stay at home dad. But the vast majority of our peers had rounded out their families with just the second child.
I was actually amazed at how few people we knew had three or more kids. I had heard an NPR story once a couple of years ago about how the average family size in the US has been shrinking in recent years, necessitating immigration to keep the economy running. I just looked it up and shockingly in 2010 it was 2.59. Meaning on average families average less than one child now. Yes, there are a lot of families without kids who bring that number down, but by comparison the average family size was 3.7 in the late 1950's.
As I said, we are planning to add to the LIAYF family in the near future. But chances are pretty small that at our age we will consider adding a third child to the mix, much less a fourth or even fifth. The laundry alone would reduce me to a shell of my former self.
We will undoubtedly be delighted, come December, to get our first glance at Lukas' eighth cousin, a boy who will add to the abundance of love already in his household. But, we'll also probably imagine the cost and workload involved in raising that child, and secretly be relieved that those are not our responsibilities.
How about you reader? How many kids can your psyche, and budget handle?
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8 comments:
Congrats. The Mrs. family is large but probably topped out for awhile. We try to be frugal with all gift giving.
I stopped at two, but purely because Oldest has severe ADHD and Asberghers, and Youngest has Autism Spectrum, and ADHD. I also stopped because I got divorced. :)
I always wanted four boys. I am getting married on Friday, and he has one son (17). Including the impending husband, it looks as though God has found a way to give me my 4 boys indeed.
:)
I think two is good although we could financially support more. I love babies, but I am having enough difficult moments managing the two I have. Congrats to the happy Aunt and Uncle!! :)
I have 5 kids, and live in Seattle. Yes, it's tough, but we manage. We also do without a lot of things, but it's a matter of priorities.
We currently have 2 and are waiting to get an adoption referral for number 3. I think that's it for us as the adoption process and cost isn't something we could do again. Out of the five people I immediately thought of, only 1 has 2 kids. All the rest have 3. Hopefully Seattle doesn't break the bank. We are suppose to move there next summer.
I always wanted to have somewhere between 4-6 kids but the shop closed at two.
I suppose that the advantage of being male is that I could find a new shop but that would present problems.
Not the least of which is referring to women as "the shop."
It wasn't my plan, but I rolled with it the way you did with your Spanish. :)
As DH will attest - when we first met I told him I wanted 5 kids. He blanched, so we agreed on 2! Our plan was to have a biological child and adopt a child (my mom is adopted). We will have news on that front in a few days . . .
We have two kids, a five year old and a one year old, and we will definitely not be having more. I always thought two was a good number, though we briefly considered sticking with one. To be honest, number two has thrown us for a loop as a couple & a family. 15 months in, we're finally starting to figure it out (I think). I love watching them interact, but I think our little family is a good size, and wouldn't want to start again with a baby.
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