Life with a large family! **GUEST POST**

Having a large family was not really in my life plan, which I had so perfectly mapped out in my early twenties.  I was convinced that I would have two children and that would be that.  As I was one of two girls and everyone in my family seemed to have girls I was also convinced that I too would have two little girls.  After some fertility issues I was blessed with two lovely little boys who kept me very busy and who I just adored.  I loved being a boy mummy, but I still had the feeling that I wasn’t quite done with the baby thing.  I still looked at pregnant women and those with a newborn and felt a pang of ‘I wish that was me’. So, when my husband started talking as if we might have another I was more than convinced that this was the right move for us.  We decided to try again and as with the first two times one month of clomid and I was pregnant.  There was a surprise to come though as this was not one baby, but two.  We officially joined the large family club in 2015 when our beautiful twin girls arrived. 

I won’t lie to you; it is hard work having four littles especially when they are so close together in age.  When the girls arrived, I had 4 aged 3 and under (for two days until the eldest turned 4) and the first year was little short of impossible. I still spend a lot of time running about and sometimes feel like I am not able to give everyone what they need, but I love having a large family and here’s why:

·         It is always busy in our house.  It is lively and noisy almost all the time.  This means it is full of life and activity and there is always something going on so I very rarely hear anybody whingeing that they are bored

·         My children have each other and as they grow up have the unconditional love that really only comes from your family from people.  I think that makes them very lucky.  Having a support network is so important especially in today’s society where so much is impersonal and technology driven (she says writing a blog!)

·         In a large family, there is a lot of fun to be had and always someone available to play with; no play dates needed here!  I think the sheer quantity of ideas means that there are lots of good games suggested and for me it is like having 4 little entertainments managers

·         In a large family, the children need to share more and they have to learn to be patient.  It is simply not possible for them to all have mummy’s attention immediately.  They have to learn to share and to wait.  I am not going to pretend that they always like it, but in today’s world of instant gratification I believe that these are great skills that are becoming increasingly rare

·         I get to have four lots of cuddles and kisses every day and, at least until they get old enough to find me remarkably embarrassing, get to be the most important person in 4 people’s lives (5 if you include the hubby)

·         Large families mean more of everything;  more birthdays, more laughter, more joy at Christmas, more jokes, more love, more craziness – just more more more (I won’t pretend to ignore that this also means more tantrums, more tears and more sibling fights….)

·         In a large family the children do have to learn to be independent a bit quicker otherwise, we would never ever get anywhere.  We really try not to get the boys to help raise their sisters, but we do ask them to be more responsible for themselves than might be the case in a smaller family.  This means that we ask them to get themselves dressed and put their own shoes away to give two examples.  At 4 years old, my son was getting himself completely dressed for school.  Of course this was overseen by me, but they are learning life skills early on and to be independent which I believe will help to build strong self esteem

·         We really get value for money out of any gender-neutral clothes! 

·         I honestly believe that once they get past toddler age, having a large family actually means there is more down time for mummy and daddy. They have each other to play with so we are increasingly surplus to requirements.

I now know that I am done with having babies.  Our large family is complete and yes it is stressful having 4 little kids and it is often hard, but I wouldn’t trade it for one minute.  Life is crazy and so very noisy (apologies to the neighbours), but oh so much fun….

**This is a Guest post written by Kirsty from Navigating Baby, you can find out a little more about her below and don't forget to pop by her blog and say Hi.**

I am Kirsty from Navigating Baby and I write about raising my 4 crackers littles.  My children can be found tearing around my house playing ninjas, loving one another or driving each other crazy and I can be found alternating between drinking coffee, pleading for order and writing about the chaos at www.navigatingbaby.com. I do love to get social and you can find me at:

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