few questions about 4 kids.

[trouble]

I have a 4 year old, a 2 year old and a 4 month old, all girls. I was always planning on 4 kids, always, and I love the approx 2 year age gap, however, I fell pregs again, which would have made 3-4 a year apart, and that would have been fine as well, but I sadly lost that baby, :crying:.

A lot of people have said its a lot harder to have the 4th child, in the way of more bedrooms ina home, and the car situation,

So this is what im really interested in.

we have a 4wd with 7 seats, and DH put an anchor point in the boot for a car seat, as it is too squishy for an adult to sit in the boot, and we often take another adult with us. so my 4 year old has her seat in there somethimes and she loves it, but im not sure.

how do you do it?

and is there anything else that i should know?

[Hokey Pokey]

We had to upgrade the car and are building a new house with more room, it does take me longer to get ready in the morning especially if we need to go out during the day but I love it.

[trouble]

what car did you buy?

[JabberJaw]

Biggest problem for us was a car. We have a station wagon with the dickie seat in the back but i feel they are dangerous, plus more often than not we have other kids tagging along or what not, so we brought an older tarago van and fixed it up a bit, hubby used that as a work car and the weekend car, i used the station wagon for school runs. Station wagon has no room for a pram/shopping/anything with the seat being used, so thats a bummer.

3-4 kids was not a major change for us, but i did notice that bub gets a bit messed around in sleep with the school pick ups/drop offs but after a while we changed routine to suit.

We are a bit squishy in a 3 bedroom house so now we have converted the attached lined garage to an extra room. we just have big funky mats on the floor to cover the cement!

If your renting its sometime heaps harder to get rentals (well i have found anyway)

but other than that, not huge changes.

[trouble]

well, we atm are building a 6 bedroom house, we were thinking of having the spare room, as it is far away from our family and friends and we wanted a spare room for that purpose so we have no problems in that area really,

it was more the cars, I really love my car, we have a 4wd, and I wasnt planning to part with it for a while and more to the point, I own it, and really cant afford to get another, I still dont know.

so thanks for the replies. :)

[Boobycino]

I think your other adult passenger may just need to get squished! I think most 4WD have 4-5 anchor points for car seats, but its a big ask to accommodate 4 carseats PLUS 3 adults. You migt need to look at a minivan? I wonder what Jon & Kate drive? (from the tv show 'jon and kate plus 8')

I would like to have 4 myself, so far I've just got the one, but I've given a lot of thought to the house arrangement. I think if I was building a house myself I'd have 4 master bedroom sized rooms. So we have 2 childrens rooms parents room and guestroom - then we can split teengers when they get old enough and *hopefully* by the time the younger two are getting irritated with each other Jasper (our beautiful only bub at the moment) leaves home.

Then when all 4 leave home we're not left with a 6 bedroom home, we've got a seemingly more managable home, really suitable for when the 4 of them come and visit with their own children.

OMG, did I just plan out the next 40 years of my life?

[melbryan]

I have a 12 week old, 1 yr old and ,2 yr old and 4 yr old.
We changed one room in our house to a bedroom now we have a 5 bedroom house all kids have their own space very lucky really. We have apool and plenty of room to play so no real reason to leave the house.
My 4 yr old starts school next year so bubs will nearly 1 so that will be good.

We ended up selling Dh's ute and buying a 2001 Ford station wagon in the back there are retro seats just for the kids not adults and fits 3 kids across no need for car seats. we have our car seats in the middle row. It is comfy and used for preschool dropoffs and do errands etc with the kids. It holds some shopping a stroller and a double pram. I mostly do shopping when DH comes home from work so then have more room in the car for our truckload of groceries.
I think because all mine are so close together it is very hectic but that is just our lot really. And if it isn't hectic enough Ds3 has type 1 diabetes so I feel we can handle anything now. It really is what you can handle and your personal threshold. MOst nights they all good sleepers so I am very lucky in that area and if I am waking for babies I want to get all the babies out of the way. Good luck any other qu.s feel free to PM me.

[trouble]

well, I did some thinking last night, and I have decided that number 4 is definately going to be here.

I have always wanted 4 kids, and Im going to have them, I have no problems kicking out our adult passenger, or if they still want to come, the can be squished.

I think we will be fine with our 4wd, my DD1 loves sitting in the boot. :yelclap:

So I think we will be fine, I think I will handle it fine as my kids are all good as far as it goes, they still make me crazy, but im lucky, they all sleep, I have no problems dealing with all of them on my own, they all behave.

Im excited!!!!:smiliedance: thanks guys.

[Hokey Pokey]

what car did you buy?

A toyota tarago :thumbsup:

[Mitchlan]

Wow, this thread has helped answer questions I've had for a while!! I have a 3y.o, 1y.o and 11 week old and desperately want another (in a couple of years). Am having trouble trying to convince DH of this though - his argument being things get too difficult with 4 kids due to car, house etc. Any advice, hints, suggestions would be greatly appreciated from me also!! We have a Territory (7-seater though back row is squishy) and will be building a house in the next couple of years. Anything else we need to consider? Trouble - how exciting!!! I can't wait until I can convince DH to have number 4 and I'm TTC!!!

[branjie]

We have just bought a Kia Grand Carnival, and I absolutely love it. It is an 8 seater, but we have removed one seat so that the kids can just walk through to the back. It's got heaps of room, and a decent (deep) boot. I actually got teary when I had to give up my Hyundai Tucson 4wd, but from the very first time I got to drive the carnival, I haven't missed my 4wd a bit. We have bub #3 due any day now, but unfortunately DH isn't wanting a bub #4. Pity, we're all set up with the car, and have enough room in our house. Oh well, who knows, maybe he'll change his mind one day. Good luck with your #4 :).

[sarahsboys]

Hello, we are planning to concieve no#4 end of this year :fingerscrossed: for a girl! Will be upgading to VW Transporter. They can seat 10 peple, without luggage. But will prob configure it so adults in front, storage, prams etc. at back and the 4 kids face each other, so will hopefully be entertained, if you know what I mean!!!

we are building a 5 bedroom, 3 level house at the moment, should be in by xmas, so that should solve the space problem.

Ideally will have bub 4 before DS1 goes to school, so can get him/her into a routine before all the school drop offs start !!

[Wiggy]

Well I am preg with #6 and I found the jump from 2 to 3 to be the hardest. You go from having one for each hand to ... omg one runs off and you are still holding onto two others lol :) That being said my kids were great and I enjoyed every moment, I woudn't change it for the world. At first as far as cars go we had a wagon and then upgraded when I had my 5th to a tarago so I have enough seats even now. My eldest is nearly 14 now and has a girlfriend so he doesn't come with us as much as he used to (starting to get all independant).

Sheila 11 wks + 2