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Spacing the siblings

June 23 2010
Written by: Ginny
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Baby girls

I've been thinking a lot about timing lately. It seems there's no right or wrong when it comes to baby spacing, but it can sure affect the family dynamics!

This is an old picture of my Charlotte (right) and her two favorite cousins. One is exactly her age, and the other is a year and a half older. That's right: The sisters were born 18 months apart. I thought that was super close until yesterday, when we were photographing babies for our October issue and I met a family with two babes born 14 months apart. Imagine having a 5-month-old and being pregnant at the same time! The parents were so calm, collected and prepared though, it must have been meant to be.

I've been able to closely observe the difference between having babies close together and spacing them farther apart as I've spent time with my sister-in-law and her kids over the last few years. The two little girls have built-in playmates in each other (I love that!), and they're much more confident in their social skills, but it definitely looks harder getting out of the house and going places (besides friends' homes or the park) with multiples in tow.

Charlotte has been an only child for over three years now, and she relies on me to fulfill her entertainment needs unless we've scheduled a play date. I absolutely love being her best friend- it just makes it tough to accomplish all the other things I need to get done. I clearly see that I've kept her a baby longer because she was my one and only, but I can't say that that's necessarily good or bad. I've so enjoyed every aspect of her babyhood and toddler years because I haven't had to split my attention.

I'm thinking (and hoping) that Char will be a great helper with her new little brother; hopefully it won't crush her to give up her "spoiled only child" status and learn to share Mommy and Daddy. They'll be three and a half years apart, and I'm OK with that, but I am wondering how long to wait until the next pregnancy. If going from one to two is as hard as some of my friends have said, I may need to wait a couple years, but if not, maybe I'll try to get another pregnancy started quickly, while I'm young and resilient!

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19 Aug17:53

my children are 2 and 3

By treehugger7
my children are 2 and 3 exactly 12 months and 4 days apart and it couldn;t be any better they love each other so much and play wonderfully everybody tried telling me how hard it would be but honestly after a week of getting use to new schedule it couldn't have been easier. we are currently expecting again so this time we'll have a 2 and 3 year old with a newborn and i would be willing to bet it will be way harder with them being older than it was with my 1 year old and newborn but who knows i might be wrong :)
10 Sep08:49

I have 3 children. The two

By jadie
I have 3 children. The two oldest are 4 years apart and my youngest is 9 years younger than my middle child. They all get along great, especially the oldest and youngest which are girls. My middle child is a boy, but my "baby" sure looks up to him. My "babys" are now 21, 17, and 8. I loved having only one baby to take care of at a time, but when my youngest was born, I was already "free" with 2 children old enough to take care of themselves. It was like everything was brand new again. I did and do have built-in babysitters though. I do love it this way. It makes me feel so much younger with an 8 year old. I am a grandmother to a 2 year old also and my Hillary and her are like sisters as opposed to aunt and niece. They are very close. The best part is, when I'm out with the two little girls everyone thinks I'm the mom to both! I'm still not ready to be known as a grandma when I have an 8 year old!