Family Size

I am delighted that we are expecting baby #4 in the spring. Being pregnant with my fourth has been an interesting study in the thoughts and feelings people have about family size.

Many people have said things like, "Oh my gosh, you guys are crazy!," or, "Wow, you're really pushing your luck!" or, "You are going to be swamped with housework when the new baby comes!" or, "You guys sure like to make things complicated!"

It is so different from the response you hear when you become pregnant with your first, second, or even third, baby. It seems as though, for many people, three kids makes a 'reasonable' family size, while four is somehow too big, or too risky.

I am very interested to hear how other people decided they were 'done' (so to speak), and why 4 is the magic 'too big' number.

Personally, when I got married I said I wanted 5 kids, and I have 4 sisters and 2 brothers, so having 4 kids does not feel like giant family (though I am sure there are times when it will! Even ONE felt like a lot sometimes!).

Oh, and one more note about the reaction people have: when I was visiting my sister in LA every one of her friends reacted positively saying things like, "Oh my gosh you are so lucky!" - maybe the 4-is-too-many thing is regional?