To those of you with 3+ kids...

i think it depends on a lot of things....how much help you have, the ages of your kids, etc. in 1 week i'll have having #3......i anticipate it being quite hard, because my others are only 3.5 and 22 months....so all in car seats, 2 in diapers, etc. also, my kids still require a lot of attention, which i think will be hard while i'm constantly nursing the new baby. i also think it will be hard because my 3.5 yr old all of the sudden doesnt sleep thru the night, so i'll be on VERY little sleep with 2 up at night. however, as they get older, i'm sure that it will be easier and i'll be happy that i had them closer together. i plan to homeschool, which will be interesting with 3 at different ages/stages....but they arent so far apart....so i should be able to do a lot of group activities with them.
i know homeschool moms of 6-8 and they all say that it's hard while they are little but much easier when they start getting older and start entertaining and playing with each other.

I think it just depends on so many things- spacing, temperments- to name just a couple.

We have 4, the 4th is just 4 weeks old. My most difficult transition was from no kids to 1. For me, going from 1 to 2 and from 2 to 3 kids was easy. Going from 3 to 4 has been harder. Not terrible hard, but harder. Part of what makes this transition tougher for me is that this is my closest spacing (not by a lot, but still). My 3rd was only 26 mos old when Laney was born and he is so much still a baby. I feel guilty that he doesn't get me as much as he used to (and still wants to). The other thing for me is that while my oldest is almost 8, he is my most spirited child and he requires a lot of my energy. He can sometimes be helpful, but honestly he saps a lot more of my energy than he saves.

I always wanted a big, crazy, wild, chaotic family though, so here we are

We had 3 pretty close together -- our oldest was only 4 and our middle son just 2.5 when number 3 came along. My oldest has autism and is delayed so that made things harder. I had 3 in diapers... I also happened to have DD when my oldest was not in preschool because it was summer time -- so I went from having help with his care to having none. Then all the help I was supposed to have (various family members) basically fell through (mostly because of health/surgery that was affecting my parents and my other sister ended up having a baby at the same time). So...it was very difficult for the first several months. Now that she is 2 I don't feel that it is all that difficult -- she fits right in with her older brothers and it doesn't seem like any extra work for me. ETA: The worst part was the pregnancy and first 3-4 months pp ... because of hormones/lack of sleep/and having two small children that were very needy because of their ages/development.

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I like that--except, of course, there are a few ways in understand the word anchor. I see a largish family as a very positive thing--and anchor, strong roots, an absolute center to my life. I know exactly who I am and what I am about and what my life is focused on on a daily, yearly and long-term basis. Of course, people do with one or two children as well, but given my family sized (4 and one on the way) and age (42) I am now experiencing a rootedness and a sense of of calm focus that eluded me in my footloose and ambitious 20s.

Which isn't to say we are stuck here. We travel. WE've lived abroad a couple of times, once for 4 years, and we have great great fun. My kids work hard at academic work, helping around the house, and their sports and music. They are largly self motivated, in part because they have to be. And they play and play together. All the time. And usually without casualty.

I love having a batch, for all the obvious reasons, and I do recognize the dowsides (mainly financial). The best reason of all is that each one really is a person in his or her own right and so interesting and exciting to know and see grow, change, and become. I have afront-row seat on the best show ever, and feel so lucky about that.

Because of our family size and the nature of my husband's job (which is demanding, involves lots of travel and is unpredictable) our division of labor is very traditional (though Dh and I both consider ourselves feminists and progressives.) There is a lot of meal making, cleaning, and stuff managment here, but many hands make light work!

HTH

We have four daughters, aged 8, 6, 2 and 5 months. Going from 1 to 2 was a fairly easy even though they are 22 months apart. Going from 2 to 3 was pretty hard honestly. My third daughter is very high spirited and very vocal and demanding. I love her with all of my heart but she is hard. We waited 4 years to have another after the first 2 so I think that might have been some of the problem--just being out of the "baby" phase. She was supposed to be the last and then I got pregnant with #4 and was terrified of having another difficult baby. But you know, Evelyn(#4) just fits right in. And Georgia(#3) loves her baby sister and I now know she was never meant to be the last child. She needed that sibling close in age(24 months apart) to kind of buffer her personality.

Getting out can kind of be a hassle but I do it with 4 kids all of the time. I do only try to grocery shop with just the baby or by myself now that she can go more than an hour between nursing. I don't like having 2 in diapers but my 2 yr old is peeing in the potty now so that cuts diapers to only nap and bed which is nice. I am not saying that it can't be hard. Dinner can be hectic and so can bed time but honestly you just find a groove and hang in there.

Honestly I am so glad that I got pregnant and we had a fourth. She is just what we all needed in our family and we love her so. :