Have Kids They Said....

Ever have "THIS" kind of a day?  Well, I have had my fair share of them.  As you may have noticed in my family picture, I have three great kids...well, most of the time.  My oldest just turned 18 years (yes, 18 years old, not 18 months!), my next child is almost 6 years old and my baby is almost 4 years old. 

Our family is proof positive that Heavenly Father has a sense of humor when it comes to a timeline.  I wanted all my children before I turned 30, and I wanted four of them.  If I would have gotten my wish, I would have one graduating, one in 10th grade, one in 8th grade, and the last one in 6th grade. 

NOT SO!!! 

I have been married to a wonderful man for going on 22 years.  I know it is shocking to learn that people really do stay together that long, but it does happen.  After we were married, we naturally wanted to start our family. We struggled with getting the first one to earth (not an easy task, even after 18 years!!)  Then we desperately wanted another one (I know, kinda crazy, right?).  We tried in vain for several years and then accepted that our family just might be complete.

I kept myself involved in many activities so that I wouldn't be super obsessed with wanting to have children.  I taught at a day care, I taught Kindergarten for several years, and then I started my very own Pre-School.  I loved working with small children that were still willing to explore and were curious to learn.  I had it all planned out - I would become the greatest Pre-School teacher EVER and everyone would want to enroll their child in MY school.

Then Heavenly Father's "timeline" kicked in…

Shortly after my first day of Pre-School I started to get sick and I was tired all the time.  My daughter would come home from school and I would flop on the couch and BEG for just 30 minutes of rest.  One day she says to me "Mom, you are ALWAYS sick and ALWAYS tired!  What is WRONG with you?!?"  My response was to break down in tears and say "I don't know!  Just let me sleep for 30 minutes!!!"

Shortly after that I found out I was expecting our son.  After 11 years we were to have our second child.  YAY!!!

 You would think that this would be an absolutely GREAT situation right?  WRONG!!!  I have found that you STILL have the sibling rivalry...just on a much bigger scale.  My oldest will pick on the younger two in the name of "sibling rivalry", meanwhile the two younger ones are screaming for mom to save them.  We are still trying to teach all of them the "bubble" rule and to respect each others "bubble"…but I have found that it is a VERY difficult thing to teach at any age.

So, if you are thinking that it is better to "space" your kids far apart, do yourself a favor and just get the agony over with all at once.  'Cuz no matter how "far apart" you space them you will still have the same issues.