Any one here with 5 kids or more?

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Sillara said:
Raises hand

I have five children. (In fact, I’m married to that father of five in the other thread! )
  1. Family Life: Our family life is excellent. We spend a lot of time together as a family, but it is also nice that the children entertain one another. They have their fights, but they love playing together.
  2. Social Life: My husband goes out with his friends at least once a week, usually twice. We also have friends over to our house once a week. Once a week my husband I go for an outing with only the two youngest children while the big ones are at swimming. I love the time with my husband. But I admit I do not have much of a social life. 😦 It is one of the tougher parts for me. I homeschool the three big ones, so I really have no break. However, now that Baby #5 is reaching an age to eat something besides breast milk, I am hoping to resume going out with my husband on dates a couple of times a month. I love that. I get to have my husband to myself then!
  3. Health and well being: We have no car, so we walk everywhere. That helps. I can’t work out too much right now because I am still nursing, but when I am neither nursing nor pregnant I have a couple of workouts I do at home when the children are busy or sleeping. My husband also exercises at home. It works for us. I’m wearing some of my jean-shorts from college as Baby #5 lolls on my lap, so it definitely works.
  4. Stress levels and how to manage it: We pray the Rosary and the LotH. Seriously, without that, I think I would crack. Also, we take walks together. That is a lot of fun.
  5. Time out periods ( What do you do , do you go on holidays without the kids to wind down? etc…): Well, when the smallest one is able to eat food, we try to go out on a date together about twice a month. More would be nice, but the sitters get expensive. I don’t care where we go or what we do. I just like the time with my husband!
  6. What are your treasured moments: Nursing the babies. 😉 Also watching my husband play with our children.
  7. Would you do it all again in another life: Yes, I would.
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Nice to meet you!
You Homeschool?
How do you manage with such a busy schedule?
My Kids go to Public school, though we are trying to get them in Catholic schools next year!

On Health and well being:
My wife was diagnosed with Osteoporosis with our 3rd child, ( we say he sucked up all the calcium out of her , that he is the smartest and the most talkative!)
But My Wife is a strong person and I love her. She has had 2 kids after that , and going strong. She is in osteopenia stage , which is steady bone tissue, she only gets muscle aches but other than that she is fine.

My kids are …
Chris 11 yrs:cool:
Na 10 yrs :curtsey:
Pat 7 yrs :irish1:
Ge 3 yrs :kiss4you:
Is 12 months :yeah_me:

I love them to death and we love :grouphug:
 
We have 8 boys ranging from age 19 down to 2 years old. The first 5 came in 6 and 1/2 years, the last three have each been about 3 to 4 years apart. I would do it all over again! We homeschool them and our 2nd oldest is graduating this month.

Family life is rarely dull–wouldn’t mind being bored once in awhile.

Social life is getting together with other families, being involved in our parish and visiting with neighbors. Also, going out with hubby occasionally.

health and well being–at times this area suffers due to business with family life and homeschooling. My hubby and I are both working on exercising more and eating less.

stress levels–I take breaks and hang out with my animals–pet the dog, take care of the chickens…I love animals, so this helps me to regain some inner peace when things are getting chaotic. I pray during these times also. I take walks in the woods too.

my husband and I try to get away for at least a weekend around our anniversary time each year–if the baby is too young, we take him with us. We also go out to dinner, take walks, go shopping together or go to see a movie together on occasion.
 
kingJesus said:
Hi,
I am just wondering, as a father of 5 myself, I was happy when I heard from another father of 5 who posted on my thread!
So I guess I am wanting to know if there are more who have 5 or more? And what are there ups and downs with…
  1. Family Life
  2. Social Life
  3. Health and well being
  4. Stress levels and how to manage it
  5. Time out periods ( What do you do , do you go on holidays without the kids to wind down? etc…)
  6. What is your treasured moments
  7. Would you do it all again in another life!
Love to hear from you!
God Bless!:signofcross:
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Hi!

We have six kids, ranging in age from 15 1/2 down to 5. Our oldest was 4 1/2 when I had the 4th, so it was pretty crazy in there for a while. I also had 4 miscarriages during that same 10 yr time frame, so my body was pregnant 10 times in 10 years.

Family Life: Very busy. This past year, our kids were in 5 different schools. You can imagine just how nuts that was. Next year will be slightly better; we will have only 3 schools 😃 I am not one for family meals, because they give me indigestion (my digestive system can’t handle too much chaos!). So I eat either before or after the rest of the family, but I do try to have a decent meal most nights when I am home. Both my husband and I work outside the home, and if I am working nights or traveling out of town, my husband is in charge of the dinners. After school activities: basketball, dance, swim, and others, depending on the time of year. Our kids get along pretty well, and it really makes me happy to see them forming bonds and friendships with each other. We do have some of the typical sibling rivalries—and we have one who loves to bug the others just for kicks—but over all, I’d say our house is a pretty even-keel kind of place.

Social Life: I have always socialized a lot at work, so I get a lot of my needs for female friendship and camaraderie in the workplace. (I was a SAHM for the first five years of motherhood, and I did find that very difficult socially.) My husband is friends with the guys he works with as well. My husband and a neighbor of ours have become good friends in the past couple years, and this neighbor often stops by in the evening to have a beer and work on a project of some sort with my husband. My husband and I try to get away for 4-5 days to some exotic Caribbean beach every 2-3 yrs (have a dear family member who will come from a very long distance to watch our kids for us!), and we feel like carefree kids again running around the beach and drinking pina coladas in the sun 😃 These little honeymoons really help keep us connected! Our oldest kids can now watch our younger kids while we go on dates locally, so we can pretty much have some alone time together whenever we want to at this point in our lives. I love it! As for family vacations, we try to take a couple of week-long camping trips in the summer. The kids have a fantastic time and have great memories from these trips. We also have friends with lots of kids over for cookouts on the back deck while the kids play in our above-ground pool. Great family fun!

Health and Well-being: I’d like to say I am in wonderful health, but the stress of all those pregnancies and having so many little kids really did a number on me. I was diagnosed with a serious chronic illness after #4 and ended up hospitalized for a while after #5. For a while there, it looked like I might be seriously debilitated by it. But God is good, and I am in much better health now. Not getting pregnant for the past five years has probably helped a lot in that regard, as I found pregnancy to be very stressful to my body. For my 6th child, I had to be on serious meds the whole pregnancy and ended up on bedrest at the end. He was healthy, though, and for that I am very thankful! I have used WW over the years to help lose weight after babies (had a REALLY hard time losing pregnancy weight), and now I have been at my goal weight for years. I try to get on the treadmill 5-6 days out of seven, and that very much helps with stress as well. My husband is not as good at regular exercise, but he is blessed with a good metabolism and is at a very healthy weight. He spends a lot of time outdoors when he can: cutting wood, swimming in summer, etc, and I do think that helps keep him fit.

Treasured moments: Giving birth! I hated being pregnant, but I LOVED giving birth. Very strange, considering I am hardly the earth mother sort :eek: Those moments right after the births of the 6 kids are some of the most bonding moments my husband and I have shared in our lives. Absolutely amazing. Other treasured moments: spending time vacationing with the kids, watching them accomplish amazing things (like their dance recitals every year—I always get teary-eyed!), snuggling in bed with the younger ones at night, etc.

Would I do it all over again? Well, if you had asked me that years ago, when the kids were all little, I would probably have said no. I was exhausted, depressed, stressed, and resentful that NFP wasn’t working out so well for us 😉 I felt trapped by my life. But my husband kept telling me that we would be so glad we had done this someday, and by golly, he was right!! I AM glad we did it. But I honestly don’t know if I would have the strength/fortitude/health to do it all over again. Those were very hard years. Now that our kids are getting older, I am a MUCH happier person, and consequently, our entire family is much happier. I am eternally grateful to God for the six beautiful children we have, and if another one should come our way, we’d love that baby with all our hearts, but I wouldn’t wish for it to happen to us. I think some of us are just better moms of older children. I am reveling in motherhood/parenting at this stage, rather than just barely surviving the ordeal as I did in the early years 🙂
 
I am a father of 5 girls. No boys…yet!

As for the other topics in your original post, Sillara answered them all perfectly.
 
Ihave 6 kids. Five boys and one girl. Tried for a girl each time. Sixth time lucky.
Thanks be to God. We have been truely Blessed.
Jacqueline in New Zealand.
:yawn::grouphug::signofcross:
 
JACQUE_D said:
Ihave 6 kids. Five boys and one girl. Tried for a girl each time. Sixth time lucky.
Thanks be to God. We have been truely Blessed.
Jacqueline in New Zealand.
:yawn::grouphug::signofcross:
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we did the whole try for a boy thing and got him at #6 also…when they requested another boy…we got girl #6 to make 7!
 
kingJesus said:
Hi,
I am just wondering, as a father of 5 myself, I was happy when I heard from another father of 5 who posted on my thread!
So I guess I am wanting to know if there are more who have 5 or more? And what are there ups and downs with…
  1. Family Life
  2. Social Life
  3. Health and well being
  4. Stress levels and how to manage it
  5. Time out periods ( What do you do , do you go on holidays without the kids to wind down? etc…)
  6. What is your treasured moments
  7. Would you do it all again in another life!
Love to hear from you!
God Bless!:signofcross:
Click to expand...
I don’t have children yet… but I am the eldest of five! 🙂 I have always noticed out family life being wonderful… as for my parents social life… I think it leaves more to be desired… Mom homeschooled us and works as a nurse, so she was always busy… Dad was always helping her, he also worked full time. As I remember, all of their free time was spent with us kids. Even today! They have families over sometimes, but they like eachother’s company and their children’s much more !
 
We have 7! I grew up in a medium sized family and always wished there were more of us, so I always thought the more the merrier!
 
You know, I had been thinking it might be a good idea to add a “Large Families” group to the groups at CAF… Would this sound ok as a description?

This group is for the support of large families. It is a safe place to exchange ideas, concerns, ask for advice, share experience, etc. Our Church teaches large families are a blessing, and this is the spirit of this group, so please keep this in mind when posting (large families already get enough anti-life comments from society out there). Families don’t have to have a specific number of children to join, just an interest in being part of a support network for large families (my family is still expecting our fourth child, but would love to learn from larger families just in case we are blessed with a large family).
 
lifeisbeautiful said:
You know, I had been thinking it might be a good idea to add a “Large Families” group to the groups at CAF… Would this sound ok as a description?

This group is for the support of large families. It is a safe place to exchange ideas, concerns, ask for advice, share experience, etc. Our Church teaches large families are a blessing, and this is the spirit of this group, so please keep this in mind when posting (large families already get enough anti-life comments from society out there). Families don’t have to have a specific number of children to join, just an interest in being part of a support network for large families (my family is still expecting our fourth child, but would love to learn from larger families just in case we are blessed with a large family).
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Great Idea!
I was thinking of it as well!
Tell me when you start the thread!👍
 
lifeisbeautiful said:
You know, I had been thinking it might be a good idea to add a “Large Families” group to the groups at CAF… Would this sound ok as a description?

This group is for the support of large families. It is a safe place to exchange ideas, concerns, ask for advice, share experience, etc. Our Church teaches large families are a blessing, and this is the spirit of this group, so please keep this in mind when posting (large families already get enough anti-life comments from society out there). Families don’t have to have a specific number of children to join, just an interest in being part of a support network for large families (my family is still expecting our fourth child, but would love to learn from larger families just in case we are blessed with a large family).
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Count me in.
:grouphug::console::hug1::hug3:
 
I was not Catholic when my 5 were born…3 girls and then twin boys. The girls helped mom with the boys as everyone was fascinated by them. I worked nights a lot (police) and my wife was just strong and motivated. The test (and I am not being dramatic) is when they all start getting teens and pre-teens. This is when thoughts of the Foreign Legion came into my head. This stuff is so stressful that you must keep praying and working together…this is hard to because discipline is an issue that is important but widely varied in approach by men and women. The job is too immense to deal with in it’s entirety…work on each phase as it comes…one day at a time…watch who their friends are…question everything they do and stay on your toes. Never ever assume anything.
We all laugh about it now and all my kids are adults doing well but I can’t say that about many of my friends. Having a large family will take all your skills but it is your job now isn’t it? Praying for you.🙂
 
We have 8, five boys, three girls. One (#2) was “planned” by us, the rest gifts from God. Would not change a thing!! It is definitely easier now that they are older. The two in college really miss their siblings and it is great to have everyone home together. The biggest stress in our life is paying for educational expenses. Last year was $72K with Catholic grade school, high school, one in a Catholic university and the other in state university. (Once the baby went to kindergarten, I picked up more work part time.) But, I’m sure we would find a way to spend that money regardless and education is a better investment than cars or boats or vacation homes. It is definitely doable and desirable. It has made us better people, because we can’t think of ourselves first. It has made our children better people, because we can’t give them everything and they must work for what they want. It makes them more appreciative of what they do have. It also makes them understand group dynamics and lets them know that someone always has their back.
 
Cracker_Mom said:
I heard that one about having a tv, too! It got old.So did :“Have you figured out what causes that yet?”:rolleyes:
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Actually, I like this question when I get asked it. And my response is always, “Of course!! Why do you think we have so many?” But then our “so many” is only six, which seems to be on the low end for this thread. They range in age from almost 14 to 4 weeks old. I love 'em to death. Some days literally. 😃

They can drive me crazy, but when I see my two oldest girls talking and giggling together, or when I see my 9 YO pitching to his 3 YO brother, I know it’s more than worth it to hear silly questions from ignorant people who have their 1 “perfect” child.

My dear mother is fond of saying, “the greatest gift you can give your children is brothers and sisters.” It’s sad that so many people think a big family is some kind of punishment.

As for the TV question. No one has asked me that yet, but my response would something like, “Of course we have a TV. What do you think the kids are doing while my hunny and I are…(fill in the bank)?”😃
 
shamalbp said:
We have 8, five boys, three girls. One (#2) was “planned” by us, the rest gifts from God. Would not change a thing!! It is definitely easier now that they are older. The two in college really miss their siblings and it is great to have everyone home together. The biggest stress in our life is paying for educational expenses. Last year was $72K with Catholic grade school, high school, one in a Catholic university and the other in state university. (Once the baby went to kindergarten, I picked up more work part time.) But, I’m sure we would find a way to spend that money regardless and education is a better investment than cars or boats or vacation homes. It is definitely doable and desirable. It has made us better people, because we can’t think of ourselves first. It has made our children better people, because we can’t give them everything and they must work for what they want. It makes them more appreciative of what they do have. It also makes them understand group dynamics and lets them know that someone always has their back.
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Hi Shamal,
great to hear from you.
8 kids wow, it makes my family look small! 72 k in school fees , how do you cope?
Kids are definitely worth every time and cent spent in their lives.
 
My husband comes from a family of five kids. We want 6 kids, but currently only have 2 living. This thread is very interesting to read. It give me a heads up to whats in store for me. Have any of you had a problem with a parent getting on you for having a big family? If so, how do you respond to their criticism?
 
awantz said:
Have any of you had a problem with a parent getting on you for having a big family? If so, how do you respond to their criticism?
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My wife’s mother is constantly making fun of my wife for having so many kids (5), but it’s not the number of kids, per se, that bothers her but the fact that we have 5 kids precisely because we became Catholic four years ago (our two newest ones are 2 and 5 mos. – Catholic babies). It is a form of mild, mental persecution, and my wife bears it like a saint. I, on the other hand, get quite angry on her behalf. I have yet to hear her mother belittle her while I’m around, though. I think she knows what will happen if she tries it – a severe dressing down.
 
domini_canus said:
5 kids precisely because we became Catholic four years ago (our two newest ones are 2 and 5 mos. – Catholic babies). It is a form of mild, mental persecution, and my wife bears it like a saint. I, on the other hand, get quite angry on her behalf. I have yet to hear her mother belittle her while I’m around, though. I think she knows what will happen if she tries it – a severe dressing down.
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Wow your’ both converts?
Please tell me more, why you became Catholic and what denomination were you before your conversion!

Please attend the new group for families as well, pass it on!
Large Families - St Richard’s Corner
 
awantz said:
My husband comes from a family of five kids. We want 6 kids, but currently only have 2 living. This thread is very interesting to read. It give me a heads up to whats in store for me. Have any of you had a problem with a parent getting on you for having a big family? If so, how do you respond to their criticism?
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No,
My parents want us to have more!:eek:
Other Parents tend to flash a big smile at us! their way of saying “wow 5 kids! your crazy” without having to say it!
I see it everytime…:cool:
 
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