Calling mothers and fathers of four (or more!) Advice!

nearlyrich

We had 3 boys and 3 girls in our family plus mum and dad in a 3 bed semi, 2 in bunks and one in a single and M& D shared the small room with just enough room for ther bed with a sliding door. Granted it was a while ago but it didn't do any of us any harm and the benefit of being close as children is we are still close as adults.

angelicmary85

I have this double pushchair, I would highly recommend it!


http://baby2travel.co.uk/Graco_TourDuo_City.html

delain

carefullycautious wrote: »

Loft conversion?

Congratulations by the way

I'm not sure how my landlord would feel about a loft conversion :rotfl:

Probably be easier to persuade the guy to buy another (bigger) house and rent it to me :eek:

I could find replacement tenants for this house in under a week:D

I intend to buy the nipper 360 too, I had the double urban detour which was a bit epic to get on the bus but twins are 5 so I only need a single this time

Spendless

nearlyrich wrote: »

We had 3 boys and 3 girls in our family plus mum and dad in a 3 bed semi, 2 in bunks and one in a single and M& D shared the small room with just enough room for ther bed with a sliding door. Granted it was a while ago but it didn't do any of us any harm and the benefit of being close as children is we are still close as adults.

Where did they put their clothes? There's a family on my streetsame style house as me with 4 kids, 2 boys and 2 girls and this is what they have done, but the mum says there is just enough room for a large chest of drawers to hold clothes for them.

delain

See my bedroom is about the average size but OH's furniture (and my bed) are huuuge dont think my bed would go in the boxroom never mind anything else

I think here it will be 2 sets of bunks.

slightlyconfused1

Hi

I have 4 children too. Youngest two 9 months and 10 days apart. :eek:

My best advice about a double buggy is be careful about the weight and size. I drove an astra and could barley fit our buggy into the boot (mclaren).

I used a buggy board fo my daughter (aged3) and she loved it. It was hard to push but was very safe.

Smaller size bunkbeds are a great option for a small room.

I have just accepted that my house will always look cluttered and buy lots of ikea storage systems.

My youngest two are now 5 and 6 and it is a lot easier as their "things" are less bulky.

Congratulations! I think 4 kids is the perfect family size!:)

Indie_Kid

When you look at prams, ask if you can check if they fit in your car.

Jo_R_2

Thanks for the input everyone - will def get onto the buggy suggestions!

Yup a loft conversion is out of the question unfortunately as we rent at the mo though thanks to those who suggested it.

littlemissmoney - where we are, siblings only have high priority if the older sibling is still in catchment. Thus if we moved, as you say DD1 would still retain her place, but for the younger ones, they would only be considered after children in care, siblings of those attending living in catchment, then children living in catchment IYSWIM. DD1's school is very good and incredibly popular so I wouldn't want to bank on the younger ones being allocated a place - that could turn into a logistical nightmare!

Spendless - the smallest bedroom is at the back though has the two outer walls as you described. The wall where the window is, directly opposite the door to the back of the house, is the shorter wall, and we currently have DS's cot behind the door. I can see a single bed would fit along the wall where the cot is, and I suspect (though would need to check) that a cot would fit underneath the window.

The shorty bunk bed suggestion is one that will be useful, I guess it's in the interim that needs working out!

I am hoping that by the time DD1 starts secondary school, we will be in a position to buy somewhere. We want to stay local and there are more houses to buy than to rent, so at the very least I would hope for a three-bed semi with three double rooms. My plan was to go back to uni in September 2011 when DS would be 2.5 yrs, to study for two years, but finding out this news means baby would be just about a year, and the course is fairly intensive (graduate entry nursing course) so I'm wondering of the feasibility of that timescale.

Being honest my main motivation is to get back into work in order to work to save for a house deposit. I've made some great headway with clearing debts this last year which has spurred me on, but this baby news has made me wonder what to do. Plus as my mum has been so ill, my parents haven't been able to help out - they have been a great source of support and I was hoping to enlist their support when I return to studying but I have been trying to think as if I don't have that help as I think mum will take a while to fully recover (apart from her cancer and recent op, a couple of months ago she nearly died from sepsis.) Thing is, I know she'll want to help but sh's the 'soldier on' kind and I'd hate for her to help then realise she'd taken on too much bless her.

Jo_R_2

Well I've been browsing the pushchair recommendations and - I still have no idea! I was thinking of a twin side-by-side buggy but having looked at the Graco Quatrro Tour Duo amongst others I've realised the tandem ones may not be as awkward to get up and down kerbs as I'd imagined. I think it may be a matter of going to Mothercare and having a go with some there for starters!

We've had a very kind offer of a cot frame - just need to get a mattress for it. Another friend who is also expecting but due a couple of months before has said she'll save us some clothes (she's bought all neutral) as I ebayed a lot of DS's a little while ago. It's not essential as these were on my list of things I need to do but it's always so nice how people want to help out

We spoke more about the car last night. I suggested a smaller people carrier, OH seemed fairly amenable to something say 1.9 or 2 litre so we may look into that. I think he's still thinking of ideas of converting Transits but I'm trying to get him away from that for now! I did catch him looking at a small minibus last night on ebay though:D

The more I think about it, the more I feel sleeping arrangements will work out okay. I think I'm more worried about bedtimes and the initial newborn fitting into the routine but I guess that comes with time!

slightlyconfused1

Hi

Just a quick thought.

When youngest son was born dh and I both had 5 seat cars. We used those for a few months (on the rare occasions we all went out together we took two cars).

If we were travelling further afield we would hire a people carrier for the weekend or whatever. We "road tested" two or three that way before buying a Galaxy. It saved us money in the long run as car hire for a weekend was a lot cheaper than buying a new car.