by Melissa Willets posted in Parenting

My first three children were born very close together.

So up until now, I never really knew any other way of doing things. My life was always about having at least two kids in diapers, balancing the terrible twos and infancy, multiple car seats and strollers, and dealing with tantrums and teething and baby poop patterns while potty training.
After our third child was born, we tried to get pregnant for years, and even endured a late-pregnancy loss before conceiving the baby I am due to have in the next several weeks.
For a long time, I thought having an age gap of five years between my youngest and the baby would mean he would be at a disadvantage; that he would have a hard time fitting into our crew. I also worried how I would fare going back to the baby stage after such a long break. But I'm starting to realize there are many benefits to the five year age difference, not only for me, but for our entire family.
My youngest actually understands that I?m having a baby. For a toddler or even a preschooler, the idea of a sibling growing in mommy?s tummy and then coming home to live with you, forever, is very abstract. I remember trying to prepare my kids for the arrival of our baby, but truthfully, they didn?t get it until the baby was born, and didn?t go away. This time my youngest daughter is almost 5, and she really is getting it. It?s fun to see her level of excitement and how much she wants to be involved in the pregnancy. One of t...