Need some encouragement…

I’m 37 and don’t have any more…yet. But two of my good friends had children around 10 years apart and late in their thirties. If I have anymore, they’d be at least 12 years apart.

Very successful and one family especially (they have a 12 yr. old son and 2-twelve year old girsl) have a now one yr. The older siblings absolutely dote all over this baby and even better, they are HELPFUL!

G-d Bless your endeavors!!

I was 30 before I ever met my hubby. Married at 32, first dd at 34, second dd at 37, with a miscarriage in between. But, I am one of those women that would have been buried along the trail in the 1800s from death at childbirth.. both pregnancies had terrible complications (that had nothing to do with my age) and we ended up just counting our blessings with the two we have instead of pushing (no pun intended) for more.

That said, we have often thought about adoption. I have a feeling if we do, it will be once our girls are older, so we may end up with a big age gap as well. I know several families who have made a great success of this kind of situation, so I wish you well, knowing that it is indeed very possible.

I had my first at 28 and my last at 37.  There are two “sets” – each born 15 months apart, but 6 six years in between.  I really let my little ones play and enjoy each other for several years – after all play is their work.  

Doing school is not that hard since the kids already read and are capable of following a list themselves with occasional help from me.  The family subjects can be tricky sometimes, but you can get audiobooks for a lot of the spines and other books, which allows me to work with the littles while still maintaining a schedule. It is possible.

This year I started a formal pre-school with the two younger (only for about 45 minutes total) but I had planned to add them into some of the family oriented things.  It wasn’t working very well since they haven’t been trained to all that “stuff” yet, 😉 so I changed it to more of a focus on getting the older kids’ family subjects first and while they finish up with their individual lists, I will do the much more engaging and “fun” stuff with the littles.  Basically, whenever the olders are working on their individual stuff, I work with the littles, whether it is morning or afternoon depends on the day, etc.  For our preschool subjects I am using the SCM early years list and the Before Five in a Row books as literature, reading some books about America for history, reading some science books, Math U See Primer (although we are mostly working on number recognition and value still), we love the Letter of the Week alphabet activities, and they do nature walks and study with the big girls.  It is fun, but I do not stress about getting it all done every day.  They are still young and so I go with the flow.  =)

I say that if it is what the Lord is leading you to do, go for it.  He will never leave you without a way to accomplish what you are called to do!  It’s all good! =)

I was 41 in June – had my last (for now) babe a year ago.  Our oldest (daughter – 18) was with us for the last birth, which was a wonderful experience in itself.  No complications with any of my six (except for a little prematrue labor scare that sent me to the couch for a few weeks with one).  And my only miscarriage was between child 1 and 2.  Don’t know if the Lord will bless us with any more…or how easy or hard I’d find it to count it a blessing (depends on the chaos level of the day).  But we love our family – ages 19, 17, 12, 6, almost 4, and 1.  It is wonderful to see the bonds develop …the learning opportunity for the older ones is priceless IMO.  They are so far ahead of me at their age.  I would have been (could have been anyway) a much better mom if I’d had that experience.  Wouldn’t have had to learn so many things the hard way…after child number 3, 4, 5,  on and on…and still don’t know much about raising kids…just that I love them all and wouldn’t want to give any back!!!

Best to you!!

P.S.  Do you use a midwife?  I had my kids at the hospital, but with the midwives on staff there…they were wonderful and never made me feel old!  I think the mindset of a midwife is a nice different from some “others” who worry about “too old”.  Guess the Lord didn’t think 40 was too old, huh?!

I have had 4 children through adoption and 2 foster children and will be adopting our 2 year old foster child this Dec. and possibly getting placement of a baby in Dec, too and I am 45! Believe me I have done the math 🙂 but know that God is leading us on this path and will provide. My oldest three range in age from 13-17 and the younger 3 from 2-7 so it is like having two sets for school. The older ones do some group activities and the little ones listen in, and at other times I work with the little ones while the big ones work independently ( and sometimes help teach the young ones!). It can be a challenge…especially with the toddler, but I am happy I won’t be done homeschooling for a while yet! I also feel I get a “second chance” to do it even better (get to use the things I learned the first time around) . You may be asking the question wondering if you are physically too old, ( with adoption of course I don’t have the biological cut off- although I get more tired the older I get:) but if you are just thinking parenting in general I would go with your heart and God’s leading and not let others’ comments stop you.

My sister’s sister-in-law just had her 7th child at age 40. She was very pregnant at her oldest son’s wedding in June. I know a family who had 3 kids, stopped, then had 5 more in what many would be considered “older” age. The first three kids were already out of the house when they started having the other five. I know a mom who is now 43 with an almost 4 year old son. I know a couple who had their first child when the mom was 38 or so and the dad was 46 or thereabout. I know another mom who had her 6th child at age 42.

Shall I go on? =)