Before you were married, did you ever think about how many kids you wanted?  I came from a family of four, so I’ve always felt right at home with big families.  All the chaos, laughter and fun!  My own 3 kids are really close together.  The first two are 19 months apart and the second two are 21 months apart.  I remember having Jake and thinking, this is SO easy.  All he does is look at us and smile.  Let’s have another!  So, we did.  And our middle guy Cooper was slightly more active, but also pretty mellow.  Before we knew it, we had three kids.  Three years and younger.  When Brent had to go back to work after Jillian was born, I kinda wanted to beg him to stay.  This three to one ratio was kinda scary!  But, I somehow survived and now the boys share a lot of the same best friends and Jillian is keeping up doing exactly everything the boys are doing.  I love my big family.  And I love being around other people’s families.  I’m comfortable around the dynamics and can steer around sibling situations as they come up.  Who knew all those days being overwhelmed at home with babies and toddlers would be on-the-job training!?

(PS-mine are now 13, 12 and 10)

// photographs by Orange County family photographer, Kristin Eldridge.