Author Topic: Big family thread  (Read 14742 times)

caracarn

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Re: Big family thread
« Reply #50 on: January 05, 2018, 02:54:28 PM »
Great to see some stirring of activity here again!  If we get enough of us on the thread it might stay up in the board a bit and attract more attention.

Congrats on the surprise bourbon.  Maybe need to drink a little of your name to absorb the surprise. :)  Seems like you are taking it in stride, so good luck.

As our six get older we just find more drama.  Having a big family certainly teaches you to be flexible and creative as you always have some new issue to deal with.

soccerluvof4

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Re: Big family thread
« Reply #51 on: January 06, 2018, 02:14:06 AM »
Great to see some stirring of activity here again!  If we get enough of us on the thread it might stay up in the board a bit and attract more attention.

Congrats on the surprise bourbon.  Maybe need to drink a little of your name to absorb the surprise. :)  Seems like you are taking it in stride, so good luck.

As our six get older we just find more drama.  Having a big family certainly teaches you to be flexible and creative as you always have some new issue to deal with.



Drama! lol...I laughed out loud when I read that. My house at night is a madhouse with 4. Shut up, no you shut up. Quit looking at me and so on. Usually its the older ones stirring up the younger ones then I have to yell "ENOUGH WE DONT TALK TO EACH OTHER THAT WAY". Quiet for a few minutes then repeat!

hollyluja

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Re: Big family thread
« Reply #52 on: April 20, 2018, 12:31:20 PM »
congrats, Bourbon! I had surprise twins in Jan 2016, bringing us up to 4 kids (one is a part time stepkid).

We both work full time, so I've just had to accept that anything other than work and the  most basic of daily household chores just aren't happening for the next year or so.   

I manage to cook every night, and stay on top of the laundry etc, but house projects are just going to have to wait.   It's frustrating.

dabighen

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Re: Big family thread
« Reply #53 on: April 24, 2018, 07:46:25 PM »
PTF. *Only* 3 kids here. I hate minivans and we're bumping along just fine in our '08 Highlander, even though it doesn't have much trunk space when the 3rd row is up. When we go on family vacations, we throw suitcases in a travel bag on the roof. That's still better than a minivan IMO. And yes, I've driven my father in law's Odyssey many times. I hate how it handles and how big it is.

Poundwise, my middle kid is not the easygoing one but what helped me was to have a 15 min block of time set aside every day. What really made it work was that there was a "legit" purpose to that time - home speech therapy. I noticed that DD2 was always really excited about her speech therapy time. The other kids didn't interrupt (well, the 3 year old tried to) because it wasn't just game time or something like that. Perhaps disguising the time as something more boring/necessary will make it easier to commit to.

Only 3 here but on our way to 4.   I hate SUV's.  Currently driving a free one, but will be either taking a seat out of it to make the mini-3rd row more accessible or am looking at moving into a Ford Transit Connect wagon or a Ford Flex.  Anything that can hold us all that isn't the full on SUV.

Make that 5.  Surprise twins.

I've enjoyed our Toyota Sienna. We've got five car seats in it now and it's a bit tight in the third row but it works. Plus it's very comfortable to drive and has a surprising amount of power. It accelerates far faster than my old car (Ford Escort). We bought it used when it was only two years old but the original owner must have used it for work because it already had about 75k miles on it and the upholstery in the back looked brand new (probably took all the seats out and just use it for cargo). Other than routine maintenance (battery, air filters, brakes, etc.) it hasn't had any significant maintenance issues and we're at about 140k miles on it.

We bought a 2003 ford taurus wagon for our family.  Best thing is it has wheels and mileage of a car and nobody wants it so you can find them very inexpensively.  We bought ours a few years ago or $7500 with 38,000 miles on it.  The rocker panels rust though so check to make sure those are in good shape.  They seat 8 uncomfortably.  Haha, but small price to pay to not fork over $30k on an SUV or Minivan.

Michael in ABQ

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Re: Big family thread
« Reply #54 on: April 25, 2018, 01:15:12 PM »
We just bought a 15-passenger van yesterday. With #6 on the way the minivan would no longer cut it. It's a 2001 Chevy Express 3500 but it only has 46,000 miles on it and the last owner took very good care of it. It was originally used as a juvenile detention transport van and just went back and forth about a mile from a correction facility to the courthouse. I'm headed out now to move all the car seats into it. Should be fun as it's too old to have the latch system. Oh well, I've got plenty of experience installing car seats at this point.

caracarn

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Re: Big family thread
« Reply #55 on: April 26, 2018, 07:35:08 AM »
We just bought a 15-passenger van yesterday. With #6 on the way the minivan would no longer cut it. It's a 2001 Chevy Express 3500 but it only has 46,000 miles on it and the last owner took very good care of it. It was originally used as a juvenile detention transport van and just went back and forth about a mile from a correction facility to the courthouse. I'm headed out now to move all the car seats into it. Should be fun as it's too old to have the latch system. Oh well, I've got plenty of experience installing car seats at this point.
Wow!  Even with six, I never seriously considered a passenger van.  I've driven one for years when we used it to tow a trailer and the 8 mpg even on much lower gas prices was enough to make me want to vomit every time I thought about it.  We have six kids and our Honda Odyssey has worked just fine for that even through the teenage years. 

Michael in ABQ

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Re: Big family thread
« Reply #56 on: April 26, 2018, 04:27:02 PM »
We just bought a 15-passenger van yesterday. With #6 on the way the minivan would no longer cut it. It's a 2001 Chevy Express 3500 but it only has 46,000 miles on it and the last owner took very good care of it. It was originally used as a juvenile detention transport van and just went back and forth about a mile from a correction facility to the courthouse. I'm headed out now to move all the car seats into it. Should be fun as it's too old to have the latch system. Oh well, I've got plenty of experience installing car seats at this point.
Wow!  Even with six, I never seriously considered a passenger van.  I've driven one for years when we used it to tow a trailer and the 8 mpg even on much lower gas prices was enough to make me want to vomit every time I thought about it.  We have six kids and our Honda Odyssey has worked just fine for that even through the teenage years.

Today was our first time driving it with everyone it in. It's nice having the kids separated. Before the three oldest boys were all squished into the back seat in car seats and there was a lot of "he's touching me!" "stop looking at me!", etc. $52 to fill it up from around a quarter tank hurts a bit. My wife doesn't drive it too much since we don't do many activities and there's no daily trips to school, work, or daycare. Usually just 1-2 trips per week for groceries or other appointments.

hoping2retire35

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Re: Big family thread
« Reply #57 on: May 21, 2018, 09:33:49 AM »
I've got a 2003 Ford E150, and love it. The second row has captain seats so it is a little easier to get around pass out snacks, water and just buckle everyone in. It can haul the RV, lumber/mulch tailer or whatever any truck can pull.

MinABQ-does that have the 350/5.7 or the 8.1? If it is the 5.7 I doubt it will be the nightmare mileage some are thinking. Not great but not horrendous.

Bourbon

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Re: Big family thread
« Reply #58 on: May 29, 2018, 08:24:17 PM »
Thanks for all the congrats.  I think we are getting a bit more adjusted to what reality is going to look like.  Scheduled for induction or C-Section on July 3rd if they don't come earlier.

Cassie

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Re: Big family thread
« Reply #59 on: May 29, 2018, 08:32:24 PM »
Wow congrats on twins!  I hope you will get some help from family/friends.