I never thought I’d have three kids. I always thought I’d have two, and in a way, I do. I birthed two and my husband came with our oldest. When we started dating, it wasn’t just the two of us, we were always a party of three, and I was fine with that. Markie is and was a fantastic kid.
So when I found out that I was pregnant, I was excited. Not just because I was going to have a daughter but because Markie would now have a friend.
I could not have asked for a better amazing little boy. Mark went from being an only child in both households to the oldest when he was home with his dad and me. I was worried about how he would adjust to having a little sister, but my worries were for nothing. He was caring and sweet, and that love has only grown as he and his sister have aged.
Adelyn is obsessed with her Markie. Everything he does, she wants to do with him. He skateboards, and she wants to skateboard. He plays baseball. She wants to play it too. But with the five-year age difference, things can get challenging. Mark wants his independence from his little sister, and I understand that. Only it’s hard to explain that to Adelyn. On the days when Mark is at his mom’s, Adelyn is waiting for him to come home. Sometimes I’ll find her in his room stealing a stuffed animal. When I ask her what she’s doing, she’ll tell me the stuffed animal is sad and lonely because Markie is gone.
I thought our family was complete with just the two of them. That was until my hormones told me otherwise, and I had a minor meltdown when I finally told my husband I wanted a third child.
While pregnant, the worries about how the two older children would adjust to a new fresh baby came flying back. I didn’t know how Adelyn would adjust to sharing her one on one attention with a new baby. Part of me wanted to have another little girl so they could play when Mark wasn’t here and gang up on him while he was here. But the universe had a different idea, and we were blessed with another little boy. A little boy that Mark and my husband were thrilled about because both of them said they could not handle another Adelyn.
We grew from a family of four to a party of five with Bennett’s arrival. And just like with Mark, my worries were unnecessary. Adelyn and Mark both dote on their little brother. Showering him with love and affection. The five, five, five age difference has worked out in our favor. When I need to put Bennett down to make him a bottle or do the dishes, he’s never alone. He always has someone talking to him and giving him attention. This works out wonderfully for Adelyn. She has a trapped audience to sit and listen to her stories or songs. Bennett coos and babbles with her. However, Mark might be screwed. He’ll be fifteen and have a ten-year-old sister and a five-year-old little brother fighting for his attention. But secretly, I think he loves it.
Mark will sit on the couch and play fight with the baby. He says Bennett is working on his ninja skills. Now that Bennett can hold things, Mark will put stuff in his hands only for his baby brother to throw it back at him. Mark is convinced that Bennett will be playing baseball the moment he can walk, which is a terrifying thought, a toddler with a bat.
While the days are long and busy with sports and trying to navigate it all with an infant, I don’t think we’d have it any other way. My kids are wonderful. It’s probably why I asked my husband for a fourth and why he has a vasectomy scheduled. There’s no way we’d be lucky enough to have four amazing kids.
