Well I have made it back in one piece, just. We embarked on our first family "holiday" with all three boys. The reason I have put holiday in ""'s is because my definition of the word has slightly changed since having children. This particular "holiday" also involved my husband competing in some cycling events so the word "holiday" definitly had a different meaning  as I juggled 3 children in a new town.

The first 6 or so hours of our holiday was a little rough, involving wrong turns, water bottles emptying over both of the little boys suitcases leaving ALL of their clothes soaked and to top it off we made a grand entrance to the hotel- as we unloaded our suitcases onto the baggage trolley, the grocery bag fell of and the pasta sauce smashed all over the floor and throughout our food and as we were cleaning it up, Archie with no shoes was trying to come over to us as we were surrounded by broken glass, and Zac selected this exact time to fall off the step and get a whopping bruise on his head!!! but after this rough start it actually went rather swimmingly.

We ventured to Bathurst which is a lovely town inland NSW. (approx 3 hours from the coast line - or approx 5 hours when you have 3 children and take wrong turns, stop for food, toilet breaks and so on)

There were some fantastic free things to do there we took the boys to the Skate park which was brilliant it even had a pool - perfect for hard core skater dudes or in our case little dudes wanting to have some fun on their scooters.

We also found a brilliant playground for children all 3 of my boys had a fantastic time, so much so we went back the next day. If you are in Bathurst you have to take your boys there. It's called the Bathurst Adventure playground. It was amazing it had so many fun things there for the kids, just to name a few:

• a flying fox that kids sit in,
• a great slide (which featured in my slide post)
• a sand pit where there are hidden dinasour bones that the kids have to find.
• There was also this cute bridge that when stepped on made noise

After our big day out the boys and I rushed back to the hotel so we could see daddys race. Here is a picture of them cheering him on,

we were soooo excited. From where we were it looked as though he came second. We were so happy for him, Baxter had a celebratory spa bath and I fed the other two boys their dinner, as we settled in, I got a text from my husband saying he was just about to race WHAT!!!! that wasn't him in the race we watched ahhhh the boys were in their high chairs, Baxter in the bath, so I decided we will miss the first few laps and go and watch him later as there were 23 laps in the race, wellll I got another call from him about 20minutes later and he had dropped out - so we travelled all the way to Bathurst and totally missed watching him race haaaaaaaaaheeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaahoooooo (this is a slightly delirious laugh!!!!)

The next day I took the boys back to the adventure playground and skate park and we also went to a great restaurant it was an old fashion cafe with booths the boys and I thought it was so great it was called the Acropole restaurant. We had milkshakes and pancakes yummo. Here is a picture of the booths how cool!

On the way home we stopped at the Blue Mountains and showed the boys the three sisters. So beautiful!!! So all in all we had a great time and those little hiccups just add to the experience don't they!!!

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1. You have learnt how to wrestle
2. You have learnt how to kick a ball and swing a bat.
3. You have spent many hours playing with matchbox cars, trucks and diggers
4. You look over at the little girls clothes in the department store and sigh
5. You get a wave of excitement when you are driving along and spot a digger in action
6. You notice every snail, worm, rock, stick and feather as you walk along the path
7. You can name all the trains in Thomas the tank engine
8. You have a first aid kit the size of your pantry
9. You pack at least 2 sets of clothes for a trip to the park
10. You know what it feels like to have someone totally and utterly in love with you

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Hi Everyone,

Well today my 1 year old Zac got a nice big egg on his forehead. I am not use to dealing with such a dare devil. Archie is what I would like to call a "girly boy" he is so placid and steers clear of danger. Zac on the other hand if there's trouble he will find it!!! My question today is what strategies can I use to keep this wild boy from hurting himself??

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When you are planning on having more than one child, one of the biggest questions you will ask yourself is;

What is the best age gap to have between my children?

We were lucky as we didn't have trouble conceiving so could pretty much plan the age gap between our children. The follow is my experience of a small and a large age gap between children. I am not an expert, just a mother speaking from my own experience. I have 3 boys, 8.5 yrs old, 2.5yrs old and a 1 year old.

Small Age Gap between children (21months)

My youngest children are 21 months apart. They are currently 2yrs 9 months and 1 yrs old.

Our reasons behind this age gap are;

Biological clock ticking, we didn't want to be too old with babies

· I liked the idea of having two close in age so that they maybe into the same things

· I didn't really enjoy the newborn stage of my first child so thought it might be good to go through it again quickly (getting it over and done with - sounds horrible but it was how I felt, evidently I enjoyed the newborn stage the next time around)

· I was still getting up at nights so thought while I was used to that may as well add another one.

· If I put it off any further I probably wouldn't of had another one.

Positives

They get enjoyment out of the same games/toys

· I am over the newborn stage already which means no more sleepless nights

· They seem to enjoy each other's company - sometimes

· They will be close to each other at school (1 year apart)

· Currently can attend the same day care - not having to take them two separate places.

Negatives

· The cost of two in nappies and one on formula all at once is high

· Can be tiring as you have two to dress, nappy change, put in and out of car seats and feed.

· Neither of them understands the concept of sharing toys so you tend to be an umpire a lot of the time.

· Sometimes I am up during the night for 2 different children - losing dummies, bottle, cold etc..

Large Age Gap between children (6 year gap)

My eldest son is 8.5, he is my stepson who stays with us on weekends which I know makes the relationship between his brothers different to that if he was with us all the time. However I can still observe positives and negatives with this age gap. I will compare his relationship with the next in line who is 6 years younger

Positives:

· The little one is ALWAYS entertained - he admires his bigger brother and follows him around like a bad smell. (this may be different if he was with us all the time)

· The eldest helps out with the little one, getting him organised, playing with him, helping him in and out of the car etc.

· The eldest can entertain himself which gives me time to attend to the little one.

· Easier/cheaper with only one in nappies.

· The eldest can feed/dress/organise himself which leaves me time to help with the little one

· The eldest goes to school which leaves me quality time to spend with the little one.

· There is only one child waking up during the night.

Negatives

· The eldest misses out on activities some times as I'm busy running around with the little ones (if I only had one little one this wouldn't be so notable)

· Although they play together it is mainly because the eldest is a very placid boy who doesn't mind having the little one hanging off him - I can see if he was with us all the time this would become bothersome for him

· They are not into the same activities. Ie. The eldest likes his play station the little ones like their matchbox cars - although they do try and play each others games there is usually one that is bored/missing out

· Planning outings that please all can be tricky.

In summary I think that whatever age gap you decide to have you will make it work for the positive. You will find ways of entertaining all the age groups and ways of juggling the chores/play time. The concerns of jealousy and siblings fighting I believe comes down to the personality of the children and the way in which you manage your household not the age gap between them. Just because children are close in age does not mean they will always want to play together and like each other all the time and just because the gap is large doesn't mean the eldest is always going to want to play/help look after the younger ones.

It's a matter of organising time so that each child gets quality attention from the parents. Personally I find organising this time is not really affected by the age gap but more by how many children you have, the more kids the harder it is to find that time.

Personally I love having the close age gap, although it can be physically more draining I find it mentally easier as they are basically at the same stage in their life and it's easier to manage. Whatever age gap you choose (if you have that luxury) it will be the right one for your family.

Sue

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