Third Child Syndrome

I've heard so much and seen so much recently about "Third Child Syndrome". I've talked to other moms,  read blogs and seen graphs on Facebook about the second child who doesn't get near the attention as the first one, and the poor third child who gets even less.

My experiences have been quite different, of course.

I didn't have a "first child" or a "second child". I got two at once. Two preemies at once.

They have the same amount of pictures. The same records. The same amount of time held. The same toys. Pretty much the same everything. But my time was limited because there were two of them.I was laid back about everything except germs. When you're dealing with two babies at the same time, if you're not laid back, you will go crazy.

Then, five and a half years later, child #3 comes along. My precious Gemma. I will admit that her nursery wasn't finished until she had been home for about three months (and is still just half nursery-half play room). I also haven't blogged about her nearly as much as I did with Kyran and Karyssa. I am slightly more laid back with her, but only because germs as much of a threat to her as they were to them.

Other than these things, Gemma is much more along the lines of a "first child". Something I never experienced. Since it's just the two of us at home when the kids are at school, she gets much more of my time and attention. She is meeting milestones on time, so there is more time watching her in awe and less time wondering when she will do something. With my iPhone camera being better quality than my other cameras now, it is always available, so we probably have more pictures of her than we did of Kyran and Karyssa. I even take "monthday" photos of her with stickers and everything!

We have yet to buy diapers or wipes for our almost-8-month-old, because our friends and family threw us amazing showers and we were stocked for months for just one baby. She has more new clothes than they did for the same reason. She has more toys for that reason too. Jason and I "fight" over who will hold her. (When there are two babies, there is never a "fight", just a swap!)

When she cries, we are much quicker to go to her. (It's so much easier to appease one baby than to try to appease two.)

She is definitely treated more like a first than a third. But she has one thing that other first children don't have. Older siblings. Amazing older siblings.

Yes, sometimes I do get frustrated with these precious children. They are six and their favorite past time these days is annoying each other. But boy, do they love their sister.

They ask to hold her constantly. They love to dance for and sing to her. They are giddy when they make her laugh.She has them to learn from, and that is a huge bonus.

Because of these differences, I'm curious to see how their birth order traits compare to those of singleton families.One day, I'll sit down and compare them to the charts and will probably see that they all have traits of first, second, and third children.

As nontraditional as my children's birth order treatment is, I know that they are strong kids who will grow to be who God wants them to be.