Kind of amazing that children were raised in one room cabins isn’t it? Still are in some parts of the world. Tell them you bought an empty motel, that should make their day.
My parents raised three children in a junior 4 (2 bedrooms plus a small room that could be a bedroom or a dining room or something) in Queens, NY. I shared a room with my younger sister until the youngest came along and then I got the tiny room to myself and the younger 2 shared a room. My aunt grew up in my neighborhood in a two-bedroom apartment. She shared her bedroom with her brother.
All the kids I grew up with shared rooms. My neighborhood was full of 2 bedroom apartments and junior 4s and everyone had a couple of brothers or sisters, so they had to share. Big deal. Sharing a bedroom never killed anyone.
My dad grew up in a three-bedroom house in FL with his three brothers and his one sister - and he and his three brothers all slept in one small room (his sister got a room to herself, obviously:). They grew up perfectly fine.
Ava
Congrats on number two 
Do what works for you! We’ve done a fair amount of rearranging ourselves to accomodate the second munchkin (coming this fall to a hospital near us) Lucky for me I’m tactless and obnoxious so when people question me about our intentions for the baby I have no problem being rude
Ask these people if they plan to pay your mortgage/car payments to help you move into your new and socially acceptable child friendly home! Then do what works for your family with no apologies.
I’m pretty sure my husband shared a bed with multiple sisters for a pretty long time.
I know a number of families who have a toddler and a baby sharing a room. Sometimes out of necessity, but in more cases, it’s by choice. That is, they have another bedroom, but chose to use it as an office or playroom. It works just fine to have the kids share.
You can raise a family of 15 in a hut made of bullrushes, if needed. A two-bedroom apartment will be just fine. I’m sorry you have to get the same old questions over and over from your family. But then that’s what family os for: to drive you batshit.
My sister and I shared a room until I was 9 and she was 7. We had so much fun making up silly games to play with each other at night when we were supposed to be sleeping! And when the 3rd was old enough to sleep through the night, her crib came right in with us – until then, her bassinet was in our parents’ room. We didn’t move into a bigger house until the littlest was old enough to need a regular bed instead of a crib. Our family of 5 managed just fine in a little 2-bedroom house for quite a while and yours will, too.
Sharing a room can be a great bonding experience for siblings! Heck, if you did move into a 3 bedroom house or apartment, I’d recommend making the 3rd room your computer room and still having the kids share a room. So what would people have you do – “upgrade” your living space in order to accomodate a computer?! These days people seem to place value on all the wrong things – space vs family bonding and sharing. It’s really pretty sad.
Your kids are going to have some great experiences and memories from sharing a room. You seem to have your priorities right where they belong and your children will benefit enormously from that. I can’t wait to read about the puppet shows they put on when they drape blankets from the top bunk to create “curtains”. They’re gonna have a blast!
Congrats on your upcoming new arrival!
Yeah, don’t sweat it. We live in a two-bedroom apartment. My kids love sharing a room (boy and girl, 4 and 6). They feel cozier and more secure together and I think it makes it less likely that they end up in our room. They also like having Mom and Dad at close hand all the time.
We live in San Diego, so the yard thing really isn’t an issue. They play outside at school or daycare during the week, and we going on picnics or to the beach or parks on evenings and weekends.
We will probably expand eventually, but I’m sure as heck not spending 3 hours on the road every day just to have a big house. We live half a block from the ocean and I have a 10 minute commute. I can live with a small apartment for a while, thanks.
My DH and I have a 3.5 yo and a 5 month old. We also have 2 computers (complete with desks) and we live in a 2 bedroom apartment. In January we sold the 10 passenger van we had (I got REALLY tired of being the family taxi!!) and now ride the city bus. DH works within walking distance, The grocery is 2 blocks away, drs office for each family member is within walking distance and so is the hospital. The ONLY time we get on the bus is to go downtown to see grandma or when we go to Walmart. Who NEEDS a big house with all the bills? I “sacrificed” big house life for “small” apartment life so I could stay home with the boys. I’ll take that trade off ANY day!!
We have 4 month old twins in a studio.
We have a cabin upstate that takes the overflow and all my music stuff. That’s what makes it possible.
It’s getting to be a bit much but at $642 a month for an Upper East Side of Manhatten doorman building on a quiet dead end street I get that “when they pry it from my cold dead fingers” feeling when people talk about moving out.
We’ll move out for sure but we’re going to use that studio for all it’s worth.
I can understand them asking the question. Yeah, you can live with 10 people in an apartment/studio/whatever, but would you really want to?
gab dernit. Does anyone have a mansion I can have?
I didn’t know it, but was educated by my wife in the following manner.
firstly… If a newborn child is brought into this house, thou shalt taketh one room for it, and it newly painted must be.
The paint must cover the ceiling over thine angel, and the walls which surround him.
The trim shall get a new color, and you will build into this wall the bookcases/toy shelves as has been revealed to the divine maternality.
The old carpet mayeth thou keep, as we are broketh.
I think there’s a “nesting” instinct, after all, that’s what people are saying isn’t it, “you need a bigger nest now don’t you?”.
I think it’s a natural responce.
This is exactly what I was thinking of doing (our first is due July 27). I know people are just being nice, but you start to feel like a parrot with a conversational repertoire of four phrases.
For the “How are you feeling” question, there’s always the brutally honest, TMI route: “My labia are the size of bratwursts, and my constant gas has driven my husband from the house - thanks for asking!”
I like your over-the-top response regarding the mansion, too. Definitely need to add the guest cottages and horse fences, though.
I feel your pain on a slightly different issue, as well. My mother (who lives in a five-bedroom house and drives an Expedition, BTW), has announced she’s already trying to get Chloe into a prep school around here that starts at grade 6 (I did mention Chloe’s not born yet, right?), and costs $12,000 a year.
Man, I’m paying more than that for a one-bedroom in Stroudsburg-frickin’-Pennsylvania. Any chance you’ll give your Doper friends first dibs when you do decide to move?
You had sex in an apartment?
EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWE.
Congrats on the little one!
Move on down to Texas, cheap HUGE houses!
A month ago, someone started a “how big is your house” thread, and I was somewhat surprised that mine is so big in comparison to the rest of the posters. Recently, after meeting with the wife of our basketball coach, I commented on how her house (close to us) looked just like ours from the outside…and found out their house is 4,400 sq. feet! Good God.
With that said, it’s all about the love in the house, not the size…and we still can’t keep all the little tiny toys off the floor. So there you go.
I don’t know exactly what they’re going to do with it when we leave. At the very least they’ll remodel and up the rent to probably just under a thousand. My wife thinks the people next door want to knock down a wall and increase the size of their apartment. We looked at a nice one bedroom in our building that was going for $1825, which is cheap. Most 1 bedrooms are $2000 plus, and apparently they’re getting $4000 plus for two bedrooms. Not quite within my budget.
Not to hijack, but have you looked in Brooklyn? Park Slope is slightly less expensive than Manhattan and when I moved out a few months ago, it was turning into quite the place to raise children. And I loved Park Slope - sort of like a mini-Manhattan to me. We had everything there.
sob. I miss NYC.
Ava
Mother of a 5 year old and a 4 year old here. Sure when my kids were little having little space was no problem, now that they are bigger it’s a nightmare having less than 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. I live in a 3 story house right now and it’s STILL not big enough. I have a huge backyard with tons of toys because it’s nice to just let them out to play after they’ve destroyed my sad grip on sanity. I’m one of the people who asks pregnant women when they’ll be getting a bigger car or bigger house because I know, I’ve been there. We drove a small truck and had a one bedroom apartment with my son, when we got pregnant we moved on to the mini-van and 2 bedroom house. Now that they are big enough to fight, they both have their own rooms so I can give them space.
My husband grew up one of four kids in a 2 bedroom trailer. His family couldn’t afford to live anywhere else. I know it can be done but why do it if you don’t have to? Save yourself the worry and move up.
My neighbor bugs pregnant women all the time with questions about how they feel. She wants another baby but her husband doesn’t so she now clings to these poor swollen women. It may annoy you now but remember, the second the baby is born everyone will forget you and want to know all him/her.