As most of you know, Mr. Handsome and I have three children. The age gap between our first and our second is two years and 11 months. We were originally going to have a two year age but ended up having two miscarriages.
At first, I was concerned that a larger age gap would mean that our children would not be as close, but our boys are best friends, and I no longer have this concern. A larger age gap between my first two kids also gave me extra time to gain confidence as a new parent before bringing another life into the world.
My second son and my daughter are two years and one month apart. This was definitely more challenging in the early days because my son was still so dependent on me when my daughter was born. But after the first six months, I started seeing their relationship blossom, and I love it. Littlest Buddy is such a sweet older brother and is always trying to give his sister hugs and take care of her. In turn, Little Lady looks out for him and doesn’t like to be separated from him, even for a short time. The pictures from the Florida trip we took to Santa Rosa Beach last fall show the sweet relationship between these two.
As a mom with three children, I am seeing evidence that God is orchestrating our family the way He sees fit, and there is so much beauty in that. Age gaps are not worth hyper-focusing on because there are so many other variables at play that we cannot control.
Two months ago, we miscarried a baby who would have been two and a half years younger than our daughter. Consequentially, if God gives us a fourth baby, there will be a larger age gap between those two than we had originally “intended.” At first, I found myself worrying that this baby will be “off on their own” and not able to be as close to my other children. But then I realized what silly thinking that is. God’s timing is better than my own.
