Once we add a second child to that mix it'll be 100% of each of our time the entire time.
It's pretty extreme.
We both work full time (like most millennial families), so if we couldn't afford a nanny we literally could not have a child.
This of course being said about the situation without any parents around. The step from two to three is worse for car/transportation and hotel room but I think it’s not nearly as hard as from one to two.
What you also have to consider: You’re gonna have bad nights. With one kid only, it’s fine. You can recover. With two, you simple don’t have room for that. The bad nights will eat you up.
Cooking for four kids clearly has more raw ingredients, but you also have more opportunity to buy them in bulk. The active cook time itself does not increase much either.
Hand me down clothing and books are all shared. The kids also help watch, teach, and entertain each other.
I feel sorry for children that grow up without siblings. But even more so for parents that that choose to not have any at all.
Ah, now that was a challenge when I moved out of home. In theory I knew I was buying for 1 instead of 10, but it still took me a while to adapt. I had pretty much never seen food go stale or bad before!
Dealing with a rowdy toddler and a puking newborn at the same time is draining in a way that is impossible to describe.
Rowdy toddler with rowdy twins is when you start feeling the singularity.