<p>I come from a large-ish blended family–my (half) brother is 25 years old than I am, my (half) sisters are 23 and 14 years older, my (full) sister is 4 years older. I was a new baby at my sister’s wedding (I was a month old). While I am not very close with my (half) siblings, we are friendly and see each other with some regularity. My own children are 14 months apart, however!</p>
<p>I doubt my dad was his sister’s child. He was born in February, though, so his mom would’ve been wearing a winter coat the last few months (and she wasn’t thin to begin with. . .) so maybe the neighbors didn’t notice. </p>
<p>My mom had a similar experience–when she had her 6th child (within less than 5 years–including a set of twins) she didn’t tell anyone she was pregnant–not even her own mother. The baby was born at the beginning of April. A few weeks later she was out in the yard with the kids, chatting with the neighbor. She told the neighbor she had to go in to “check on the baby.” Pointing to the one-year old, the neighbor said–“but he’s right HERE. . .” Then mom said, “No, that’s not the baby–I’ve got another one inside. . .” The neighbor was shocked–she never knew mom was pregnant–because of the winter coat.</p>
<p>Next year, I will have two heading off to their freshman year in college, one Junior… and one entering kindergarten!!! I am really worried about how the little guy is going to manage his older siblings going away. He loves my daughter (only girl in the family) more than anything in the world (even more than his blankie!) and she has not applied to a single in-state school. :-<! Skype and cheap Frontier airline fares will be our friend, I guess!</p>
<p>Sis is 10 years older than me, Bro is 8. The tale is, mom wanted to go back to work when S and B were in school, dad didn’t like the idea. So mom said, well then, let’s fill a crib (her words, I’ve heard this story many times). And they did.</p>
<p>When I was 10, she went back to work. Times had changed (and so had she).</p>
<p>I always used to say I had all the advantages of sibs, and none of the disadvantages. No sibling rivalry, but great friends as adults. Sis even lives on the same property with us now; we’ve lived in the same towns (in NY then here) since I graduated from college. Now she’s working PT for me. Bro is in another state, but we’re good friends.</p>
<p>Since Sis and I each have only one child, 3 years apart, we kind of hoped they’d be close. Not so much in HS, but now that her D is 21 and my S 18, they’re getting closer - D is helping S with some CS work (they’re both CS majors, at different schools), and they’ve been confiding in each other more about social stuff. They’ve actually said that they feel like sibs, having grown up nearby, then in the same extended household, gone to the same schools, etc. We just hope they’ll have each other to lean on when they get to the “dealing with frail parents and death” age. I think that’s one of the toughest times to be an only.</p>
<p>@Atommom…I wasn’t that large when I had my youngest. I wore a lot of big sweatshirts instead of maternity clothes and some people didn’t know I was pregnant. There was a young man that did some work for us and when he saw our baby, asked whose it was ? It was also my quickest recovery. I was walking on our boardwalk with her one week after she was born( C-section ) , in my pre-pregnancy size 4 jeans.
Boy, I wish I could fit in those today 
</p>
<p>My sister is 10 years older than me and my brother is 7 years older than me. I’m not close with either of them. Ther two of them are not close either.</p>
<p>Sis lives 2 states away with her partner. She comes to visit for a couple of days once a year (Christmas). Bro. and SIL were always uncomfortable with my Sis’s lifestyle…didn’t want their kids to be around it when they were growing up.</p>
<p>Brother and SIL live just 35 miles away from us but I don’t see them unless I call and ask if we can come for a visit. His 2 daughters are close in age to my sons but my SIL has always demanded spending holidays/family time with her family. They have never once in 30+ years to invited us to have the Xmas gathering at their house. It was always at our Mom’s house and since she passed away eleven years ago, it has fallen on me to do it all.</p>
<p>So we get together for a day once a year around Christmas. That’s it. It feels like such a sham. </p>
<p>We are starting to see more of BIL now that we both have kids done with college. He traveled with us for a week and is planning on another 2-week trip with us. He has also visited us in HI a few times recently. He admits it’s the most he’s seen of H in ages–since both gave become adults. </p>
<p>H is 7 years older and retired. BIL is still running a dental practice. He also has his 28 year old D and her friend living with him. Between the 3 of them, they have 2 dogs and 4 cats!</p>
<p>B is nearly 11 years younger than I; no living sibling in between. His wife is something like 8 years younger than he, so I guess she is young enough to be my daughter. I didn’t go home much in college, then he joined the service after HS. We’ve never been close and have never lived closer than a plane ride away. I may be closer to SIL. DD and I can never really go to visit him and his family because they have multiple cats and we are severely allergic. When DD stayed less than 24 hours with them she had a severe asthma attack.</p>
<p>I live 20 minutes away from our elderly mother, so when B or B&family come to visit her, I get to see him/them. After she passes away, I don’t know that I would see him much at all. It would be nice if one of his (still fairly young) kids were to attend college out my way.</p>
<p>I am the oldest of 6 and the youngest is 20 years younger than I am (same parents) and the second youngest is 17 years younger. The first three of us are very close in age, then a 6+ gap, then another 6+ gap. So we have the first family and the second family and #4 is part of whichever memory is in discussion. My dad tells people he has known his son-in-law longer than his two youngest daughters since DH & I were dating when they were both born. My sister says it’s always a great party fact to tell people her dad has known my DH longer than her.</p>
<p>My H is 22 years older than his youngest sister. Same Mom and Dad–they started young and baby sis was a surprise!! H also had 2 other sisters–closer to his age–2 and 4 years younger than H. Baby sis was an aunt to one niece and one nephew older than she was!</p>