I Must Ask . . . How Many Siblings Do You Have?

We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. –Erma Bombeck

I think last week's poll was really fun! I love that so many people voted this week. I've been watching all week and 2 and 4 kids were neck-and-neck, but at the very last second, 2 pulled ahead by a vote! It looks to me like more people have an even number of kids. Possibly because even numbers are more easily accommodated at amusement parks? Or maybe because then nobody is left out? I also noted that the higher the number, the fewer the votes there were. Only 1 person with seven children stopped by to vote {thanks, by the way!} and after that, zilch. It is probably because anyone with that number of children doesn't have any spare time to read blogs and vote in polls.

This week is a spin-off of last week. As a parent, you have somewhat of a say in how many children are in your family. As one of those children, you don't really have a say at all. And in both cases, you pretty much have to take it as is comes. I grew up in a family of six, the oldest of four girls and two boys. I loved having so many siblings. With the exception of my sister, who is 2½ years younger than I am, I remember waiting anxiously for the arrival of the next baby. It was always so exciting to find out if it was a boy or a girl and I loved going to the hospital to see mom and hold the new baby. I changed diapers for all but that same sister, who is just younger than me. In my early diaper-changing days, I nicked my brother, who is five years younger than me, with a safety pin trying to fasten his cloth diaper. And as the oldest, I babysat a lot. All six of us had to share bedrooms at one time or another. Sometimes there were three kids squished in a bedroom. I shared with my sister for a lot of years. She was messy and I was neat, which got on my nerves. I got on her nerves when I had hiccups that shook the bunkbeds while we were trying to go to sleep. We fought and we made up. We giggled and shared secrets and hated each other and were best friends.

I have two other sisters. One who is my twin-ten-years-younger, and another who is 13 years younger than I am. I mentioned the older of my two brothers already, and my youngest brother is 18½ years younger than I am, or in other words half my age. As adults, I have great relationships with all of them, and as crazy and hectic as it was {I escaped to the quiet of Grandma's house quite often} I loved growing up in a house full of brothers and sisters. And how about you? I must ask . . . how many siblings do you have?