So yesterday I wrote a post about spacing your kids. I mentioned that our boys are spaced 3ish years apart and although spacing your children when adopting from Russia isn't an exact science it certainly is doable, as long as you're somewhat flexible.

I have 2 boys kind of near in age...if we got another I think we'd space them further apart. One, to give Little J some space, and two, to give us time to think and work on the idea of a 3rd child. The first time around we wanted the boys to be close so they would be friends. This time around I see the fallacy of that assumption and so don't really care if they're close or far apart.

It's been my experience that the siblings you're closest to (as an adult) are not necessarily the one's you're nearest to in age, but perhaps the ones you're closest to in temperament or interests. So close/far don't matter.

What do you think?

Here's what the experts say. Here's some info from an article on ivillage.com. Disadvantages of closely spaced children are:

Children in the first three years of life have relatively high needs for attention and care. Both baby and toddler stages require high levels of supervision and often entail round the clock responsibilities. If you have two children under three or two children under two, there is likely to be a pretty constant, sometimes overwhelming need for adult care. Parents may feel exhausted and like they are missing the chance to really enjoy each child as an individual.

Advantages are:

It consolidates the years that you are in "baby mode." You are set up for diapers, baby-proofing and are already adjusted to "babytime." If children are very close together, there may be less of a feeling of loss at no longer being the only child. Another advantage is that children who are close in age may have similar interests and be natural playmates.

Now of course these pros/cons apply to babies, babies, babies. You may not be thinking of adopting a baby. I'm not, necessarily.

Thoughts?