[Redliner]

Going from 2 kids to 3 is definitely a game changer. Your defense strategy changes from man-to-man to zone, and as soon as the kids figure out they have you outnumbered (and it doesn't take long, believe me) you're screwed. We planned on stopping at 2 (mutual agreement) but ended up having a surprise and as a result our 2nd and 3rd children are less than a year apart. Made things interesting for sure but I wouldn't change a thing now.

Contrary to what some other posters have said though, I have found that the extra kid does complicate things at times. We had to ditch our sedan for a larger vehicle as our kids were all in car seats at the same time and the three of them wouldn't fit across the back seat. We ultimately ended up with a minivan but now that the kids are older we've gone to an SUV for the family vehicle. Not a huge issue but makes travelling more expensive. Also, most "family packages" for ski hills, resorts, attractions, hockey games, etc are based on the 2 adults + 2 kids template so you end up paying more for the extra kid.

Financial concerns aside, maybe we got lucky but all 3 of our kids get along relatively well. If anything the oldest is sometimes the odd man out, but that's more because he prefers to do his own thing and isn't really a case of the other two excluding him. I think the family dynamic is (at least in part) a learned behaviour - if you teach your kids to respect one another and spend time together, for the most part they will.