Josiah my big boy!

Since I am a mom of two now, many mothers I meet with one child always asks me if it is easier because of my big age gap.  I struggle to answer them because although it is easier in some ways, it is also harder in others.  What matters is that I was not ready to look after a newborn with Josiah being so needy and in my care almost 24/7 when he was aged 0 to 3.5 years old.
So for me and our family, having the gap was so important for my sanity and maintain some sort of calm that I need in order not too lose it.  HAhaha....sorry making myself sound like a loony.  But mental health is no laughing matter, and being a stay-at-home mom in a foreign place without family makes it more important to keep mental health in tip top condition.
So let's see the pros and cons of the larger than average age gap between my kids. They are exactly 4.5 years apart but in schooling year would be 5 years apart.

Pros

1.  Able to give Joanna almost 100% of my attention from Monday-Friday, 9am till 3pm.
2. Josiah is able to change, feed, entertain himself most of the time so even when the both of them are home, it is not too bad
3. Josiah is already sleeping through the night so if Joanna has a good night, Shaun and I have a good night too
4. Only one set of nappies and bottles
5. We are able to start travelling again because we only need to handle Joanna 
6. Less sibling rivalry 
7. Josiah can help me with simple tasks
8. I hardly feel guilty spending time with Joanna because I feel that Josiah doesn't need me as much as when he was 2 years old.

Cons

1. Starting all over in terms of buying baby stuff: bottles, diapers, creams, rocker, high chair, baby spoon, potty training stuff....list goes on and on. Maybe some people would keep all the baby stuff but living in apartments makes it impossible.
2. Dealing with lack of sleep after getting used to sleeping uninterrupted for few years.  Your body really does go whacko!  We try to minimise the effect by taking turns with Joanna but then age also plays a factor. Very tiring!
3. Having to start a collection of baby toys again.  Joanna has a few from Josiah's time and I even let her play with most of Josiah's boy toys but it is necessary to get her a few age appropriate toys.  
4. Books!!  She needs all those board books again.  A lot of which were passed on already.  
5. Clothes.  Well, maybe this is not a fair point since she is a girl and I would have had to buy new ones anyway.
6. Both of them require my attention in different ways.  I need to sit and help Josiah with school work, but then Joanna wants to tear his homework, Josiah wants to play boardgames but she would just come and try to eat up the pieces...etc
7. At the playground, I'm literally being torn apart, Josiah runs around everywhere and I'm having to be with Joanna at all times making it hard to keep an eye on him

My sweetie pie and baby girl *hugs*

I caved and got this double stroller from Craigslist

Josiah being cheeky, annoying Joanna by sitting in her car seat

Still the same 4 teeth - where is the rest??