I LOVE kids….always have. And most of my experience growing up and in my early working days has been centered around kids. I’ve always just naturally gravitated towards them. It could be because I had just one sibling growing up {and wasn’t sibling’d out}, but it’s anyone’s guess really. I’m from a rather large extended family and most of my childhood was spent getting together with all my cousins, aunts, and uncles. I always loved it – and my fondest memories are from those times.
Brooklyn, Jonah {left} and cousin J {right} while boating at a family reunion a few years ago.
I love busy…I love the sound of busy little feet running through a house. The fits of laughter and excitement that fill a room or backyard quite simply make me happy. The happy chaos that I seem to be able to thrive in. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love peace and quiet too and time to myself, but when I’m amongst a large group, like my extended family – well, few things bring me as much joy.
Me and two of my closest cousins
Which is precisely why I always wanted 8 kids. Yep.
I love the idea of having a large family, and have always wanted one myself. My brother and I were both adopted and at the time there were restrictions preventing families from adopting more than 2. So, our family was what it could be and I’m grateful for it for sure. But at times it was a wee bit *boring*. I’m not saying I would have loved having pesky younger siblings {who can really know}, but now that we are grown I find it a little humorous that a simple Sunday dinner can turn into a reunion of sorts. It just doesn’t involve the hype and planning and even excitement that a larger family get together has. {though my mom always cries when my brother and sister in law leave after visiting….Brent and I {and the kids of course} go over every Sunday for dinner and not one tear is shed when we walk out the door. lol}
Anyways – seeing moms with 4+ kids just makes me smile. I love it!
When Brent and I got married we thought 6 was a number that suited us. If our plans went ahead we thought having 4 biological children and 2 adopted would be pretty perfect. But we always said we knew life had its own plans and we were willing to just *go with the flow*.
Brooklyn and our darling *Jonah* bump
**Photo courtesy of Mandy Baker Photography**
We were ELATED when Brooklyn joined our family. Then, getting to see her as a big sister when Jonah was born 3 years later, was amazing. Both kids were amazing babies and made the adjustment really easy and enjoyable. And making the decision to try for both of them was easy, as we felt like it was time to.
But here we sit, still not having *that feeling*. Neither of us was willing to have more kids just to fill the personal idea of a certain number or age gap, etc. and it’s something we’ve both thought a lot of about. We’ve talked about it, prayed about it, and really thought a lot about adding to our family again.
Something is holding us back.
We’ve talked about going the adoption route in the next few years instead, so who knows how that will pan out. We definitely want to add to our family in that way at some point – I just don’t know if our family will consist of any more biological children.
But I’ll tell you this – I treated both pregnancies as though they could be my last. And am I ever glad I did.
Generally speaking most people have stopped asking – I think they’ve given up on us. LOL
Some have wondered if we’re having difficulties getting pregnant. The answer is no.
Some wonder if we want more kids. The answer is yes.
Some have asked if we are having more. And the answer is, quite simply – We don’t know. We just don’t know.
So here we sit at 2 – and one puppy – taking it one day at a time. 🙂
**Photo courtesy of Eternal Reflections Photography**
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