To be or not to be...

I'm stealing ideas from my friends due to a lack of ingenuity this evening. Hey, what are friends for? :) Ami and Anabelle both wrote posts recently about having, or not having, more children. So, I thought I would tag in on this subject...

I have 3 beautiful, healthy children. Boy (7), girl (5), boy (2)... Yet people ask me rather frequently if we plan on having any more. I laughingly tell them these days that my husband would be rather upset with me should that happen.

Robby and I both come from "larger" families. We both wanted to have a big family and often talked about having 4 children. We also knew that we wanted them to be close together if possible. After saying our "I Do's" in 2002, we took a couple of years to get settled in to life in Tucson while Robby finished school. In 2004, Bobby joined our family. In 2006, Katie arrived. In 2009, we completed our family when Andy was born.

Although we had originally planned to have 4 children, while I was pregnant with Andy we discussed our future. After a lot of discussion, we both agreed that for numerous reasons we would stop at 3.

I LOVED being pregnant! Once we made the decision to stop at 3, I felt more than a touch of sadness. This would be the last time I felt a little miracle moving inside me. This would be the last time I could lay and watch my unborn child do summersaults in my womb. This would be the last time I stared at the ultrasound screen wondering if there would be any clues that would help me guess the gender of my unborn child. This would be the last time we would anxiously await hearing the words "Congratulations! It is a _____!" I wanted to rewind the clock and document every wonderful moment of being pregnant.

After making the decision to stop populating Cottonwood Elementary, my husband generously took one for the team. So while I CAN still have a baby, I don't think my marriage would survive such an announcement. I would have another baby in a heartbeat...IF I won the lottery! :) I watch Andy with a small tear in my eye. He's growing up so fast and I want these days to last forever.

So, to be or not to be. That is the question. Am I planning on having another baby? I say with a smile:

"My husband would be quite upset with me if I do."