Babies? No Thanks....

I know how thin the ice I'm treading on is as I write this, but then again, it's my decision to make this choice and to talk about it as much or as little as I want. And as a disclaimer...I love children! I love people who have children! Most of my friends do have children and I love it! Your children are all fantastic and beautiful and I love hearing about them! And really...if people didn't have children, I wouldn't have a job....so with that being said...I am not saying any of this to offend people.

Here we go: I have zero interest in being a mother. Actually...I have a slight interest in being a mother of an adopted child, but I have zero interest in birthing my own child. I have many reasons, most of which have come directly from my friends/families complaints about children/child birth/parenting. The main reason is that I am selfish and I like the freedom of being able to do what I want, when I want to. For a while I have felt bad about this, and then I finally stopped one day and said...."do women who want to have babies feel bad about their decision? No...so why should I feel bad for deciding the opposite?!" Adam for the most part, feels the same way. Every once in a while when he sees a kid and their dad playing soccer or baseball (or wearing adorable Bo Sox baby clothes Mr. Dominic Grasso:) he wants a baby, but then when the dogs wake us up too early to go outside we realize that a baby would be so much worst and we are once again thankful that we don't have children.

I have "a list" which I've never really kept track of, but that I frequently add to as to why I don't want to have children. A few highlights (besides the selfish part) is the pain associated with pregnancy and child birth (and I don't want to hear that it is all worth it because I'm not sold on that), the amount of money a baby/child costs, I spend all day with kids...it's hard to think of coming home and taking care of my own, the world is overpopulated as it is, I like my sleep...a lot, I like my body the way it is, I'm afraid I would be an awful mother, kids can be quite obnoxious, I don't want to neglect the dogs, and so on.

Now, I have thought a lot about adopting. It just seems to me that there are so many children in this world without parents that if we could adopt, maybe we should. At this time, we are pretty unsure of where we are going to "settle down"...if Adam and I really ever do settle down:) And financially we're not ready to add another mouth, or 2 to feed. We're also not quite sure what age/sex/nationality we would want. I would like to adopt a child from the U.S. and maybe a sibling pair. I know that adoption isn't always easy, and that some people wait a long time to finally get a child...I also know that it is not like going to a shelter and picking out a dog. And of course I've heard horror stories (most on TV so maybe I shouldn't believe them!) of biological parents coming back and wanting their children back. All of these reasons make adopting just as scary as having your own child...and we're just not ready.

And you know what...that's ok. Having a child is a big decision. A child is a life long commitment. A child is not a fashion accessory. A child is not necessarily the next thing that you have to do once you're married, especially if you're not ready. And it's ok to wait....it took me a while to realize this, but it is. And if I decide to not have a child, to be "the dog lady", and spoil my neices and nephews rotten, and travel the world with my husband, donating our vast wealth (hehehe, we can dream, can't we!?) to charities, then so be it...and IT'S OK:)