When are you having another?

Let's talk about this ladies. Pretty much from the moment Squish slid out, we've been getting this question. Part of me takes it as a compliment... that people like our children enough to want us to keep reproducing. But part of me wants to tell them we'll have another when they can pay for its college education. I usually settle for a much more friendly and enigmatic "well, we'll see."

I love my girls. They make me so happy, and I'm proud of the little people they are becoming. There's not a day that goes by that I don't get some sweet snuggle time with Squish, and hear Bean tell me she loves me.

But some days I would trade them in for a new Corvette and 5 minutes of peace. I may or may not have recently chased BigGuy with a pair of scissors and demanded that he drop his pants so we could make SURE we wouldn't have any more children. Does this change when you add to the brood? Does it get worse? Or do you just adjust to a new level of crazy?

I watch my friends with 4+ children, and it scares me. All of them are in dire need of a long massage and a dinner where they don't have to cut anyone's food. I also don't want to be an old mom. I envision myself at 50, still covered in spit-up and finger paints, still spelling the words I don't want to hear repeated in front of my mother.

I recently had a stranger compliment my girls' behavior in a store. I had one of those brief shining moments where you feel like all your hard work has paid off. I felt a uterine twinge as I contemplated whether we should grace the world with another one of our stellar children. And then, with a sigh, I pulled Bean's finger from her nose, and reminded Squish AGAIN not to chew on the shopping cart. Maybe we'll get another dog.