Babies

With Natalia weaning last fall, the "baby" chapter of our lives pretty much ended. It lasted eight years, and we had a good run, but it's time to move on. Oddly, though, babies are now everywhere, or so it seems. I currently work in an office of three. The other two women are currently both out on maternity leave. My cousin is pregnant and due this month. Two out of my three roommates from my freshman year of college have had babies since January. The list goes on...babies, babies, babies!

Even the kids have been talking about babies. Last Saturday Leon and Natalia went to Trader Joe's with me, which is about 15 minutes away. They spent the entire car ride lobbying for us to have a new baby. Leon was concerned about the cost, "We have to buy a crib, and cribs cost lots of money," but he didn't see that as a reason to NOT have a baby. He was even okay if it meant Mom had to work more to earn money to buy the crib if he got to have a baby sister. (Never mind that he HAS a little sister.) And as much as Natalia liked Leon's idea, she thought it would be even better if we had twin girls. Two babies! I told her that if we had two babies, she would have to give them all her diapies (and finally potty train!). She ignored this argument. I told her if we had two babies I wouldn't be able to give her uppies (hold her) since I would need to give the babies uppies. She corrected me and said that, no, she would be the one to give the babies uppies. Not a problem. The discussion ended when we got to Trader Joe's, but Natalia was happy to resume it that evening at dinner. Interesting, though, the reason for her wanting more babies is so that she is no longer the "baby" in the family.

Meanwhile, Sunday morning, Ree was reading on the couch while I folded laundry. She suddenly looked up from her book and said, "I've changed my mind about kids." I thought I knew what she meant, but I asked her to clarify, and yes, she decided she thought she would like to have a baby when she grew up. (She's long been in the no-children-for-me category, and we've seen no reason to try to change her mind about that.) Then she thought some more and decided that, ya know, it wouldn't be bad to have two kids, as long as she had a boy and a girl. Then, I forget how she phrased it, and she was very diplomatic, but she basically said, "Yeah, I'm not insane like you. I'll stop at two kids." Smart girl.