We imagined having a couple of kids. Not a set plan or anything, but it made sense to us.
Then we had DD and she never slept. Never slept, walked (ran, climbed, jumped) early, talked early and nonstop. And still never slept. Needed stimulation always. Terrible colic. And did I mention that she never slept?
I was 30 when she was born and it was five or six years before we even came up for air. I feel like it was decades off our lives.
If DD is this way because she's PG, well then we choose not to have another because of that. We knew she was scary smart from very early on too (I have a log I kept of all her freakishly early firsts for the first year), but it was the endless intensity that drove our decision.
I know EXACTLY what you mean by your decades comment! It feels like DS was programmed to be 10 by 3. I feel like I have parented several children in terms of the time and energy intensity of our interactions. I was in my mid-20s when he was born and was thankful to be a young, strong, energized mother for DS. Lord knows I need to be!
I have a friend who had three children in four years and I boggle at how that is even possible. They're all such mellow, cheery, laid back children. Three DS in 4 years would have been a kamikaze mission! (That's also a biological impossibility for me--the flip side of intensive full term nursing is that my fertility hasn't returned yet.) But every time I look at DS, I can't help but think that he's my favourite person (other than DH!) and will grow up to be an incredible man of many talents who I'd love to share life with. My little extroverted inventor, my snuggly treasure.
