Future Family...

My future family. I have always wondered what that would look like. Growing up in a big family the first question you always get asked is, “Do you want to have a big family yourself?” I usually responded by saying, “Good question – it’s too hard to tell right now but probably not.”

Similar to GWednesday, I was basically a second mom to most of my siblings growing up. There are ten of us and there is no way that my mom could have been at all of their events, driven them to all of their extra curriculars and helped all of them with their homework. That is where I stepped in. In fact, my sister gave a speech at my wedding and even made the comment in her speech that I have always been a motherly role to all of the other kids. And I love this. Of course as a teenager there were the times I complained when I had to babysit instead of hang out with my friends. I occasionally got annoyed when I had to fix my sisters’ hair. But in hindsight (at risk of sounding cheesy) I wouldn’t trade the memories and bonds that were created all those years for anything.

Because of these past experiences I have always wondered what it would be like for me when I actually had my own family. Would the love I had for my own children feel the same as the love for my brothers and sisters? I am sure it will be stronger but that is the closest feeling I know to compare to.

And then the question of when? Did I want to spend a long time with my husband before we had kids? Did I want to travel and settle down before I start a family? Did I want to be one of the old moms or the young moms in Kindergarten? If I did start young, was it going to be hard for me to balance a career and children? Would I be able to commit to both 100%? If not, and I chose being a mom full-time would I feel satisfied? Would it jeopardize my chances of being able to enter the workforce later on? These are all questions I am sure most people ponder at some point and I am sure most people, as I have, form varied opinions on a lot of the questions. However, with these questions/fears/concerns I never doubted that I would be a good mother. And, once I met my husband I always knew he would be a wonderful father as well.

So, the time comes to break the news….we will be having a third addition to our family in September! The last few months have been a varied rollercoaster of emotions: from excitement to fear to nervousness to doubt and back to pure joy. Things will definitely be changing over the next few months: new job, new house, new city to live in, new baby…but we are excited for the adventure and change to come! I’m sure I will have future blogs to write about this so I will leave this blog at this point. We are excited for all the changes that are going to happen. With the changing atmosphere comes growth, mistakes, adventure, and trials. I can’t wait for this journey that we are embarking upon…