Educated and Fertile

I just can't get over it. It seems that every time we have another child, society seems to knock another 10-20 points off of our IQ. I know you won't believe me.

Here is how it goes:

One kid is cute and fashionable.

Two kids, you have done your duty, but boy we think it is strange that they are so close, must be an oops (the nurse practitioner even marked it as such w/o asking me).

Three kids? You must be dumb. Seriously, I thought you were smart, but now I am confused, but willing to readjust my opinion of you. Oh, and now you are done. How does it feel to be done?

Problem is... I am not sure I am done. I hate the thought that I let anyone influence such personal decisions, but I can't tell you how many stares we get. I can't tell you how much our (perfect, beautiful, wonderful) children cause us problems in public, at church, with friends, family... everyone has a thought about this.

Oh, and don't get me started on the boy chase. That is another reason why I thought one day that I wouldn't have any more, because I don't want to hear the comments about chasing a boy. So I think either a) I won't have another one or b) I will, but if it is a boy, I will have 2 more. Just to show em.

Dumb. Kids are kids. They happen to be wonderful and beautiful and so worth the stares (most of the time... I hate calling attention to myself).

The real reason I would decide or not decide (in case you were wondering) is that I feel like we won the lottery. We won it three times. They are healthy, smart, strong, beautiful, the pregnancies were easy... It is a gamble and we won. That doesn't always happen. There is so much that could go awry in this process, and I am not always so sure we should push our luck.

But, smart and loving people should have more babies. We need them. You will thank me for my efforts 30 years from now. Trust me. Until then, stop staring, we are smart people and we have plenty of kids. Deal.