One Now or Two Later

Ok now where were we. Back to my husband who had just quit his job....

When I was a teenager and into my early twenties, I started to dream about getting married and having children. My picture perfect dream included 4 children. It was more than two, but still an even number for when you go to amusement parks. That was always very important as a child -- trips to amusement parks had to be with an even numbered group so no one had to ride themselves and everyone had to love rollercoasters.

So here we were with three kids, living with my parents, on one income and I have this bright idea that we should start thinking about #4. My daughter was nearing 18 months.

My philosophy on having kids also was to have them close together. I figure 8 years of diaper bags, night time feedings, etc would be crazy, but then it would be over. I didn't want to have one, wait three or four years, get out of the diaper/bottle stage, and then start all over. Considering our living arrangements however, I thought maybe, just maybe it wasn't a good time. I told my husband if we decided to wait, I would consider having two more instead of just one so that they would have each other to play with. One now or two later is what I told him. He voted for one now.

If you didn't think God had a sense of humor, maybe this will change your mind. All along throughout our marriage as we have been planning this "perfect" life (with four kids of course), my husband would say "if God has a sense of humor, our last one will be twins". Word to the wise, God has a sense of humor, so don't say things like that!!! Yep, about 8 weeks into the pregnancy, we found out we were expecting twins! Crazy, crazy, crazy!!!! We were extremely shocked to say the least.

The thought of 7 people in 1000 square feet was mind boggling. I'm pretty sure people in other cultures do it all the time, but it sure seemed foreign to me.

The thought of my husband staying home with 5 kids, two of them being infants was mind boggling as well. I think pretty shortly after we found out about the twins he said no way!

My parents decided to put on an addition to their house to give us more room. My husband has a history in carpentry and rough framing, so he planned to build the addition before the twins arrived. Oh yeah, and watch the existing three kids.

After the addition was done, he would pursue a career again and rejoin the workforce.