The story on big families

I have an awesome friend who is expecting her 7th child. She is an amazing mother who loves her children like crazy and has raised them to be independent thinkers white contributing to society in a postive way. She is like my big sister in many ways and guess what, just like all little sisters I aspire to be like her someday.

I have always wanted a big family (as of today I’m thinking at least 5). I grew up with 2 younger sisters and 1 older 1/2 sister and it never seemed like enough. I especially wanted a big brother and on a number of occasions tried to convince my parents to adopt.

Enter Dominic who grew up in a family of 2 boys and had every intention of only having 2 children.

We never really talked about the number of children we wanted to have before we got married; I think we both planned to cross that bridge when we got there. We’re stepping on to that bridge now and still aren’t quite sure if this is #1 of 2, 5, 7 or somewhere in between. I think we’ll plan to take it one bambino at a time. I do know Dominic is excited about growing our family and I would be floored if he decides to stop at 2 … he already has the baby-melts-my-heart grin plastered on his face most of the day.

The reason I bring this up is because alot of folks have real strong opinions about what is an acceptable amount of children to bring into the world. I’ve been greeting with many heartfelt congratulations, but this is baby #1 so I’m still in the acceptable range. I wonder what type of response women get when they are expecting #5, #6, #7, #? …

I stink at summarizing articles so just read this one, The contempt shown to parents of large families. It gives a great perspective on the blessing that children are whether they are #1 or #10.