My Thoughts

I rarely use this blog for anything more than sharing the daily comings and goings of my little family of five.  I rarely use this blog to voice my opinion on anything outside of these walls. 

However,

Earlier today my sister happened to send my mom and I a text regarding this...

We shared a few humorous texts back and forth and that was that, but then I started thinking about it.

I ALWAYS knew I wanted kids.  There are very few things I can say for sure, but this is most definitely one of them.  Being a mom is the best...FOR ME!!

Having kids IS NOT for every woman and that is OK by me.  Frankly I think there are too many woman who have kids that shouldn't, but I will save my diatribe on that subject for another time.  

Being a mom is definitely the most rewarding thing I have ever done, but it is also the hardest...the most exhausting...and the most thankless.  Some days I laugh nonstop and some days I wish I could start the day over again.

I do not think that NOT having kids is selfish...quite the opposite actually.  I think that it is selfish to have kids if you do not recognize what that actually means.  When my hubby and I found out we were having a baby...he was elated and I was FREAKING OUT!  I spent nine months getting used to how much my life was going to change.  One day you can do whatever...whenever you want and the next...you are doing all of that with a baby in tow. 

I love being a mom, but do not want to be defined as one.  I want people to know my name.  I don't want to be known only as Thomas' or Taylor's or Tatum's mom.   I embrace that as part of my definition as a woman, but not solely.  I am lucky that I get to be a stay at home mom, but know that too isn't for everyone.  I am never ashamed to say I need time away from my kids and I make no secret of how I count down the days until school starts.  I look forward to bedtime at night and I look forward to seeing their faces in the morning.  I take vacations with my hubby (although not lately) without our kids and do not feel bad about it.  I tell my kids I love them everyday multiple times a day, but try very hard to teach them to be independent. 

I am a mom, but being a mom doesn't make my life any more fulfilled than a woman who chooses NOT to be a mom.  It only fulfills my life in a different way.

The point to all of my ramblings is this...It is a personal decision to have or not have kids.  If the truth be known those that choose not to have kids have not come by the decision as lightly as those who have.