How many children would you have...

[sillywoman]

sorry - should have added a ;-) for clarity of tone. 15 years & 4 children on though, one of the few things I'm certain about is that raising children in the best way you can will involve sacrifices. It's not a bad thing or a good thing. It's just a fact.

[ClareC]

Totally agree sillywoman!! It's not a financial thing necessarily either!

Edited to say my two are 19mths and 4mths. It can be Bl**dy hard work at times and I can categorically state they have changed my life significantly (not all changes positive!. That said, I wouldn't change anything and would happily have a third.... Albeit with a larger age gap ;-)

Hardest sacrifice right now..... A good nights sleep with lay in!!

[srisky]

I think we are agreeing, SW, that parents give up a lot of themselves (physically, emotinally, financially etc) when raising children. We have already given up lots of things but really nothing very important. I just don't think of them as sacrifices, it's just what you have to do. Just semantics, I guess. I think the definition of sacrifice is relative and depends upon what you have and what you've been through.

[ClareC]

I had sleep.... Now I don't :-(

Is it not a case of accepting the sacrifices that come part and parcel when you choose to have children?

My youngest was a brilliant sleeper very early on but has regressed somewhat in the last week.... Worse than when he wS a new-born. No joke when you have a toddler up and full of the joys of spring at 7am and no chance to rest during the day.

Do I mind my son getting up? No, it's part of the package I accepted in having him. Would my preference be not getting up every 1-2 hours? Yes, of course it would be.

Sleep deprivation is a sacrifice despite not begrudging it! More worringly I still like the idea of a third..... Am just hoping should I have number 3 a fourth won't become appealing ;-)

[Smiler]

Pickle, are you having a third?

Congratulations!

[Smiler]

Am now one year in with no. 2, and in same sleep-deprived, zombie state as I was in march 2010 when this thread was younger. No more for us!