How long I have waited for the right time to have my own child. Ever since I can remember, I have had a fascination with babies and children. Many of my own 2 year old baby photos show me playing with dolls. The only thing I wanted for my 4th birthday were real disposable diapers for my cabbage patch dolls and my baby alive. The fake doll diapers wouldn't cut it because they couldn't get soiled and I wanted the real thing. You see, along with the real baby diapers, I used to sneak my baby sister's rice cereal, carefully mix it with the right amount of water and feed it to my baby alive doll. So in addition to needing diapers, I got wipes too for the endless amounts of rice cereal just spilling out of my doll :) The fake baby food that came with baby alive was in gel packets in bright colors. Those just wouldn't do for me either! Why would I feed my baby anything synthetic? Duh! I secretly played with dolls throughout junior high, but by high school I knew it was time to say goodbye. Sadly I packed them up and then began what I like to refer to as, " my dark years." It was the lack of dolls around I think. :)
I used to also keep the JC Penny catalogue in my room so I could look through the nursery section longingly, planning what I wanted my own baby's nursery to look like someday. I've had this all figured out since the tender age of 8, no joke. I also signed myself up for some free diaper sample offer one time and in addition to the free pamper I got in the mail, I got a free subscription to Parents Magazine from the time I was 8 years old until just a few years ago. It mysteriously followed me to all my different addresses throughout the years too! I read that magazine with as much or more importance than my schoolbooks. By the time I was 14, I knew plenty of good discipline tactics, developmental milestones to watch for, and what the best baby products were! In all the sentimental ads in the magazine with the mother and her baby, I would imagine my face holding my baby. :) Just a couple of years ago when the magazine sent me a letter stating that they had not received a payment for the last year's subscription and that they were going to cancel my subscription, I laughed! Little did they realize they had been providing a very young future mommy with a free subscription for nearly 16 years!!! Ha! No big deal, I thought. I renewed it even though at that time it would still be a few years before we would start trying for our baby. :)
By the time I turned 11, I had already completed the American Red Cross Babysitting course and had printed out professional looking fliers to post around my neighborhood so I could start my own business. It was what felt like my "big break" at the time! Finally I could have the kids all to myself and not just help my mom when she would watch kids in our home :) I was in 7th heaven, plus all the families I sat for had well stocked kitchen pantries! :)
I have always loved and worked with kids, for fun and for my career that will be put on hold for a while so I can give every ounce of my energy, excitement and love to my own kids at home. I am overjoyed that this time that I had been envisioning my whole life is finally just 8 weeks around the corner. I can't believe it is really here! I feel so lucky to also have chosen a husband with the same values as myself, (not to mention a job in these tough economic times that can provide) who wants a wife that gets complete fulfillment out of serving our family and raising our children. It is easy to get caught in the money trap of thinking we need more, more, more thinking that we cannot sacrifice having an exotic vacation, a Lexus, a Gucci purse, a mansion in the most expensive part of town in exchange for the precious time that we will never get back with our little ones. Our goal is to live as simply as possible to make this happen as well as myself working from home as much as I can.~ Our kids will remember most the time we spent watching them play soccer, not the car that they rode in to get to the game. ~
