I agree that it's part of being a woman and being in transition. I felt the same thing and it really hit me when my now 19 mo old son climbed onto his trike seat and started riding around the house. I thought- how did he grow up so fast?! I look at his growth chart and can't believe how tall he is too. Luckily he's a cuddler so during my down times I can get extra hugs & kisses. You're right- it is sooooo much easier going out when they get older. My DH & I talk about having another but it's hard to go back to non-sleep, poo explosions, and towing around luggage for outings.

That's it... ovaries just make us crazy... and that's that! But whatever... life is more fun as a crazy person! I always get caught up in wanting my kids to be more independent... then wanting them to stay babies.
Potty training will be the next step with my daughter... and I dread the mess and the fight... want to get it "over with", but it marks my baby as no longer a baby... sad and happy.

I completely understand what you going through. I just had to wean my 9 month there due to work commitments and she is my second and my last and I am feeling slightly berift that I will never again breastfeed or be pregnant again but at the same time I was ready to finish breastfeeding and start working on losing this baby weight. I'm hoping it's just a residual hormonal thing. It's reassuring to know that this is normal though and other people feel the same way.

I'm expecting #2, and RIGHT NOW the plan is to have 3 kids. However, some days I find managing one toddler hard enough and I wonder how I'll handle two, and whether or not we'll stick to our plan and have that third baby. I feel bad saying it but I haven't been enjoying this pregnancy very much (first tri was rough with the nausea, now in my second tri I'm just too busy with #1 to even remember I'm pregnant, and when I do think about it I'm just worried about the sky rocketing number on the scale despite my healthy habits). I keep telling myself I need to relax and start to enjoy this pregnancy because even though we're planning for another, there's a chance we may not go for it. I guess what's going though my mind isn't quite "last baby blues", more of a "this may or may not be the last pregnancy blues", but I think I know what you mean.

We originally envisioned having three, but a crappy economy helped delay our starting. (If we had started when we originally wanted to, we'd have a five-year-old now.) We eventually decided to just go ahead, but it was literally two years after we'd wanted to start. Then once we had one and I lost all that weight, I was scares of doing it again and "ruining" all my hard work. I finally got over that, but I knew I wouldn't want to do it all a third time. My husband was less convinced and still kind of wanted to have a third. As our older one grew, he came around to the idea of only having two, and since having our second, he's confirmed that he agrees that we are done having babies

ETA that my BIL and SIL just had their second (their older one is 2.5), and SIL already thinks she wants a third. BIL is saying absolutely not, so I don't know how they're going to resolve that one. She is 31, and he's about to turn 39, so by the time they space things out, he'll be about 42 when they have another, plus he doesn't like the imbalance having a third creates. Lots of things are made for families of four, and you usually have to make special preparations for a fifth person.

We were a bit "late" by most peoples' schedules when it came to starting our family (we're the stragglers in our group!). First was born when I was 30.5, this one I'll be 32.5. We had what we felt were good reasons for not starting sooner - we didn't live together before getting married and wanted time completely to ourselves, DH was finishing grad school and needed to find a job, we knew we'd have to move long-distance for said job (and we did), and my career at the time would not have allowed me to take much time off for mat leave, nor could I support us financially for very long if DH didn't find a job right away. Because of our delay in starting I feel like we're now rushing a bit. We'll have a 22.5 month age gap, but I really would have preferred 2.5 - 3 years. If we stick with the plan and all goes well, I'll be 34.5 having the third. The funny thing is, I actually want 4 kids, but my age is a major deciding factor because I don't want to have back to back babies, nor am I sure I want to be having #4 when I'm pushing 37. I know plenty of moms have babies at that age, I'm just not sure if I want to. Plus, I'm not sure how I'd manage 4 kids with no family around (they're all a plane ride away)!

I know what you mean about the 2 vs 3 kids thing. I worry about all of the middle child stuff, how everything is geared for families of 4 (despite the increasing number of families of 5+ I've been noticing), not to mention the cost of having that many kids, especially given we need to travel to see family. We did cave in and buy a van, though, we need to have enough kids to justify the purchse! :laugh:

Ugh, I'm not looking forward to that feeling. We had #2 in August. And there is no way (God willing) she is our last. I think I will have to mentally prepare myself before having my last. Children are such a beautiful thing. There are definitely difficult times with a toddler and a baby (#1 is 2.5yrs), but the smiles and giggles are worth it. Hopefully by the time we're ready for #3, I'll be ready to be done...

You're not alone!

I've avoided this topic mentally for a long, long time. I really hate the idea of not having more babies and being past the baby stage. I now have five kids, the eldest eleven years old, the youngest six months old. This is where my head tells me I have to stop, however I love being pregnant and having babies, so my heart is reluctant. There are also more cons than pros for me to have more children now and I have to deal with this now. I did book myself in to have Essure implants to block my fallopian tubes making it unlikely for me to conceive again, but changed my mind the week before for numerous reasons. If asked, I say my youngest is my last, but I really don't like it.