Thoughts on Third Baby

My baby turned two yesterday. She is toddling and talking and oh dear God wearing UNDERPANTS but I don't care, she is my BABY. My sweet little chubby-cheeked precious darling BABY. Who is busting out of her size 18 month footie pajamas. GAH.

My baby is two and you guys, I can barely remember the days when I had Two Under Two. Oh the accolades I received for something so arbitrary as parenting Two Under Two. To me it was simply the way it was, and I rarely interpreted the not-even-sixteen-month age difference as My Cross to Bear or Lot In Life or what have you. It was tough, it was definitely a lot of work, but isn't that the case no matter how your children are spaced? (I recently spoke with a woman whose two children are twelve months and one day apart. Now THAT woman is allowed her accolades.) 

Anyway, I have to say, when Two Under Two turn into simply Three and Two, the childcare drudgery is infinitely easier. Note I didn't say parenting - if anything, the whining and sassing and behavior stuff has increased a bazillion-fold, but the drudgery? I am changing WAY fewer diapers these days. Sleeping through the night is the norm. My kids feed themselves and they eat People Food (when they feel like eating). They can climb into the car by themselves. THEY SPEAK ENGLISH. Suddenly I'm all, "Midnight feedings? Pumping? Overflowing diaper bags? Performing intricate fabric origami moves with the Moby wrap? OVER IT!"

Which is unfortunate since we've decided Third Baby is a go. Hrrmm.

Okay, because I know you people of the Internet, I am compelled to tell you that 1) NOT PREGNANT and 2) NOT TRYING (YET) but you know, soonish, perhaps, we'll see, maybe. For First and Second Baby I was the team member most raring to go, most excited, most impatient. This time my husband is still more reticent than I am (and always will be - Phillip's middle name is 'Undecided'), but for once I am not ogling the calendar figuring out the Most Opportune Due Dates. See I've sort of grown used to this toddler thing. I am digging the preschool age. I'm enjoying these little talky chatty tiny people. I LIKE sleeping, I REALLY like having my body back.

So why do I want to do this all over again? 

When we were still discussing Third Baby: Should We Or Shouldn't We, my husband suggested we could still wait a few more years. But I was all, are you serious? We wait a few more years and then we're REALLY out of the baby stage. We're into elementary school and soccer practice and maybe it's just me, but I sort of look forward to the time when we all move into the next stage, you know? When we're done with the baby stuff and find ourselves fully immersed in the Bigger Kid stuff. I always wanted a big family, but look at me looking at my two not-babies thinking maybe it wouldn't be so bad to leave it at that. 

Except it would be. For me, for the third baby I feel certain is a part of our future. Not everyone thinks that or feels that, but I do and I desperately want him or her. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon.