the female mind

This morning, Charlie was getting the children dressed while I fed Henry. Since we were planning to go for a hike along the ocean, he wanted to put everyone in long pants - but since Elizabeth is embracing everything girly and pink at the moment - she wanted to wear a dress.

I could hear the power struggle unfold as I was spooning Henry his prunes.

"Elizabeth, you need to wear these pants. You can wear your dress later."

"Daddy. I NOT wear pants. I WEAR MY DRESS!"

"Elizabeth. It is going to be COLD outside. You can wear your dress when we come home."

"DADDY. I NOT COLD. I WEAR MY DRESS!!!"

"Elizabeth. If you fall down you will hurt your legs in a dress. There will be blood!"

"DADDY. I NOT FALL DOWN. THERE NO BLOOD. I WEAR MY DRESS!!"

"You never know, Elizabeth."

"Daddy. I know what I want!!"

After hearing Charlie's exasperated sighs, I suggested that he let her wear a dress over her pants, like I've been doing almost every day for the past week. But after a few more exchanges, Charlie had Elizabeth wearing pants.

He came out to the kitchen and shooting me a sly smile casually said that he had worked things out with her and they had reached an agreement. And seconds later, Elizabeth came out and standing before me with dripping wet pants, informed us that she had just gone pee-pee in her underwear and now required a complete outfit change.

Charlie looked at me with disbelief and then asked "Why Elizabeth? WHY?!" But before she could respond I said "She's thought it through and she doesn't want to wear pants. She wants to wear her dress."

*****

Last month as I was moving clothes out of Henry's drawer that he has outgrown, there was something stopping me from packing everything up and sending it off to Goodwill. This was very unlike the feeling I had when our triplets were infants and they would hit a growth spurt. Granted, the volume of material was considerably greater with our triplets, but once they outgrew clothes and equipment - I would rapidly get rid of it. Almost as quickly as I got rid of all my maternity clothes.

Sure, I wanted another baby.

But I never imagined that we'd actually need those supplies again.

Currently, my primary reservation about adding to our family is that we have been so incredibly blessed with the amazing children that we have and I wonder if we would be so fortunate as to have a fifth healthy child. Another reservation is the greed factor. You know, thinking about how selfish I must be to even consider having another baby when there are people who are still waiting for one. And dare I even presume that we would be successful if we tried?

And then there's overpopulation. There are a lot of people in this world.

Of course if we were to have another child, we would need a larger vehicle. But I've already decided that in the next couple years, we'll replace our 7-passenger minivan with a 12-passenger van. Not just to accommodate another carseat - as necessary - but because the extra space would be extremely convenient. Especially when we go on a road trip and will have a lot of gear. Or, when we have family or friends that come to visit and we are able to fit everyone in one vehicle and won't have to pay to park extra cars at Sea World. Or, when the kids get a little older and will want to bring their friends on various outings.

Then there is the factor of our small house and the local park that only has four swings.

But all of those factors and reservations are offset by the sheer joy that our offspring bring us (most of the time) and how I cannot imagine anything more wonderful than a home bustling with children. I've also seriously considered growing our family by adoption - which is something we might pursue in a few more years.

Currently, there is no announcement. Although that's not to say that there won't be one. At the moment, I'm savoring every day with my baby Henry and I don't want to get ahead of myself. I certainly don't want to dilute the soul-touching magic that this singleton experience has been and continues to be for me.

But the fact that I have a box labeled for Baby 5? in our garage is an indication that I'm open to whatever happens. When Charlie spotted this box one day last month, he looked at me with disbelief and asked "Why Jen? WHY?!"

My response was "You never know, Charlie."

Clearly, I've been thinking things through.

*****

The huge winter sale at REI ends on February 18th.

We went back today to exchange Charlie's slippers for a pair of Keen's. The leather pair that he picked up were normally $90.00 marked down to $14.00 and I picked up a pair in canvas that were also normally $90.00 marked down to $24.00.

Did I mention that my podiatrist thinks that Keen's are the best shoes on the market and he has eleven pairs? Or that Keen's are my all-time favorite pregnancy shoe?

Wow, I love a good sale.