Parenthood forces you to become more patient, more disciplined and unselfish.

Well, it can, but as Connie noted above, it doesn't always, and then it's often a tragedy for both child and parent. I should hate to have been the one to disprove you.

As it is, I get to have my cake and eat it too, with my nieces nearby. I have no complaints.

Parenthood forces you to become more patient, more disciplined and unselfish.

Let me be the next person to say that's not always true, and it's the child who pays the price when the parent can't ascend to that higher plane. I hear a lot of parents saying, "oh, I'm not strong, I'm not patient, I'm just doing what I have to do, what any parent would do," and no. No, a lot of parents would just leave, or become abusive, or hand the kids over to someone else. My aunt left her husband and two kids one day and disappeared for a year; when she surfaced, she brought divorce papers and was engaged to another man - with whom she never had children. She never admitted she'd done anything wrong. She just couldn't handle being a parent. Having a kid makes you a parent, but it certainly doesn't FORCE you to be a good one. Not even if you love them.

I've never really felt any desire to have children. I occasionally enjoy other people's children, but small doses of exposure are more than enough for me.

What really bugs me is that it seems like a lot of people end up having children not because they want them, but because they feel like it's something they should do to get their Adult Card.

In other news, I have mice in my basement. EWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!

(no need to say it twice, even though the mouse thing is REALLY gross).

As horrifying as it was to have mice in my apartment, at least they are cute?

I have to be ready for family at three tomorrow. I went to TJ's and the LQ, so am stocked up enough, just did some cleaning in the kitchen and general neatening. Tomorrow I'll vacuum, give the bathroom a lick and a promise, and dust. I think that's actually it? I also have to do laundry in the morning. But basically I think I'm OK watching Cutthroat Kitchen for now.

No, a lot of parents would just leave, or become abusive, or hand the kids over to someone else.

This is sadly too true. And even people with good intentions sometimes get it wrong -- a local friend is a school psychologist and her kids are some of the worst-behaved I've ever known.

I love my kids, and I've loved raising them (in that I enjoy them more often than not, and like spending time with them), but the idea of having another baby literally gives me an anxiety attack. Having a kid is a lifelong proposition, which I think a lot of folks overlook when they're cooing over baby stuff at Target. And as much as I love my children, I am really ready for the day when it's just me and S. (I feel like I'm having an Ayelet Waldman moment here. Don't hate me.)

Nunya came tearing in through the apartment hissing and growling, slid into the bowl of dry kibble, sending it everywhere, and disappeared under the bed. Nothing would have been the matter if I hadn't put the kibble in that exact spot the day before out of contrition for running out of cat food the day before that and making the kitties survive on chipmunk guts and tuna juice. Karma, I am paying it. Any other location in the apartment, and I wouldn't be picking up individual bits of catfood from EVERYWHERE.

Nothin' but love, Amy!

Unrelated to anything here, I need a .gif of the eye-roll/headshake of the chainsaw guy in the GEICO ad with the stereotypically stupid horror movie teenagers hiding behind the curtain of chainsaws. It is so understated and perfect.

I LOVE that commercial.

As it is, I get to have my cake and eat it too, with my nieces nearby. I have no complaints.

I'm right there. Today I spent a wonderful, if very rainy and muddy, day with one of the nieces-by-proxy (and her parents and a few more of the chosen family) at a pumpkin farm. There was hay rides, petting zoos, hot cider, and jumping in puddles. Then I went home, and I'm getting ready to spend the evening at the spa, soaking in a hot tub.

I am not designed to be a parent. I am designed to be a zany auntie.