FAQ's

Here are my thoughts on a few FAQ's in my life:

1. Do you want to have more kids, when, and how many?
Yes, I do want to have another baby. As soon as we know where we will be for a little while I am ready to have another. At first I wanted to wait a few years, maybe until Avery was four or five. Now, I can see the benefit of getting through the baby stages without too much of a lag time in between. Also, I can see that Avery is changing and growing up so quickly, that I will be ready for another newborn just when she is reaching the point where she doesn't need me so much anymore!
That said, I only want to have one more baby. Whether it's a girl or boy, I think that will be it. Maybe if we have two girls, we'll feel differently and want to try for a boy but I think Kyle and I are in agreement that two will be better for us than three. It's not that I wouldn't want a house full of kids, but we have to be realistic. We'll be able to provide much better for two kids than with three. We want to be able to travel with them, send them to camps, send them to any college they want to attend, provide an enriching childhood (this doesn't mean brand new cars at 16!). Also, most likely our families are always going to be far away and airfare for four is better than airfare for five! Just being realistic.

2. Are you returning to work, do you think you will ever?
No and yes. No, I'm not working now. I quit. That's hard to say. I loved my job and the people I worked with. I went to school for a long time to get a degree that allowed me to do what I love. Despite loving my career, I knew in my heart that staying home with Avery was the right thing for our family. I think every mom and every family has to decide what's best for them when it comes to working arrangements and having a baby. When it came down to it, full time childcare would have been very costly. Sure, we probably would have come out slightly better off if I would have kept working but what I would have given up was time. I couldn't put a price tag on time. We've made a lot of sacrifices to live modestly so that I can stay home. I'm really lucky that Kyle supports me in this decision!
Yes, I do want to work again. I'd love to work part time once Avery and our next little one are in school. I want to have a career for my own professional fullfilment, and I think it's possible to do this part time. We'll see where our adventures take us, but this would be my ideal working mom situation down the road.

3. Do I like Austin?
If you asked me this six months ago I probably would have said not really. Now my answer is yes. It's not the same as Charleston or Davis. I love both of those places and hold the fondest memories in my heart for the time I spent in each of them. However, Austin is growing on me. I really love the people here, I love UT, I love UT sports. Things I don't love: traffic, no beach, lack of affordable great restaurants (most people in Austin won't agree with that statement, but they haven't lived in Charleston!), weather. So that's where I am now. If we end up staying in Austin for a while, I won't be sad.

4. Where would I ideally like to live?
This is a tough question and I never know how to answer it. From question 3 you can see that my favorite places have us split between coasts. Our families are split between coasts. If we end up on one coast or the other, one side of the family is always going to miss out. As it is, they both end up missing out. Maybe that's fair. I don't know. My answer right now is that I don't really care. I just want Kyle to get a job that makes him happy no matter where that is. In a way it will be easier if a job takes us somewhere rather than us having to choose between families. And hopefully they will like where we live so they can visit us too!