I'll take three... no, four!

Like most people, I find out things about myself every day that make me think, Boy, I sure have changed since _________. Or, I sure think differently than I did when I was ___ years old. People grow, things change.

One thing that has not changed for me is the fact that I want kids. I have two younger sisters: my sister Jessie was born when I was seven turning eight years old; my sister Jackie was born when I was ten. I spent my childhood summers babysitting - feeding, changing, playing. And I liked it. I loved it. Sure, there were times I would've rather been doing something else, like hanging out with kids my own age, but I loved my sisters so much and was so grateful for them, I was okay with it. And they were so M-Fing CUTE.

I blame this period of my life for my desire... or NEED to have children. I'm so comfortable with babies and kids, and even though I know once I have kids my life will no longer be my own, I look forward to that day more than I've ever looked forward to anything else.

Well, I'm 27 years old now. When my mom was my age, she had a seven year old and a newborn. CRAZY! WEIRD! EW! Gina wants kids probably more than even me, so we talk about it a lot. Maybe too much, but we like it. In the last few months, we have realized that we should start thinking about when we might be ready, and Gina came up with a Two Year Plan, which gets us pregnant in 2007. Of course, we still have to work out exactly where we'll get the baby making material, i.e., sperm. We have some plans, don't worry.

Gina has 3 nieces, and another niece/nephew on the way. (Her brother and his wife haven't found out the sex of the baby... it's not like they're giving birth to a hermaphrodite or anything... we just don't know if it's a boy or girl yet). The baby shower for the unborn is this weekend, so naturally we had to go to Babies R Us and spend our combined weight in gold on the package due to arrive at the end of February.

We learned something yesterday: we shouldn't go to Babies R Us together.

If we were a straight couple, I'd be pregnant today. That store got us convinced we had to have babies NOW. We were already planning our baby registry. I know, I know. It's weird. But we can't help ourselves!

So naturally, I had a dream last night that we had a baby. A girl. And she was so cute and perfect. My dream included me being pregnant, going to the hospital, and giving birth... and the baby was clearly about 3 months old. Not a newborn. We didn't have a car seat, and I kept thinking, why didn't we have a baby shower? Why are we not prepared? Am I dreaming this? I don't want to be dreaming. Am I? No, I'm not. Wait... am I?

I was.

I told Gina about it this morning... and wouldn't you know it, she had a dream we had a baby too - a girl. Her dream baby looked like her mom... my dream baby looked like the baby on the package for the Swaddle Me blanket we bought for her sister-in-law. Hey... I'll take what I can get.

In related news, we'll apparently be bringing up baby in an apartment, because with homes at a median price of $500,000 in California, 85 percent of households can't afford to buy a house.

Nice.