Yes, as a matter of fact, we ARE crazy!

It actually took seven weeks this time, but I finally got cornered and asked "the question" by someone I'd met only minutes before. It's one of those questions I've come to expect: "You're done now, right?" Is it obvious that I'm annoyed by that question when my eyes roll out of my head and onto the floor? It rates right up there with "Don't you know by now what causes that?" and "Are you trying for a boy?", and even "How does someone with that many kids have time to make another one??" Hmm, no, we sure don't know what 'causes that', why don't you explain it to us? And the short answer is no, we aren't "trying for a boy". Last time I heard, it's pretty much up to GOD whether a baby wears his/her plumbing on the outside or not. Besides, Pete's hopelessly broken. The Army and all that radiation from the PATRIOT system, plus the anthrax and smallpox vaccines...they broke him and now we can only have girls. OKAY?? Yes, I know that most of these ridiculous questions are just small-talk and people generally don't know what to say when they come in contact with someone who does things differently than they do, but what confuses me (and raises my hackles...even though it's on the inside) is how having a larger-than-average brood opens us up to have complete strangers questioning not only our sex life, but also our general sanity and even whether or not we're responsible parents!

I dread dealing with the comments about our family size and our choices and convictions FAR more than I worry about how we'll afford another child, how I'm going to handle dealing with the added work, the sleepless nights, and the health stresses. I'm intensely private about a lot of things, and I'm not a confrontationalist. I don't relish getting into debates, I detest going on the defensive during a conversation, and I don't judge someone just because they live differently than we do; I just want to live my life, that's all.