I feel like a lot of my posts have been quite negative lately, and so I just want to say, for the record, that I am really, really happy. I look around at our little family and I feel so contented, so lucky to have three happy, healthy kids. Having the Wee One around just makes me feel, I don’t know, complete.

Some couples who have kids know that just one is right for them, but most, I think, go on to have a second child without having to make a big decision out of it. It’s assumed that you’ll want a sibling for your first, you’ll want to replicate your own numbers on this earth, maybe you’re hoping to have one girl and one boy. But once a couple has two kids…then comes decision time. Are you really done? Are your all-too-short baby-having days actually over? Or should you venture on to a third, into that crazy land where you are forced to play zone instead of man-to-man?

We get asked all the time why we decided to have a third, by couples who are facing this very same decision. I knew pretty much as soon as we had Gal Smiley that I would like to have another baby, but Sir Monkeypants wasn’t so sure. I didn’t want to have a third unless he fully supported the idea too, so for a long time, we debated and thought about it and went back and forth and changed each others’ minds a hundred times each.

In the end, I think these were the important factors for me:

A friend of ours with three told us, “You’ll never regret having a third, but you might regret not having a third.”

The lady across the street from us, who has two daughters aged 10 and 8, told me that she has always regretting not having a third.

Sir Monkeypants’ sister, who has two boys of her own, told us that if we were even remotely thinking of having the third, we should go for it.

And lastly, when Gal Smiley was about six months old, we lent/gave all our baby stuff to my younger sister for her first baby…and I felt really, really sad about it. I wasn’t ready to let go of that stuff, and I think this was a big factor for Sir Monkeypants too. Compare to now, when I gleefully dumped several boxes of maternity wear (bye bye!!) and 0-3M clothes (see ya!!) on my sister last month. I wasn’t ready then, but I’m ready now.

So, we decided to bravely go into the abyss. And yes, it makes for a crazy life. We sometimes feel like we don’t have enough one-on-one time with each of our kids; we sometimes feel like we’ll never sleep again. We’ve given up at least, oh, five years worth of being able to travel, being able to catch a movie on any given Saturday night, being able to sleep in on Sunday mornings, even to go to the mall to shop at the same time. We’ve committed to an extra university education, an extra set of braces, a bigger house and a bigger car.

But when I look at the Wee One…I know it was the right choice for us. Her smile alone makes it all worth it.

So if you’re even remotely thinking about it…go for it.