Cousins and Friends

Who will be in our someday-to-be-baby's life? I was thinking about all of the permutations of our friends and family and their kids.....

In the past two years, my oldest friend from high school, K, and her husband have had two biological kids (now ages 2 and 2 months). In a sad twist of fate, her little sister has fallen on hard times and is addicted to drugs, so K foster parented and then adopted her sister's two kids, who are 3 and 7. All four kids are boys. She's also an internal medicine physician. In a super busy practice. I have no idea how she does it!


My best buddy from college, R, is single, dating, and wanting a long-term relationship and kids. All of her other friends have kids, so she's Tia to many, many kids, and they all love her. She listens to her friends talk about which pre-schools are best, how to potty train, sleep schedules, pooh schedules, and on and on. She takes photos of their kids. Creates nicknames for them. Takes them on field trips, babysits, and loves them with all her heart. She's also thinking about looking for some single friends. I love her for being so supportive of everyone around her finding love and having babies.

My wonderful friend, B, from grad school always maintained that she would never have kids. Even cringed when I talked about having a baby. Asked if she would have to touch it. Literally! Then she met an awesome woman, V, last summer, and for the first time, started considering the possibility of having kids. Since V is in her 40s, B would carry the baby, and they would ask V's brother to be the sperm donor. I'm trying to convince them to start soon so that we can go to Mommy Yoga together and raise our babies together!

Another close friend is adopting a baby boy from Korea, and is on a long waiting list for a baby from China.

In terms of family, my oldest sister, D, has three boys, each 7 years apart, so they're ages 24, 17, and 10. She works full-time and is super organized. You never see a toy in her living room unless it is actively being played with at this very moment. Her kids are smart and interested in the world.

My oldest step-sister, W, is married and never, never, never wants to have kids. She's a vet and has three dogs, two cats, six cows, and two horses. Even without kids, they have lots of babies to care for!

My other step-sister, L, has two little ones--a boy and a girl--and stays at home with them. Although I was shocked when she decided to quit her job (a full year before she got pregnant), she is an incredible mom! Those kids have more books than any other kid I've ever seen. They're smart, loving, and sweet. She takes them to the zoo every week, on long walks, and they play lots of educational games. The older one is in preschool a few days/week, and the younger one goes to swimming lessons and other activities. They are the ones who followed in my footsteps and call my stepdad Baba Dupie. Which I love, love, love.

I'm excited for our baby to have all these other kids in his/her life. And to call their grandpa Dupie!