Our Happy Family of Three

Our One and Only

Conrad and I got married on June 28^th, 2009. I have been pursuing my dream of becoming a teacher since 2007 (just out of High school starting in August 2007 at Front Range Community College). It is now 2015 and I am a year and a half away from making my dreams come true. I didn’t ever imagine it would take me 10 years to get my degree but God had plans for our family and the two of us became 3 a year into our marriage.

Conrad and I became parents on the morning of September 26^th, 2010 to our perfect little man Edison Chase. Edison is now going on 5 in a couple months and life with the three of us has been perfect. Of course there have been questions of, “when will there be another little Drake?” Aren’t you going to try for a girl?” Edison needs a sibling to grow up with you should try for at least one more…” If you had asked me before we had Edison how many kids we want to have, I would have said two, I want my first to have someone to grow up with, I grew up with my sister and Conrad had the privilege to grow up with three. I would keep telling people asking me about when there will be another that hopefully after I graduate we would hopefully try for another. I would love to have another baby, I love kids and absolutely love Edison.

When I started to think about how we could make another little Drake work in our lives I started to really get depressed that it simply wouldn’t work out. I started to feel like I ruined my chances of having the perfect family, of giving Edison a sibling like his mom and dad had growing up. I started to think, how on earth will Edison feel and grow up without having a brother or a sister? Then like a voice spoke to me directly I realized that I know two amazing people in my life who are only children. I realized that it isn’t about the quantity of family members but the bond that you share with the family members you have. I realized that we could be completely happy with just the three of us, we don’t need to bring another baby in to this family to be happy or complete. We are complete right now. There is still that question why not try for another? What is stopping you? Well here is my answer:

I am just about to finish school as an Elementary Teacher. These last three semesters are not going to be easy. They are time consuming and I found that out when I started at Metropolitan State University last fall, realizing I needed to quit my job if I was going to keep doing well in school and find time to spend with Conrad and Edison. I was literally pulling myself thin trying to be everything I was trying to be and it was unhealthy and it was showing how stressed mentally and physically I was becoming. Things needed to change and God gave us the opportunity to change that. I got the chance to quit on October 11^th, 2014 from my job at Starbucks where I had been working for nearly 5 years. Quitting was the best thing I did because I had so much more time to focus on school and still have a little time to spend with Conrad and Edison each night and on weekends.

Now that I am at the end of my college journey the classes I am in will be requiring me to do field placement which is physically getting to go into an elementary school classroom when I’m not in school in my other classes. After two semesters of that I will be finishing up with my student teaching semester which will take even more time of me and less time with my family. After graduating I will hopefully be employed with a school district as an Elementary Teacher; the dream I have been reaching and striving for, for 10 years.

Can you see why I don’t see how a new baby would fit into all this? I already barely have time with my family as it is and to try and bring another little human being into this crazy world? As much as my heart would love to have another Drake in our family, it just doesn’t seem logical to try right now. I’m not saying that if God has other plans we wouldn’t be happy if we got pregnant again but that is up to God and he knows where our lives will be and it is in His hands. It isn’t up to anyone else to decide when we should have another baby and if we should have another baby. We are not damaging Edison from having any siblings to grow up with because if he wants to be a brother to someone, who is to say he can’t be. It is a title and blood doesn’t matter. If you believe in your heart that someone is like a brother or sister to you then they are. Not to mention the three of us are so close and will continue to grow close with each passing day. He will have cousin/cousins soon whom he can play and grow up with and will have friends in school and in his neighborhood whom he will grow up with and close to.

And lastly, I do admire those who had more than one kid, went to school but I hate that some try to tell me that if they can do it so should I. It only breaks my heart that someone would assume that I am not capable of being the best mom I can be because so and so did it .It is hurtful and only upsets me. I think it is phenomenal that they had that chance at being a mom more than once and had the opportunity to go through school. Reality is we are two different human beings who are capable of two completely different ways of life. I respect them so please respect our decision to only have one truly remarkable human being. I am truly blessed to have been given the opportunity of having one of our own because I know some who cannot have any. The quantity doesn’t make a family, it is the quality of the relationship within the family and we are blessed to have it be the three of us.