The Children Conundrum

So one of my good friends recently had an adorable baby boy.  I love him already.  Growing up, said good friend would often refer to her 'aunts' and 'cousins' who really happened to be close family friends of her mom who, for that reason, had been a part of her life growing up.  My other friends and I always thought this was funny - we just didn't see it that way.  However, I'm happy she does, because now this means her adorable son Nathan is my nephew.

This brings me to a bit of a quandary....  I'm 30 years old; several of my good friends are pregnant right now; some others already have kids.  There are those who definitely want kids, but are still looking for Mr. Right.  Then there are those who know they definitely don't want kids.

And then there's me.  I fall into a big gray area.  I still don't know if I want them or not.  I'm 30 years old.  Should I know at this point?  I remember, when a friend of mine and I were looking through men's profiles on match.com, she mentioned if men were of a certain age and were "not sure" if they wanted kids, it was a red flag.

This begs an important question - at what point in one's life should one know if he or she wants children?  At what point does one need to figure it out?  A small part of me feels like if my goal was having kids, my focus and some of my choices would be different right now.  Should I know if I want kids by now?  If it hasn't hit me yet, is it never going to hit me?  Or, as I slightly worry, is it going to hit me one day when it'll be too late?  I've heard about a lot of women in my age range freezing their eggs based on this exact fear.  Your thoughts?

Belated Congrats!

My two very good friends, Matt & Jenn Adams, just welcomed their first baby - a girl named Emma Lynn Adams! This is super exciting because Matt is one of my oldest friends (and by oldest, I suppose, I really mean longest-term) - we go way back to high school. Anyhow, Matt and Jenn are great people with big hearts so I am sure they will make great parents.

I am not posting a picture of Emma because I haven't had the honor of meeting her yet and, therefore, taking my own picture of her (even though, right now, I could easily lift one from facebook). I am not sure the Adams' family photo licensing policy, so I'm going to err on the side of caution on this one! However, I should meet her shortly so I'll be able to share more on this wee one soon!