Found this topic and couldn't resist...

I have three:

The eldest is Stephanie, who will be 31 in July. She has a little boy, Ian, who will be 2 on April 28, whose father is a worthless piece of ----. They moved into a beautiful house right before Christmas (not this past one, the one before) and then he decided he didn't love her and basically told her to leave. She and Ian went back to her house two days before Christmas... Now Daddy has another girlfriend, who---Guess What---is pregnant. What a Bum!!!

My middle one is Robb. He just turned 28 in March. He has two little girls, Anna and Allison, 10 and 8. He is my 'problem' child; residual anger problems from his father's and my divorce when he was three, alcoholism (sober for over two years now, Thank GOD!), been in jail, etc. He is slowly straightening out his life and has a decent job and his own apartment. I so hope he stays away from women who are not good for him...

Chris, my youngest, is 26. He has a girlfriend who has children. Chris is probably the child who gave me the least amount of stress...

Their father and stepmother basically raised them, until Stephanie and Robb came back to live with me as bitter teenagers. Dad had control of all the money and the house, which is why they stayed with him so long. I had nothing and no means to fight him---and he was the one who had been out cheating on me since I was pregnant with Robb. Sometimes life is just not fair...

Like Smilinize, I have been married several times and like Dianne (I think) this is the last one. NO MORE FOR ME. I'll live with animals or a roommate if I something happens to this one and I need company...LOL!

Enough of this...hey, I should writ a book...hmmmm

What mom doesn't like to talk about her children? What a great topic!

My kid's are:

Kaile (our oldest, my husband's firstborn, mine through marriage) - she is 18 and getting ready to attend a small Christian college in Indiana, which is interesting since I have never seen her in anything but flipflops which she'll either trade for "real" shoes, or else will look mighty strange in the northern states close to the biting winds coming off Lake Michigan. She is going to Major in Biology and Minoring in Spanish. She says she wants to be a Cardiologist, my husband and I think she has the "heart of a teacher" - will keep you posted.

Kayleigh (my firstborn, our middle child, my husband's through marriage) - is 6 and yes both of our girls are "Kaylee", nicknamed Big K and Little K. Kayleigh is probably the most strong-willed child I have ever met, but is just one of those kids that you know God has awesome things in store for - if she will learn to listen. Kayleigh has the heart of a giver and has lots of compassion, just hasn't quite developed "empathy" yet. =0) She is getting ready to graduate Kindergarten "with honors".

Andrew (my firstborn son, ours through biology and a fun marriage and honeymoon, and the baby of our family), is almost 2. He is our family clown and athlete. He is always doing SOMETHING to make momma alternate between laughing and fearing that he will break something. God is preparing my heart for him to be an adventurer, doing what I have no clue and honestly, am afraid to ask for more knowledge/wisdom and have decided the best thing for me is to just grow as a mom into "letting go" and to expect a liftime of "postcards from Andrew" from all over the world.

Every single one of my children are such a blessing to me and inspire me on a daily basis. Some days I symphatize with Why a Hamster Momma does indeed eat its young...but kids are awesome gifts!

"This child that I prayed for, you gave to me."

Dallas, I love how you consider God's work in the lives of your children. We are better off when we know He is their father first! Then we enter the picture.

Our first two are adopted and our third is a birth child. All their names mean a gift from God.

Are you doing anything differently with your 2 anf 6 year olds than you did with your older one?

[ April 22, 2005, 11:58 AM: Message edited by: Dotsie ]

I have two.

Michael (26) He is a police officer in Washington D.C. I really wish he would change his line of work but he is destined to work in some type of public servant capacity.

He started as a fire fighter cadet when he ws 14, became and EMT at 16 and then joined the police department a few years ago. He is such a good kid.

9/11 really changed him and made him grow up fast. He worked as an EMT at Liberty Park during the entire week following the tradegy. My husband and I were in Maine when it happened. I still remember the tone in my son's voice as he relayed what was going on. I knew in that first phone call he had been changed forever. That was a lot for a 21 year old to deal with.

I always tell him he should have been a radio DJ. He never shuts up and he is funny. He always makes me laugh. He is 6'1 and I am 5'3. Whenever I yell at him he kisses me on the top of my head and tells me how short I am.

Sarah (24) is a middle school history teacher, way too serious about life and much more conservative than I could ever be. She looks like she is 14 and gets annoyed when she gets carded. I told her she will be thankful for her genes when she turns 40.

I remember one day when she came home and told my husband and I that she now knows why we never sided with her and usually took her teachers side. LOL It's funny to hear a 24 year old complain about the laziness of the 12 year olds.

Whenever Michael comes home to visit, I get the "favorite kid is home" speech. I tell her I have no favorites, both of you aggravate me.

She must have 9 lives. I almost miscarried when I was 5 months pregnant with her then she was born a month early. She was due in January but made it in time for Christmas and an extra year of a tax deduction. I tell her she is just as impatient now as she was in the womb.

As a baby, she was allergic to milk and dehydrated when she was 5 months old and had to be hospitialized. At 5 years of age she fell head first from the top a sliding pond. At 17 she was sitting in traffic on a major roadway, was slammed into by a Chevy Tahoe and her car flipped over twice, fortunately she came through it with minor body damage.

It's funny because she always thinks that her brother is the favorite kid, yet I have to admit that the close calls she has had have secured a place in my heart that Michael never had to compete with.

Hi Dotsie,
In answer to your question - yes and no.

The first time I saw my stepdaughter (now 18) was when she was 8 and was just beginning the survival process of her birth parents' divorce.

My first apartment as a "newlywed" was in the same apartment complex as my now husband's apartment where he lived with his daughter (now my stepdaughter, Kaile) and his stepdaughter (from a previous marriage of his first wife)after the girl's mom left them and the marriage to go live with another man. It wasn't until after my husband and I were dating and discussing our pasts that we realized that we used to live in a 90 degree angle of each other. I never knew his name, only that he was the "thorn in my flesh" and "jesus freak" (b/c of the bumper sticker on his car) whose schnauzer on more than one occassion about became kibble for my German Shepherd.

Anyways, I used to sit on my porch watching, Kaile, as an 8 year old play and ride her bike. Even then, God gave me a special bond with her. I would watch her play and see disappointment easily come to her face when others would let her down, or her older sister and the older kids would pick on her. I found myself praying for Kaile even then and had feelings of desiring to encourage her - just as I do today.

When her father and I began dating when Kaile was 12 1/2, I REALLY began to pray for Kaile. It is unbelievable the hurt a child from a divorced family faces at various stages in their lives.

Because Kaile is not my biological daughter and I respect the relationship of her biological mom and dad, there are many things I do differently with Kaile than with my own biological children who are much younger.

Mostly the differences are in areas of discipline. I do not feel that I have the authority to ground Kaile, or remove privileges from her. I defer to Mike, my husband and Kaile's dad and ensure that he is handling the discipline directly for Kaile and that it is up to him and Kaile's birth mom to be a united front, if possible, in the discipline of Kaile. I support Mike's decisions in this area, while communicating to him what I feel would be appropriate.

However, re: Kayleigh, who is Mike's (my husband's) stepdaughter, we operate differently. Kayleigh does not have any contact with her birth father and he is not involved in her life and since Mike has been her "father" since she was 2, He is daddy and he disciplines her. Even with Kayleigh =) I still struggle with submission and letting Mike discipline.

It was funny - well sort of - but a few weeks ago, Mike and I were talking and I was in a particularly stressed mood about having to seemingly constantly correct Kayleigh, and Mike's response was "let me do it, then." I started arguing, "but you don't do it, so then I have to." He smiled and said, "give me five seconds to do it." I was struck silent (not easy to do) and realized that so many times I "jump" in immediately to correct behavior instead of literally "counting to five" to let Mike do it and then I thought I had the right to be upset that he didn't help in discipline? AS IF! =)

We've been practicing the 5-second-let-Daddy-do-it disciplining technique, and I have found that the stressors of discipline have decreased tremendously.

=) Amazing what happens when we let Dad be Dad.

Summing it up, with all three kids, we have expectations that are age and maturity level appropriate, we work on a reward system, family time is important as well as individual time and "date" times where where "date" either as husband/wife or Dad/Son, Dad/Daughter, Mom/Son, or Mom/Daughter.

Is it easier with the 2 & 6 year old than with the 18 year old - of course - but there are so many "blended family" issues that come into play with our oldest daughter that interfere with parenting and stepparenting the way we do uninhibitedly with our 2 & 6 year old.

I've enjoyed reading about your families, so it seems only fair to tell you about mine:

Nicholas is 24--was a Systems Administrator for a software company in Seattle at 19 and then at 21 decided college sounded much more fun than 18 hour work days. He's just finishing up his junior year at Reed College in Portland, Oregon and calls himself a biologist-in-training.

Mical is 19, moved to Oregon to live with her brother and friends last fall and works in a department store there. This fall she starts college at St. Scholastica in Minnesota. It's a lovely college that I graduated from and Mical was born when I was in school there. She went to her first class when she was 5 days old. I played a concert there that night, had her with me and she was introduced as the newest member of the music department. It seems only fitting that she decided to end up there for college!

Both our kids homeschooled (in a way we all loved called unschooling) and traveled by bus and train in their teen years all over the states and Canada to visit other unschooler friends they met at a homeschoolers' camp in Oregon several years ago. We had our share of visitors--anywhere from 10 to 25 kids at a time for a week or more. Our log house is not at all large and squeezing that many kids in was a real feat, but they were always amazing kids. 8 years after the first camp they are still close to many of those same friends and even live with some.

I have great kids and am happy they stay in constant touch with us and come visit often. I loved the years they were growing up. I also have to say the old empty-nest, after the initial shock of each of them being gone, isn't a bad place at all. Their dad and I are having a great time (we took our first kidless vacation in 25 years this year) and my time is my own again. When the time comes, I will be happy to spoil grandchildren.

Hi,
I have two kids...my oldest, Peter is 33 and a manager at Circuit City in Portland, he lives with his SO and two cats about an hour from us..my daughter Sarah is 29 and married to Patrick going on two years...she is a finish carpenter who after working with her dad for ten years has gone out on her own with her husband. She lives just through the woods from us...no kids as of yet and none on the horizon that I know of! Nance

Nance, just through the woods in Chelsea, Maine sounds so storybook. What fun to have a daughter right in the neighborhood.

[ June 10, 2005, 11:35 AM: Message edited by: Dotsie ]

Ohhhh, one of my favorite topics!
I have 5 really awesome, great kids! My career was being a stay at home Mom with them...

1. Oldest, a girl, is 30 yr., married 3 years and is pregnant with our 2nd grandbaby. She's a writer and former flight attendant.

2. Next, a boy, is 28 yr., engaged to be married next March. He owns his own business doing lighting control systems, home theaters, etc. He's working on a Parade of Homes house now.

3. Next one is also a boy, 24 yr. He is an elite tech with Mercedes Benz and recently bought his brand new condo.

4. Next is a girl, almost 21yr. She's a medical assistant for a large eye surgeons group. She lives with big brother in his new condo.
(they report to us on each other--haha)

5. "Baby" of the group is a boy, wears size 13 or 14 shoes...just graduated from high school and will be going away for college. He plays football and is signed onto his college team.

We have a really fun time when everyone gets together. Oldest daughter lives out of state with her family but I talk to her everyday! Being a mom of a large family definately keeps me busy! The kids are really good friends with each other and I just marvel at watching them interact with each other as adults. Can you tell I like and love my kids alot?

I can not only tell it from your post, but I've seen a picture of these beautiful people and they each are wearing a smile that says, "I know I am loved." What tribute to parents could a child give that would be greater than this? Nada.

They are a product of you, Petunia, and Hubby.

My best, JJ