My Inner World

On Monday night, after dinner, we sat down with Paddy's mother. We had decided to talk to her about our plans of trying for another child. This was not an "asking permission" conversation, but rather a: "Here's what we are planning, would you be willing to care for a second child of ours?"
As per my last post on the subject, if the answer had been "No", we would have had to make other plans. Which most likely would have involved moving to a different country as Ireland is just too expensive. We simply would not have been able to make it work here, had my MIL said "no".

So, we sat down. Paddy starts taking deep breaths, opening his mouth and... not saying anything. This gave me the giggles and there we were, like two little Toddlers with a secret. It was too silly, and I Could. Not. Stop. His mam started to give us the "one eyebrow raised" - look, so Paddy had to come out with it. And before Paddy had even finished his first sentence, she answered: "Yes, no problem".
She answered quickly, genuinely and without hesitation. Turns out that she was kidding for the last three years when she was saying that she would not take care of another baby before we had our own house......
One part of me was upset, that she had let us get so worried about this when she was only joking but the other (bigger) part was just so relieved! She said Yes, before she knew what our alternatives would have been. We did not want her to feel blackmailed: "You say yes, or we move your granddaughter to another country!"
The choice had to be genuinely, completely hers. And it was.
Later, she asked what we would have done if she had answered differently. When we told her, I could see that she was startled by it. And the relief, that we were in fact, not moving now, was clearly visible on her face.
When we left for home, Nannie scooped the Munchkin up in her arms and said "You are not going to the Netherlands, are you, Honey?" To which she replied "No, silly Nannie, I am going to my house!" Queue giggles all around! :-)

When I was driving home behind Paddy and Munchkin, I had butterflies in my stomach. We are really doing this, we are going to try for another child!

Wish us luck!