If you end up having a hard time that first year, I really suggest reading “All Joy and No Fun.” I thought I was crazy for not enjoying every second of it, and that book made me realize how normal my feelings were. But, you might want to wait, in case you pull this off with buckets of grace.

I will say it would be super nice if people could not get arrested for letting their children play in their own front yards. Because that happened recently. That’s why people stress so much.

I am very happy as a mother, but I am very stressed out as a mother, and as a citizen, because bluntly, the life in the United States sucks now, for most of us. The middle class is nearly gone. Jobs are scarce. Asshats are plentiful and love to judge your lifestyle.

I’ve been CF my whole life, and I was hassled about it from day one. Mostly by women. Tell people you don’t want kids, and suddenly it’s their life goal to convince you otherwise, usually with really stupid reasoning, like “A little Stephanie running around would be so cute” or “You’ll need someone to take care of you…

I’m 9-years-post-having-a-baby and I will offer you this advice: Get an awesome mom’s group. There is no substitute for a group of parents who are going through the same stuff as you and have the same baby-raising ideas. Every single thing you do will be judged wrong by someone, it’s a message that you cannot escape.…

I think this is true. I also think there’s just a problem in general with our society painting it as an obligation rather than an option, or just another box on the “standard American adult” checklist. I understand that accidents happen and many kids are unexpected and whatnot (and that many of these kids’ parents do…

Why not? Both people wanted to reproduce, now they both take a few months of leave to take care of it. What’s the big deal?

I don’t know if it’s true that most people realize how hard parenting is. Or at least how hard it is to do well. Or what sorts of temperaments can do it well more easily. I think if they did, fewer people would have kids.

Or we should have mandated paternity leave like the Scandinavian countries, so fathers are shouldering some of the career hit for reproducing.

As a male who worked as an au pair, I at least got a window into what that sort of life is like. $66,000 barely covers it. Whenever I hear someone utter the words “stay-at-home” I have a small anxiety attack. It’s worse when I hear someone talk about wanting to be one, especially if they don’t eve have kids.

I like how the article called Springdale a "small town." There are 70,000 freaking people there. I mean, I'm not going to go about calling it a big city, but small town it is not.

I appreciate the link, I was looking for a new blog to read during lunch...

I had to heart you for this: "Being a feminist doesn't mean every single thing a person with a vagina does deserves my whole-hearted support. "

Michelle Duggar also doesn't believe other people in her town have the right to buy beer at a gas station:

I am over the Duggars and wish they would go away, but just because people are pro-choice does not mean they have to refrain from judging her for making what is perceived by them to be bad choices (such as the fact that her older kids are basically indentured baby carers and don't really get a choice about that). I…

You can be pro-choice for all and still have an opinion over the ethics of having twenty children and encouraging each of those children to have twenty of their own.

Yes, the Duggars get taxpayer subsidized health care, while supporting ideological policies that would ensure that other families can't afford health care.

Did you know that Jacksonville, FL is actually the size of Russia? It's true! My parents live there, and they have a portal to an alternate universe in their backyard. It's right below one of their dozen citrus trees.

I remember reading an article in People a few years ago about another family that had 20+ children - but unlike the Duggars, all of the children were adopted. What's more, almost all of them were physically or mentally disabled - a group that is usually considered "unadoptable" because prospective adoptive parents…

I'm with this guy. Though along with Hybrid cars sporting baby seats, I also want to smash those cars that have those annoying stickers on the rear windshield. You know the ones I mean, with the stick figure mom, dad and like 6 kids + a dog? Just want to cut the brakes on those things...