I must apologize for my outburst yesterday. I have since cooled off, and I can only chalk up my frustration to the fact that I was having a stressful day.
But I do want to clear my name (in my defense) to those of you who may think I'm a total witch because I'm not always there for friends and family to babysit...I have been an aunt for almost 12 years. I have been friends with SEVERAL folks w/kids for over 7 years. If it were just one sibling or one friend who occasionally asked for favors, that would be one thing. But I have a brother with 2 kids, a sister with 3 kids, a set of friends with one child, another set of friends with 2 children, friend with 1 child, well...you get the picture. And over the years, we have come to be known as the "go-to" folks for ALL of these people!! And they generally expect free child care. We have been more than generous with our time, and have done so happily and willingly. But we're just having to cut back because we simply feel like we need more time to ourselves for all of the planning and preparations we're doing.
OK, that's all I'll say because I really didn't want to bring this up again today, (because it's really yesterday's news) but I don't want anyone here to think that I'm just being a big ole meanie...