My husband, Ron, and I often contemplate having another baby. We have two boys. And we will often ask ourselves "Should we try for a girl?" Of course, I would love the girl experience. Shopping with (and for) her, getting our nails done together, sharing certain family traditions, and seeing a little of myself in her. We love our boys a ton and it’s been a joy watching them grow up. But at the same time we wonder if we really want to start all over again?

We had our kids at such a young age and they are older now. Ron and I sometimes watch our youngest Adam as he sleeps and are saddened as we see his legs and arms get longer. He's no longer a newborn, and we miss the early years of the sweet baby's breath, the cute toddler running around, the funny faces he’d make, and cute ways he would say the word "yellow" as "lellow."

But enough about the sentimental me. What I want to know is about you – and how you knew you were ready for another baby. Life throws so many curve balls. And so much in my life says "No way!" What in your life said – "just do it," even when things didn’t make sense to add another? What made you go from one kid to two -- or from two to three -- or more? And what are your toughest challenges with one more child to look after?

Of course, I still have a lot of things to consider. But tell me, how did you know you were ready to expand your family – and did you do anything to get the gender of your choice (I’ve heard about these things, you know!)?

A friend of mine got a text during our latest snow storm: "My babysitter canceled because of the snow. Does anyone have a sitter I can borrow?"

As she started texting her friend back, she explained to her co-workers that someone was having a care-emergency. (Clearly, her friend didn’t use our Back-up Care service where she could store all her favorite sitters and text them in a crisis, but I digress!)

As she forwarded and shared names of people she recommended, another colleague piped up in disbelief. "You share your babysitters?!" "Aren’t you afraid you’ll lose your favorite sitters to a friend?"

And that question right there started a debate. Do moms share their sitters?

Are you afraid your friends might use them again – and possibly even pay them more – leaving you in a jam the next time?

My gut reaction to all of this is to have an arsenal of sitters at the ready, and to update your list of Favorites page every three months, interviewing them, running extensive background checks, inviting them to babysit. But I know, that the emotional reality of this is that we parents get attached and have our favorite babysitters who we lean on when we know they have to "play us" that night.

When we need the sitter to cook dinner, negotiate TV-time whining, read books, put the kids to bed and then monitor for safe-keeping, we want our favorite sitters. I get that. But don’t fear. As my co-worker said, "I’m good to my friends. And I’m good to my sitters. I’m not going to not help someone get care -- or make money." And then she texted her babysitters’ contacts to her friend in need.

And that’s the point right? When it comes down to it. That’s why we should review the sitters we love, help our friends in a care crisis, and update our favorite sitters in case people move on for reasons we can’t control. So I urge you: update your favorite sitters today, use our Back-up Care service to text them if you ever have a last-minute need, and share with your friends. It’s a skill we can learn from our little ones!

Tell me, is there anyone you wouldn’t share a sitter with?

Ever feel so tired you want to quit? Quit your job. Quit running the house. Quit giving everything your all? What would you do if you could shut it all down for a little while?

I love my life. I love the work. I love my kids. I love the travel. But sometimes we all need a break from our to-do lists. Because when "get some sleep" is on our to-do list, it’s a bad sign!

A few weeks ago I remember reading about a mom who "went on strike." She had three girls and realized none of them was doing her chores. The house was a mess and she was sick of doing all the work. She started a blog and chronicled their mess piling up – and then something happened. By Day 6 the kids started picking up after themselves. Quitting worked.

I recently had to quit too. I had to ask my family to take the weekends "off." We need to just slow down from over-scheduling ourselves with activities and obligations. Our days are packed. And I feel at least one of us is exhausted and cranky at the end. Any of this sound familiar?

We decided to slow down every weekend, but what I really want is to have an entirely unplugged weekend. I want a vacation from the news, video games, anything that plugs in -- and just spend time with each other. A few days of no chores, work, homework, email or texts. Instead of cleaning up the garage and doing yard work, we will play games, read books, cook, bake and spend the day in our PJs! (Ever done something like this? Tell me how it went!)

Every once in a while families need to "check in" with themselves and see how balanced and in sync we are feeling. At work, we do this with our employees, and at home it should be just the same, except over dinner or a bedtime snuggle! I think part of evolving as a family means figuring out how to roll with the highs and lows and adjust through them all. Sometimes this can mean as partners who need to book a sitter and spend more time together, without the kids. And sometimes this means hibernating from the soccer games and birthday parties and just being a family for at least one weekend day.

On days that I feel overwhelmed, I have to ask myself: What is my priority? Why am I doing this? My answer should always be "for my family." If it’s not, I should re-evaluate. And then quit the stuff that’s excess. Decline some invitations – and Just. Stay. Home.

What is your idea of an "I quit" day?  How do you know when you or your family needs a break?