Having kids, pros and cons?

[revots33]

First off let me say that this is not an "anti-kid" post. I've got 10 nieces and nephews, and I love them all. And I love kids in general.

But as far as actually becoming parents ourselves, my wife and I are a lot more ambivalent. We both make decent, but not great, money. Financially we are comfortable, but things would definitely be tight with the addition of 1 or more kids. We have a very happy marriage, we like to travel and go out to eat, etc. Neither of us currently feels like anything is "missing". I suppose that could change in time, though. Maybe eventually we'll get bored of just being around each other all the time, who knows. Personality-wise I'm probably not the best candidate for kids. I tend to like things calm and quiet. And I also like things neat. Don't get me wrong, I love to play sports and roughhouse with my nephews when I visit - but at the end of the day I enjoy returning to my calm quiet house.

So, at this point I doubt my wife and I will have kids (we are still young enough to change our minds I guess, but the clock is ticking so to speak.) Anyway, all this got me thinking about having kids in general.

It's obviously "expected" for married couples to have kids. So I'm wondering if there are any 2+2ers who could share their honest feelings about parenthood. Has anyone had kids and regretted it? Or not had kids and regretted it? I'm interested in REAL HONEST opinions about the joys/difficulties of parenthood... not just the Hallmark stuff. Was parenthood easier/more difficult than you expected? Did you like/dislike being a parent more than you thought you would? Did your relationship with your spouse change for the better/worse after kids? Etc....

Apologies for the sort of rambling post. And no, this is not an attempt to convince myself why I should/Shouldn't have kids. As I mentioned our minds are pretty much made up. I'm just interested to hear others' thoughts in this topic.