Do Tell: Is there ever a right time?

{Chic Nursery via My Favorite and My Best}

Sadly, my father in law passed away after a difficult battle with liver cancer last Thursday. We had a memorial service honoring his life this morning and have spent the past several days with family, including Fabian’s sister who is here from Kansas City with our precious one month old nephew. When I am around him and my sister’s darling nine month old daughter, I start to get a little bit of baby fever. I also may or may not have seriously considered asking a woman if I could have her gorgeous, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked baby boy while shopping at A Bientot this weekend. I’ve always known I wanted to have children and frankly, when I was younger, I thought that I would have two kids by this age! I will be 31 this year and Fabian and I will celebrate our seventh wedding anniversary in July. I honestly waiver back and forth—I don’t have an overwhelming desire to have a baby and there are times when I see children misbehaving in public and I think to myself that I could be happy just being a mom to my dog, Tate.

{Rachel Zoe’s son’s “Bananas” Nursery via Bravo TV}

For those of you who are mothers, did there ever come a time when you just knew that you should start a family? I know everyone says that there is never a perfect time, but I find myself to be pretty conflicted about this. I go back and forth—part of me thinks that being almost 31 with certain health issues, we should get on with it while the other part of me has a lot that I would still like to do before having a child. I have a new project in mind that I know will require a lot of time and energy and it would be optimal to lay the groundwork for it prior to having a baby. On top of all of this, I am literally terrified to give birth as I have zero tolerance for physical pain. Am I being a big baby about having a baby? Is there ever really a right time to start a family? And for those of you fabulous mothers who tackle demanding careers and parenthood with killer style—how do you manage to do it all?