I'm an only child, and so is my wife. We both turned out just fine. I really only wanted 1 kid but that didn't work out.
My largest concern for my daughter is her being alone (or presumably married) and having to watch her parents die. Not having siblings during that stage in her life will be incredibly difficult. I can only hope that we are raising a strong, confident woman who will persevere in difficult times.
I haven't seen this point raised yet, so I will. I am a middle child of three, all of us 5 years apart. I fought with my older brother until he graduated high school, and I was an ass to my little sister until I graduate and moved out. Now I consider them as some of my best friends. When we first tried for kids, we found out it was going to be difficult for my wife to conceive. After a year of shots and other things, we decided to adopt, which took another couple of years. So know instead of being a 30 year old first time dad, it was 34. After the expense, time, and my age, I said no more kids. Then on my sons 4th Christmas as I watched him open presents by himself, I realized that some of my best memories growing up were with my siblings around the holidays. Then it hit me, one day my wife and I will be gone, and my son will be alone, figuratively speaking. I decided right then I wanted to adopt one more for his sake. I wanted him to have a sibling to enjoy adulthood with. And a year later we had another son. Sure, I'll almost be retired when my youngest graduates college, but I couldn't imagine my life without him, and my oldest loves having a little brother. If fact he wants another sibling, but that ain't happening.
Can you explain more about the adoption process? What costs were involved?