There is a lot of passion in this "Hi, I am..." thread.
I don't think anyone is going to convince anyone else that they have made the wrong choice. Nor do I think anyone is trying to do so. I'm not out to change anyones minds either, but I'll add my positive thought to raising children...
My house is total chaos all of the time. With a 5, 3 and 1 year old we are constantly moving. Trying to get the 3-year old to wear something other than shorts and tee-shirt when it's 50 degrees outside and blowing 15 knots ("I won't get cold!"). Making sure the youngest doesn't fall down on the tile and hurt himself (he's been walking for a week). Trying for the millionth time to teach sharing. Handling the inevitable colds and flu bugs that come with that petri dish they call school. Trying to tell my 3-yr old to stop trying to fly from the couch to the chair while wearing the cape on his shoulders and wielding the toy sword. Helping my daughter play dress-up and set up her tea set (who'd of thought I'd be doing that!).
Then there was 2AM this morning when the oldest woke me up to remind me that I didn't give her the Cambells soup I promised her for lunch..."you ate at your friends house"..."Oh, right"..."Go to bed"..."Okay"...
But its a funny thing. On the occasion when I come home to an empty house it is so uncomfortably quiet. I so much prefer the yells of "DADDY!!!" as I approach the door and enter the chaotic realm. I watch the oldest read and I'm uterly amazed at how well she does for a 5 year old. I watched the youngest walk for the first time last week. And the three year old...well, as he's flying through the air to land on the couch (again) and I start punishing him for doing it I'm saying to myself "wow, he can really jump!" I obviously wouldn't trade them for anything. And as Maximillion said "Renting" your friends/relatives kids for a week is definitely not the same thing.
Financially they are expensive, but I'm not altogether convinced that it is "my life costs this much, but if I had kids...Wow would that be expensive!" I'd just have more (costly) hobbies and things to keep me entertained. So would DW. I know we'd travel more, etc. We still plan to RE. Maybe a few years later than a couple in our shoes that didn't have kids, but that's the type of choice that everyone makes along the way.
Kids to me are not about "the experience" as if they are something to check off a list of things to do. They are about life and living and are absolutely fantastic (to DW and I at least). If somebody makes the decision to forego having children then that is their choice, but I'd never go back.
Oh, and if you are being told that 35 is supposed to be a magical cut off point for not having children don't tell my wife. She'd go ballistic.
AV8