Two Boys and It's a Girl?

The news, my husband and I received yesterday at 11:30 a.m., changed our lives.  

We found out that our third child is this creature called a "girl". 

You've heard of these, right? 

You know what I'm talking about?  Have you seen them out in the world?

Well, just in case let me describe them to you. They have these giant bows on their head, they wear these click-itty sounding shiny shoe and ruffled coordinated outfits that include tights and tiny purses, something sparkly and have this pinkish glow around them. They point their toes, wear bracelets, princess crowns, twirl and giggle. 

Can I tell you just how foreign this to me?  Given, I am a female.  I was once a little girl and I could even be described as a girly girl, which means I loved princess things, wore pink, and took gymnastics so pointing toes and twirling were a must.

But I am a mother of two boys and have been for over 8 years now. Boys have been fittingly described as "noise with dirt".  Their outfits are t-shirts and shorts or camo with jeans or sport type pants. They wear neutral rubbery Crocs, tennis shoes or maybe an occasional saddle oxford for events where they must dress up.  My boys watch Star Wars, Thomas the Tank Engine and There Goes the Fire truck.  They play with legos, robots, swords and rocks and sticks.  They are very far from a pink, twirling, bow headed, ruffled, princess loving, dance class taking, flower and heart drawing creature, as one can get.   

"A girl,  Are you really sure?", I mean mistakes happen in these ultra sounds. The lady doing the ultra sound is not above making a boo boo.  She might need a closer look and not just a glance to come to such a quick and final judgement.

The news was such a shock and so unclear to me.  

What does this even really mean?  

I lay there in disbelief. 

I now realized I was questioning the nice ultra sound professional and making her prove herself and her findings.  After the third spotting of the "area of proof" and the little white arrow she used to point and describe to me this proof, I stopped repeating, "Really? are you sure?" I lay still with a glazed expression and stared at the computer.

Thank goodness I was not alone at this moment.  I gathered my husband, son, and mother into this tiny room with me.  I'll describe their reactions and you tell me if I was the only one who over reacted to this shocking, yet blessed news.  

As I was drilling questions at the nice lady for the burden of truth, my mother tears up and cries, "finally, finally, finally".  My father who is on the phone shouts, "Praise the Lord!!"  My husband, was in as much shock as I was, starts to get really quiet and backs himself against the wall with a dazed expression.  We sent a text to my sister, who replies, "Are you serious"?  My 22 month old baby boy was the the only one that acted sane in this moment.  As he sat in his stroller he blew kisses, babbled and pointed to the computer screen, (a very sweet baby bonding moment).

We all really were not prepared for this news.  I was prepared for "It's a boy", so I could say, "Ha, I knew it"!  We have everything this child needs, whew!  That is not such a strange way of thinking, I mean, that is the news my sister and I have received 4 times now.

When the Nurse asked me, "So what do you think?"  I wanted to reply, "What in the world do I do now"?  But my parents have taught me to "smile and wave" in every circumstance, this includes receiving shocking news. It is derived from the old southern way of, "Saving face in light of unpleasant circumstances".  

Not that this the most ideal way of dealing with difficult and unpleasant situations. Also neither is the news of this baby being a girl unpleasant. But instead of saying what we really mean or wearing our actually feelings on our face, we smile brightly instead. We appear strong, determined and capable of handling all things that head our way. 

As unhealthy as that may sound, let me share another way Southerners handle unpleasant circumstance.

The quote is, "Southerners have their own way of dealing with things, like drinking too much."  This quote was on a commercial years ago advertising a detox hospital.  So we can either smile and wave or drink too much.  Cheaper than therapy! ha 

So you know that I had to reply to the nurse, "Oh, this is exciting", I grin showing as many teeth as I can, I even pull out my beauty pageant experience of "smiling with my eyes".

While waiting for the doctor, I sit quietly behind closed doors thinking.  I have 2 boys, my sister has 2 boys.  We know how to play boy things at our own homes. At my parent's house there is a very large toy box full of ramps, dirt movers, mini semi trucks and loads of Hot Wheels.  We understand their boy energy, boy toys boy behavior it is our norm.  I mean, my goodness, my father just built a giant tree fort, do you get how we are all thinking here?  Between my sister and I, there are LOTS of "babies first dino" to every color Sword and light saber.  We have all sorts of blue clothes, blue blankets, blue socks, boy names, boy movies, boy McDonald toys, boy electric ride-on toys, boy themed books, even boy iPhone game applications.  

  

We have ZERO items for a girl!  

We are SO unprepared!

We have 4 months to get ready for her, (both mentally and with purchases).

Where do I even start?

My husband and I had a good nights rest. 

 

We are shocked and happy, we're... Shappy!