Boy oh Boy...

I realize I haven't written since we found out the sex of our new little family addition this fall.  The girls were both voting for another sister and I had a pretty good idea they were not going to get one, so I wanted to make this as fun for them as possible.  For those of you who aren't on facebook (or are living under a rock) here is the great gender reveal we had back in May with the girls.

To be honest, I cannot even watch this video one more time because my voice is soooo terribly annoying to me and Clara played this over and over on repeat on the iPad to the point that that giant GASP after "noooo way!!" haunts me and sometimes I can't listen to myself without being reminded of my voice in that video and how annoying it is.  In case you couldn't tell, Tony and I also had no idea what the inside of the cupcakes were going to be.  (Does my incessant chatting and cutting Tony off mid sentence give it away?  "Okay! Yep!  Eat up!") Looking back it cracks me up that Lucy happens to be wearing blue and Clara is wearing pink.  Someone had suggested that we have the girls dress in the colors that they think will be inside the cupcakes and I thought that was really over the top.  It was unintentional and pure coincidence they happened to be wearing these colors.  Also, I think that may be the first blue piece of clothing Lucy has ever worn/owned.   Since finding out, the girls have not once said they wish they were having a sister.  I think they think, since the big reveal, they had something to do with that decision....which is clearly not the case.

So life since finding out we are having a boy.  It is strange.  I don't know if it feels so strange because I have never had a boy and I don't know what to do with one or because I have never known which gender I was carrying in the past and it feels like a shock but without the "look at you! here you are!" factor.  I will say that the best (and maybe worst) part, though, is the....wait for it....shopping.

I think my friend Amanda put it best.  Girls are easier to shop for a) because there are cuter things out there for girls and more of them and b) you can buy a $6 dress for a girl on a Target clearance rack (that doesn't have an obnoxious animal  appliqued on the front of it) and b) it is an entire ensemble that requires no further purchases such as pants.

As I have been shopping for "baby O", his closet has revealed to me that I apparently only like plaid button downs and soft hoodies.  This might be a problem, as boys need pants and moms that will buy them some.  So far I have written off all boy pants as ugly.  I have decided this fall/winter (as in the first sixish months of his life) he is only going to wear sleeper/rompers that are one piece because of my distaste for pants, which you would think would be easy, but the challenge is to find some that are plain.  For some reason it is more expensive to buy them plain than it is to buy them with some obnoxious, primary colored dog/fish/dinosaur/truck/train sewn on the front.  Ugh.  (Side note: I have decided nautical themes, very small trademarks such as the babyGap teddy bear and footballs are okay....I have a soft spot for boys who play football, who knew?)

To further add to the challenge, Tony and I are making some awesome progress on our Total Money Makeover, which naturally cramps the clothing budget a bit, so I have to not only clothe this little boy and his two big sisters and my growing belly and my shrinking husband, but I have to do my best to do it on the cheap.  This has led me to my first eBay purchase last week, which was, of course, 7 plaid/lumberjack shirts for baby O for only $22.  (Another side note: I always swore I would never be one of those people who has to tell you what a good deal something was when I got a compliment on it and now I am one of those people/my own mother).  I may be turning into one of those crazies who is glued to their computer screen, online shopping, who buys/sells kids clothes online.  Time will tell when my first auction on some of the girls' old clothes closes in two days.  Yikes!

So yeah, to find boy clothes to actually cover a baby boy's body that are inexpensive and not hideous...Please, share tips.

Clothing aside, I was feeling all sorts of anxiety about bringing a boy into this family with two very dominant females as older siblings and wondering what that would be like for him.  I try not to foresee painted toenails and princess dresses on my rough and tumble little guy, but it is the first image that comes to mind.  I have this theory about boys needing brothers which makes me feel like we should try for another boy after this one which is just a whole new can of worms that I can't wrap my head around and really shouldn't try.  Four kids?!?  Wow.

At one point I said I wanted five.  Then I had one and thought that one was probably plenty.  Ahem.

The other hard part is boy names.  While T and I agree on boy names easier than we ever did on girl names, I am a little tired of many of the boy names that are really kind of "left over" from my previous pregnancies with the girls.  I also feel a lot of pressure naming a boy.  I want his name to be tough, but would hate the thought of him being made fun of for a tough name if he turns out to be a toenail-painted-princess-dress-wearer.  For example, we had this misconception with such a fiery, little Lucy our second child was for sure going to be this sweet, little quiet girl.  That sweet little Clara turned out to be even sassier than her big sister.  I still love her name, though :)

I am excited to have a boy.  I am feeling overwhelmed with feelings of the unknown, but I am definitely excited.  I do have daydreams of watching my son play football whatever sport he chooses, playing in dirt (again watching, not participating in), learning what it means to be a man of God from his daddy and him comparing every other woman he meets in his lifetime up to me, his mother...and all of them falling short in wit, beauty, wisdom and cooking (just to name a few areas)....just kidding...kind of :). 

But anyway, speaking of "sweet little Clara", she is turning two on Sunday.  Extra prayers for me, please, as things like birthdays and other huge milestones make me extra weepy and the pregnancy doesn't help that.  That little ball of sass is more "two" everyday and I am reminded of why this age is just as special and fun as it is challenging.  Today she was carrying around her two baby dolls telling them to "focus" as she tried to sit them in the back of the car.  This is a word I commonly use in the morning when trying to get the girls in their shoes and out the door.  Her saying "focus, babies!" was much cuter than when it comes out of my mouth in frantic panic.

Lucy has been talking a lot, lately, about when she grows up.  Over dinner not very long ago I told her that when she grows up she will get to buy her own house and have a big-girl job, and she can be a mommy if she wants... until I noticed her crying and Tony queuing me to stop.  She must have been overwhelmed and scared because she told me "Mommy, I never want to leave this house.  I want to live with you and Daddy forever!"  Since then she has asked me several times if she can get married and still live here and be my best friend, go to happy hour with me, start a book club with me, as well as exercise together and get pedicures instead of napping in the afternoons.  Naturally I agreed and I totally mean it.  I am secretly hoping she still wants to do all of these things even in ten years from now :)