STOP IT!!!

I don't know why, but it's always annoyed me when people try to guess if I'm having a boy or a girl. I've pretty much KNOWN from the beginning with both, and I would bet about $100 right now that this next baby is a girl. I would love for it to be another boy because it would be easier since we have everything from Orren still, but I don't think it's a boy at all. I am almost sure it's a girl. Honestly, this is one thing I'd love to be wrong about, but I don't think I am. (Really, though, I don't care what it is. I already have one of each, so it's not like I'm super desperate for one of whatever I don't have. It doesn't really matter, aside from it being a lot easier to have two little boys share a room, and to hand down clothes from big brother 2 1/2 years older than from big sister 8 years older. These are pretty small details.

So yeah, it's annoying when people sit there and say, "Oh, it's a boy" all the time, when I KNOW it's a girl. I haven't even told many people that we might be finding out in a few weeks. The funny part is that even when we do, some people will still have to be stupid about it. I remember being like a year and a half pregnant with Erin (OK, so not really, but seriously, she was born just weeks later) and some lady asked if I was having a boy or a girl, and I said a girl (by this time, we'd seen this on ultrasound something like three times. We were about 200% sure of her gender.) and she literally argued with me that no, it was going to be a boy. I told her we had seen on ultrasound multiple times that the baby was a girl, and she kept going. It was the dumbest conversation I have had in my entire life.

It's just as dumb when I say something about how I'm quite sure this baby is a girl, and everyone around feels obligated to say, "I'm guessing boy." OK, first of all, did I ask you, random friend of a friend? No, I didn't. Secondly, I find that people do this about 100x more when you're having a girl, or think you may be, than when you're having a boy, or think you are. I can't actually recall anyone arguing with me that Orren was a boy, and I KNEW from basically the moment of conception that he was a boy. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind. I've never been less surprised in all my life than when the ultrasound tech said, "Yup, definitely a boy!" I was very happy, because Thak really wanted a son, but I was not at all surprised. As I look back on the few months prior to that, I recall that nobody argued with me that Orren was a boy.

Is this some kind of anti-boy bias? Everyone wants a little girl, but some people just have to be saddled with little boys, so those who think they're having a girl will be told no way, while those who think they're having boys are told ok, because they can go ahead and knock themselves out with that? It's weird. Come to think of it, have you ever heard of a mom having "just one more baby so we can try for our boy" after five or six girls? NEVER. But I can think of half a dozen with six or seven boys, who just kept trying and trying for their girl. Nobody tries and tries for a boy if they have a ton of girls, but if they have a ton of boys, they do keep trying for a girl in a lot of cases. It's also totally acceptable to be openly disappointed about having "yet another boy" if you don't get your girl, but nobody is ever disappointed about "yet another girl", or at least they don't act like it. I know a girl at this post who's pregnant with her third boy right now, and a day does not go by that she doesn't lament her lack of daughters. This is not the only time I have seen that, far from it, actually. It is very common. Yet you never hear a mom with nothing but daughters lament her lack of sons. There IS some degree of anti-boy bias.

I personally am so glad I have a son. I love him to little bitty pieces, and think he is the best little boy in the entire world. I look at him every day with his pretty eyes the color of root beer, and his bright smile, and his crazy curly hair the color of cookie dough, and wonder how I got so lucky to have such a precious little person in my family. He has been throwing perfect spirals (with his football) since he was just over a year old, he wants to wear his Vikings jersey every day, and copies everything daddy does. He is amazing, and we would not be the same without him. I would LOVE to have another son. I also absolutely adore having a daughter. Girls are absolutely wonderful. They're fun and cute and adorable, and the clothing selection for them is WAY better than that for boys. If you have a little girl, you get to dress her up, and do her hair, and put makeup on her, and do her nails, and she will love every minute of it. Little girls are a ton of fun for completely different reasons than little boys are.

The bottom line is that both my kids totally rock, and for completely different reasons, and I don't like the latent anti-boy bias that our society seems to have. There is no, "Ha ha! Anna, you're having another boy!" I'd love one. I don't think that's what this baby is, though. I think it's another girl. Stop arguing with me about it, especially when the idea is that you're cursing me to have another boy. Another boy would be anything BUT a curse. The main thing, though, is that I did not ask for your opinion. Stop. I think this baby is a girl, but don't actually have a preference either way. Let's leave it at that.