God and his sense of humor

This past week marked the point in my pregnancy that allowed us to have an ultrasound to see our growing baby.  A decision couples always have to make is whether or not they are going to find out the sex of the baby.  Unlike most individuals of the world, my husband truly believes that there should be a law against finding out the gender until birth.  Needless to say, he is a bit of a traditionalist. 

I on the other hand, typically have a modern attitude about most life events and my type A personality traits actually point to all signs of me finding out.  However it means so much to my husband not find out and it really is the most amazing surprise.  Therefore I go along with this idea of letting the baby’s sex be revealed at birth.  The fun for me is trying to figure out what the sex of the baby is without the doctor or ultrasound technician telling me or confirming this information. 

With the ultrasound of our first child, the hospital had just installed a new sonogram machine so there was nearly an entire hospital staff in the room with us.  Even though it was clear we did not want to know the gender, one the nurse’s looked at the screen and right away announced, “Oh, I see it, I know what it is!”  My thoughts were, seriously lady, I am not an idiot!  Therefore when Carson arrived, I was not entirely surprised he was a boy.  Although since we were not directly informed, there was still some element of surprise. 

 When our second child was born, we were truly uncertain if he was going to be a boy or girl.  I could not read any indications on the technician’s face, my doctor does not find out when the patient doesn’t and I did not catch anything on the ultrasound screen representing he was a boy. 

 Now with this third child, I did want to find out.  However I also wanted my husband to have his fun.  Therefore, my goal was to find out the gender of the baby without being told.  During our ultrasound, I studied the screen very thoroughly.  The baby was very energetic and bounced and flipped around the entire time….obviously my child.  I feel pretty certain that I saw the clue that this baby is a third boy.  Also when the doctor came in and we told her we were having another surprise baby she responded with, “I hope it is a girl.”  I immediately looked over at the technician to try to gauge her facial features and her eyes grew, indicating to me she did not want the doctor to say that again.   

There is still very much a degree of uncertainty of what the sex of our baby is going to be, however I am thrilled either way.  The baby is perfectly healthy and if God wants to give us another boy, he must think we are doing pretty well with the two we have or else he just has a hilarious sense of humor!

Rivals to built in best friends

     As a child, having siblings typically means being annoyed most of the time, having regular bruises, and of course getting in trouble for an offense you didn’t commit.  As I watch my boys grow, I try not to be too terribly frustrated when they have days when they argue and bicker continually.  Every single disagreement they have is basically the same scenario… Gavin irritates Carson by following, touching or copying him and then Carson hits or tackles Gavin, causing Gavin to end up crying and tattling.  Oddly when Gavin tattles, he never seems to remember what he did that caused Carson’s retaliation.

      Although I am now becoming accustomed to watching boys fight, I grew up with younger, twin sisters and when girls fight, it’s a form of art! Precious treasures mysteriously disappear, the light cryptically shut off while you are showering, and phone messages never make it to the recipient…weird, right?  For a period of time I had my sisters trading me dimes for nickels because I convinced them that the nickels were worth more because they were bigger. My sister Jennifer used to grow her finger nails out so she could claw when necessary and Julie actually chucked a dressed cheeseburger at Jennifer’s face once.  However after a period of time, this merciless torture transformed.

      Shortly after I entered high school and my sisters jr. high, the idea of making each other’s lives miserable began to lighten and although the challenge of giving each other a difficult time continued, it became clear, that although we can irritate each other, outsiders were not allowed to participate in the scrutiny!  One occasion I had an ex-boyfriend swerve in the road towards me and although he was not a serious threat, my little sister jumped on her bike, peddled to the grocery store where he worked and proceeded to read him his pedigree, completely humiliating him!  

        As adults, siblings become your built in best friends.  They understand your insecurities and are not afraid to tell you when you look hideous or are acting like a troll. They are always in your corner and always know just what to say. 

        I have shared some of these stories with my boys in hopes of not actually giving them more ideas of how to torture each other, but to teach them that even though they do  not realize it now, one day they will be grateful for each other.  I also share these stories with my students with embellished details, since they usually hear them through my writing.  And the fun part about sharing stories such as these with my students, versus my own kids is any ideas they develop are not my problem to correct….sorry parents!