Oh Boy

I remember the night before learning the sex of the baby. I had a few anxiety attacks. Seriously. My whole life, I had pictured having a girl. One of my friends even texted me "I hope it's a girl." I even wanted a girl simply because I've always hated when people said "I hope my first is a boy so that way when I have a girl, she'll have a big brother to protect her." What a bunch of malarky! How anyone still views women as the weaker sex, I don't understand. Of course, I had this feeling from the get go that God was giving me a boy. Even though I had always wanted a girl, I just knew--boy. God also gave me peace about it, too. I didn't really mind. I mean, what was I going to do, love the baby less? The night before knowing for sure, however, the God-given peace temporarily left me, and I let my imagination run away from me. I worried so much. What if I wouldn't be happy about it? What if I cried right there in the middle of the sonogram? What if the baby ended up a girl thus discrediting my gut feeling? The only thing I hate worse than having to say "I'm sorry" is being wrong about some gut instinct I had. Quite obviously, I learned that I had a baby boy incubating inside my womb. And I did cry during the sonogram--happy tears. Of course, I had to totally regroup and learn some things about little boys as I've had very limited experience around them. Here's a few highlights of what Jude has taught me so far. 1. Changing a diaper requires my undivided attention. Either focus, or get hosed. Thanks to the unpredictability of Jude's bathroom habits, I have developed some pretty sweet cat-like reflexes. And also threw my neck out once. 2. On the surface, boy clothes shopping seems a lot less fun than girl clothes shopping. However, TJ Maxx and Baby Gap do a pretty good job of stocking some awesome baby boy apparel. Jude receives compliments all the time on his style. Even the weird comic book guy in Ridgeland wants to send his photo to a modeling agency (a big fat "No" on that one for anyone wondering). Also, boy hats are way cooler than girl hats. 3.Jude prefers cat food to Cheerios. I have given up on the Cheerios thing. Numerous times I have set the cereal before him, and he completely comes apart. However, this morning, I caught him in the cat food bowl just chowing down! This did not please Weezy or me (or Jude when I snatched him away from the bowl). 4. Anyone who has met Jude even if for a few minutes knows this--he can turn on the charm. He will smile, laugh, clap hands, squeal, and anything else to win over someone's heart, especially a female's. In his rolling over stage, an eyewitness (ok, ok, his baby-sitter) reported that he had rolled right over to his little friend, incidentally a baby girl, and put his arm around her. I don't even think his father was ever that smooth. 6. Jude idolizes Jeffrey. Of course, so do I. 7. Sometimes Jeffrey and I take the Ipad, pull up Jude's pictures, and set to Slide Show as a means to distract him. For an added bonus, i.e. squeals of glee, we add some pictures of ourselves to the slide show. It is seriously the cutest thing, and hearing those joyous shrieks help me put aside those feelings of inadequacy that my twelve month old can work my Ipad faster than I. 8. Jude has many interests, but I find he concentrates hardest on his "beads and crosswires" toy followed by watching his favorite sports team--Manchester United. Of course, I have more to add to this list, but I'm only hitting the highlights. I think anyone can tell I totally love being Jude's mother. Maybe one day I'll have that little girl I had originally wanted; we'll really know if God has a sense of humor then, because oh, what that would do to Jeffrey, especially if she turns out like me! However, I'll take what I got. While I still have much to learn about little boys, I'm enjoying the experience. Most importantly, I love Jude with my whole heart.