Princesses, Butterflies and Roses

As a a father to a little boy who at the ripe age of 21 months is requesting to watch "gemes" and often wakes up by saying "hockey, hockey, hockey" or "Per-Doo" (Purdue), it is hard for me to imagine that life will not always evolve around trucks, sports, and games.

It is exciting and scary at the same time knowing that we are going to be having a little girl. That my world, our world, will now include pink, princesses, ponies, butterflies, and flowers.

I am not scared because I don't think that I can raise a girl, I am scared because, well, girls are different. They bring to the house a different aura,a different way of shaping the mood and the flow of the home, I know I lived with four of them!

But it is exciting. It has some similarities as it did with Harrison. Similar in that we have been down this path before, we know what to expect. But it is also alarmingly different. Different because well, I am not sure how yet, but I know it is.

I am a romantic, we both are really. Just as I had envisioned a life of having a catch with Harrison, teaching him the intricacy of a good snapshot, or how to throw a tight spiral, I have the same romantic ideas of having a little girl.

Watching her grow up in cute little dresses, teaching her how to fend off those "creepy boys". Having her brother be her protector, seeing her first prom, and yes, walking her down the aisle someday.

I can't help it, that is the stuff a father thinks about when he hears the news that it is going to be a girl. All of this may never come true, just as Harrison may never want to pick up a stick and skates, but it is the things that run through my head each time I think that we are having a girl!

It is exciting. It is scary. It is different. But we are ready. Ready to be blessed with another beautiful child who will be loved, and who will bring joy to our home, just as H did just a short 21 months ago.