My motherly instincts were bang on the money and the little human inside my tummy is indeed a boy!!! We're very excited to be getting a little brother for Edie, who's already insisting that he will be her baby and will live in her room. I told her that she won't be wanting to share her bedroom with a baby who cries lots and poos everywhere but she is adamant. Her first reaction after being told she was having a little brother was shout out in a slightly menacing voice, 'Oooo, I can't wait to TICKLE HIM!' Poor little thing, he doesn't know what's gonna awaiting him. An already obsessed 3 year old mini-mum.
I admit I felt a pang of nerves when they told us I was carrying a boy. After all I'm a girl, I've got an amazing, smart, funny daughter and I know a little about girlie bits and bobs. The thought of having a little man running around the place makes me really happy but I also feel a little as if I'm stepping into the unknown. Luckily that pang of excitement and nerves was very quickly replaced with an overwhelming joy. It just feels so right for us to be having a boy, like we've been waiting for him all this time. We're so lucky to getting the chance to experience bringing up both a girl and a boy; so exciting!
I'd love to hear any of your experiences of bringing up boys, especially how you think they're different to girls. Or do you think we focus too much on the sex and should just treat each child as a unique human being in their own right, regardless of gender?
Hooray for boys! (And their big sisters!)
Yay!!!! Lovely news. I've got 2 boys, and they are so great - kind and funny and very affectionate. They're also loud and bonkers and full of irrepressible energy! I haven't got any daughters so can't really compare - I do think we focus too much on gender though. I've lost count of the amount of Mums who've said to me (of their sons) 'he's such a girl' just because they have a sensitive, creative or bookish little boy!
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of good parenting books (if you like that kind of thing) which focus on celebrating 'boyness' - Raising Boys by Steve Biddulph and Raising a Son by Don and Jeanne Elium - I find both helpful when my boys baffle me! Hooray for boys indeed! xx
Your boys sound fab!
DeleteI hope I have a sensitive, creative, bookish boy! Well, really I just hope he's kind and... actually, just kind will do. Everyone tells me boys are very loving and affectionate, a woman just told me this afternoon that her 22 year old son still hugs and kisses her everyday. Aw. I also think the mother/daughter relationship is, whilst being a wonderful one, also a very complicated one. Perhaps the mother/son relationship is a little less fraught? Who knows. I'll find out in due course and, like we both agree, we all focus too much on gender. Everyone is different, right?
And thanks for the book recommendations. I shall note them down and check them out.
X
Oh, yay! So excited for you. I have to say, small willies are very strange after two girls xx
ReplyDeleteI need to do some research into care and handling of little willies. You can be my mentor. X
ReplyDeleteYay, great news! I have to admit I was thrown when I found out I was having a boy. I'd already (in my head) planned room decoration and clothes for a girl. There are no other boys in my family at all - so I just was dumbstruck. But it was good for me to find out at the scan otherwise I'd have been totally in shock when he was born! It gave me plenty of time to prepare. And I have to say I'm so happy that I have a son. Rachel's comment made me laugh though, as I am one of those Mum's who says 'he's such a girl'! My son is sensitive, bookish and creative, but I've come to realize that it's a good thing, and not every boy is going to be into football and sports etc. And don't worry about the 'bits' - you'll get used to it! x
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your news - you will adore your little man. I have two boys who are completely different: one very loving and the other very funny. It's cool to have a boy xo
ReplyDeleteYay congratulations! Before I had children I totally thought we should treat sexes the same and that gender was just a social construct ... but now I have a baby girl and a toddler boy, and I'm not so sure!
ReplyDeleteLovely news Anna.
ReplyDeleteTwo boys in our house, so have nothing to say about how different they might be to girls, but I wouldn't worry about that! It has been oft discussed that there are quite particular differences between the sexes (apart from the obvious)- I attended an 'about boys' parenting workshop once which opened my eyes to things like energy and attention levels, but how much of this is gender specific is anyone's guess!
What I love the best is my boys sense of adventure, and their speed and love of the outdoors, but it's flippin tricky to get them involved in any sort of crafting type thing - unless it's slapping paint around the room wildly! Good Luck!
Congratulations! I have one of each - my daughter is almost 6 and my son 3 and a half. So I had a girl, then a boy, as you will. I found my son to be a very placid and happy baby but had much more speed and energy as a toddler. Often mums of boys compare them to dogs - they need to be let out for a run every day or they go a bit mental! I think maybe 3 year old girls are a little more nurturing than boys of the same age, which may help with the arrival of your baby. Who knows. Everyone is full of opinions when it comes to parenting!! But congrats and best wishes to you and your growing family. :-)
ReplyDeleteGillian x
Oh my!! So exciting!!! When we found out I was pregnant the second time my daughter and I wanted a girl girl girl! When we found out it was a boy I can't tell you how much I did not want to tell my anxiously awaiting 5 year old that the baby she has been waiting and planning for was going to be a little brother and not the little sister she had been dreaming of for years. I can still remember walking up to her classroom after school and telling her the news- "OH MAN!!!!" was the response I got with her head shaking. Hehe. I wasn't sure what to expect with a boy, I had only my mini-me as a reference, and I knew that wasn't much to go on!! But as soon as he was born something clicked and I haven't looked back since!! Boys are wonderful, and they love their moms more than you can imagine! My Henry is attached to me at he hip, and I admit I love it:) Its a real gift to get to have both a girl and a boy (and my daughter Josephine finally got that sister she wanted anyway!) and what a lucky baby he will be to have a big sister who can't wait to love him:) Best of luck!!
ReplyDeleteKate:$
Oh lovely! So nice to have one of each. I do too. Just found your blog too - so hello! x
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