10 days to go

In honor of our little girl's arrival, scheduled to come in ten days, I've decided to post a sort-of countdown. I think it'll help me get through these last days...mentally that is.

So today's countdown is....

10 Things I'm Really Excited About Having a Girl

1. I can't wait to teach my daughter to cook and bake.

2. Dressing a girl...after 3 boys, need I say more?

3. How her presence will influence our family. We've been tipped so heavily in the boy direction, I'm really interested and excited to see how her addition to our family will affect our boys, my husband and myself.

4. Doing her hair. I've always wanted to have a little girl so that I could do her hair all cute. Lots of braids and pigtails. I LOVE little girls with pigtails.

5. Just have someone like me in the house. I'm not saying she'll look like me-in fact, all of my boys look SO different that I am not really sure what she's going to come out looking like. I just mean, that it'll be nice to have some more femininity in the house besides myself.

6. Being a mother of the bride. Not to say that being a mother of the groom is bad because it isn't. But being a mother of the bride is different and really special.

7. Tea Parties, ballet, dress-up and dolls. I'm a little more suited to that kind of play. Nevertheless, I have gotten pretty good at guns, space ships, trains, legos and tinker toys.

8. Taking her with me, when age appropriate, to girly events like showers.

9. The honor of teaching her what it means to be a Christian woman. I'm not really sure I know all there is to know but...through seeking the Lord's wisdom, I look forward to finding out how to pass on and instill values in her that will benefit her for a lifetime.

10. But the thing I think I'm most excited to see with having a girl, is how my husband reacts to her and their relationship. I think he has no idea what is in store for him.

AND.....

10 Things That I'm Intrigued/Scared About Having a Girl

1. So I just have to say this. I don't know how to change a girl diaper. I'm sure I'll figure it out but...so different!! At least I don't have to deal with a circumcision this time. I'll take learning the girl diaper over circumcision any day!

2. I'm scared of the attitude. Not that boys don't have attitudes from time to time but, I hear (of course I wouldn't know, ha ha) that girls can be more sassy. If my boys talk back it's pretty tame and they don't do it again once they're told to stop. Yeah...definitely concerned about the sass.

3. How to teach our daughter modesty. I'm not even sure how I learned it and I wonder how to communicate its importance to our little girl.

4. How to apply our principles/rules to a little girl. We must have the same standards but, I'm anticipating their application will be different and at times softer. How to work that boggles me. She could possibly be our last (not sure) so I also don't want her to be spoiled either. Finding that balance will be hard. I guess we'll figure that out as we go.

5. How to let her be girly in the midst of boy land. Trying to let her be who she is will be interesting when all she has around her are three older brothers.

6. How to switch parenting modes from boy to girl. I know parents do this all the time but I've never had to switch. It's always been the same. Maybe it won't be that hard. But to me it's a mystery.

7. Drama. Like sass, I hear girls can be more drama. I know they're definitely more emotional. I mean, I am. Not sure how to deal with that.

8. The teenage years and all of their "changes". My husband and I both agree that boys should talk to Dad about that kind of stuff and girls should talk to mom (when the time comes). Until now, I had pretty much gotten out of talking to anyone about the birds and the bees. Ah man...at least I have some years to prepare.

9. Protecting her. Mostly this will come from her Dad but I just want to shield her from so much of the world and have her make wise decisions. Letting her fail will probably be harder for me to watch than my boys. I don't know why.

10. But the thing I'm probably most scared about is me being a good role model. Of course she's going to look to her Dad but she's going to take her cues about femininity from me and I hope I'm up for the task. God willing, through lots of learning, failing and being covered with God's grace, I'll be able to show her what it means to be a woman.