Boy That Was Quick

Hello....Harper!

This past week we found out that you are going to be a girl. Whew, 2 girls plus your Mom and our dog Hannah. That's going to be a of estrogen floating around our house with me the lone man in the house.

We were driving home from O'Hare - I had just picked up your Mom and Madison. They had been in Augusta all week visiting GiGi and The Colonel. Your Mom called her doctor to see if they had the results for her blood test that would tell us what your sex was. This is a relatively new thing and it didn't exist even as recently as when we had Madison. With her we had to wait a couple months for an ultrasound to see her little girl bits (or lack of boy bits) but here we are at just 14 weeks and we know - you are a girl.

Immediately your Mom asked me if I was disappointed because you weren't a boy. First off let me say it's a difficult question to answer. Immediately it conjures up negativity by assuming I had my heart set on a boy and wouldn't be happy any other way. While I did want a boy because, having been a boy myself, I was looking forward to getting buy all sorts of cool boy toys like Legos and Star Wars but I certainly was more than happy to have a girl as well. Maybe I can get you or Madison interested in things I like and still get those Legos and Star Wars toys or maybe I'll be stuck buying pink princesses for the next 15 years. Either way I'm happy. I don't want this whole "hoping for a boy" thing to be associated with any negativity or that I would love you any less because you were a girl. You are my child and that's all that is required for my love. I'll love you just as much as love Madison and your Mother.

Speaking of Madison...as soon as we found out we were having another girl (we we were on speaker phone with the doctor) Madison got really quiet. She was quiet for the entire ride back home which was very unlike her because around this time (2 years old) she was pretty much talking or singing non-stop. When we got home she told your Mother that she "didn't want a sister" and that it was "very frustrating". This was the first time I think she ever used the word frustrating with us. I didn't even know she knew that word! I explained to her that in Frozen Ana was Elsa's sister and that's what you'd be - Ana to her Elsa. She then said I must be Olaf and Mommy was Kristof. I'm just glad she didn't say I was Sven...

So there you have it. The story of how we found out you were a girl. We actually dodged a bullet here because your Mom and I have never been able to agree upon a boy's name but just like with Madison we immediately agreed on the first girls name presented - Harper. We'll see if that lasts the whole pregnancy. Man it'll be quite embarrassing to call you Harper here and then 6 months later call you something like Gertrude.

....just kidding - we'll never name you Gertrude.

Love Dad