Boy or Girl?????

Of course one of the main issues on our mind with this new baby is whether it is a boy or girl. It's fun to talk about! With Eli, Brandon and I were just positive he was a boy from the second we found out we were expecting. This baby, not so much. I've really struggled with trying to picture another baby in our family and I can only picture a girl. When I try to picture a boy all I see is Eli. Any attempts at picturing myself holding a boy is returned with images of Eli as a newborn. A girl is so foreign to me and different from Eli that it's easier to picture. Obviously, we want HEALTHY!!!! That is our main concern! I think every parent tries to picture having such an intense love and passion for another child besides the first, and it seems impossible. Eli is all I know! If it is a boy, it will be fun to see the differences and similarities between them. Sorry boys, the comparison is going to happen whether you like it or not....I won't love you more or less! Pros of having another boy are: I would love for Eli to have a little brother to play with, we already have EVERYTHING for a boy, definitely would be easier financially because we have all the clothing already, most of our toys are boy geared, we know how to deal/play with boys, etc. Pros of having a girl are: I'm sick of being outnumbered (ha ha), exciting new territory, wouldn't have to play ball 24 hours a day (please can I just play dolls/barbies for a day?), would love to buy all the adorable dresses/hair clips etc., Eli would hopefully grow up more sensitive to women's issues. I've noticed that men who had sisters are better husbands in a lot of ways (not saying it's always the case, but seems a little easier at least). I just am DYING to find out! The cool thing is, I think I'll be having my next sonogram right before Christmas....so I'm hoping for an early Christmas present and a cooperative baby so I can find out and buy some last minute things to throw under the tree!

Eli and I spent yesterday planting bulbs and putting up Halloween decorations. I had printed off a bunch of Halloween coloring pages off the internet and the past month we've been working on them and cutting them out. Now that it's October it was time to hang them on the windows! Eli is so proud. He points to them all the time reminding me HE colored them! I'm so glad I did that! We also hung up a light up pumpkin in the window and he helped me put up Halloween window stickers. I wish I could just go crazy and spend tons of money on decorations, but think it would be better to just add a few new things each year and hopefully I'll have enough some day! As we were putting up the window stickers he started saying NANA! NANA! NANA! and pointing at some of the stickers. No surprise.....guess what the stickers were. CANDY! I started cracking up. He always tells on her ;-) ;-) He doesn't get sugar from me folks. If he ever hears anyone say "cookie" or "candy" he always says NANA! That's what grandmas are for, right?