It's a GIRL!

Not to dissapoint all 8 of my blog followers, but NO, we are not pregnant :)...not anytime soon.

One year ago we found out we were having a girl. 

Up to that point we just called her the "baby bug", but all of the sudden we had an identity for our child.  I felt very strongly that I did not want to find out the sex of the baby, but obviously I'm easily persuaded (and I married a lawyer).  It was such a thrilling time for us as Charles and I started to visualize our lives with a little girl.  (Little did Charles know, I was convinced that we were having a girl and I had already bought 3 dresses.)

Since that time I have realized that the whole realm of "GIRLness" is a little scary.  Immediately people would tell me "oh, she will be your little princess" or "watch out when she's a teenager".  While I am a sponge for input on how to raise a child, this didn't sound like settling advice.  Before she had even entered the world people wanted to tell her who she was.  Because of my work as a social worker, interest in child development, love for adolescents, and my own life experience, I am hypervigalent about making sure that she is her own person.   What a precious and daunting task - the gift of raising a girl today.  Maybe in the future I will enter the world of worries that come with parenting a boy, but for now, I have my work cut out for me!  The past 8 months have fostered some confidence that she's going to turn out okay.  Isn't that Parenting 101?  You do everything you can and in the end they will choose.  Honestly, I think it's a bit of that and much more of the fact that she is in the palm of God's hands.  She is His.  He has numbered the hairs on her head and has ordained each moment of her life.  I know there are days when the vigilence will need  to surface, but I think God gave us a feisty one here!

I can't deny that I'm secretly praying for her hair to grow just a bit longer so she can wear the felt barretts that I'm making her, but on most days she's wearing just as much blue as she does pink.  When she's sleeping I put my hands over her and just pray that the boldness in her will shine through as she grows to be a strong young woman. 

She can be a princess or a jet pilot, but for the time being it looks like she will be a cowgirl.  Her new boots from Mimi and Poppa say it all...

And in the world of creating, I have officially pulled together my first project (besides some random small things).  I have a minor obsession with burp cloths which probably stems from our first few months where we couldn't survive without one of these within a 12-inch radius.  This also ties in my love for personalized things.  I don't think there will be many projects that don't include some sort of letters or initials.  Oh how I love letters! 
I know, I'm such a dork. 

So very ironic, but in the midst of typing this blog I just found out that one of my best friends just had a baby GIRL -we were convinced it was a boy!

Yeah for baby Neufeld and congratulations for another beautiful and strong girl entering the world today!  Julia has a partner in crime!

(as of right now she doesn't have a name yet)...