Let's hear it for the girls

You should all know by now that when Mike and I found out we were having another baby we both prayed it would be another boy. There were practical reasons behind these prayers. We already had tons of little boy clothes and little boy toys. And we figured we could just raise baby number two the same way we raised baby number one. Except that we could fix the mistakes we made with number one and make number two even better.

But the main reason we wanted another boy is that we both felt that girls are just harder. Scary even. I should know seeing as how I am one. They have crevices that almost call for a special tool to get the poop out when they're little. They need much bigger closets than boys. They need skin products. They have hormones. At some point in life they will look at their mama, roll their eyes and say "Whatever." They will talk non-stop on the phone from the age of 11 to 21. They will be mean to other girls or other girls will be mean to them. They will start bringing home boys. The list goes on and on and on.

However, about 13 years ago I met one little girl that I just fell in love with. My niece, Katie. We formed a special bond seeing as how we are both the youngest child in our families. I got to spend a lot of time with her and with my nephew Tom when they were little. Katie was a little spitfire with lots of energy and sometimes she couldn't seem to stay out of trouble. We had many a discussion on how life isn't fair to the youngest person in the family. I don't know what her first words were, but I know the first words I remember her saying were "Tim (cause she couldn't say the K sound yet) pick my up!" I loved it.

Watching her younger years only confirmed my suspicions that girls were harder to raise than boys. Her brother has always been a very laid back, calm, obedient guy. And Katie has always been spirited. She just turned thirteen and I have to say that I hope Emma grows up as well as Katie has. I'm hoping they'll be friends of sorts despite the age difference. And I'm hoping watching Katie's parents raise her will help us with some of the scary girl stuff in the future. Here's some pictures of my two favorite girls. I like them lots. I'm not sure why Emma always has the crazy red eye in her pictures. Kind of goes along with the scary thing though.