I have written so many blog posts in my head that when I come here and see that it’s been nearly a week since posting, I don’t really know how that happened.

We started school this week, so that explains quite a lot.

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Back in June, one of my family’s favorite families welcomed another child into the world.  I was hoping that this would be their 3rd girl, but instead they had their 6th boy.  My girls and I were disappointed, but the boys thought this was just grand.  They roared their approval.  I think adding a bit more estrogen to the household might have been nice, but boys are wonderful, too.

You get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit.

And baby Dominic is a cutie pie, just like his big brothers.  No need to be disappointed about him at all.

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Last week, I informed the kids that another of our favorite families was imminently expecting another child.  Although at one point we all lived in the same vicinity, we are now in three different states.  I keep in touch, but the kids only get bits of news and don’t get to watch the weekly and monthly progress of a pregnancy.  One day, mom says Mrs. P. is expecting, and then many, many months later, mom says she’s having a baby.  In their mind, Mrs. P. just had a baby, because the last time they saw her, her baby was barely crawling.

I’m the same way.  If people didn’t post pictures of their families on blogs or FB, they would never grow up in my mind.  What?  Susie’s getting married?  But she’s just fifteen!!  No, she was fifteen 10 years ago.

The kids wanted to know if Mrs. P. was having a boy or a girl.  I told them we would have to wait to find out.  The boys said they hoped for a boy.  “But Mrs. P. already has four boys,” I argued.  “Don’t you think Eva should get to have a sister?”  The girls, of course, agreed wholeheartedly, but the boys seemed unsympathetic to poor Eva being the lone daughter.

After a bit of a pause, one child voiced what seemed to be children’s collective thought:

How come everybody is having babies except us?

It was, fortunately, a rhetorical question, and nobody truly expected an answer.  Or perhaps they just knew what I would say: you get what you get.  Fits will not be tolerated.

But it is interesting to note that none of my children seem to think having another sibling would be a bad thing.  There is still room for more, apparently.  

“The greatest gift you can give your child is another sibling.”  Pope John Paul II

 I guess my kids would agree with him.

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Mrs. P. had her baby early yesterday morning.  I was still fuzzy-brained when I saw her email announcement.

“She had another girl,” I told Bill flatly.

“She had a girl!” said Bill, who had already had some coffee and could think more clearly than I.

“Oh, yes!!  She had another girl!!” I said.

The boys received the news demurely.  The girls smiled happily.  No roaring.  Girls don’t roar.

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The local Army post is having a baby boom since many soldiers returned from deployment about 9 months ago.  Babies happen.  It’s a wonderful thing.

I don’t know what they do when boys are born, but whenever a baby girl makes her debut in the maternity ward, the hospital pipes the Stevie Wonder song “Isn’t She Lovely?” through the entire hospital so everyone knows the good news.

I love it.