A few weeks ago I wrote all about being a "boy mom" over on Elizabeth's blog Chasin' Mason, and because I like her Boy Mom series and liked what I wrote, I wanted to share it here with you today!
Being a mom to a boy is exciting and fun, but it is also a huge responsibility. I get to raise this boy into a man. I get to teach him how to be a kind friend, a committed husband, a gentle father, a great PERSON.
Raising him to be all of these things is the greatest gift I can give
him, and my greatest legacy. For we all know the world needs more good
men, more GOOD people.
When Keith and I found out in May 2011 that we were expecting out first child we were overjoyed!! We have always wanted to be parents and we were so thrilled we were actually going to have our first child. While I have always wanted to be a mom I never thought twice about wanting a daughter or a son, I just wanted a
child. Perhaps that is why we didn't find out Owen's gender until he was born, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Most of the old wives tales predicted we were having a girl, but for
some reason I had very strong feelings we were having a boy. It was such a thrilling surprise to have him born, and in that very moment find out if we were "boy" parents or "girl" parents.
In the hospital the nurses were all shocked that we didn't know the sex of our soon-to-be baby. It seems like most people find out these days, so they were really excited to find out too. I'll never forget
that moment when the doctor asked Keith to look over the drape (I had a c-section) to find out what we'd had. They said to him, "Okay, dad, is it a boy or girl?" to which Keith
responded "Oh wow, it's a BOY!". I remember saying out loud to myself "It's
him, it's Owen! I have a son." with great joy.
And FYI I'm from a family of all girls. Owen is the first boy to be born on my
side of our family since my grandfather. That's 87 years. Crazy, right? It was about
time!
Keith felt pretty similarly about having a boy or a girl,
he would be happy either way, but he sure does LOVE having a son. I
know he feels really lucky to get to have these experiences, ones similar
to the ones he had with his own father. In the hospital, in the days
after Owen was born, Keith was in awe that he had a son. He admitted to
me that he would have been happy either way, but that he felt really
blessed to have a boy. And just the other day they were playing basketball
in the kitchen (I know, not the place to play basketball, but...) and Keith said
that that moment was what he'd always dreamed of.
I don't know much about young boys. I only really know what I've
experience with Owen, and he is the sweetest, smartest, most passionate little person I have ever known. Every once in a while we're confronted with someone (strangers, friends or even family) who has some major misconceptions about little boys and the way they
should be. Certain people seem to think boys aren't as well behaved or that when Owen doesn't want to sit quietly at a dinner table, for example, it is because he is a BOY. Well, that's just not true or fair. I just try to ignore them. They're just missing out on all the wonderfulness this BOY has to offer them.
We like to spend our time doing a lot of the fun things you would
expect little boys to do, like...
pet snakes...
love fire fighters and fire engines...
play with sticks...
jump fearlessly...
and LOVE sports...
I have just loved this series! It is so much fun reading all about what other #boymom's experiences are. Thank YOU so much for listening to mine!