it's a girl...

i was reading this post by Jessica Gottlieb, and i was shuttled back to October 23rd, 2008 as darkness fell on that wonderful day...

i gave birth to my daughter on that day... i hadn't slept in a long time...i'd been up for probably 36-40 hours and i gave birth in that time...
i was sitting in my bed, holding her, still wrapping my mind around the idea of having a little baby... it was raining out...and i could see a few trees before the pretty brick building that hogged about 90% of my view...

now, we didn't find out the gender of this little one... i swore that not knowing would help me "push it out..." and i loved the surprise... :) i hadn't ever been pregnant before, and i had nothing to compare my feelings to, but i just kind of felt like i was going to have a boy... people told me their thoughts, and i guess i just went with the majority...

and after 23+ hours of labor, when they announced, "it's a girl" on that early Thursday morning, i cried...i was so happy "it" was a girl :)

that night, as i sat there looking at the rain drops on my huge window, i still couldn't believe i had a baby...and that sweet baby was a little girl wrapped in a soft cotton blanket...

it was probably hormones and exhaustion, but i cried... i cried because i sat there holding this little tiny baby...and suddenly, i was transported to 13 years in the future...as she stood there begging me to wear the shorts with "Juicy" across the butt...or the skin tight booty shorts that are popular... or a mid drift top...

see, i really thought it was going to skip into a sports store and choose "Nike" and "Adidas" shirts for my awkward teenage son with legs longer than an ostrich...

i know that it's going to take a lot of prayer to raise this little girl... but i pray, every night, that she is raised in such a way that she honors God and has pride in her appearance and dresses so that she doesn't advertise "things" that only her future husband should ever see when she gets married when she's 50

and i know that her dad and i are going to have very high standards for her dress...

and i know that she'll never wear outfits like we see in the video on Jessica's blog...

i'm thinking back to the days when i wanted to fit in, and i know it's so hard for a child to see other kids wearing such provocative fashion and not want to be like them... and from friends with older children, i know it's hard to find clothes for little girls that are tasteful...

i remember being a teenager and wanting a "Co-Ed Naked" t-shirt (popular in the 90s) because everyone had them... i did get one, a Co-Ed Naked Volleyball shirt, as a matter of fact... but it was behind my parents' back...and then when my mom found it... woah buddy... needless to say, i didn't ever wear it...and it still sits in my drawer at my parents' house... "on the floor is where you'll score" was printed across the back... now, if my daughter EVER wanted to wear that, i would burn it in the back yard and find a large floral moo moo for her to wear to school

i pray that my husband and i have the strength to remain strong in our convictions as we raise our sweet girl... :)