And the gender is

Every non-revenue producing blog seems to take a hiatus now and then. And after a great start, in the spring, I did that while in daddy-needs-a-new-job-cause-he-ain't-got-one mode. So, now that I'm happily employed once again, I thought it'd be a great time to kick start my blog with a gender announcement. Number 3, we're told, is going to be a girl. We're well-outfitted with clothes of all sizes for all seasons from A. and E. No. 3 will be a superb hand-me-down dresser.

This news, less than 24 hours old, is told with 98% accuracy! Everything else looks healthy and happy. Mommy is still in a bit of shock and experiencing guilt because she'd been "thinking of this one as a boy." I don't think there'll be any long lasting psychological repercussions affecting the child, just Daddy's checkbook.

"I can't believe we're having three girls," Mommy says.

"Well, the decision tree didn't take that long to create. 50/50 makes it pretty easy to predict and prepare for the possible outcomes," I said.

Hmmm. I guess guys just think of these things a little more factually. Meanwhile, the rest of the women population in our family, extended family, and friends are already speculating on the hair color ("Will this one be a brunette??!"). And of course after birth this rampant speculation will continue ("It's going to all fall out and come back in darker." "No I think it will come back lighter." "It's going to stay this color. Look at her eyebrows." "That's just like your fill-in-the-blank-with-a-relative's-name's fill-in-the-blank-with-a-body-part-that-hopefully-typically-has-hair.")

I'm glad we can produce children that provide such joyous conversations, hypotheses, and betting on the side.

I, on the other hand, sum it up a little more concretely:

• Yes, it's a girl. I love girls in fact.
• No, our insurance premiums won't go up; they're already maxed out at "family." It's nice to have those economies of scale. (And I hear auto insurance premiums are a bit more favorable for the ladies!)
• Yes, there'll be (hopefully) 3 weddings to pay for unless Kelda secretly passes on her elopement advice.
• Yes, people should, from time to time, feel sorry for me being the only male in the house.
• Yay, we don't have to buy all new clothes, bedding, etc. that are simply a different color.
• Now we can get bunk beds and put them all in the same room. ("I get an office!") We wouldn't want one to feel left out of all of the roomie fun now would we?
• January 21 (or probably sooner) is D-Day! (They'll be about 2 years between No. 3 and E., and A. will be 3 1/2 years old.)
• A. will always be the Queen Bee. E. is the middle child, sandwich meat, Oreo filling, whatever you want to call it. Let's just get it out in the open once for all. Don't worry. She'll be fine. Daddy will see to that! She's quite the "pistol" these days (and that comes unprompted from unaffiliated sources). She'll make herself known on her own.

Until then, I've got a backlog of posts while A. and E. still get all of the attention. Stay tuned!