snips and snails, and puppy dog tails

I'm not exaggerating when I say that with each successive child I bear, I lose some extra brain cells. I suppose they might not exactly be lost, but they certainly are otherwise occupied - keeping up with feeding schedules, wiping bums, teaching letter sounds, keeping toys out of the most congested areas of the house, remembering who likes which foods on which days and in which ways...all of that seems to make it hard to remember the exact directions to my favorite dinner, or the specifics of a conversation I had a week ago.

Even in spite of my pathetically-low-after-three-children brain cell count, I try to remember the most important things and do my best to avoid looking like a complete idiot. But it seems that one important task was left undone: I never publicly announced on my blog that we were having a boy. I've heard from several readers (several? I have like, five readers....what am I talking about?) that I casually alluded to the fact a few weeks ago, but never officially came out and said it.

Let me clear it all up and apologize for my oversight: we're having a boy!

A boy! It's true. I initially had conflicting emotions. It went a little like this:

• It's a boy! We're having a boy!!!
• I have no idea what to do with a boy.
• Josh will be able to wrestle and roughhouse and throw balls in the house!!
• I have no idea what to do with a boy.
• The Eggrolls will live on! Josh is having a son!
• I have no idea what to do with a boy.
• What will we name him?
• He's going to be so effeminate after growing up with three sisters.
• What am I going to do with a boy?!

Now the conflict of emotions is over and we are all so anxious to welcome baby brother to our family. Plus, I've had lots of time to think about it and I've come up with a few reasons why I think this boy-thing might not be so bad:

• I'm ready for the drama factor in the household to decrease a little. Let's just face it: girls are high-drama. And I mean, HIGH drama.
• Boy swimsuits are so cute.
• I won't have to braid a fourth head of hair.

I know that list is very short and shallow, but those are the things that stick out to me. And even though I think that boy-clothes aren't nearly as cute as girl-clothes, I bought this the other day after nearly swooning:

Alligator? Dinosaur? I'm not sure. But seriously - I swooned. Ask Josh; he was there with me. [I just hope he's born less than 9 pounds! The only size they had left was "newborn: up to 9 pounds".] I love the little exhaust coming from the back of the car, the fact that he's driving a car, the green and brown....

Then, a few days after alligator-in-the-car purchase, we went over to Josh's parents house for dinner and playing. They have three young boys still in the house, so there's plenty to observe over there.

Gigi dug out some of the toys the boys played with when they were little, and the swooning returned.

Construction workers? Yes. I love it.
The cute little battery-powered wrecking ball? I'm in.
The hard hats? The tow truck? I love it all.

Bring the boy on. Even if I don't know what I'm going to do with a boy, we'll figure it out.

While we were at Pappy and Gigi's house, Abby got some instruction on how to use the remote-control fan. To say she was amazed would be an understatement:

She also got to ride a bucking bronco - and yes, she fell off...but only once. =)
Samantha stuck with traditional girl toys - the Barbie convertible and My Little Pony:
After pizza and playing, we cut open a huge watermelon - such a classic summer treat!
I know lots of you guys have boys and have helped (or are currently helping) shape them into strong, Godly men - I'm totally interested in comments, tricks of the trade, helpful suggestions, etc. Let me know your thoughts!