Boys.

So we're having another boy. That makes 2 boys for anyone that's counting. From the beginning of this pregnancy when people would ask what I wanted my response was always: "Either way, I'll be happy! We reallllly want Jace to have a brother and really would love to have a girl, too!" I grew up with 2 older brothers and I loved it and Owen said growing up, he always wished he had a brother, so it just seemed right that our family would have 2 boys. It just seems right.

It's amazing to me how many opinions are out there when people find out we're having a second boy. The first time around were nothing but excited, hearty congratulations. The second time around, the "congratulations" seem a little forced and mumbled and sometimes, there isn't even a congratulations. There's a sympathetic response or a story about how boys are crazy or how we already have too many boys in our family or how hopefully my next one is a girl or how boys grow up and won't care about me anymore or how some brothers grow up hating each other because they have been competing their whole lives. Or how girl clothes are way cuter (ok, this one is true, but dressing boys cute is now considered an art form  to me and I'm pretty pleased with where the Hanchinamani/Marvel hand-me-downs have gotten us).

I mean, say what??!! These are the responses you are giving to a hormonal, young mother of soon to be 2 boys? In what world did we forget being polite and supportive and encouraging to young, anxiety-ridden moms who already have fears of being outnumbered by 2 children, regardless of the gender?  Is there some scientific button out there that I didn't know I could push to suddenly change the gender of my baby because the world thinks it's not a great idea? It's a done deal, from what I know. 2  Barton boys. It's what's we're having.

I don't take this job as a mama of 2 boys lightly. I've never been a boy, so raising one is a challenge. So far, it's proven to be a challenge I love. I love my boy. I love that he can throw the ball for what seems like hours and that tackling his dad 500 times in a row makes him laugh so hard he can't breathe. I love that he randomly gives out kisses and hugs and sings songs and loves trains and trucks and books. I'm not sure how to teach him to pee standing up, so I'll leave that one to Owen. It's a different world--the boy world. But, it's a good world.

These days it seems we are giving men mixed messages. We fight for our rights to be powerful women and so we say "I can hold open my own door. I can pay my own bill at dinner." Turn on a sitcom, the guy is usually some overweight idiot that is never right about anything and always ruins everything. "Who run the world?" asks Beyoncé, "Girls." And then we complain about how men these days suck and are lazy and there's no good ones out there. Ok, so try being a GIRL trying to raise boys in this world that we've created.

I so deeply want for my boys to be gentlemen. If the girl they take out doesn't want them holding open doors, then I want them to find a girl who will appreciate it. I want Owen and I to teach them to be good listeners, to know how to wash dishes and fold clothes and to scream at the TV when the Seahawks are playing and to know how to change the oil in my car. I want them to love God, to love us, to love each other and their big, huge extended family. I want them to be educated, to read a lot, to be teachable and able to teach. To be a good friend.To know how to shoot a jump shot and throw a football. I want them to defend those who can't defend themselves. To be passionate and compassionate. To be givers and doers. I want them to dance with me and to wrestle with their dad. I want them to grow up and call each other on the phone when they need advice. I want them to go camping with their cousins and to climb on roof's to help clean each other's gutters.  I want them to be each other's best men at their weddings.

These are just some of the things I want for my boys. Of course, they will make their own decisions in the long run, and maybe some of you who warned me of all the reasons why I shouldn't have 2 boys will be right.

But, maybe you'll be wrong. And maybe, someday, I'll look back and remember how it was a challenge raising 2 boys and at times chaotic. But that nothing in the world could ever make me more proud than the blessing and honor God chose me for in raising 2 wonderful, gentlemen who are leaving the world better than it was when they arrived.