Chanting Ovaries
Last week my friend, Catherine, had a little baby girl. They named her Nora and she was beautiful. She didn’t come out all squished up like a lot of newborns. She was pretty and smooth and she looked like she’d been born a thousand times before. Like she was an old pro.
When I saw a picture of her, my ovaries instantly started chanting, “WE WANT A GIRL! WE WANT A GIRL!” And then Bean threw my keys in the toilet bowl (true story) and my ovaries paused for just a moment before chanting instead, “MAYBE WE CAN WAIT! MAYBE WE CAN WAIT!” And later that day as I paid bills and did our depressing banking, my ovaries paused one more time before chanting, “NEVERMIND, LET’S BUY A FISH! NEVERMIND, LET’S BUY A FISH!”
Occasionally, my ovaries chant. They’ve done it before. They’ll do it again. My ovaries are chanters. They demand things from me from time to time – usually more babies. And when they’re being particular, they demand babies of the female variety. Usually this happens when I find that I have accidentally wandered into the girl section of Carter’s or Target and frilly dresses and underpants with ruffles have somehow managed to jump spontaneously into my cart. For some reason this triggers my ovaries. I can’t imagine why.
But, inevitably, one of two things happen to silence my chanting ovaries. Either Bean does something that makes me sigh and say, “No, Bean!” For example, yesterday I looked over to find Bean feeding Big Molly all of his blocks. Molly had eaten four wooden blocks by the time I got over there. Or like yesterday evening when Chris and I were sitting down to eat dinner and Bean poured Chris’ drink all over the table – including all over our food. Yeah, those are the times when you sigh, “redirect the child’s attention” (according to the books), and think to yourself, “There’s no way I could handle two of him.”
If that doesn’t silence the ovaries, then they chant until Bean does something so incredibly funny or sweet or cute. Like yesterday morning when he learned to blow kisses. Or when he fell out of his school bus toy and Chris picked him up, but Bean held his arms out and cried for me. Those times when your heart melts and you realize that being Bean’s mom is the best thing in the whole world. My ovaries stop chanting then because I think that there would just be no way I could ever love another baby as much as I love him. And they stop when I realize how much fun it is to be a mom to a baby boy. I love having a boy. He’s into everything, always on the go, rough, ready to play, loud. He just fills the house with his boyishness and makes everything seem bigger and better.
But then SOMEONE decides to be all selfish-like and have a little girl named Nora and suddenly my ovaries wake back up again, demanding children. Please, people. Could you stop having such beautiful little babies so that my ovaries could focus on the task we have at hand – raising a little boy who throws keys into the toilet and spills drinks on my food and cries for me when he falls down? Because that is a full-time job in my house and I just don’t think I can handle adding another being to my list of responsibilities.
And yet…what is that I hear?…so faint in the background?…
“we want a girl, we want a GIRL! WE WANT A GIRL! WE WANT A GIRL!”
42 Comments
Jessica @ How Sweet
He is getting so big. My ovaries chant often…like every single day.
Michelle @ Mommy Loves Stilettos
He is such a doll 🙂
Believe me, when the time comes you will find out that you CAN love another baby just as much as you do your first. It seems impossible, but it’s not 🙂
Michelle @ Mommy Loves Stilettos
Did I really just leave the SECOND comment? That never happens to me! 🙂
Keri
But you and Chris make such beautiful and wonderful babies I think you should commence with the baby-making now. And yes, I’m saying that with an Arnold Schwarzenegger accent. “DO EET! DO EET NAO. MAKE DE BABY!”.
And I don’t even have kids and I have my ovaries screaming at me. It’s bad. I wish men had the same reaction, but I’m convinced they only experience similar chanting when they’re near an Apple store.
Kat
The Bean pics are just AMAZING! I don’t have even one yet and my ovaries are in chant overdrive.
Stephanie Neal
Great post! I am a mom to 3 boys and I know the “We want a girl” chant all too well! You are right though – boys are SO fun!!
Mom of one
I am on the verge of my second (9 days or sooner!).. and now that I am this close.. can’t imagine my life with just one… We will have one girl and one boy… perfection!
Tressa
Beanie is so stinkin cute!! That’s why I can’t wait to see what your girl will look like!! 😉 All in time, of course
LOVE these pics
Katy
Sadly, it’s silly test-taking husbands silencing the ovaries over here. Who needs to advance their careers? Bah. 😉
Heather in ND
Your girl will be precious! 🙂
Sheila
Maybe you could work out a trade….an ipad for a baby?? No guarantees on the girl variety though 🙂 Not that it helps, but I have a girl and I love it, and we’re expecting #2 and while I’d love a boy, I would have just as much fun with another girl too 🙂
Melinda
They are never cuter than at 1 year, that is always when you are feeling like you should have another one RIGHT NOW! If you can give it another 6 months you will notice your ovaries not chanting nearly as much. He is getting ready to enter the terrible two’s, sweetie. They start this at about 18 months and spend the next three years shouting “no” and running away from you. And peeing all around the perimeter of your toilet……not that you don’t still love them. lol
Jordan
My ovaries chant often, and I have no kids. Then sometimes I see other kids behaving badly and my ovaries shut up and clamp down saying “that’s okay, we can wait!”
Meredith@Tales Out of School
This is exactly the comment I was going to leave. Now, I don’t have to. 🙂
Nicole
My ovaries chanted ALL THE TIME after my son was born. I had a little girl 3 years later. I love them so much, can’t imagine my life without them, but my tubes are now TIED! Think of it this way, you waiting to have another is only HELPING you! Get Bean out of diapers first, get him a little bit older so that when the new baby does come he is able to do some things on his own. (trust me, that is HUGE!)
Life of a Doctor's Wife
Love those photos! He is SO CUTE.
I think my ovaries must be on sabbatical or something. Even faced with a precious photo of Bean, they keep quiet. 🙁
tessabella76
Haha! So funny! My ovaries were chanting BIG time this weekend. I got to hold a 2 week old baby boy. My ovaries were chanting “We want a baby, we want a baby”. Since I haven’t had one yet, they’re not too particular what gender (but secretly I think they want a girl).
Dan
If women chant with ovaries, what do men chant with? Hmmm… just wondering!
Jen at Cabin Fever
Oh my.. I hope your dog is okay after eating those blocks! haha
And you and me both sister with the chanting ovaries, only I don’t have a toddler throwing keys in the toilet. I don’t have a toddler or any beans running around for that matter. What stops my chanting ovaries is when I see my niece screaming in public or when I spontaneously decide to run out of the house for the entire day to go on a photographing excursion. I’m scared I’ll lose my spontaneity and budding photography profession with a little one :-/
Cabin Fever in Vermont
K.T.
Love this post! I have 2 girls and a boy and my ovaries chant “We Want A BOY!” You know, because I like to have them in pairs (2 girls, 2 boys) gotta keep the “teams” even and all.
R$
Give Beaner some time so he can be a proper big brother. My brother is 5 years older than me and he was a total super hero when I was little. He was a huge help to my parents and I loved when they would go out and he watched me. He really learned to be patient and responsible because I was his little shadow.
I also liked this age difference because we were never in school together except when I was in kindergarten. We are close, but also independent.
Haha I am starting to picture your iPad-baby negotiations!!
Mindee@ourfrontdoor
My first two are 19 months apart and I loved it. Yes it was challenging but they played so well together and enjoyed the same stuff at the same time. The next two are 3 1/2 years apart and that’s always seemed harder to me. I think that as long as you’re in the trenches of no sleep and diapers, you may as well have another. Because once you start getting used to sleeping and going out without the stroller it’s a LOT harder to go back. 🙂
Beanie's Nana
Silly Katie! That’s not your ovaries you hear. That’s me.
Alaina
Ha, I love the comment from Beanie’s Nana…
Sara M
haha! Funny grandma’s!
My 2 boys are 22 months apart, with the youngest about 3 weeks younger than Bean. I love that they are so close in age. The oldest has been so amazing with the baby and hasn’t had any sibling freak-outs yet. It has been so cool to watch him be so loving and cute with the baby. It’s an adjustment to figure out how to handle 2 kids, but completely worth it! I say listen to the ovaries!
Alyssa
Wait to listen to your ovaries for a little while longer 🙂 Then we can be pregnant together! 🙂
Seriously though- I don’t have a child yet and I hear my ovaries DAILY. I keep telling them SOON SOON SOON! 🙂
Kelly
With 2 boys, yes, my ovaries chant everyday. Even with me watching, at times, up to 3 additional kids, they chant the whole ‘We want a girl’ chant too. I’m okay with waiting, but I’m also okay with it happening now 😉
Alyssa
Now that Bean is on the move and dare I say, a toddler (I know I know, so grown up sounding) I can’t wait to read all the fun things he does.
I have a 13 month old boy and I have that baby itch again. It would be nice to have a girl but OMG, what if i had twin boys instead!
Didn’t you say twins are in your family….Hmmm
Megan
Guess what mine say when I see pics of Beanie…
WE WANT A BOY, WE WANT A BOY, WE WANT A BOY!
But alas…I too am not anywhere ready to have another one. I’ve got my hands full of my little girl right now. Maybe someday there will be more room. 🙂
Megan
http://reddirtandcrazy.blogspot.com/
Kelly P
My ovaries chant all the time too but my brain seems to override them for now. No kids here and just when I start thinking I can’t wait for a baby we get an awesome opportunity to travel abroad or something and I think perhaps I can wait a bit longer…
I’m just worried my ovaries may revolt once my brain is finally ready for babies 🙂
Jessica
http://www.etsy.com/shop/elizakatedesigns
Check out these adorable girl clothes for when your ovaries win out!
jescady.com
Of course your ovaries are chanting, it’s obvious that you and Chris make beautiful babies. In my situation, when we finally do get pregnant, it is apparent to me that we will only have girls because I have always wanted boys. I always had boy baby dolls growing up and only have boy names that I like. So yup, I’m destined to have girls.
Kristin
Your pics of Bean makes my ovaries chant “Have a baby! Have a baby!”
Yeah, but only if he’s as cute as Bean!!
Laura
My friends tell me this happened…did your ovaries chant before you had Bean? Mine never chant. Ever. Seriously, maybe they are broken! It worries me slightly.
Alyssa
Laura,
I was NEVER a baby person. I liked children, but babies I could do without. I seriously worried I wouldn’t like my baby either. Then I had a baby….Oh my god, I want a houseful. I love babies now.
Don’t worry, you’re motherly instinct/love of babies will kick in when it’s needed.
pam-tastic
When they start chanting…ask yourself this “Do you want another child, or do you want another cute, cuddly, adorable, baby?” After having two girls and my ovaries would chant I’d ask myself that question and lo and behold…I still only have two children. I look at it like this…I have only two hands and that equals two kids. Period. The End.
twitter: pam_tastic
Erin M.
If it’s possible, I think Bean is getting cuter with age! So handsome!
And I can relate to moody, easily-swayed, chanting ovaries. Ugh.
Liss
Yes! I’m only 22 and I have YEARS to add more kids to my family, but every time I see a pregnant belly or a new baby, my primal urges smother all the logical thoughts like ‘no money’ ‘renting’ and ‘can barely manage one’.
I want a girl next, too. It might be a strange reason, but I really want to discover how my partner raises a girl. And then I want more, too. 😛
Nate's Mom
I had a moment about two weeks ago when I thought, “If I had another baby, I have some clue as to what I’m doing so it would be MUCH easier. Yes. EASIER.” Then Nate got an ear infection and wouldn’t stop crying and we couldn’t calm him down. In a flash, I thought, “Oh. I forgot about this. Yup. A fish. A fish would be *great.*” At the moment, I’m completely outnumbered – one husband, one son, and two male cats. And yes, we have the *perfect* girl name. But the name might just be going into a journal somewhere…
Ann G-B
All those little girls clothes with the ruffles and flowers do it EVERY TIME! It doesn’t help that there is always such a miserable selection of boy’s stuff in comparison.
I keep telling my husband – the next baby is wearing pink frilly dresses no matter what!
Vandy
My ovaries won’t stop chanting, “I want a girl!” Nevertheless, I just gave birth to boy #3 a couple weeks ago. So, be careful what your ovaries wish for. I’m already contemplating whether I could handle 4 boys if I try AGAIN and get no daughter. What the hell have my ovaries signed me up for?! Arrival of #1 was bliss, #2 was EXTREMELY hard, #3 is easy to adjust to. Life is chaos already, so what is #3 (or #4) gonna harm? Never thought I’d have more than 2…
Danimezza
I swear you live in my head sometimes katie!