o God of love, creator of life, hear our prayer. grant us the fulfillment of our dreams, a baby to cherish and protect, a child to teach and guide, a blessing to our family. amen.



so i've been thinking lately about what our baby will be like. i think it's the hardest thing in the world to imagine what your first unborn child will look like. so i gave up on that.

now i'm thinking about what kind of personalities they will have. even ariel and i were talking about it last night at dinner; which of our kids will be adventurous like him, riding roller coasters and jumping off of the stairs . . . and which will be more like their mommy, cautious, and much more likely to be found on the swings or the teacups.

and i know that children learn their behavior from their parents; i take after my dad's personality and ariel is just like his dad.

between the two of us, i hope that most of our babies turn out to be more like their daddy. ariel has such a nice personality, he's so sweet - i mean sometimes i can't stand it - he's sincere, genuine and happy-go-lucky. he's cuddly and loving ALL THE TIME. he likes to be together, he always thinks of my needs first. perfect, right?

when we went home to chicago this past weekend, my mom got out my baby book and we were reading it. first month was great, i was cute and nice and whatever. but already by six months old, i didn't want to be cuddled anymore and i was active all the time. when i was a year old i was already bossing people around and trying to do everything by myself. by the time i was two, i was doing everything by myself. i didn't need help and i didn't want it.

so along with 'dear Lord, let my baby be healthy' and 'thank you for the new life inside of me' i have now added the following prayer;

'dear Jesus, please don't let my kids have my personality. i would be okay if you blessed me with a child that had parts of mine and parts of ariel's, or a child that was just exactly like ariel. but just like me? let's not push it. thy will be done.'

but i'm afraid that my baby already has an attitude problem. otherwise why would i still be so sick all the time? *sigh*

ironically, i enjoy surrounding myself with people who have the type of personality that my husband has. this was most evident to me when we took our trip to florida in april. and there they were, my husband and my best friend, jumping around in the ocean, trying to catch fish with their bare hands. this entertained them for about 30 minutes while i sat on the beach and rolled my eyes. i love my life.