Our Hispanic sonographer asked "So, do you wan' to know the yender?"

He was using the depth control of the ultrasound to view the naughty bits of our little one. We'd already told him yes, we did want to know, but it was thoughtful of him to ask again before spilling the beans.

As he slowly zoomed in and out, I (like to think I) could already tell we were going to have a girl. I'm no doctor, but years of playing 3D video games perhaps gave me a little bit of a leg-up on mapping cross-sectional ultrasound pictures into 3D space. And soon enough he verified that I was correct. A girl. A GIRL! My stunned silence camoflauged my soaring heart.

So, we're going to have a daughter (THAT is going to take some getting used to.... daughter). A little girl. I'm completely, completely thrilled by this news.

I think, at some level, I was kind of hoping for a girl, but I was leery to really give those feelings credence until we knew one way or another. I know that being a parent is going to be a completely new experience, but to some degree, I feel like I know boys. I vividly remember my childhood and formative years. I have some rough idea of what it's like being a little boy, and obviously know what it's like being a big boy.

But girls... man. Girls from ages 0 to maybe 13 or so (when I first started actually conversing meaningfully (arguably, I suppose) with girls) are a complete black hole in my body of knowledge. One could probably make a good argument that I don't have much of an understanding of girls/women of any age (who does, really? :). So, I'm really feeling like a vast uncharted world has just opened up in front of me, and I'm really excited about it. Terrified slightly, but excited.

The cliche is that when you die, your life flashes in front of your eyes. I'm beginning to kind of get a sense of what that might be like. Everything from Barbies to boyfriends is running through my head. Can I coach a girls soccer team? Will she think fishing is yucky? Can girls not just claim to, but TRULY understand NFL football as well as boys? Is wanting to grow up to be a princess a bad thing? Will she rather be a cheerleader or a basketball player?

My mind is flooding with questions and possibilities.

I'll worry about those when I get there. One thing I do know for sure is that Diana is going to be a great mom no matter what, but particularly for a daughter.