Is it true but does every woman want a girl? Be honest. I have one daughter followed by five sons. You should see how people look at me if I’m out with them all.

When you tell another woman you are pregnant with a son there is that split second of “Oh, are you ok with that? Oh a boy will be wonderful. You’ll be so busy, boys never stop. Your husband will be thrilled to have a son.” Stuff like that. Most women when you say you are having a daughter say things like “Oh that’s divine, Oh you’re so lucky, Oh she’ll be your best friend through life, Oh you’ll have such fun dressing her.”

I have a little observational theory going… see how it pans out for you as you pay attention. If you see a mother with young daughters, generally it has to be more than one, the mother will be co-ordinated with the girls and they will all have pink on in some form. Mothers with daughters AND a son, do not do it so much. Mothers with sons hardly ever wear pink. I started to notice this as I bought clothes after I’d had three sons. I never bought pink anymore. It clashed with everything they might wear. Their little blankets, their pyjamas, their pram, the nappy bag. If I wore pink I’d look weird. Mothers of girls wear feminine prints all co-ordinated and soft. Mothers of sons do not. In general.

I know, there are exceptions but I’m talking very generally. I have a friend who has five children. Four daughters and a son. She was thrilled to find out he was on his way. She thought she’d never have the experience of a boy. But when I told her I was expecting my third son and then my twins who were both boys…… she was obviously pained for me.

When we told people the sex of our twins they were all generally horrified that I would have to ‘suffer’ through life with five sons. I don’t feel that way. Sure, if I am brutally honest I would have liked another girl in the mix somewhere.  It’s pretty awesome for our four smallest boys to have one another. Imagine them at 19, 17 and 14. They will hopefully have a blast. Imagine them as adults, getting their families together. Beach cricket, backyard football matches, surfing. Imagine bullies trying to get around my sons. Imagine as they grow bigger how much they will enjoy the pool table and all their mates coming together here. Gosh, won’t my grocery bill be massive then?

I took a deep breath in when the sonographer informed me the twins were boys. They are identical and that means generally they are the same sex.

{I have stated elsewhere that identical twins are always the same sex and have had scientific types bombard me with ‘proof’ that is not the case}

… so my identical twins are both boys. Ok. Once I knew which gender they had, then that’s the gender they had. I had thought long hours about how I might feel if I found out I was to be the mother of five sons. I cannot deny I would have been literally tickled pink if I’d discovered little girls in there. But they are boys and boys are wonderful too. I just get the impression that most women, deep down want girls. They want a son “for their husband….. or for a bit of balance” but most women just love having daughters.

I like having both. The balance is off but I’ve got one daughter and she provides me with the most wonderful gifts. Not presents but gifts, of her spirit. She calms me, she ‘gets’ me, she does things like me because we are both women, she likes what I like. She enjoys shopping. The boys like shopping….. in a fishing shop, or for toy cars or transformers. They don’t want to browse for clothes or look at pretty things. They like to get in and get out with minimum fuss. I don’t take my boys shopping unless it’s something for them or food. They like grocery shopping because it’s all about their food.

So far I’m finding boys are what they are. They don’t bamboozle you with psychological dramas like girls can. The school yard dynamics of boys are rougher that’s for sure. But girls stuff can leave unseen scars on your soul.

My eldest son said something to my husband the other day. He said “Dad, when you get me into trouble… you say it, I get my consequence and then you move on. Mum yarps on & on…. and then re-visits days later again”. Here I was under the impression that I was merely re-iterating but he sees it at nagging. Yarping. I felt bad. A nagging mother. I’m trying to put in a big effort to behave a little more male.