What NOT to do.

• Rule #1. If your brother and sister-in-law are expecting and they find out the sex of the baby, don't guess. You will probably be wrong.

Everyone else has a 50/50 chance. I have 100% chance OF BEING WRONG. I have never once been right, not even with my own kids.

• Rule #2. When they do find out, tell them not to tell you. It may seem like a good idea, but then you have free reign to buy every single item you come across for that particular sex.

• Rule #3. Stay away from craft stores. This is particularly important if you have ignored rule #2. It's even more important if you ignored rule #2 AND you have 3 kids and a deployed husband therefore giving you no free time at all to make the things you had planned when you bought all those supplies.

• Rule #4: Even if you managed to escape the Babies-R-Us-You-Must-Buy-This-Crap-Or-You're-A-Bad-Parent monster when you had your own kids, you will still get the urge to buy EVERY SINGLE THING YOU SEE for the impending niece/nephew (nephew in my case). There's much less gender-neutral stuff out there than there is specific boy/girl stuff.