Does gender matter?

Again, this comes from one of Jenn's blog on Sunonline. My firstborn is a girl, who I and my hubby adore to bits. My parents could not be happier with their little grand daughter. She is something my parents look forward to everyday. But if I were to have another one, I know that my parents would want a boy. I have caught my mom telling my daughter, "tell mama you want a brother to play with". My husband has many a times said "It does not matter, if its a girl or a boy provided that the child is a healthy child" But I know deep down that he wants a son so that he can share with him things that in his mind he will not be able to share with his daughter when she is older. I know I am stopping at 2. I wish I could have many children but reality is we have financial constraints as we wouold want to give our children the best.

The question in my mind is "Why does he think he will not be able to share things with his daughter as he would with a son, why does he think, he will be closer to the child if he is a boy as oppose to a girl ?" Does this all not boil down to how you bring them up and the kind of relationship you build with the child?

Does it really matter? I know it does to many people. To me, from the bottom of my heart it really does not. Infact, I think I want another girl coz its so much fun with a girl. Also I think, sisters share a kind of bond and I would like Alysha to share that kind of bond with her sister (if she has one). It will be great. But sometimes i wish I will have a boy so that the experiences of bringing him up will be something new (this is from what I have heard from friends who have boys) and I would like to experience that as well.

But its sad that it matters to others in my life for other reasons, for reasons that I would hate to discuss.