Welcome to the planet

Welcome to existence
Everyone’s here
Everyone’s here
Everybody’s watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next...
Baby David finally decided to make his debut on August 9th at 7:25am!!
He weighed in at 8lbs 2oz and measured 20 inches long.

That weekend the Hub and I went to visit the proud parents, and meet our little Godson. He is such a sweetie, and I even didn't mind changing his diaper. The cats were definitely a bit jealous and kept rubbing against their legs looking for pets when they held the baby. All in all it was a great weekend.

I'm so happy for Princess Sophia and the Doc! Try to get some much needed sleep--you two are gonna be great!

Until the Baptism...
xoxo

Tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be

Hey Mama!

So brown eyes I hold you near
Cause you’re the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere
Where soul meets body


So the time quickly approaches for a new little one to come into our lives once again! Yes, I am going to be a mother!



A Godmother that is! I can't wait to meet this little guy, it seems like I've been waiting forever, but without all the "fun" P. Sophie has had! ;-)

She has 22 days until her due date and that means it's about time for some friendly betting. Here's the deal: $10 a guess, winner takes all (and gets the baby a little something). The betting has been upped from $5 to $10 since it's hard to harp on people for $5--so make sure to pay the person who guesses the closest. We already know the sex, so betting will be on the following in order of importance:

1. The birthday
2. Time of birth
3. And baby's weight**

**Guess carefully on the last one or PS may blow steam out of her nose and charge you.

My guesses are:
1. August 2nd
2. 10:16am
3. 8 lbs, 10 oz

So join in on the fun, and try to beat the reigning Brady champ!

The time for your Long Island Iced Tea awaits...

The Baby just 27 weeks ago.

The Princess Bride-to-Be!

My sister's wedding is in 2 days!!! I saw her at her final fitting and she looked gorgeous--best wishes for a beautiful day, Lis!
Love you!

Mirror in the Sky

What is love
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail thru the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

I just realized that my last post was on May 14th and I failed to mention 2 important shout-outs--word to my moms and my dad! This year Mother's Day and my father's birthday fell on the same day. While I'm at it, a Happy Anniversary too! On May 12th they celebrated their 33rd year of marriage together! It's nice to see, and they seem to get cuter and cuter as the years go by. I guess cause they know each other so well.
Anyway, thanks for life and stuff!
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
I'm getting older too.

And I Wonder...

When I sing along with you if everything could ever feel this real forever.

Questions I've been pondering lately...

1. Will this cold rainy weather ever end?!?!? Yesterday we discovered a leak in our closet which cannot be replastered until after it stops raining according to the management group. Luckily we got the new camcorder out of there before it got wet, a few DVD-Rs didn't make it, but our nice clean towels soaked up a good amount of it. I'm sure we'll be greeted with some friendly mold soon.

2. Will some benevolent soul out there please buy me a house or even just a 2 bedroom condo? With this inflated Boston real estate market combined with our hard earned modest savings we find a few lovely needs-lots-of-TLC-shacks in our price range...sigh. This spacious 748 square feet 2BR house could be yours in Stoughton, MA for a mere $297,000! Though I did see some decent sized, newly renovated condos that fit our price range in Dorchester and Roxbury, so if anyone would like to buy us bullet proof vests as a housewarming gift I'll take a medium in black please.

3. Will the landlord ever sell our apt? The landlord, who just bought this place last year from our rental group for $159K is trying to sell our "fixer-up" apartment for $189K (good luck--this place is a whopping 551 sf, 1BR that needs TLC, and comes with a parking space out back if you want to pay $22K to buy it, coin operated laundry in the next building over which is down 4 flights of stairs and out the back door to the next building only to find most of the machines broken and filled with dirty water and sometimes a homeless guy living there, a bathroom that is so small the door has actually been carved out a little so you can open it past the toilet (ghetto!), and nice high ceilings that were just repainted last year to cover up the mold which is coming back again, and too high for me to reach to clean, and no sink disposal and no dishwasher (gasp!). Yes, good luck Sanjay! This place is a gem!) So people come and go and track mud and dirt into our place and then high tail it out of here. Don't get me wrong, this place has some things going for it. I'm on the top floor so no more having to listen to a stupid RI teenager bounce his basketball over my bedroom, and the T is right outside my door. I actually like this place, for a rental, but I would never buy it.

4. How BIG will Simba continue to grow? At 3 years old he doesn't seem to stop growing, perhaps it's his beer gut catching up to him though we (or I should say I) stopped that habit of his, the Hub still finds it amusing. When prospective buyers come to look at this place they see Simba (Darla is a chicken and hides under the couch) and marvel at how big he is. One lady even gasped, "Wow!! That cat is so huge I thought he was fake!" Poor Simba, I think he gets embarrassed. I try to play with him to get him some exercise, but he doesn't run like he used to and his jumps have grown less graceful.
5. Will I ever stop dreaming about Hawai'i? All signs point to no.

-Sunset in Maui

6. Will Jack Bauer ever catch a break? If you ever thought you were having a bad day...

Aloha Again!

Waterfall on the road to Hana; Maui, HI

With a little luck and a lot of advice we have recovered some of our Hawai'i honeymoon pictures! After trying some computer recovery systems to no avail, my new uncle-in-law suggested trying to get the lost pictures from the memory card itself. I contacted my old photography professor who referred me to a friend of his in Hingham who runs a camera shop, and for a mere $25 he recovered 400 pictures that had been previously deleted from our memory card. About 150 of those were Hawai'i pictures (yes, I take a lot of pictures, but you have to remember that after I got back from the honeymoon it was playoff baseball at Fenway, our friends had a baby, and then hiking beneath the fall foliage of Walden Pond...)

This means:

1. I get to share some island aloha.
2. I still have to go back there and take some more =)

Mahalo to the many of you who offered us help!

All You Need is Love

V-Day is nearly upon us. I'm not big on this holiday, but someone I love left this little picture for me and I thought I'd share.

Love,
Me

It's All About the Benjamins Baby

This song has found it's way to my iPod, and believe it or not, was voted "Class Song" when I graduated high school. Good ol' Springfield...

My blog is worth $4,516.32.
How much is your blog worth?

I'm not too sure how accurate this figure is so, uh, can I cash in now?

Happy Year of Bin Xu

It's the Year of the Dog!

And I'm taking it as a sign that I will finally get that long awaited, much hoped for, dog that I've always wanted. I've grown up with cats and they're cool in their feline way, but a dog is what I've always wanted. The Chinese say that a dog represents loyalty and honesty, not what you think of when you think of a cat, they tend to be crafty, aloof, and more independent. When I was 9 I even made a list to my parents of pros and cons of getting a dog. It wasn't just a list, it was more like a detailed poster campaign--it didn't work.

So this is the year! The Hub is all for it too, but we're going to wait until we buy a house first, or at least until after we go to Vegas for a week. I think we can fit a puppy in this apt. as long as we're certain it's short term and we'll be moving into a house shortly thereafter. I can't wait!

My cats will be thrilled, I'm sure. This was Simba's reaction to a stuffed panda bear I got in the mail from the World Wildlife Federation. He hissed and growled at baby Darla when we first brought her home. We actually had to separate them for about 3 weeks until he got used to her and she grew a little bit. She was so tiny... Simba only tolerated her when he was stealing her high calorie kitten food It'll be interesting to see how he reacts to a puppy...

Wang wang to you all!

I am Jason Varitek.

It's a little known fact that Tek wears a "C" in honor of me!

You scored as Jason Varitek. You are Jason Varitek. You are a natural leader and are highly respected by many. You are tough and will duke it out with any purple-lipped princess when it comes to defending your buddies, which makes you a very loyal friend. Oh Captain, my captain!

Jason Varitek 90% Johnny Damon 77% Curt Schilling 73% Kevin Millar 63% David Ortiz 60% Theo Epstein 50% Manny Ramirez 47% Mark Bellhorn 33% Which Red Sox Player Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

Is Someone Getting the Best of You?

Has someone taken your faith?
Its real, the pain you feel
The life, the love
You die to heal
The hope that starts
The broken hearts
You trust, you must
Confess

I've seen more than my fair share of horrible people this last year, but I've also seen an even brighter side of humanity this past year, and that brightness could never be diminished by those few unjust and miserable people. I could be angry with them, but I don't feel that; I pity them, and I've learned that pity bleeds into forgiveness. Perhaps it's one of the hardest things I've had to reconcile, but with that forgivenss I have let go of the turmoil that they created. The lies and misery are no longer haunting to anyone but the perpetrator.

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty."
Mahatma Gandhi

Were you born to resist?

I’ve got another confession to make
I’m your fool
Everyone’s got their chains to break
Holdin’ you

Were you born to resist or be abused?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?

Are you gone and onto someone new?
I needed somewhere to hang my head
Without your noose
You gave me something that I didn’t have
But had no use
I was too weak to give in
Too strong to lose
My heart is under arrest again
But I break loose
My head is giving me life or death
But I can’t choose
I swear I’ll never give in
I refuse

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?

Has someone taken your faith?
Its real, the pain you feel
The life, the love
You die to heal
The hope that starts
The broken hearts
You trust, you must
Confess

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?

I’ve got another confession my friend
I’m no fool
I’m getting tired of starting again
Somewhere new

Were you born to resist or be abused?
I swear I’ll never give in
I refuse

Lazy Sunday

SNL has lost its spark, but every now and then they get it back, if only for a fleeting moment. For those of you like me who no longer even care to watch it and missed the funniest skit of the year it's worth checking out.

Woof!

I really really want a puppy. I've always wanted a dog, but our house grew up with a bevy of felines. Perhaps this article is a sign...

If you are interested in adopting a dog take a look at the MS and LA region where Katrina affected not only its people, but its pets.

As Bob Barker always says, "Please get your pet spayed or neutered!"

Humane Society of South Mississippi:

In a perfect world, every orphaned pet would have a good home. We, along with the help of our community, work hard to provide homes for as many of the orphaned pets we receive as possible, but for many animals this is not enough.
Although the numbers may seem a bit overwhelming, the Humane Society of South Mississippi will not be discouraged and is making great progress in reducing the overpopulation of unwanted cats and dogs and increasing the number of adoptions. In 2004 alone, the HSSM has increased adoptions 14.5% and spay/neuter surgeries 27.6%, resulting in a decrease in euthanasia rates of 14%, growing ever closer to reaching our goal to STOP euthanasia!

As difficult as it may be to read, please bear in mind that only 25% of the animals that come to us are either claimed or adopted. It is important that there be a facility where homeless animals receive a second chance of finding a loving home…

Pet Overpopulation Estimates
-Number of cats and dogs entering shelters each year: 8 to 10 million
-Number of cats and dogs euthanized by shelters each year: 4 to 5 million
-Number of cats and dogs adopted from shelters each year: 3 to 5 million
-Number of Animal Shelters in the United States: Between 4 and 6 thousand
-Percentage of dogs in shelters who are purebred: 25 percent
-Average number of litters a fertile cat can produce in one year: 3
-Average number of animals in an average feline litter: 4 to 6
-In seven years, one female cat and her offspring can produce: 420,000 cats
-Average number of litters a fertile dog can produce in one year: 2
-Average number of animals in an average canine litter: 6 to 10
-In six years, one female dog and her offspring can produce: 67,000 dogs

Some more stats:
-There are approximately 68,000,000 owned dogs in the U.S.
-Four in ten (or 40,000,000) households own at least one dog
-Twenty percent of owned dogs were adopted from an animal shelter
-Seven out of ten owned dogs were spayed or neutered
-There are approximately 73,000,000 owned cats in the U.S.
-Three in ten (or 34,700,000) households own at least one cat
-Twenty percent of owned cats were adopted from an animal shelter
-Nine in ten (89%) owned cats are mixed breeds
-Eight in ten owned cats are spayed or neutered

[Office] (228) 863-4394 - [Shelter] (228) 863-3354 | 13756 Washington Ave Gulfport, MS 39503

It's a Wonderful Life

Although they play this movie over and over again around Christmas I have never actually seen it in its entirety, but I get the gist.

I am looking forward to 2006 like a child's excitement on the first day of school! I can't wait to see how much fun we're all going to have this year. So much good has happened lately with weddings, babies, more engagements, new jobs, and acceptances to grad school, it's left me beaming. Soon the Hub and I will start the serious house hunt and I can't wait to buy our first place together =)

Happy New Year everyone!

Clarence: Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends.

If I Had One Wish...

Blowing out the candles on my "birthday cake" forced me to be reflective and think about what I'd really really like. I couldn't wish for the perfect house or a cute puppy or those new pair of shoes I've been admiring for some time...

For me it has to be important and meaningful. Some years I forget or don't care and just blow out the candles quickly to avoid getting wax on the frosting, but this year I did it right. I wished big...

We'll see.