YOU'RE HERE!!! Welcome, Ella!

You finally arrived! It wasn't like you wanted to come, either...we worked really hard for over 30 hours and finally, we had to reach in there and get you!

But now that you are here, we can't think about anything other than how wonderfully beautiful you are.

Welcome.

More pictures to come!

Mom and Dad!

You're Late!

Well, Baby...it's time we talked about punctuality. I know that there are places and times where being "fashionably late" is acceptable. It is, however, rare for one to excersize this style when it comes to their own party. Furthermore, while one to two hours is often acceptable if one decides to be late, it is almost never befitting the guest of honor to be more than twelve days late.

I suppose, in this one case, we can make an exception. It is, after all, the first time you have ever had a birthday so I guess it's important to choose well (though I am not sure your Gemini father is prepared for the awesome power of a Taurus child who also happens to be a Tiger).

We, your loving parents, would appreciate if you would heed all future arrival and departure times as directed. These include, though are not limited to, dinner times, bed times, school times, homework deadlines, good times, bad times, and date curfews.

Addendum:

In the Chinese Zodiac, both your mother and I are Snakes. You are a Tiger. We are potentially incompatible signs. Here is what one website has to say about our relationship:

For a husband and wife, parent and children or brother and sister relationship that falls under such combination, there will be quite frequent disagreements. The possible reason for meeting in such circumstances in this life are partly due to destiny or previous unresolved deeds, depending on who is the debtor or debt-collector.

In the case of the Western Zodiac, you will be a Taurus and I am a Gemini. Your mother is a Capricorn. Here is what it says about Gemini/Taurus:

Gemini Parent/Taurus Child: The flirty and flighty Gemini adult in this relationship, coupled with the accompanying hectic social schedule, may prove somewhat unsettling to any peace-loving Taurus child. The little Taurus craves comfort and security with few interruptions. However, any home run by a Gemini is sure to be filled with callers and weekend guests. Nonetheless, beneath his or her stubborn exterior, the little Taurus does find enjoyment in the company of others and takes great pleasure in the fine food and extragagant gifts often associated with the "social whirl" of his or her Gemini parent. It is beneficial to the young Taurus to learn how to mingle and natives of Gemini have perfected this social grace. In return, the Taurus child can provide the unsettled Gemini parent with a solid ground to return home to after all the guests have departed.

And here is what it says about Capricorn/Taurus:

Capricorn Parent/Taurus Child: Both being governed by the element of earth, this parent/child combination will be a compatible one. Both will be practical and sensible and share a love of material security. The Capricorn parent will set boundaries with which the Taurus child is happy to comply...it makes he or she feel more secure. In addition, the Capricorn parent is one upon whom the Taurus child knows he or she can depend. In turn, the Capricorn parent knows that when he or she sets a task for the Taurus child, that task will be done and done correctly. There will be much love and appreciation in this parent/child relationship and the Capricorn parent will work hard to provide the luxuries so loved by both the child and the adult.

I guess, in the end, I can say I am happy you will get along with your mother ;). I'll love you just as much, but will likely annoy the crap outta you. Oh well...Off to buy a cardigan sweater so I can embarrass you in front of your friends by talking about the good old days of "Grunge." Hahahahaha. This is going to be hilarious!

Addendum #2

Your mother just yelled at me from the other room. She was born in January of 1977 which, in the Chinese Zodiac, makes her still a Dragon rather than a Snake. Dragons and Tigers:

Tiger	Steady relationship since they are familiar with each other's talents, and a good team in business.
Tiger-child -	Disagreements may happen if the DRAGON-parent does not understand the child.

Love,

Your star-crossed Dad!

Our "Guru Baby."

You will be excited to know that you already have a name of sorts. Around Guru, where your mother and I met, you are already famously-dubbed "The Guru Baby!" Here is a little Google Search Story that I made to sort of sum up the prelude to this world.

You should also know that tomorrow is your birthday. Or rather, it is supposed to be...but you are already being stubborn and not showing signs of arriving any time soon. It's OK, though...we will be here for you when you are ready.

Love,

Dad!

5 things we should have gotten Auntie Shanna for her birthday instead of this lousy blog post

So, it's Auntie Shanna's birthday on Thursday and this is how I will introduce her to you: She will be your favorite Auntie.

Not only is there a strong possibility that you two will share a birthday, she is one of the kindest souls there is in the world. How do I know? I used to tease her all the time and she still returns my phone calls!

Now, I have written other blogs about Auntie Shanna at different times. Most of these have made her cry and so, as much fun as that is, I have chosen to take a different route. As a way of introducing you to this wonderful Aunt of yours, I am going to list five things that I should have gotten to let her know I was thinking of her on her birthday.

Why should I have gotten her these things? Because these are the things she really deserves for being such a great person.

5) An autograph from Corb Lund. He and I were recently at a birthday party for a common friend. Shanna is nuts about this guy, but I just thought it was tacky to ask for an autograph at the party. She deserves one, though, because often, in the face of famous people, she is unable to ask for autographs herself. Instead, I resorted to teasing Shanna by text message (Hey, Shan! Corb and I just cleaned up some wine that got spilled. Hope you are having fun. Bye!)

4) A new tummy. Auntie Shanna lives with a disorder called Crohn's. It's a disorder that causes some of her insides to feel awful from time to time. Happily, she has it as controlled as possible and so she gets to do everything she wants. She goes beyond just that, though, by raising thousands of dollars each year for the Heel-and-Wheel-A-Thon for Crohn's and Colitis. She deserves a new tummy because, even though she hurts from time to time, she is always still doing things to help out people who have a harder time of it than she has.

8) Some new teeth. When I was a little kid, I had a toothache. In my suffering, I wished my tooth pain on various other creatures like the family pet and, yes...my sister. She now sometimes has to get expensive dental work done. While I am a big jerk for having wished this, it is clear now that this has caused some suffering that she definitely did not deserve. Shanna deserves new teeth and it's all my fault.

3) A chess set with actual instructions. Another awful thing I did when I was a kid was to teach Shanna chess incorrectly. I did this by showing her inconsistent rules so I could win all the time. Luckily, her attention span was too short to have this matter too much, but she deserves to be able to play this game free from my influence. Maybe you can teach her?

2) An actual letter from the actual post office. When I was a kid, there was this place you could go and, for a very small amount of money, you could drop off letters (written on paper) and the nice people there would take the letter anywhere you wanted. Today, we often refer to this service as "snail mail" because it moves so slowly. I avoid it as much as possible. My sister, however, LOVES this form of communication and jumps for joy when she gets an actual letter in the mail. She deserves this joy jump because she actually takes the time to mail things to people (even me).

1) A job. Auntie Shanna is great at everything she does. One of the things she really likes to do is organize things. Since she likes doing that so much, she went to school to learn how to organize things in libraries. A library used to be a place where you could borrow bound collections of paper called books to read. Now, it's mostly where people check facebook and...well...that's it. Anyway, Auntie Shanna really loves library work and wants to work in one. She deserves a job in one because she is pleasant and would help people discover all sorts of cool things they didn't even know were there! If she worked at my library, I would check facebook only, like, four times per visit.

At the end of the day, with the exception of the Corb Lund autograph, these are things that I would get for your Auntie Shanna because she really deserves them. The cool thing, though, is that she is getting them all by herself. She is a person I admire for her ability to move through tough stuff and keep smiling. Someday I hope to be as enlightened as she is.

Until then, maybe you will teach me a little. Why you? Because I can already feel that I'll admire you in just the same way.

Love,

Dad