HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAYLA

Kayla birthday
Originally uploaded by Jaimemjfan.

On Sunday, my niece Kayla turned 10 years old. Shortly after she was born, I moved in with my sister and became her nanny while I took evening college classes. I can't believe 10 years have passed already. After years and years of loving other people's kids, I finally get my own. ;)

I have been a major blogging slacker. I haven't had time to post or read other people's blogs... I feel so behind! So after this entry (which has been on my "things to do" list since Monday) I am finally off to read up on everyone's lives. I'm sure I've missed so much!
Thank you all for the sweet birthday wishes! I had a wonderful birthday and somewhere along the way from childhood to here, I became spoiled! As a kid, I was the farthest thing from spoiled you could get. I (we) never got ANYTHING we wanted (although we did get things we needed - like school supplies) unless it was a birthday or Christmas. Once I was finally on my own and had "learned financial responsibility", my parents (encouraged mostly by my father) has made up for some of those "do you want a toy or basketball sneakers for your birthday this year" years. In addition, I have Shawn's family and great friends who spoil me rotten! I am one lucky duck. (Or, hippo, these days).

So does anyone out there know of free software that will let me edit pictures? Right now they all go under "My Documents My Pictures" and from there I can't edit. I can edit from my Kodak Easyshare software but the program SUCKS! It slows my computer and can never seem to "locate" my pictures, even though it's showing me a thumbnail of them.

Shawn left for Florida yesterday for 10 days on business. Eternity, much? Luckily I work 9 out of 10 of those days so I shouldn't die of boredom. (Yeah, that's really not lucky, is it?) Plus, my other husband, Wally, is staying with me so I don't have to be alone. The puppy is missing him dearly. I SWEAR he could sense that he was leaving. It was bizarre. Usually Shawn leaves in the morning and Manny couldn't care less - he continues to snooze away in bed with me. Not yesterday morning! He was ADAMENT that Shawn was not leaving without him and cried nonstop after he left. I was suddenly emotional and sad (very unlike me) when he left and actually couldn't fight back the tears (I chaulk this up to pregnancy hormones.) Well anyway, the puppy begged to get up on the bed and when he did, he licked all of my tears and nuzzled his way under the covers to cuddle with my neck. This was one of those "I want to keep you" moments.

Shawn's best friend's wife just had her baby 8 weeks early. She was due almost 5 weeks before me. She flew off to Minnesota (who does that while 8 months pregnant?) to visit a friend and went into labor delivering a healthy baby boy named Ashton. How bizarre that he will be 3 months old when Rylee arrives and yet Rylee will be bigger than him on the day she is born. Wierd.

Okay, I'm off to catch up...