Bopper has become Jack Elliot Willis

He was born at 3:00 AM this morning with a very quick delivery. 22.5 inches and 8lbs 15 oz. Big boy. Momma and baby are doing great.

Cara had some contractions last night at about 11:15 or so. She went for a walk and took a shower. Around 1:45 AM her contractions were strong enough for her to say "Lets go!". Woke up Leesha and went to the hospital. We arrived and got set up in a room for the delivery. Leesha called both sets of grandparents to let everyone know. At about 2:45 the contractions were regular and strong and Cara said she felt the need to push. Everything seemed accelerated from here until the end. Leesha was sent out to the hallway to wait. 15 minutes later a boy came out. Cara needed very little assistance- no painkillers (not that there was time for them).

See the Jack Elliot show here.

Bopper is 1 week overdue, but they say we can induce tomorrow.

No Bopper, but Barriss

Still no Bopper.

I found out that the girl who played the Jedi Padawan, Barriss Offee, in STAR WARS Episodes II and III is a Christian according to this interview with her at STAR WARS celebration IV. I found her email address from her website and sent her a note. She wrote me back today:

Hello Nalini,

I am a STAR WARS fan and I really like the character you portrayed in the prequels. What I'm writing about is- I just saw the interview you did with Kelly from Weekendgamer.com on youtube and I wanted to say... You are great for being so bold with your faith. Praise GOD! I am also a Christian and I was so excited to hear your testimony. Thank you for your strength and God bless.

Jeffry

------------------------

Jeffry,
Thanks so much for the email, it can be so hard to remain faithful at time to Jesus, the world gets in the way, but if it weren't for emails like this reminding me then it would be so much harder.
Thanks and God Bless.
Regards
Nalini

She seems very cool.

Bopper is due today. Still waiting...

Memorial Weekend

Friday night we went to Willis West (Greg and Mandy's house) where we grilled out and ate in. It was a very good time visiting and playing with the dogs.

Saturday we slept in. Cara and Leesha went down to Ikea with Darlene to shop. Called me and I went to down to transport a cabinate. Pre assembled. Door open so took my time going home. Stopped at Hot Comics and found Uncle Sven's which the Source recently purchased. Hans was working there. We dug out Identity Crisis and marveled at how well it portrayed Deathstroke the Terminator. Found a bunch of Challengers of the Unknown comics for $.50!

Cara and I watched the first episode of the current season of Doctor Who before she went to be and I watched SNL.

Sunday we met at Uptown Bar and Grill for gyro omelets. We picked up Darlene at her church and went to Uptown to meet Greg and Mandy and Mom and Dad.

After that Mom and Dad followed us to our house and we all went to work on Bopper's room. Had sandwiches. Leesha slept in the living room while mom and dad had her bed. We went for a walk and sat outside and talked.

Memorial Monday we had some breakfast and shortly after that, Greg and Mandy came over as well as Trelevens. We spent most of the day in our back yard.

Snow and Baby Sonar

I finally got my Jeep up the driveway and into the garage!

This started yesterday after work. Work was stressful because we got more snow than I remember ever getting here in MN. And driving a 30 foot big yellow vehicle all around St. Paul with trying to keep to a schedule is just not relaxing.

It took an hour to get home. Its ironic that the bus handles better in this weather than my jeep. Its probably all about weight. Getting home, the driveway was nearly a foot deep with snow. NO WAY this jeep is getting up there.

Took over an hour with my neighbor's help- Mike and Amy, they came over with shovels and a snow blower! Mike even tried pushing my Jeep with his Jeep. No go.

Cara and Leesha weren't home last night. They stayed at her folk's house so they could make it to the appointment this morning, ok. So I went to sleep all by myself.

Before I went to sleep, I did get the news that St. Paul closed schools for today. Thank you, Lord.

Got up and immediately started shoveling again. This time because a plow trapped me in.

Here's the REAL news.
I met Cara, Leesha and Darlene at the clinic to see Bopper! We had a scheduled ultrasound. Everything looked good to the tech and it was hard to recognize anything without her help, but what a fascinating thing!

Bopper
We had a rough weekend and this was the day that made it worth while. We heard Bopper's heart today.

I wanted to get up earlier than normal to get a head start on the day anticipating the roads, but I overslept! Cara woke me up realizing that I was still in bed. Forgoing my morning routines, I still manaaged to get to work very early and out of the yard before the big exodus of buses.

The roads were good and bad. Main streets were effortless, but many side streets hadn't been touched with plow. Over the radio it sounded pretty bad, but my routes went almost as easy as any day.

Snow

We got a ton of snow all yesterday and last night.

I shovelled most of the driveway so we could get our car on the road. Cara is very concerned about how the pregnancy is going and she wanted to go to a clinic today. After she talked with someone they told her to stay home and drink a lot of water. That doesn't seem very good. She became very worried.

Later Cara has calmed down and said she felt fluttering in her. So I guess she's ok.

We gave Catan card game a try. Kind of overwhelming at first, but we sort of got the hang of it.

I just finished shoveling most of the driveway for the 3rd time.

David and Darlene brought us Chinese for lunch.

Babies, Buses & Buca's

We were supposed to get a ton of snow today. I got up and out early for it. How much did we get? None. And they can predict Global Warming? They can't even get tomorrow correct.

Cara and Leesha were home when I got home after my morning routes. All was much less peaceful. They were in a whirlwind to get out and deliver some documents for our health insurance. We're trying to get covered through government programs, but they keep giving us the run-around. Cara is bringing requested documents in person (and taking our sick, contagious daughter with- if they would've accepted everything the first time like they said... hey, they gave her no choice. Poetic Justice). I guess some of the documents are some we already gave them. The whole thing is confusing. Leesha is looking and acting closer to normal. Yesterday's abundance of sleep did magic.

After the ladies left, Greg called to tell me they're having a boy!

Just as I was about to go make lunch, work calls and said they want bus 192 back at the shop for repair. I'll be eating later again. AAARRRGGG

This temporary bus sucked. The seat was basically a bench that leaned to the right always dumping me toward the door. I hated it.

Dah got written up twice today. Not really. She was going on and on about her tooth getting pulled out with a lot of blood. Ignored. Yelled.

Went right to Cara's folk's house and changed clothes. Shortly we left for Buca's

Buca's was great. After everyone was seated the waitress places an empty ketchup bottle with two roses in it- one blue, one pink. This was a message. They no longer are trying to catch-up with Rob and Laura (who have a baby- Oliver) and Cara and me (who are 18 weeks pregnant- Bopper). Eric and Keesha are also pregnant! Of course the food was wonderful, as well.

5, Ariel and Trash

I had to return to base with the bus, this morning, because a headlight was out. It took 10 minutes to replace. I was still a little pissed (that time at home means more to me than I realized). So, as soon as they were done, I took bus to channel 5 to say hi. Saw Jason, Seth, Danno, Hammer, Trish, Swifty, Vineeta, Pickett, Patrick, Terry, Tommy, Jim, Kevin, Schmity, few of the producer girls- Becky, Allison, Amanda. Everyone was excited to hear about Bopper. Nothing changes in that place- except for the faces. Didn't get to see Monica.

I wasn't able to come home for lunch, so I ate McDonald's.

I did get to nap today, but I had to keep the bus idling.

Super hungry when I got home.

Sorting through my email very quickly, it looks like I got in trouble with YTB because of eBay. I also got an email from eBay and thought I was in trouble on eBay because of YTB, but ended up being a phishing scam (thank God I didn't click on the link!). Strange timing on that one.

Felt like as soon as I got home we ate. As soon as that was done I was out of the house again.

Went to Mike's for a couple episodes of Firefly. Mike's house is great. Totally a bachelor house. The place is a shrine to Mike's past. All Star Wars and Indiana Jones and Dodge classic cars decor. I clearly see what he means when he talks about always working on the house. There is much much more work to do on it, but its a good house to start with. He has a nice yard all fenced in for a dog. We watched the Firefly episodes: Ariel and Trash. Fantastic show. It was fun, I'd like to do it again sometime.

feels like the day is slipping away from my memory

It has been a while.

Today, I saw an eagle standing on the ice on the Mississippi River at the intersection of Jackson Ave and Werner Rd. An eagle in downtown St. Paul. What do you think of that?

There has been so much. Its too much to cover with one entry. You are going to have to keep coming back to absorb it all.



The big news as of late is that Cara is 14 weeks pregnant!