Everything Mark wrote about Hera is very true and I don’t have much to add.  I had an emotional break down this morning when I was sitting on my usual stool waiting for her to jump up on my lap.

I wanted to share a short story about her ’sharing’ my breakfast.  It was a Saturday morning (thank goodness).  I was eating my usual bowl of cereal and Hera was sitting on my lap as usual.  I was basically done eating and just chatting with Mark.  All of a sudden she reaches a sly paw up over the rim of the bowl and yanks as hard as she can.  Milk goes pouring over her, me, the stool, the floor…everywhere.  It was not exactly what she had in mind.  Her curiosity got the best of her that day.

There are two other things about her that I miss and will continue to miss if she can’t return home: her love and ability to catch and kill bugs.  Of the three cats, she is by far the most loving.  It can be a bit much sometimes and I’m not sure how it’ll go with the baby.  But anytime I’m laying down in front of the tv, she’s there with me.  She purrs more than Purrball (which is saying something!) and she cuddles more than Star (which is also actually saying something).  Overall I just like having a lap cat and she is definitely that.

Oh yeah, and Mark shouldn’t be allowed to use the fly swatter so she needs to come home and kill the flies.  Even if she only actually stuns them so we can kill them easier.

I’m sure everyone is ready to move on from the two bumbling cat lovers over here, so I’ll be done.  I still miss her though.

I am a huge fan of Gustav Mahler (Romantic period composer).  His music never ceases to amaze me.  Mahler and I have a love hate relationship right now though.  I recently discovered one of his songs (In Tempo Des Scherzo from Symphony 2) and I love it.  It’s 34 minutes long and half way through I start to doubt it’s quality, but then there’s the ending.  Every time I listen to it, I get tears in my eyes.  I’m guessing it’s partially due to current hormones, but every time, even at work?  I love it too much to not listen to it though.  Le sigh.

I’m sorry for the profound silence lately.  I admit, I’ve been withholding information.  Mark and I are so excited to share that we are expecting a wee little baby next March.  Today we went to the doctor for the second of many visits.  We got our first ultrasound and were amazed to see it dancing around already.  I guess she takes after her mom already.  Of course I keep referring to it as she because I want it to be a girl.  Mark wants a boy, but in the end we’ll take whatever God gives us and love it.

I’m sure this blog (and our lives) will never be the same now, but I’ll try to post more often now that I’m not withholding info.

My first post from my new iPhone! So far I really like it. I’m trying not to show it off too much, but sometimes I just can’t help. I’m also surprised by how quickly I’ve picked up on typing with my thumbs. The interface is surprisingly intelligent. Anyways, enough about that for now.
PS. The rain is back.
PPS. I broke down and joined Twitter today.

We’re back in North Hall!  It feels amazingly good to be back in our normal office.  We got mostly moved back in today.  The movers are going to take care of our chairs and whiteboards this time.  As a welcome back gift, Mark gave me this today

I wanted some Java House, but I guess wall*e works too.  Speaking of Java House, we are all very very sad that the IMU is not ready to open again.  I for one find that the Java House has drinks I can’t get elsewhere.  And boy are they fast compared to those slowpokes out in Coralville.  It’s still good to be back, even if we do have to figure a new coffee plan.