Hello?

Well hello! After spending a couple moments finding the "post blog" button, I realize that anyone that has mentioned "it's been awhile" in a blog, can't hold a light up to my lethargic procrastination. Woohoo! Many of you know I've been behind the scenes tormenting you in your own blogs. I didn't know how to get back into the swing of things, until I was forced out of the abyss by Ron (SavoyPrime). I usually ignore tags, but thought it was a good excuse. Who knows if anyone will read this, but in any case, I've got time to do it..

1. Emilie is now 19 months old. She's already an electronic nut (pics last summer, last pic recent).

2. Biggest gaming accomplishment recently is finishing Persona 3 (120 hours), and still wondering where I found the time to play it.

3. I own a flute studio. I'm a cla$$ically trained musician and take it very seriously. "One time at band camp..", yeah, I've heard it before...

4. With a passion for Bach and Mozart also comes a lot of hard rock and heavy metal to balance it out.

5. I'm a proud owner of an 1886 New England victorian (that keeps wanting to fall in on itself). (outside when purchased, kitchen before and after)

6. My "inner-child" is a smart-ass. It makes for one mature human being.

7. To several of you- I'd open my home up to you without hesitation if you were in the area.

8. I hopefully get to beatbox with Greg Patillo at a NYC conference this summer. Ok I'm not beatboxing in front of anyone...

9. Have 2 cats. Sofia and Ella.

10. Here's me, just so you know who the obnoxious blogger looks like.

Well, I think that's enough of my personal life for the next decade. That's probably when you'll see the next blog anyway! Hope all is well with everyone. As far as who I'm supposed to tag....um, volunteers are fine. I'm out!

Hey gang...

Here she is.

Emilie Marie, 7lbs 11oz, 21inches long. Born just after midnight Aug. 31st. Absolutely the love of my life. Thanks to all for the thoughts and prayers!

I think it's obvious to say that I'll be on and off sporadically for the next month or whatever. We're all healthy and happy, but extremely tired. My husband's been a lifesaver both taking care of a huge bulk of the baby care and me while I recover. As for gaming, well, at least my brother comes over and raides my stash. It won't be used for awhile. Sad, but very expected! As for you guys, I hope to be reading your blogs- if I don't comment, it's not that I'm not thinking of you.

Well I finished the New Super Mario Bros before labor, which was fine as I had nothing to do but wait for a baby. This was the first "newer" Mario game that I enjoyed in years. I've been wanting to see something newer in the Mario franchise for quite a bit of time. Honestly, I can't stand the majority of the spin offs, and if you force me to play Mario Party, I try to run to the kitchen, find a fork and stab my eyes out. I have to honor the fact that I may be hypocritical in saying, I enjoyed many of the older platform features that Mario had during the NES/SNES days. Having that old school mentality plays a part I'm sure.

With that said, Nintendo did manage to put many of the older traits of Super Mario in this new version, with some new features. They were subtle, clean, and didn't overshadow the things that made Super Mario so great in the first place. All in all, a really nice title, fun, and a good DS buy.

See? Look I still talk about games! Alright I'm outta here. It's nap time. You guys take care. XOXO Rachael

It's one thing at this point to get numerous phone calls asking "where's the BABY? ", but it's really funny and also sweet at the same time that I can say I feel like I have a genuine GS family who's been doing the same. I've been getting quite the PM's trickling in about the kiddo. So thanks for the concern. Let me set everyone straight and ease any curiosity...

Yes she's overdue. Not by much, and still technically has a week to do her own thing. Problem is, some of my tests have come back a bit iffy (not horrendous, just questionable). Because of that, I just got news that tomorrow morning, 6am, I'm going in to the hospital to be induced. How do I feel? Exhausted, absolutely petrified and scared out of my mind, and completely elated and excited knowing I get to see my little girl's face for the first time tomorrow. To narrow it down, really f***ed up.

Anyway, this is the LAST PREGO BLOG I have to write! YAY!!!!! I can't wait to actually talk about.......games again! I'll do a quick update blog after she's here. Hope everyone behaves themselves, play some good games for me, drink a beer (for old people only! ), and know that my close crew on here will officially be GS Aunties and Uncles by tomorrow!

Take care and will see you soon R.