coolteamblt

My MIL was born in the Philippines in the 50's. She was adopted when she was eight by an American soldier and his Philipino wife. She graduated from a Colorado high school, married her high school sweetheart, and had three children.

She recently lost her job, and applied for Social Security disability. They not only denied her application, they told her she was never officially adopted, and her parents never applied for her citizenship. She has no family in the Philippines, and is terrified of being deported.

She had no idea she wasn't a citizen for the last fify years. She has a regular, social security number, not a resident alien tax number. She also has filed taxes since she was eighteen, worked since she was fifteen, and has a driver's license. She isn't even sure how she could have gotten these things without citizenship.

What should she do? Is there any sort of allowance for a person brought over as a child fifty years ago? Her mother is in her eighties, and said she has no clue about any paperwork. Her late father took care of all the legal paperwork, and her mother assumed he took care of my MIL's citizenship when he applied for his wife's. What can we do? Is there a real chance of her being deported? I'm really concerned she won't be able to take being deported, especially because she doesn't know anyone in the Philippines, doesn't speak Tagalog, and has no spare money for a legal battle. Help!

I have a son named James Kenneth. We're not pregnant again, but I'm shamelessly obsessed with names. My husband is notoriously picky about names. I had wanted to name our son Gideon, and got shot down. I'm still not in love with his name, but it's slowly growing on me. I want to make sure we pick a name for our (still unconceived) second child that we love, instead of settling.

So far, we agree on Caroline or Daphne. I think I love Caroline more. It's a variant of a family name, it's crisp and classic, and sound really nice with our chosen middle name, Margaret. Margaret is a family name, and it's non-negotiable for our first daughter. Plus, it leaves Daphne Jane as a possibility for a second daughter. We had previously agreed on Daphne Margaret, but I don't think I love them together. Jane is my MIL's middle name, and if we had a second daughter, she would have Jane as a middle name. I don't want to skip it up to our first daughter's name, because our son's middle name is from my husband's side already, and I feel very strongly about using names from my side next.

Now, my name is Katherine, and my husband is Kevin. Do Katherine, Kevin, James, and Caroline sound weird together because James doesn't have a K sound? Does it get better if we have James, Caroline, and Daphne? Do Katherine and Caroline look too similar on paper?

For a boy, we have no clue. I still love Gideon, but my husband will never ever agree to it. I like, but don't love, Oscar, Theo/Theodore, Edward, Deacon, and Dexter, none of which he likes. He gives Dexter an 'eh', which means he thinks it's okay, but doesn't like it enough to use. We like Adam, but our next son's middle name will be Alan, and Adam Alan sounds horrible. Does anyone think of the Mythbusters when they hear James and Adam together? We occasionally call James Jamey, but not all the time. He's never Jim or Jimmy. What suggestions do you guys have for us to go with James as a brother, and with a middle name of Alan?

Thanks!

On my last couple of ultrasounds (19w and 27w), the ultrasound tech and my OB mentioned that I have a much larger than average cervix. It's over 8cm. I know the average is closer to 4cm. I've read that a shorter cervix can be a cause of preterm labor. Is there any downside to having a longer cervix? I can't find any info online. My MIL mentioned something about having a rougher labor, but she's kind of a nitwit, and I don't believe her. Has anyone else heard that kind of thing?

I'm looking for Ernest Goes To School on a region 1 DVD? I can find it on amazon.com, but they only seem to have region 2. Does anyone know if it exists? I have it on VHS already, trying to update my husband's collection.

Ladies, I'm 9 weeks pregnant. Woo! However, being happy isn't easy right now.

For the last two or three weeks, I have had morning sickness to beat the band. I've tried eating before I get up, nibbing on crackers and bananas, not drinking water within an hour of eating, no dice. I'm getting sick 4-8 times a day. The only thing I can consistently hold down is lunch, and that didn't even happen today. Breakfast always comes up, and about one in three dinners. What the heck can I do? I'm getting the shakes from not keeping much food down, and I'm sick of throwing up.

And how about that ligament pain? I feel like my pelvis is getting pulled apart, especially when I stand up from sitting, or I sneeze. Is there stretches I can do, or something, to ease that a bit?

I want to see what people think of it. Trash it, praise it, go for it! We're thinking Daphne Margaret. Margaret is a family name for me, and we won't be changing it.

I am getting married in the next year, and I'm trying to decide what to change my name to when I get married. My name right now is Katherine Elizabeth Calder. My married last name is going to be Huff. I want to keep my maiden name in my legal name somehow, but use Huff as my new last name.

I don't care how long my name is going to be, because each of my names is important to me.

I want to keep Calder in my name, but I don't want to hyphenate my last name. My family has only had daughters, and my father's siblings are all either women or childless, so they haven't carried on the Calder name either.

I also want to keep Elizabeth, because my mother calls me Katherine Elizabeth a lot, and I have relatives that still call me Katie Beth.

So, should I be (Middle name in parentheses) :

Katherine Elizabeth (Calder) Huff

or

Katherine (Elizabeth Calder) Huff?

I don't want to be Katherine (Elizabeth) Calder Huff, and I don't want to drop any part of my name. WDYT?

Okay guys. As some of you probably know, my style is pretty old fashioned. I like names like Daphne and Eleanor and Louisa for girls. Now, I'm starting to dig Ruby, but I'm not convinced.

On one hand, Rolling Stones and Kaiser Chiefs have songs named Ruby Tuesday and Ruby, respectively, which I like.I also have a dog named Roxie, which is similar in style. (I'm not having kids for years, so I'm not worried about the dog's name being similar to a name I like right now. Daphne's going to be my first daughter, so it would be quite awhile until I would use Ruby.)

On the other hand, Ruby reminds me of Lucy. It's a name I find sweet and charming, but not a name I think wears well into adulthood. That's why Lucinda is on my list. I'm not concerned that Ruby and Lucy are too similar, as my fiance hates both Lucy/Lucinda. He does like Ruby, though. I think Ruby might be too cutesy, or not professional enough to grow up well.

Well, what do you guys think? Pros? Cons? Yes? No?

I was looking at the top 1000 baby names on SSA.org, and was amazed by the sheer amount of -aiden names:

Aiden, Aidan, Ayden, Aden, Aidyn, Aydin - 26,745 boys born, making it number one.

Jaden, Jayden, Jaiden, Jaydin, Jadon, Jaeden, Jaydon -17,990 boys born, making it 12th in popularity.

Jayden, Jadyn, Jaden, Jaidyn, Jaiden - 5,033 girls born, making it 53rd.

Caden, Kaden, Kaiden, Kayden, Cayden, Kaeden, Kadin, Caiden - 11,646 boys born

457 female Kayden's, 17th for boys, 624th for girls.

Hayden, Haiden, Haden -6,843 boys born, making it 63rd.

Hayden -754 girls, making it 416th.

Zayden, 871st for boys.

So, if you add up all of these, it makes anything rhyming with Aiden more than number one 63,448 boys and 6,244 girls. There were only 24,418 boys named Jacob, and 21,118 girls named Emily. It's not that they're bad names (well, Zayden might be), but why do people still call them 'unique'? They're literally the most common name out there now.

My old computer bit the dust, so I'm trying to get the Sims 2 to work on my new computer. Problem is, I can't find the installation code for it. It probably got tossed three moves ago! Is there any way to replicate my code? I don't want to spend $50 on a new disc since I already own it. Is there any other way around it? I don't want an illegal copy or anything like that.

Thank you guys so much!