Cozy one bedroom for rent

By K.J. Cardinal

Newly furnished, freshly painted, 1 bedroom in quiet, friendly neighborhood. Bedroom features wall-to-wall carpet, two oversized windows and high ceilings. Bathroom shared with friendly big sister and landlords love children. Free laundry 2 floors down, heat & hot water included.

OK Anna, we're holding the bedroom for you for a few more weeks, but after that we're going to have to post the above ad on CraigsList. Needless to say, we're ready for ya. You're due to arrive in six days, but your room has actually been ready for a few weeks now and the natives are beginning to get restless. Mom is hanging in there and Dad & Sammy are anxiously waiting for the big day, but can you make it sooner rather than later?

Not to be selfish, but it's just that we're really looking forward to meeting you. We've been spending the last nine months thinking about you nonstop and preparing for your arrival, so it's probably no surprise that we're so excited for you to grace us with your presence.

To be quite honest, there are plenty of reasons for you to arrive as soon as possible. First and foremost, your mother could use the weight lifted of her shoulders...or in this case, her belly. Secondly, your soon-to-be favorite baseball team is in the middle of a tight race to clinch the AL East, Tom Brady is poised to crush the Bengals on Monday night and Meme & Papa have a few days off from work.

So, as you can see, it's probably in your best interest to begin the journey South. There are a lot of reasons to visit and a lot of people waiting for you. We hope to see you soon.

Anna + KG = HDTV

by K.J. Cardinal

Thank you Anna and Kevin Garnett. No, Anna’s not born yet. And, no, the newest member of the Celtics didn’t purchase our new home theatre for us. But combined, the two were really the driving force behind us getting a new HDTV and surround sound system. Let me explain.

First off, our livingroom is rather “cozy” so the 42” rear-projection television that occupied a considerable amount of floor space in the corner wasn’t going to work with a baby on the way. We figured that mounting a plasma TV on the wall would clear out some space to make way for things like baby toys and a playpen.

Now for KG’s contribution. When the Celts traded to get Garnett the first thought that came to my mind was “Holy sh*t, Danny Ainge isn’t completely useless” and then my second thought was “I gotta get season tickets.” Both thoughts were natural impulses for a former C’s season-ticket holder and rabid fan, but I quickly came to my senses on the latter and realized that I couldn’t pull the trigger on season tickets with a baby on deck. So, if you can’t get season tickets the next best thing would be to follow the team in glorious high definition with surround sound, right?

Insert Wife of the Year Angela Rose Cardinal. Since we moved into our new house last May I had been salivating at the idea of getting hooked up HD style, but couldn’t quite convince Ang that it was the way to go. When she realized how insanely psyched up I was about the KG trade and that part of me was bummed that I couldn’t get season tickets, she pulled a Belichickian-like team move and gave me the green light to go for the home theatre of my dreams.

Obviously I was like a kid in a candy store and couldn’t wait to get the set up that I had been scoping out for over a year. And, I guess, the rest is history. We purchased the set up two weeks ago at Best Buy (thanks Mike) and it got mounted on the wall today by the Geek Squad. So, thank you Anna for being the bun in the oven and thank you Kevin Garnett for coming to Boston...I couldn’t have done it without either of you...or you too Ang.

It's all about the belly, baby

by K.J. Cardinal

We’re only 44 days away from the birth of our first child together and today marks the first official “baby belly” photo. From the beginning of Angie’s pregnancy we talked about taking a profile picture of Ang’s belly every week and then putting them together as a time lapse photo to see her “grow” (just like we did with the tent for our wedding), but for whatever reason it just never came to fruition.

Needless to say, everything really revolves around the belly right now. Whether it’s what’s covering the belly, what’s going into the belly, how the belly’s moving or how the belly’s doing, it’s ALL BELLY ALL THE TIME. I know that when Angie’s around I’m thinking nonstop about the belly in some regard, so I can’t even begin to imagine how much the belly’s on her mind.

I’m still amazed, and maybe even a little confused, about the fact that there is an actual person inside of her belly. I’ve never been the type of guy who enjoys science, so I don’t get into all the details of the pregnancy and the development of Anna. But, I’ve gotta say, I still get a kick out of feeling Anna kick on a daily basis...I don’t think a father could ever really get sick of that...and I can’t believe how fast she’s growing. I know that it’s a little annoying for Ang, but if I had my way Anna would have hiccups 24 hours a day. It’s a riot to feel these small little body jolts coming from Angie’s belly.

So as you can see and like this post is entitled, “It’s all about the belly, baby.”

Good tunes & a lot of booze

by K.J. Cardinal

After going nearly five years without seeing my favorite band in concert, I was lucky enough to be able to go to the Fisher Cats Stadium in Manchester, N.H. to experience the Counting Crows once again.

Collective Soul and Live opened for Counting Crows, which was nice, but the highlight of the night for me was being able to hear two new Counting Crows songs that will be featured on their new album coming out this fall. I can’t wait.

At any rate, I had way too many Red Bull & Vodkas and washed them down with a handful of stadium beers, which always have disastrous effects on me, so it’s a miracle that the two videos from the show came out as good as they did. Overall it was a great night...especially because nearly my entire family was there.

It was great to get Angie out to her first Counting Crows concert and I guess it could count as Anna’s first CC show too because she could hear Adam belting out those lyrics in the womb.

Thanks a lot for coming Mom, Dad & Katie...we wish you could’ve been there Tiff & Pete.

Take a look at the two videos above that I took from the concert.

** Unfortunately youtube made me remove these videos **

Seriously...a blog?

by K.J. Cardinal

I know, I know. Blogs can come across as coming from someone who’s self absorbed, someone who’s in search of friends or someone who should be “registered”, but I don’t intend to come across as any of those. I have dubbed this blog “The Cardinal Blog” because it’s going to be all about the Cardinal family, not all about me. With a new baby on the way, the cutest one-year old nephew (Andrew Carter George) you’ve ever seen, the best parents in the world, the coolest little sister that anyone could ever ask for and my efforts to start up a business (Pack Network) with my buddy Adam, I think there’s plenty of news surrounding the Cardinal family to warrant a blog.

With my wife, Angie, nearly seven and half months pregnant though, I figured this was the right time to join the cult of bloggers to help track the life of our soon-to-be born daughter, Anna. Angie’s due October 4, so this next month and a half should give me plenty of time to work the kinks out and get used to the notion of posting my random thoughts on a frequent basis. It’s like my training camp...or rather my blogging camp, so consider this the first day that pitchers and catchers report.

In the coming weeks I will send this link out to my family so they can spread the word about the blog as more important news, photos and videos get posted. Thanks for stopping by and hopefully you can come by often.

Andrew goes to the aquarium

By K.J. Cardinal

We finally made good of our Christmas present for Andrew and took him (along with Tiff & Pete) to the New England Aquarium in Boston. Man, is that kid cute.

He had a good time at the aquarium checking out all the animals, but he probably liked walking around the city and seeing all the cars, trucks and buses even more.

We started off the day by having lunch at Fire & Ice. Andrew loved the food and was amazed by all the cool lights that are throughout the restaurant.

After lunch we hit up the Aquarium. Andrew's favorite thing at the Aquarium was probably the lights too. They have a long, wave-like neon light that goes up the entire side of the ramp next to the big tank...and he really loved that.

We finished the day by relaxing and having ice cream right near Quincy Market. As you will see in the video below, Andrew had a tiring day.

Andrew gets his first taste of that "Dirty Water"