Well, “everyone” who bought a diamond jewelry in the past 14 years, that is.

If you bought it here in the U.S. but didn’t buy it from De Beers, you may be qualified for a cash refund (and still keep your diamond) resulted from a class action lawsuit settlement.

Here’s an excerpt from the Arizona Republic:

“De Beers, the world’s largest diamond supplier, recently settled a $295 million class-action lawsuit that charged it unfairly monopolized the diamond trade and fixed prices for years.

Customers who bought a De Beers gem between Jan. 1, 1994, and March 31, 2006, have until May 19 to submit a claim to the settlement’s administrator to get money back.

How much anyone receives in the settlement will depend on the value of diamonds purchased and the number of claims filed.

Under the formula, a consumer who bought a diamond worth $2,000, for example, could get as much as $640.

The class action was born from several lawsuits claiming that De Beers broke antitrust and consumer-protection laws by monopolizing diamond supplies, controlling diamond prices and disseminating false advertising.”

To sum it up, you should file a claim if you meet ALL the requirements below:

• Purchased a diamond between Jan. 1, 1994, and March 31, 2006.
• If it’s a Mixed Stones Jewelry with combined purchase prices of $165 or more OR a Diamonds Only Jewelry with combined purchase prices of $95 or more.
• You can provide proofs such as a receipt, invoice, credit card statement, insurance statement, appraisal, certificate or any other documents showing the diamond’s or the diamond jewelry’s cut, clarity, color, number of carats, authenticity or the person or business from whom the diamond or diamond jewelry was bought.

Here is the same story that appeared on MSN Money.

…a hot dog!

She’s born in the year of the Dog, and was hot & sweaty in the costume, so she’s a hot dog! hehehehe

The skunk is the son of one of Mel’s co-workers.

Kaitlyn loves to put things into her mouth and then use her hands to do other things. (So young, yet they know how to multi-task.) She looks just like a little puppy. Not to mention that she was born in the year of the dog in the Chinese horoscope. =D

Kaitlyn is finally 1 month old.. actually not until it’s 10:26 PM.. =D

Today we decided to take her for a walk for the first time. We put her in the backpack carrier and walked over to the 99 cent store, dumpling shop and the Vietnamese sandwich place. She was so comfy that she slept the whole time and didn’t even wake up when we got home & put her down. We even kept her in the carrier on the bed. She didn’t move a bit. I guess we know what to do when she is being super fussy. =D We’ve decided to stop giving her breastmilk for a day and see if it helps. We even gave her a new Ventaire bottle with a different nipple. She seems to be latching on and sucking a lot better with it. And she seems to be inhaling less air. So we’ll see how it goes. If she’s still just as gassy and fussy, then we’re going to try to give her breastmilk again to see if there is any difference.

We’re going to make a trip out to Babies R Us tonight after dinner. I’m excited. I haven’t really been out for a long time. Shopping especially. Even if it’s not for me.

Pix as I promised:

Spending quality time with daddy:

She still loves to put her hands by her face when she sleeps. Almost looks like she’s posing:

She’s grown so much hasn’t she? She looks a little different from when she was born.

This is her “out-cold” in the carrier when we got home from our walk today:

Darn it. My camcorder ran out of battery. The one thing I’ve found that Kaitlyn has inherited from me is my tendency to make noises while I sleep. I wanted to capture it on video but the dumb thing shut off on me. =/ She also frowns in her sleep. It’s really cute. (maybe not for her though)

We haven’t really taken too many pix lately. I guess we’re just really tired and she’s usually awake/fussy when we’re tired or busy, that all we want to do is just put her to sleep. Sometimes she won’t sleep unless one of us is holding her. She doesn’t really know how to fall asleep on her own, except for after some feedings when we’re burping her. We REALLY have to wait a long time for her to be in a super deep sleep before we can safely put her down. Then she’ll wake up about 15 minutes later. Once she’s opened her humongous eyes, then she’s REALLY awake. I barely have time to do anything. *sigh* The good thing is that she’s going to be 1 month old on Saturday and I can finally take her out. Hopefully the weather is getting better so I don’t have to bundle her up too much or keep her at home.

*EDIT*

I should say stupid computer or stupid internet instead. I’ve been trying to write this post and put up pix since last night and couldn’t do it. It would take 5 hours to upload the pictures. I wanted to put up pix of when Kaitlyn was first born and how she looks now. (unfortunately the computer is still not cooperating.) Ether said she had big lips and a flat nose at first. =D She’s gotten prettier I think. =)

Kaitlyn at the hospital:

Kaitlyn at home a few days later:

This is a funny pic – Darion was turning towards Ether’s chest cuz he was hungry for milk! =D

I’ll have to put up more pix later on.

The Brooklyn NY Stake has finally decided to release me from my calling as Stake Young Women’s Counselor after 5 1/2 years. No more Youth Conferences, Stake Auxiliary Trainings, Super Saturdays, or monthly meetings. I hate to admit that I’m breathing a sigh of relief. I’ve worked with 3 different presidencies and everyone was released but me. I wondered what it was that I was doing that God wanted me to stay. I don’t think I did that great of a job. I hardly ever visited the wards I was in charge of. But that was because I knew that they were doing a spectacular job (and I was TOO lazy to travel there). Well I think it’s time for a break. I’ve got a newborn baby that I’m still getting used to and I think I may be needed elsewhere. Who knows what God has in store for me.

Anyway, Kaitlyn has been sleeping wonderfully the last few nights, although she kept us up until 1 AM. She hasn’t been sleeping too well during the day, like she’d wake up after about 15-30 minutes after we put her down. But yesterday, she had tons of visitors and she pretty much slept the whole time they were here. Ether kept trying to wake her up but she wouldn’t budge. It was like she was under a spell. She finally decided to wake up and drive us nuts when they all left. =/

Around 11 PM last night, Ether put her in her crib to go to sleep but she was so fussy. It sounded like fake crying & we knew that she just wanted to be held cuz she already ate and was changed. He stayed next to her and talked to her, but didn’t pick her up. She kept crying and he would put the paci in her mouth but she would spit it out and cry louder. After this struggle for about 30 minutes, she finally gave up and fell asleep with the paci in her mouth. She didn’t wake up until like 1 and after that feeding, she didn’t wake up for another 3 hours. So we got some sleep last night! We didn’t even have to put on the white noise. She was relatively easy to take care of last night. We hope that she will continue to do this every night. (wishful thinking)

Today has been an “eh” kind of day. I slept okay last night and I felt much calmer this morning. I had a good breakfast appetite. My hives seemed to soften out a bit and not feel as itchy. I’m hoping that’s a good sign. I think that when I feel too stressed out or worried, the hives get worse. But Kaitlyn was kind of being a beast this afternoon. I’d say that today she was awake more than she has ever been so far. She cried on and off for a good hour or two and I couldn’t get her to sleep. I don’t know why I get so frightened when she’s awake and not sleeping. I guess cuz she will usually cry when she’s awake and I don’t know what she wants, especially since she just ate and was changed. How do you help a gassy baby? She only pooped once today so I wonder if she’s constipated. I guess I just like the peaceful atmosphere. It’s hard to entertain her at this age. Nothing seems to do the trick. We try not to hold her too much when she’s awake (is that wrong?), but when we put her down, she will start to cry after about 5 minutes. Anyone have any suggestions? I kind of feel like a terrible mom. I never knew that taking care of a newborn was this hard. I thought they only eat and sleep most of the time.

By the way, Happy Valentine’s Day! Wish I could go out w/ my hubby. Oh well, maybe next year!

Being a new mom is great, but it’s so hard. Something new has developed – I suddenly broke into rashes all over. The doctors aren’t really sure what it is exactly or what caused it. The meds that have been prescribed have not seemed to take any effect yet. The rash actually got worse overnight. The itchiness is really getting to me. I just want to scratch it all the time. Also, I can’t breastfeed Kaitlyn because of the meds. I’ve been pumping and then throwing it out. It’s such a waste. I’m starting to feel kinda depressed. It’s even harder when you have an inconsolable newborn at times and when she doesn’t sleep, you can’t sleep either. Honestly I’m horrified. My mom has been such a great help here – helping me feed & change Kaitlyn, cooking for me, washing dishes and bottles, etc. BUT she’ll only be here for the rest of this week and then I’ll sorta be on my own. I’m hoping that the rash will go away before then so that I could be in a much better mood and have enough energy to take care of my baby.

Please pray for me that I’ll make it through this tough time.

*UPDATE* my doctor has seen my rash and said that I have a severe allergic reaction to something. She told me not to eat any exotic foods and to stop eating ginger. (practically every single meal I’ve had so far since I’ve been back from the hospital has contained ginger in it.) It could have been caused by the Chinese chicken wine that I was forced to eat/drink. Anyway, she just prescribed me a shot called Depo-Medrol and I guess the rash should go away within days. I’m praying that this will really work. It costs about $50. It sucks to not be able to really enjoy this special time in my life and be positive. I’m tired, itchy and irritable. This is not the way I want to be around my baby. So please pray for me that it will quickly go away. Also, I read about PUPPP (also known as pregnancy rash) and it sounds like what I have, except I developed this rash AFTER pregnancy and I don’t have any yellow pus oozing out. So I don’t know.

Born Feb 3, 2007 10:26 pm EST
6 lbs. 5 oz., 19 inches.
(click on photos to see bigger versions)

It hasn’t really snowed at all here in NY this whole winter. The first “snowfall” came last week, 10 days after New Year, when I was driving on the BQE (going 30 MPH, of course). But the flakes were so small & it lasted less than 3 minutes & nothing stuck to the ground.

Then yesterday, it snowed again here in Brooklyn. This time it lasted for over an hour. The flakes were bigger, but again, as soon as it touched the ground it all melted away.

When it’s snowing like crazy in Texas but none here in the Northeast, I wonder how some people still think that global warming & greenhouse effect is just a theory.

I hope more people would start changing their lifestyle so that our kids won’t have to suffer the consequences of our irresponsible acts that are damaging the environment.

But then again, human are known for their stubbornness throughout history.