We're Having a Leaping Gemini Rat

Happy Leap Year Day, everyone! For those of you who don't know the history and math behind calculating leap year, it goes something like this... The reason we have a leap year is to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year. Each year, the calendar year lags by about 6 hours, so every 4 years one day is added to the calendar to catch us up. A leap year is any year evenly divisible by 4, except for century years, which need to be divisible by 400.

Thinking about the leap year holiday, my mind wandered to all of the Zodiac symbols that will be bestowed upon our baby being born this year. Like me, s/he will be born in a leap year, in the month of June, and will likely be a Gemini. If Little Hittle ends up being a girl, Brian sure will have his hands full with the two of us! Being a dual sign, Gemini's have a mix of personalities, but are generally known to be talkers, extroverts, adaptable and mutable, active, restless if things move too slowly, and able to see both sides of an issue (due to our mix of yin and yang). (Sources: Wikipedia & Astrologycom).

As for the Chinese Zodiac, our little one is going to be a Rat. Not a glamorous title, but hey, even rodents need to be loved. The Rat is the first sign of the Chinese Zodiac, and as a result, Rats are born leaders, pioneers and conquerors. Some adjectives that describe Rats include: charming, passionate, honest, charismatic, hardworking, intelligent, adaptable, meticulous, ambitious, controlling, strong-willed, etc. That kind of sounds like they type of kid Brian and I would have! This 2008 Year of the Rat is marked to be a year of rapid change, where we (both personally and as a planet) are productive and learn to save energy and resources. Without Rat years, which are often characterized by brilliant, life-changing innovations, changes in government, etc., it is believed the world would become complacent. (Sources: Wikipedia & Yahoo). One reassuring and cool fact is that a Rat is most compatible with a Dragon, an Ox, or a Monkey... I'm a Dragon, Brian's an Ox, and Sera's a Monkey!

Read about your own western and Chinese astrological signs here: Wikipedia.