Easy, offers Dan McElhattan III. "Just add life and stress."

All joking aside, instant fathers — men who marry a woman who already has kids — are a unique subset of the parental universe.

Instant dads experience the marital equivalent of going from zero to 60 in six seconds flat. And while fatherhood never comes with an instruction manual, they, unlike standard-issue fathers, never had a chance to enjoy that transitional married-but-childless honeymoon period most dads do.

But instant dads are, by necessity, adaptable guys. And, when push comes to shove, an instant dad is as authentic a dad as any other guy who’ll be unwrapping a new tie or enjoying breakfast in bed this morning.

McElhattan, 40, hadn’t planned on becoming an instant dad, although he had dated a few single moms. But when he met Mary, now his wife of six years, the portrait of her kids that she had behind her desk signaled that he might be facing the prospect sooner rather than later.

Not long afterward, when Mary’s boss invited Mary and McElhattan to a barbecue, they started dating.

McElhattan married into a family with four children , now ages 13 to 23, and he and Mary since have added to their family a 3 1/2-year-old daughter.

That’s "the way it goes when you find the love of your life. Kids are a factor, but not the factor. The fact is, you love your wife," he says.

"I never expected to jump into the prepackaged deal," he adds. "But when you’ve found the right woman … ."

Before meeting his future wife, Gerald Chin, 30, says his dating partners tended to be "single women, no strings attached."

When Chin, a chef, met Maureen — they dated for three years before marrying in 2008 — "we just got along real well," he recalls. But he didn’t know until a few days after they started dating that she had a son, now 11, and a daughter, now 15.

"I’ve always liked kids — I’ve always been like a kid myself — and she was really nervous about introducing her kids to me, because she didn’t want to confuse the kids or want me to be afraid of the kids," Chin says.

The meeting took place at a salon where both Chin and Maureen used to get haircuts. Chin recalls that Maureen didn’t introduce him as a boyfriend but as "my friend."

"The girl, she kind of knew what was going on at the time,tiffany key rings," he adds. "Girls are always more mature than boys. Her radar picked it up."

But the meeting went well. "I thought they were cute kids," Chin says, and the kids seemed to get along well with him, too.

A few weeks later, Chin even soloed with the kids for the first time, taking them on an outing to Madame Tussaud’s wax museum. "We all got along," he says. "It’s crazy."

Dating Maureen, and getting to know her children, had a surprising effect on Chin. Not only was he thinking that dating a woman with kids might work out, but, he says, "it kind of made me think about what I was doing in my dating life, like maybe it is time for me to grow up."

Nick Cusumano met his future wife, Tanya, about six years ago while vacationing in Las Vegas. Cusumano, a New Yorker, and Tanya stayed in touch after his return home, having an occasionally up-and-down long-distance relationship.

When things turned serious and "it came to the point where one of us needed to make a move," that decision fell to Cusumano, because Tanya had a then-9-year-old son.

Cusumano had to adjust not only to instant fatherhood but life in a place very different from the Bronx.

He had met Anthony before moving here. "During the couple of trips I had made here previously to making the big move, we met and we’d done movies and all that good stuff," he says.

They got along great. Anthony’s dad "was in Las Vegas at that point, but he wasn’t really in the picture," Cusumano explains, "so I think he really adapted to me fast."

Cusumano and Tanya married three years ago and, in addition to Anthony, their family includes a year-and-a-half-old daughter named Emma.

While the three dads all are convinced that they’ve made the right decision, they concede that the road to instant fatherhood wasn’t always smooth.

McElhattan, for example, discovered that some of Mary’s children were more accepting of mom dating, and perhaps marrying, a new guy — a guy who wasn’t their biological dad — than others. There were occasional anger issues, he says, and some "challenging" times.

Objections to jumping into a premade family came from other directions, too. McElhattan says his own parents’ initial reaction to the news that he was dating a woman with four kids was "are you nuts? Are you serious? What are you getting into?"

But, when they met Mary, "she connected with them so fast," he says.

Some of Chin’s friends gave him a hard time. "My friends are all single and young, and they’re like, ‘Are you stupid? What are you doing? She’s got kids.’ Basically: Watch out."

For guys who are used to living alone, simply moving into a home filled with other people — a home in which they are, in effect, the outsider — can be difficult.

That was "a little bit strange," Chin says, adding that the adjustment was even more weird because he, Maureen and the kids were living with her parents at the time.

"But the good thing was I got to see the kids every morning when I woke up," he continues. "I think it built up a real strong relationship."

Cusumano and Anthony had an easier time adapting to their new living arrangements,tiffany rings, probably, Cusumano suspects, because "he was really looking for someone to have that (father-son relationship) with."

Still, Cusumano says, it was odd, "without a doubt,tiffany money clips, to wake up one morning and there’s a little 9-year-old boy looking to hang out with you."

It did take Cusumano a bit of time to figure out the parameters of his newly assumed parental role. If Anthony needed discipline, for example, "I didn’t really know what my position was on that, and I didn’t really plan for that," he says.

Yet, Cusumano adds, Anthony never once aimed the sharpest arrow in the stepkid’s quiver — "You’re not my father" — his way.

"I have always been waiting for that, up until this day, and it has never been said," Cusumano says. "And I really love him for that, because I always feared that would come, and that would really hurt."

Chin also learned early on that fatherhood can be about decidedly nonabstract concerns. Once, while he was still living with his roommate, the kids came by for a sleepover and one "got sick and just threw up everywhere," he says.

The lesson he learned: Fatherhood is "not all playing video games and skateboarding."

Chin says there were moments before he and Maureen married when he wondered whether he was doing the right thing.

"Maybe right in the beginning," he says, "just because anyone would be like this. Is this the right thing for me? But, after a few months, it was all good."

In fact, looking back at how completely his life has changed during the past several years, Chin is convinced that marriage and fatherhood have been good for him.

"It’s not just me thinking about myself now,tiffany pendants," he explains. "When I make decisions … I make them for the family. And I see kids come into the restaurant now and I understand if they don’t want to eat something. It completely gives me a different perspective when it comes to kids and life in general."

And if further proof that instant dads are just like regular dads is needed, there’s this: Chin already is freaking out over the prospect of daughter Bella driving.

"It’s like, oh man, I’m getting old," he says, laughing.

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280.

Allurent on Demand (AoD) is a hosted, software-as-a-service offering that increases customer satisfaction and site conversion by quickly and cost-effectively deploying interactive merchandising widgets to retailers’ existing websites,tiffany pendants, including their social media points of presence, like Facebook(R).

Babycottons is a Peruvian-Argentine apparel company that provides stylish but sweet baby clothing that feature the softest Pima Cotton. Following their philosophy of "dressing babies as babies", babycottons offers clothes with a classic design aesthetic. Babycottons reaches consumers through a network of retailer partners and proprietary stores in the United States, Mexico, Peru and Argentina, and its online shopping site, www.babycottons.com.

"Being able to offer a premium online shopping experience despite being a small company with a limited budget was a big challenge for us", said Alexis Hoffmann, owner of babycottons. "With Allurent on Demand, we were able to achieve this. Now, our online Shop by Outfit and Shop Essentials areas reflect the care and quality that we put into our clothing and help us outperform the competition."

Graeme Grant, chief executive officer of Allurent, comments,tiffany key rings, "Our work with babycottons is important for several reasons. First, babycottons proves that smaller retailers with strong brand strategies and a real desire to offer a superior online shopping experience can do so without breaking the bank by leveraging Allurent on Demand. Second,tiffany bangles, for Allurent, babycottons represents further international expansion that is exciting for our growth as a company."

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Leading retailers like Charlotte Russe, Reebok and Under Armour partner with Allurent to create the most compelling online shopping experiences imaginable. The Allurent on Demand (AoD) Software as a Service platform includes a library of interactive merchandising widgets and a merchandiser’s business tool. The result is a superior shopping experience that leads to more satisfied customers and greater sales. For additional information please visit www.allurent.com.

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Babycottons offers premium quality garments and accessories for babies and toddlers up to 6 years old. The first babycottons store was opened in Buenos Aires in 1999. Since then, the brand has expanded to become a multinational business with 18 locations throughout Argentina, Peru, Mexico and the US, plus an ecommerce platform through www.babycottons.com

Babycottons’ rapid success was based on two key factors: Quality and Design. We use the best cotton in the world,discount tiffany, pima of the Piura valleys of Northern Peru. Its long fibers, naturally soft and bright, guarantee the excellence of our products. This, coupled with our exclusive designs and appropriate prices, provide a unique value proposition for our clients. For more information about our company visit www.babycottons.com

With brilliant lighting and buoyant rhythms, the beauty and her beast returned to the stage in Japan 15 years after their first performance. But the Shiki Theatre Company’s real star was its new theater, translated as Shiki Theater: Summer.

The summer theater offers more accessibility and comfort by increasing seats for visitors in wheelchairs and providing special rooms for families with young children who may cry during the show.

Children who are too small to watch the performance from the adult-size chairs can also borrow cushions to sit on.

The Shiki Theatre Company’s "Beauty and the Beast" is a harmonized mix of its actors’ explosive dynamic musical performances and visually appealing stage design.

The company chose this particular show as it appeals to both children and adults.

"When considering the first performance choice,tiffany bracelets, we opted for ‘Beauty and the Beast’ because that was the drama most demanded by our customers," said Nobutsugu Uchida,tiffany key rings, a Shiki Theatre Company spokesman.

"Beauty and the Beast" will be performed until Nov. 30 at Shiki Theatre: Natsu in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward. Tickets cost Yen 3,000-Yen 9,tiffany pendants,800. For more information and schedules, call (03) 5776-6730 or visit www.shiki.gr.jp (English available)

Credit: Japan Times, Tokyo

Pasco County sheriff’s deputies said Casey Lee Cantrell, who drifts from home to home,tiffany bracelets, met the 19-year-old mother of his 1-year-old child at the Twilite Motel, 4040 Gall Blvd., on May 11. He asked her to go to a party with him at his friend’s home, but she declined, a sheriff’s office report states.

At 3 a.m. on May 12, Cantrell returned "drunk and high on something," and asked the girlfriend to take a shower, the report says. She refused and Cantrell grew angry, accusing her of cheating on him, according to the report.

It says a fight ensued, and she tried to leave.

He stopped her, hit her face, pushed her to the ground,tiffany rings, wrapped a towel around his fist,tiffany key rings, and punched her in the chest and face, the report alleges.

Deputies said Cantrell went outside, got a baseball bat out of his car, hit her buttocks with it and then held her down on the bed, burning her stomach with a cigarette.

Deputies said Cantrell tore a metal towel rack off the bathroom wall, heated it and burned the woman’s thigh.

The woman screamed, but no one came to help,tiffany bangles, the report states.

Later that morning, she told deputies, Cantrell calmed down and apologized to her. He drove her to his sister’s house and when the woman told her what happened, the sister took her to a battered women’s shelter and she was referred to law enforcement.

Deputies arrested Cantrell on Wednesday when he was pulled over for speeding at U.S. 41 and Ehren Cutoff in Land O’ Lakes.

He was being held at the Land O’ Lakes Jail on charges of aggravated battery and false imprisonment with bail set at $75,000.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083.

A tip from a person who had learned of Sherry Halligan’s case from recent news media accounts led the FBI and La Grange police to an apartment in the southwest suburb,tiffany cuff Links, where Halligan gave up without a struggle, authorities said. Police did not disclose the address of the apartment.

Halligan, 51,tiffany necklaces, is charged with the murder of Dennis Campbell, who was found fatally shot in her home in the 1000 block of South 6th Street in La Grange. Cook County prosecutors alleged that during a domestic quarrel on Jan. 30, 2003, Halligan hit Campbell in the chest and then pulled a gun out of a drawer and shot him five times.

After being arrested and released on $50,000 cash bond, Halligan failed to show up for a court appearance in April 2004. A warrant was issued for her arrest.

Her car was found at Midway Airport, and she was sought nationwide, with accounts of the crime featured on the television show "America’s Most Wanted."

In the end, she was captured a few miles from where the 2003 killing took place. Authorities said Halligan had confessed to killing Campbell after turning herself in to La Grange police in 2003. She allegedly had placed her bloody clothes and gun into a plastic bag and dumped them along Interstate 55.

Halligan was being held at the La Grange police station and was to appear in Bond Court in Bridgeview on Saturday. She was charged with murder and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

Chicago and Cook County police assisted in the investigation.

Arthur Bilek,tiffany money clips, executive vice president of the Chicago Crime Commission,tiffany key rings, said that Halligan was the only suburban person to make the commission’s top 10 list.

Credit: Chicago Tribune

• Boyfriend Charged in Fatal Queens Fire
• Boyfriend Charged in Fatal Queens Fire
• He’s still alive and that’s not fair’ Boyfriend ki

The boyfriend, Jimmy Humphrey, was charged with arson and assault, said Richard A. Brown, the Queens district attorney.

The woman,tiffany pendants, Linda Anderson, 25, died early Tuesday, apparently in the fire at her home on Anderson Road in Springfield Gardens, Queens. Firefighters arrived to find the burned bodies of Ms. Anderson and her son, Ayden Hayes, sprawled on the second floor,tiffany key rings, where the fire was contained.

Ms. Anderson, who was pregnant with Mr. Humphrey’s child, was pronounced dead at the scene. The boy died a short time later at Queens Hospital Center.

From the start, investigators viewed the fire as suspicious. But it was only under questioning that Mr. Humphrey revealed he had played a role, the authorities said.

Mr. Humphrey admitted, they said, that just before the fire,tiffany money clips, he and Ms. Anderson had a fight, prompting him to grab her by the throat and shove her. As she fell, they said, she knocked over a bottle of nail polish remover and a candle, igniting the fire.

With the boy asleep in a bedroom and Ms. Anderson on fire, Mr. Humphrey then fled the apartment and lay in bed at his home a block away for some time before finally reporting the fire, Mr. Brown said.

"The senseless death of this young woman and her infant child cries out for justice,tiffany earrings," he added.

Mr. Humphrey faces up to 25 years to life in prison. A lawyer for Mr. Humphrey could not be immediately reached for comment last night.

Mr. Brown said his office was awaiting a final autopsy report, and depending on the results, might file additional charges.

Rachel Pfitzner was sentenced in December to at least 19 years and two months in prison for the October 2007 murder of Dean Shillingsworth, whose body was found in the suitcase in a pond in southwest Sydney.

A NSW Supreme Court registrar on Thursday listed Pfitzner’s appeal hearing for December 3.

Documents before the court list the appeal as a being against the "severity of sentence".

A notice of intention to appeal was lodged by Pfitzner in January, and she was required to formally lodge the appeal within six months of that notice.

It is understood Pfitzner has applied to the Legal Aid Commission for representation in the appeal.

The matter will be mentioned next on July 29.

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According to ACN: HIV transmission by blood transfusion and mother-to-child was eliminated in Cuba,tiffany earrings, assured Director of the National Center of HIV/AIDS/STD Prevention, Rosaida Ochoa. At present,tiffany rings, more than 99 percent of diagnosed cases got the disease via sexually and 52.3 percent of the cases are in Havana, said Ochoa.According to the expert, since 1986, 12,tiffany pendants,217 HIV-positive cases havebeen diagnosed in Cuba,tiffany key rings, and 81 percent of them are men. Ochoa told Granma newspaper that eight of every 10 infected male cases are men who have sex with other men. She explained that the risk of HIV transmission is higher in cases male homosexuality due to the practice of anal sex without the use of a condom.

Detective Sgt. Louis Carlos,tiffany bracelets, who is investigating the shooting, said Friday that both boys were acquaintances of the girl, and Trujillo, "being 16 and insecure," became angry at Aguayo.

Trujillo will remain in juvenile jail through the weekend, charged with an open count of murder in Thursday’s fatal shooting in the parking lot of Santa Fe Place mall. He is likely to appear before state District Judge Michael Vigil on Monday, Carlos said.

Police identified the two juveniles at noon Friday, after declining to name either late Thursday. Police Chief Aric Wheeler said his hesitance to release Trujillo’s name was for the protection of his family. Wheeler said he wanted to give Aguayo’s immediate family time to notify the extended family of his death.

But other than the names, police had little new information on the homicide Friday.

Aguayo was shot multiple times with a pistol beside his car on the south side of the mall, near the bus terminal, at 3:40 p.m. Thursday. Another car was seen driving away from the scene, leaving Aguayo bleeding on the pavement.

Empty shell casings were left near the bloodstain, indicating the shots were fired at a close proximity.

Trujillo was stopped driving a car nearby. "During a search of the vehicle a weapon of undisclosed caliber was located inside," says a police news release. "The weapon found is believed to have been used in the commission of the crime."

Aguayo succumbed to his injuries about 6 p.m. Thursday at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center where he had been taken by ambulance.

Neither Trujillo nor Aguayo showed up in routine computer searches of court cases and local news stories. But on his MySpace page, Aguayo posted a photograph of himself with short hair,tiffany rings, a goatee, mustache and soul patch, wearing a medallion on a chain.

"Hate it or love it," he wrote. "Its [sic] just a west side thing." He repeated the phrase several times,tiffany bangles, spelling the last word as "thuging." In recent days he had posted a comment saying he has kept messing up and is "filling [sic] empty in side."

Aguayo’s cousin, Paul Ortiz, 19, told The New Mexican at the crime scene that Aguayo had come to the mall to buy some clothes and that he was going to see a doctor about having a cyst on his arm surgically removed. Ortiz described Aguayo has a "good guy," who lived with his parents, worked regularly and had never been in trouble.

Aguayo’s grandfather, Larry Leyba, told KOB-TV that his grandson was working on a GED, had just gotten his first driver’s license and wanted to be a mechanic and travel the world.

Carlos said he continues to seek more information about the incident from eyewitnesses. He can be reached at 955-5038.

Credit: The Santa Fe New Mexican

Gillian Louise Dicks had told the girl of her fear of going to jail "for a long time" if the girl revealed their sexual activities.

In jailing the 41-year-old in the NSW District Court on Friday, Judge Robert Toner referred to the former Sydney officer’s "sad fall".

But he described the offences as "a gross breach of trust",tiffany key rings, noting that Dicks came into contact with the girl’s family as a result of her police duties.

Years later she fostered a relationship with the family, allowing her contact with the girl, who was led into "a false belief she was in a legitimate relationship" with Dicks, the judge said.

Dicks, of Forestville in northern Sydney,tiffany bracelets, pleaded guilty to aggravated indecent assault and three counts of sexual intercourse with a child aged between 10 and 14.

Two of the counts related to digital penetration and the third to oral sex.

Judge Toner referred to a "moving and disturbing" victim’s impact statement made by the girl.

"I can only hope the residual effects of the offender’s behaviour on you (the victim) will modify with time,tiffany money clips," he said.

"It is so often characteristic of this kind of offence that there is a fraud of consent.

"In other words, a false belief on the part of the complainant that he or she is in a relationship with the offender.

"It is perhaps that fact which renders a complainant vulnerable to the psychological trauma once the reality is revealed."

The judge accepted that Dicks was remorseful and had excellent prospects of rehabilitation.

He noted that at the time of the offences Dicks had problems with alcoholism,tiffany bangles, chronic major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

"As a police officer she had been exposed to traumatic incidents, which to a large extent were left unaddressed."

Noting her previous occupation and the type of offences, the judge said it was "far from fanciful" to conclude her time in jail would be harsher than for someone not in such a role.

He set a maximum term of four and a half years.

PRO Beauty Tools’ Ceramic Straightening Iron promises to create smooth and shiny hair in seconds, with a 100-percent satisfaction guarantee. Unlike other irons that can take 10 minutes or more to heat up, PRO’s model was painfully hot within minutes. A few quick swipes down my hair removed all bumps and frizz, leaving my tresses silky and straight.

However, creating a flip or a curl at the bottom took some trickery. The first several times I tried to turn the ends of my long hair under, I pinched my wrist in the (cool) end of the iron. I also singed my fingertips while holding the iron tight against my hair. Additionally, the iron has no heat settings,tiffany key rings, simply on and off,tiffany bracelets, which doesn’t allow you to gauge what heat level is appropriate for your hair — and trust me, it gets rather hot.

While I was satisfied with the product, I was a bit perturbed by its promise of 100 percent satisfaction. You see, you have to decide if you’re 100 percent satisfied within 30 days of purchase. I never knew my satisfaction had an expiration date.

– Daveen Kurutz

We had two willing testers in our house, and results were split on the Pro Beauty Tool.

I have a full head of hair. We’re talking as full as the triangle-shaped style sported by the Rosanne Rosanna Danna character from "Saturday Night Live." I hoped this would tame my thick hair into a sleek look. It’s not that my hair is curly, just the opposite: It’s straight with a few curves that have a mind of their own.

Apparently, I need more lessons from my 14-year-old daughter who loved this straightener. My hair still looked thick and not flat, but I really think since I’m not accustomed to straightening I just couldn’t get the hang of it. Looks like I’ll just have to embrace my large hot rollers that I use a couple times a week for my straight, but full of body and curves style.

My daughter,tiffany pendants, who inherited her dad’s color and my straight locks, was sold on the Pro Beauty Tool from the first try. She walked into my bedroom proclaiming she was keeping it. For the days we had the tool for testing, she used it every morning and was pleased with the relative ease with which she could tame her hair into sleek submission. Now I know what’s on her birthday wish list.

– Rebecca Killian

Most hair straighteners will heat up fairly quickly and leave you with smooth, just-out-of-the-salon sleek hair. Other straighteners leave you with the same look, but for far less effort — the new ceramic iron from PRO Beauty Tools does just that.

The iron heats up and is ready to go in just a few minutes,tiffany money clips, making short work of a sometimes daunting task. At 1-inch wide, I did have my doubts about how long it would take for me to make it through my extremely thick hair, but I was happily surprised by the iron.

I also appreciated how long the electric cord is — 9 feet — more than enough room to stand away from the outlet and not risk a severe burn — something I’ve done many times.

I really liked using the PRO Beauty Tools ceramic iron and would recommend it to anyone in search of a new iron.