A New Adventure Begins…

Here we go!  A sweet baby daughter, a new semester and a new phase of life.  I’m keeping my writing to a minimum as my brain is in foggy new mamma state…

We’ve been overwhelmed by so much support, prayer, encouragement and kindness!  All of you have no idea what your reaching out has meant to us…even if it’s just been a quick “Congrats”.  Thank you!!!   Here are the pictures!

I woke up at around 5am with my first contractions.  We learned a lot in birthing class which helped me manage the contractions in my back and the sciatica spasms when “Tiny” decided to dance…

Yes, we did paint our toes that morning.   And I wanted to keep this day as fun as possible for as long as possible, so we went out to one of Sam and my favorite coffee spots in the city….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, so that was fun….for the most part…in between the back pain and the sciatica….  

Sam’s and my last dinner together…we left for the hospital shortly after this as my contractions were four minutes apart.

Eva never stopped moving during the entire labor.  Though it did absolutely no good, I found myself begging her audibly for a break.  And the above contraption was my IV friend for the beta strep antibiotic…a real drag to have to have four doses.  Thankfully, they “unhooked” me in between. 

After a very, very long evening, night and morning, “Tiny” arrived, though not so tiny, weighing in at around a pound more than the doctor estimated.  Maybe it was all that greek yogurt?            

    

I never could have done it without Sam!  He was an amazing coach!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The line up….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the Millers were able to hop in the car that morning and made it in time to visit Eva in while we were still at the hospital…

 

 

 

 

Dad had quite the adventure driving down but made it that     evening!

And our friend Noah drove over too….

Parting shots….courtesy of Uncle Joe   :-)

Hope you all enjoy these!  More to come….

A New Life…

Well, it took 28+ hours of back-breaking labor, but Chelsea did superbly and delivered our 7 pound 7 ounce daughter, Eva Elise Miller, on Wednesday (8/30/10) at 0938. Many thanks for all the prayers offered up on our behalf. We know they availed much.

Today (8/31/10) we brought our happy little girl home. Mother and baby are adjusting to their new way of life very well, and I have jumped back into my 13 credits of graduate coursework. (I write this with a homework still awaiting my attention.)    

We promise to post more pictures here in the near future, till then, we thank you for you support!

Sam

A very cool thing…

We were introduced to a new “sport” last Sunday.  Slacklining.  I’d never heard of such a thing until a couple of Sam’s lab partners invited us to join them at Lake Raleigh on Sunday afternoon.

This is Alex making it look easy.

This is Sam making it look easy. 

So it’s easy, right?  Not so much.  The guys pulled a nylon strap, about 1 1/2 inches wide, as taught as they could between two posts.  The contestants hop on, balancing themselves while trying to bounce or shake each other off.  The trouble is, once you actually get both feet off the ground and onto that little bit of ribbon, your legs wobble and you shake uncontrollably.  It really is amazing how it happens in spite of all your focused concentration, use of every conceivable balancing position, and a gritting of the teeth.  Let’s throw in exclamations of disbelief, too…as though that really negates physics.

Oh, and while you are expending all of your mental and core muscle energies just trying to stay on, your admiring compatriots are beaning you with hacky sacks.

 

I tried my feet at it a couple of times (the challenge is quite addicting), but Sam wasn’t so keen on the “two” of me possibly pitching to the ground.  So instead I got a kick out of  watching, snapping pictures, joining slyly in the “beaning”, and was burnt to a crisp.

 

A new attempt.  And they decided to scrap this one.

Now we know what we’ll be setting up once we return to Virginia!

Inside and outside…

“You’re sure, right?” 

Yes, the ultrasound nurse was absolutely sure and “hadn’t been wrong yet'”, though Tiny insisted on flipping, kicking and stretching for a while, keeping the nurse busy following those 11oz around trying to get a good look.

Sam’s and my inklings, Leah’s inklings, Susannah’s more-than-inklings, and many others’ inklings were all true!  In less than four months we’ll be bringing home a little GIRL!!!!  Yahoo!  We’re thrilled to bits!   So would you like to see her?

I confess I’ve never gone into raptures over friends’ ultrasound pictures.  Is that bad?  But I guess it’s the future mom in me that says, “Awwww”, and thinks Tiny is cute. :-)

Her little mouth is open….

This one is a bit difficult to make out, but can you see her little face?  The forehead is dark, the nose is white and one eye is fairly well defined…for a fuzzy ultrasound picture at least.

At 20 weeks and 5 days, Tiny is  asserting her little figure more and more and slimming down my wardrobe.  Waistbands and I are rarely on speaking terms and maternity shirts are my new best friends.

Happy “Mamma”, and happy “Dad” who has regular chats with the bump.  I have a feeling that Sam won’t have to wait for a boy….Tiny and he will be in cahoots together, blowing things up in the backyard…and very soon.

Boy or Girl?

Today is the day!!!!!!!!!!!  The day I have waited for…..I should say patiently.  That is what “they” say in the books.  The hero or heroine is the epitome of sweet forbearance and patient submission to events that transpire, working tirelessly for the good…always.  Um, maybe that’s why it never crossed anyone’s mind to use me as inspiration for a heroine.

Mine was a wait of nearly unbearable impatience, trying not to fuss at slowly moving days and plodding, meandering minutes.  But in just a few minutes, Sam and I will drink in Tiny’s form on that monitor and I can stop bouncing about impatiently and begin bouncing about with new excitement and energy.  Let the fun begin!  (And let me drag out all of my patterns, yarn and fabric.)

Three men and a baby…

Peter:  highly animated over my camera as I sat snapping shots of his cute little face.  Training in camera fascination—courtesy of Uncle Joe…. 

 

We didn’t realize how wiped out little Joshua was until Trina finished fixing his lunch plate and we turned around to behold this…

 

 

 

 

 

The classic bath in the kitchen sink!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mikey:  fascinated with his toes these days….

 

 

 

 

And joining the ranks soon is our very own little person!  Poor Tiny looked like an alien at 13 weeks and 2 days.  I am 16 weeks today, so that weensy little form now looks a bit more promising…well, the books would have me think so.  During my first ultrasound, Sam and I sat drinking in image of the wriggling tiny life inside me, waving it’s tiny arms and legs about and hearing the strong rapid heartbeat brought tears to my eyes.  Since the exhaustion and nausea of the first trimester had mostly subsided by this first doctor’s visit, I had begun to have silly niggling doubts that it was all in my head.  But there really is a baby in there, moving and growing, and we’re going to meet our “Tiny” in just 5 months!  What a thrill!  Methinks, Ruth and Jason, and Sam and I may have the three musketeers on our hands next year.  Let the games begin!

Shameless Neglect

“Sad, sad girl!  I don’t know when I shall have done scolding you!”  Mansfield Park

Shame, shame, shame on me for neglecting this poor little blog!  I didn’t mean to, really I didn’t.  It’s blank pages were always in my thoughts, haunting me with their expanse of white space.  I’m afraid I must confess that I fell into my “journal trap”; that inconvenient state of mind that insists on the perfect entry and instigates gaping emptiness months long.  Sometimes I wonder if I actually killed the perfectionist of my childhood…certain days of my life seem to insinuate that those fussy bones lie in waste…dust and ashes.  But no, ‘dem dry bones sat up and perfectionism reared it’s impertinent little head and whispered, “Oh, but you must wait until the perfect time to think and plan and write.  You don’t have the hours required to do justice to that conversation or adequately describe that event.”  Stuff and nonsense, I say now, though I did listen to said impertinent head for far too long.   Such is often the fate of my journals and so it began with my blog.   But no more!  And I offer my deepest, most humble apology and will commence again.