The Recession Hits Home

I never would have thought that the Recession would actually directly affect our family. But even we're not immune. Our plan for funding was school was for Brian to get a Navy scholarship (where they pay for all his schooling plus a monthly stipend) and then work as a Navy dentist for 4 years. Sadly, the Navy had to make budget cuts and only accept 60 recipients this year. We didn't make the list.

It was really depressing news to hear at first because school starts in only 2 months. But like Brian keeps telling me, this might be a blessing in disguise. It might be a good thing that Brian won't be owned by the Navy later down the road. We never know what the world will be like in 4 years. We could be in the middle of a huge war by then. And this just means that he'll be starting his practice that much sooner. It just stinks that this was thrown on us so suddenly and there was nothing we could have done to stop it.

But we will manage. Just keep us in your prayers.

Tim and Laisa Delivery Update #2: IT'S A GIRL!

Welcome to the family, Bree! Here is a note from Tim and Laisa:

"Our little girl, Bree Andalyn Miller, was born June 19, 2009, at 5:47 PM. She is 7 lbs, 1 oz, and 20 1/4 inches, and gorgeous! Mom and baby are both doing great."

What a cutie. And another cousin to play with! Yay. What a great Father's Day gift for Tim.

If you would like to see more pictures, Tim and Laisa have their own blog, which I'm sure they will be updating: http://timandlaisa.blogspot.com/.

Tim and Laisa Delivery Update #1

Tim and Laisa are having their baby! They just texted us with the following message:

"We're at the hospital with an epidural, so everything is going well!"

Good luck to them! We will keep the blog updated with any news that we receive. Please pray for a healthy and quick delivery for them. We're so excited to see our little nephew or niece (yes, the gender is still a surprise!).

Happy Father's Day 2009

Since Father's Day has never been rendered as much of a holiday to me (actually, it was an anti-holiday in my family, but that's an entirely separate blog entry...), I was pretty excited for it to roll around this year because it will be Brian's first year as a dad.

I just wanted to take the time to thank Brian and tell people of all of the hard work that he done for his family.

In this past year, Brian has helped me tremendously. He was there to support me through childbirth. He was there to hold my hand during all the complications when I was so scared. He even went out in the middle of the night to get me food afterward. He was awake at most of the midnight feedings, even when he didn't have to be. He took Mariah when she wouldn't stop screaming. He handled some of the worst diapers. He helped Mariah to start loving bath time. Him playing with Mariah have been some of my favorite memories of our family so far. He has done all this and still goes out to support us.

But most of all, Brian has been there to give Mariah time, in both quality and quantity. Though sometimes he feeds Mariah eggs when she shouldn't have them or puts the diaper on backwards, Brian has always been there when either of us has needed him. Without fail.

Brian is the best dad I have ever known.

Happy Father's Day!

Mariah's Raspberries

Here are a few more clips of Mariah's new skills. The first two videos are of her making mouth noises and then the last is a better video of her scooting. She is developing like crazy right now! It won't be long before she's crawling!

 

Boston Vacation 2009 Part 1: New York City

For the first part of our New England vacation, we went to New York City. While there, we saw the Broadway show Wicked (amazing!), took a bus tour of all the major city sites (I ♥ NY!), hung out in Times Square (but sadly didn't get on TRL), shopped on Canal St (I bought a fabulous knock-off purse), and of course ate at a few very good restaurants.

My favorite restaurant was Joe G's Italian. It was FANTASTIC! I had chicken parmesan. The best I have ever had, hands down. I felt like part of "the family" because everyone and their brother tried to hold Mariah. Waiters, the owner, even other guests! But it was really fun.

The whole trip to NY was amazing (except for Mariah getting a stomach bug and throwing up all over me). If you haven't been there before, then GO! It was so incredible.

Mariah's Scooting Skills and Teeth

Much has happened lately with Mariah's development. Skill-wise, she can point out things that interest her. She can say ma-ma, ba-ba, da-da, ga-ga, and so on. She can also make a raspberry noise (that she does frequently for attention). She loves being bounced or thrown in the air. And she loves Peek-a-Boo and songs being sung to her (Itsy Bitsy Spider, Ol' McDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and B-I-N-G-O being among her favorites). She has discovered how to maneuver on the ground. She can now turn completely around in 360's, scoot, and pull herself up onto people (see video below).

Physically, she's about 14.5 lbs (still 1% for her age group). Her hair has filled in a lot, and she has lost her bald spot completely. She also sleeps through the night (8 pm to 8 am), what more could a mother want? Her bottom two teeth ruptured last week as well! Here is a video of her showing them off.

All in all, she is a very happy baby. She loves getting attention (even from strangers). She is going to have a very out-going and fun-loving personality.

We're in Boston!

This is my first trip to the eastern side of the country. The furthest east I had been prior to this trip was Ohio, where my mom's side of the family is originally from (and where I lived till I was 6). Yesterday I had my first glimpse of the Atlantic Ocean. Beautiful. Boston is really cool (though a little foreign).

Brian's parents just moved here in January for a new job and so it's where we'll be coming to visit from now on. They live in a town called Hopkinton. What I've seen of it is fantastic. It's really enchanting. All the houses have a older, traditional feel to them (even if they're new) and in their neighborhood, all the houses sit on huge plots of land so everyone is nice and spread out and have huge yards. And all the green trees remind me of home in Oregon. It will also be exciting to visit during the holidays when it's covered in snow.

We have quite a few places to visit while we're here. During the next few days we'll be in New York City seeing the sites. I'll try to update as much as possible!

Our New Apartment

Straight from LA, we bring you footage of the new crib. We really like it here, there's room to grow and central air, what more can you ask for?

For some reason, there isn't any sound, sorry! It's sad because I had some fun commentary. Anyway, hope you like our new place. And it's open for visitors!

My Favorite Treat: Banana Chips