Cincinnati Weekend

The whole family traveled to Cincinnati for the first weekend in October. We had a full agenda that included introducing Miller to our Cincinnati friends and family and attending the Mariemont and Miami football games. It was extremely important for us to share Miller with his living great-grandparents, all of whom live in Southwestern Ohio. Included in this four generation picture are my Mom and Dad, my Mom's parents, and my Dad's mother.

The weekend started with Miller's first flight, a quick 55 minute jaunt across a beautiful September morning. Miller was the perfect traveler; our only hiccup was when we were worried his diaper would be flagged as a dirty bomb. The captain and flight attendants presented Miller with a certificate of first flight which we promptly added to his baby book.

Miller also met some of his parents' and grandparents' closest friends at an afternoon tea, the Mariemont Homecoming parade and a Miami University tailgate. His Dad is just getting the hang of compensating for the extra weight in the Baby Bjorn when playing cornhole.

All in all, it was a wonderful first trip to Cincinnati - the first of many, to be sure.

Big Smiles

It's so fun to watch Miller get bigger and learn new things. About a week ago we started seeing some smiles, but they were so quick that we couldn't seem to capture them with a camera. But in the last couple of days he's been a smiling machine!

We also recently found out that he loves to take a bath! The first couple he seemed a bit unsure what he thought, but lately he'll smile and splash a little.

Things are going well around the house and we have a busy couple of weeks ahead of us. We're flying to Ohio tomorrow to spend the weekend with Dave's family and friends. We'll drive back Sunday with Dave's mom, Anne, who is coming to stay with us for a week. Then, starting next Monday I'm going back to work and Dave is starting his parental leave! Big changes, but we're excited!

Naptime with Daddy!

1 Month!


 

One Month Old

What a month! The time has really flown, it feels like yesterday that we were leaving the hospital and taking little Miller home for the first time. He's growing so fast! As of the last weigh-in he was 9 pounds 12 ounces and 23 inches, but that was about five days ago, so he's even bigger now.

Over the past month we've had lots of visitors, a couple of parties and a lot of fun. Below are some pictures of our time so far.

With Aunt Abby (who just moved to DC!) and Grandpa H

Hanging out with his big cousin Jackson

Spending some time with Aunt Lee Anne and Miss Susannah



Aunt Carries birthday celebration



Spending some tummy time with Winston

Finished Nursery

Thanks to a reminder from my good friend Kirsa, I'm finally adding some pictures of the finished (and now functional!) nursery. Miller hasn't started sleeping in his crib yet, we still keep him in a cradle by our bed, but we use the nursery for feedings, diaper and clothing changings and swaddling, so it's getting lots of daily use!

The theme of the nursery is based on a favorite children's book of ours "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch. The stanza that's repeated throughout the book is stenciled on the wall above the crib, and we cut out and framed pictures from the book throughout the room.

Enjoy!

Big First Week

Miller had quite the first week! As I'm sure everyone has heard by now, on his third full day home from the hospital we experienced the largest earthquake on the East Coast in over a century. I was standing holding Miller about to hand him over to my Mom in our living room. We felt the ground begin to shake and thought it was construction on 66 at first, but it became apparent pretty quickly that the ground was shaking too violently to just be construction. All together it only lasted about 40 seconds and Miller didn't seem phased at all!

Then, this last weekend Miller also experienced a hurricane. Hurricane Irene came through the DC area Saturday bringing with it some nasty rain and strong winds. We lost power for most of the day Saturday and were still without internet and cable all day Sunday, but overall it wasn't nearly as bad as we had anticipated.

Other than dodging natural disasters - it was a pretty low key week! We did a lot of ooohing and awwing over Miller. We were sad to see our moms go home after each being here about 2 weeks helping us out, but we're doing our best and getting into a pattern with it just being the three of us (and Winston, of course!).

Here are a few pictures from the first week - more to come!

Love,
Dave, Ginny & Miller

Our version of the incredibly shrinking chair!

Snuggle time with Dad!

Miller Has Arrived!!



Miller Badanes

 We are so excited to announce that Miller Hawkins Badanes came into the world a week ago today! He weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces and was 21 inches long.

The last seven days have flown by! They've been filled with visits from lots of family and friends as well as some sleepness nights and moments of wondering what exactly we'd gotten ourselves into! But mostly they have been spent in awe of the miracle of our little guy and greatfulness for this blessing.

We've been fortunate to have all Miller's grandparents around in his first week. We're especially greatful to Anne and Vicki for all the help! Miller is a lucky guy to have such amazing grandmothers.

Thanks to everyone for all the kind thoughts and prayers!

Love,
Dave, Ginny & Miller

Waiting Game...

As you can probably tell from our ticker, our little man's due date has come and gone and still no baby! We have been saying from the beginning that we thought he'd come late - though we were both hoping he'd be right on time, maybe a day or two early.

As excited as we are to meet him and get this new phase of our life started, I think waiting is a good thing. It gives us the chance to practice our patience as well as enjoy this life before baby for just a little bit longer. Although we don't know exactly what it will be like once he's here, we do know that it will be life-changing, not to mention schedule altering. Nights where we just decide to pick up and go see a movie, like last night, will be a thing of the past (or at least a very uncommon occurence!). It's also a time to anticipate with excitement all the little unknowns - like what he'll look like, will he have any hair, what color his eyes will be, and how big is he?!

We're staying busy until he gets here, spending time with our friends and family who are also politely biding their time until he arrives. We can take some comfort in knowing that if he's still not here by next Wednesday morning, the doctors will begin the induction process and we'll likely have a baby by this time next week!

Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers! We look forward to sharing the good news with you all very soon!

With Love,
Ginny