Kenneth Matthew Miller - Hi Everyone

Hi Everyone,

Sorry it has taken us a while to get this little guy up on the blog but we have had a couple of days of work to get him camera ready. He and Mommy are doing fantastic. He was born July 30, 2008 at 9:32 in the morning; he is 6lbs 10oz and is 20 inches long. Doug and Nate are the winners of the of the baby lotto. Doug won the guess for the weight, his guess tied with Aubrey's but the tie breaker was the inches that Doug guessed right on. Nate won for the date he and Scott both guessed the 18th of August but Nate won the tie breaker by guessing 20 1/2 inches. See Baby Lotto guesses for a complete list.

T Minus......30

If you have taken a quick glance at our blog over the past few weeks you have definitely seen our baby counter - the days keep getting fewer and fewer. Well it was a surprise to me today to see it at 30 days and counting. We are one month away from the scheduled due date for our little guy and we are just curiously waiting to see what this whole having a baby thing really means.

I have been asked over the past couple of weeks, whether I am scared or not; the truth is I have no clue what to expect. I explained it to a friend of mine like this. It is like when a missionary is getting ready to leave for the MTC - you have a big to do list for something that is eventually going to happen, but because you have never been through it before all you can do is prepare the way people tell you to. You'll go buy clothes that won't be worn for a couple of weeks/months. You start stocking up on supplies that you have no idea about how long they will actually last. And, I assume, once you have arrived in the foreign land of "baby-town" everything is new - the food, the currency, the culture. It is just one of those things that until little K-man is here we won't know how to feel. ("K-man" is the first of many blog nicknames in the works)

In all honesty I feel like I am living in the movie world where I will get a call that Nerseys water has broke, I will race to either pick her up or go to the delivery room where it won't be but 10 minutes and the the boy will be here. I honestly am just trying to mentally prepare myself to respond to any situation with out freaking out. I mean unless Nersey has been gestating an alien baby I think we will be okay. There will be more experienced people around the Ners and I to help us out. In fact, and this will come as a shock to everyone, I have been a little apprehensive about any grandmas being in the delivery room - just because I think this will be a great opportunity for Nersey and I to bond and solidify the beginning of our family, but having Glamma there will be a welcomed relief. In fact, glamma lets make it a race; my Audi vs your new Lexus; last one to the delivery room makes the first cafeteria run!

I am so excited and can't wait to see Nersey enter the role of full-fledged motherhood; I know I will need her example on how to be a fantastic parent - but I am sure my efforts will pale in comparison. I love you Nersey.

"The Dog Days of Summer"

I feel I should let everyone in a little secret of mine. I am finally done with all of my undergraduate classes. Officially, I am graduated! Don't get me wrong, I have been done with my political science coursework for a while, but I filled those requirements very quickly - all I had left was credit hours to fill. It has been a point of great pride for me to have done school and work full-time. But my final grades for Master's pre-requisite classes that I have been taking were posted as of today and I am finished with my Bachelor's Degree.

For a while now I have been researching Masters programs and finally settled on several options. I will either be applying to get a MPP (Master of Public Policy), a MBA/MHA (Master of Business Administration/Master of Healthcare Administration) - this is mainly due to an introductory Health Policy class I took this semester; or a MBA/HRM (Master of Business Adminsitration with emphasis on Human Resource Management). I toyed with the idea of getting a Master's in Creative Writing and have the University help me with publishing one of my creative works, but I am not sure that would be the best use of time and resources.

I will say it has been nice for the past couple of weeks to come home from work and stay home, or go to a movie with Nersey or play with Buckley. Lately, it has been a constant to-do list of preparation items for Kenneth's arrival. Other than that I have kind of gone crazy just sitting around. My lunch hour is no longer filled with homework assignments, reading textbooks, or writing papers. I actually can go to lunch and eat or take a full-hour to myself to "relax". This has also been my greatest fear. What do I do when I am done with school? I no longer am working on deadlines, I have ample amounts of time to pick up a hobby but I don't know what to do, I feel like if I did something like that I would be missing out or that I was forgetting to do something. It feels much like sports during the summer, they are few and far between. Baseball games don't have too much affect on franchise standings, golf is really only watchable on Sunday (but without Tiger whats the point), unless your a fan of women's basketball there just isn't much going on, but you know, at some point, it will all pick up again and be exciting. I guess I just need to find something to do for the next 6 weeks to tide me over till all I look forward to is sleep.

Sorry if some of you feel lied to about my "graduating" last year. The fact is I had roughly 12 credit hours to fill when I walked last May but I took two fall only classes and then had two pre-requisite classes that I did the first part of this summer, after taking off spring semester to determine what I needed to apply for a Master's program. But, I am finished and that is what is important. I can't wait to see everyone coming in for Brian's wedding, you'll have the chance to meet your new nephew/cousin. See you all soon!

Cell Phone Graveyard!

When it rains it pours! Or at least when one person gets a new cell phone in our family the other is soon to follow. That's right we have owned in the time we have been married, which is coming up on the two year mark, is 12 cell phones. This past round of casualties were taken out by a wash machine and one was actually stolen at a park, the person who stole it even had the nerve to pick up the phone and then hang up on me.

The reason I write this relatively embarassing blog is because Nersey and I are now lacking your contact numbers. The phonebook features has ruined us on memorization. Please don't be upset or angry with us if we haven't called you in a while, it's more like we have been staring at our phones trying to will you into calling us so that we can save your number off our Caller ID logs. Though we have saved some numbers and a few were backed up on our provider's server, we still need your calls to ensure future calls from us. As for the fact that 10 cell phones have been lost under our care, I blame the manufacturers. They don't make a better product because they know stuff like this happens and they anticipate that it will, so you could say we are just really good customers. I mean really good customers. Here is a million dollar idea, a waterproof cell phone, one that could take a diet coke bath like Nersey's friend Lizzy's phone did or because it is dirty go for a round in the spin cycle and be just fine. I am just saying it seems like a good selling point, but alas my conspiracy theory doesn't allow me that premis. No cell phone company sits around and says; "hey lets make a phone that is so durable that no one will ever have to buy another one", it just doesn't happen. As for now it is on us to keep a better eye on our cell phones. But please give us a call, make us feel popular, and most of all use this as an opportunity to ensure a call from us - when your one of the few numbers we have, your going to be called often. If that is a bad thing, then make sure others call to ease your pain.