Dogs and Babies Don't Mix, but Matt and Erin's Genes Have

Getting ready for baby also means getting ready for baby + dogs. In our novice attempt to reduce the number of potential emergency room visits we have taken the advice of purchasing a doll to make the transition of no baby to baby an easier one. I have to admit that I had pleasure in picking out my soon to be fake baby. What will the future Miller children be like? Hair or bald? Blue or brown eyes? Matt and I don't look anything alike. Throw in our genetic lineages, and there doesn't seem to be any obvious traits in common. From my side: Garvins have round faces with uber muscular builds with blonde hair. Rybolts display dimorphism with males being very tall and the women very petite all with light brown hair. On Matt's side: Millers are petite with red, brown, and blonde hair. Gibsons are tall in stature with black hair. I asked this question to Matt's sister, Susann. Her response was immediate: "Who knows what it will look like, but with you and Matt as parents it will be exposed to lots of books and weird food."

Pictures of Me

I have been receiving some slack about not posting more pictures of my currect physique. There is a perfectly good reason for this: when you are at 37 weeks of pregnancy you are not exactly feeling like you want to remember this moment. My body feels like a Macy's Day balloon! Matt will need to tie strings to my arms and legs before I float away.

More Mural Pictures

Pictures removed. Email Erin for details.

Mural in Action

Notice the mural in Action! Courtney would draw and paint the trim. Once we proved that we could stay in the lines, Mom and I were allowed to fill in the animals. Courtney did most of the work, I got tired easily.

Getting ready for Baikal

This past weekend, I had a wonderful treat. My mom came down from North Carolina to help get the baby's room ready. We purchased the remaining items needed for the room and starting putting them in their proper places. As a gift to her "soon-to-be niece" my sister created a mural for the room. She spent most of her weekend painting it on the wall. It looks SO good. When I tried to take pictures of it with my digital camera, the pictures were fuzzy and dark (did I mention I got the camera free in a promotion?). However, I have attached her concept which is pretty close to the real deal.

My mom also accompanied me to a labor and delivery class at the hospital on Saturday. We learned about all of the different aspects of having a baby. It was so nice having her there. She seemed to love it and it made me feel more at ease with what I may be getting myself into. Moms are the best.

What's in a Name

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet."

Apparently, a lot is in a name. As most of you know, we have decided on a rather unique name for our girl (still not 100% sure it is a girl though). She will be named Baikal Gibson Miller. The genesis of this name came from my husband who insisted on a unique first name to balance out the ubiquitous use of Miller. Baikal is the name of a large Russian lake (Check out http://www.baikalex.com/info/map.html for more images). Matt has often expressed great interest in visiting this lake on a journey through Siberia on the transatlantic Railroad. Gibson is Matt's mother maiden name.

I will admit that it took awhile for me to grow to like the name. Like most parents I went through the rhymes and nicknames, but it grew on me and stuck. I will bring her in to the world and Matt will name her once she is here. It seems like a good balance.

Change of Seasons

It is November and finally starting to turn chilly. In anticipation of the change of seasons, I took out my winter clothes that I had packed away last spring. Unfortunately, most items did not make the cut.

Daily Routine

Welcome to my new blog! I am going to try to use this site to post updates on the latest visual goings on with all things related to me. I know that you are getting excited, but you will have to wait until December for the big news. Until then, it will be the just the usual scandals and mysteries.

My latest masterpiece is titled, "Daily Routine." I decided to leave off the actual weight in a dramatic use of artistic license, so no need to try to zoom in.