Welcome Tanner!

We joyfully welcome the newest member of the family, Tanner Kailua Millard. Our kids have a new baby cousin and look forward to meeting her soon! Congratulations Millard family. We miss you lots!

To The Point

Finally, a few moments to get to the blog. I have so much to say but too few minutes to get it all down so I thought I would at least get some pics up from the last month. It's been grand! Mostly. There has been more crying than I would like from the newbie but, it's hard being small. The holidays are always wonderful but this year they come with an added sweetness and not just of the high caloric kind. It's the first year where our little girl "gets" it and let me tell you, you only have to tell these kids once about Santa. She is anxiously awaiting his arrival and here is a photo watching a video message from Santa. The man has certainly kept up with technology.

The first dance performance was over the weekend. It went better than expected but certainly left room for improvement. Meaning, she didn't freeze up from stage fright and go screaming off the stage. At the end of their 55 second performance my girlfriend says, "Well your daughter stole the show." There is truth to the statement but unfortunately, not in the way I would have hoped. I'll just say that she did her own thing and looked like she was having a great time. Below is a picture of the girls before the show and my little one taking it all in after.


The new little man of the house has settled in and graces us with smiles daily. What gratification the first smiles bring!

And the two kids seem to be taking to one another. He loves to watch her and flash a shiny grin her way. She must know where he is at all times and enjoys putting toys in his lap for him to play with.


Merry Christmas from the whole family!

This New Life

What a joyous few weeks (outside of the evil stomach flu virus that rocked the family)! Of course it's also been a bit sleepless and overworked but the pain is overshadowed by how the new addition has shaken up the household. Each of our lives have been uniquely enriched by our blessed Keaton.

I've heard people question whether they have enough love to give to the second child. I say, absolutely. Not only do I have as much love for my new son, I find that my love for both of my children has grown tenfold over the past few weeks. I do not believe our love is finite. The more we give, the more we have to give. So now having a whole other person to care for and love has grown my heart even more.

Although the heavy lifting is done by the parents, our little girl has been the most rocked by the new kid. The first few days saw lots of adjusting. She walked into my hospital room to meet the infamous baby that Mommy and Daddy have been talking about all year with a look of apprehension, as if she was wondering, "Is my Mommy still the same?" When our eyes met and I immediately embraced her I felt her relax as she realized she was still Mommy's little girl. She met her future roommate with interest and curiosity. It took a few days for the nerves to settle and her to adjust to the big sister role, which she has done fabulously. I think that has been the single most enjoyable thing for me since bringing my second child home. Being a big sis has matured her, virtually overnight. Not only does she try to be helpful but she understands, and accepts, the she needs to occupy herself more. What a joy to watch her play and manipulate her little world of dinosaurs, princesses, and little people, voices and all.

But what is truly heartbreaking is watching her fall in love with her brother. I've heard this from other Moms and thought, "Yeah, that must be really beautiful." I was not prepared. The first few days she kept her distance. She eventually touched his hand. When he was two weeks old, she asked to hold him. A few days later she kissed him on the forehead. She is always concerned when he cries and is quick to offer his needs. When he started crying today, she started to sing one of her favorite songs to him, Old McDonald. In the mornings she says, "Good morning little guy," and when he shows off with a gassy smile she responds, "Oh, that was a good smile lil' fella."

I've always believed that the greatest gift I could give my daughter was a sibling and now I'm sure of it. Here is one of her first interactions with our new baby!

Family Weekend Out

Last weekend we had a wonderful time at my Mom's Group Halloween party at the park. The little one had been looking forward to it and was so excited to get in character.

She hand selected her costume and the winner is....


Our lovely Belle. The entire ride to the park she asked if Cinderella will be there, and Snow White, and the list goes on. Imagine her excitement when the first friends she came upon were....


It was the meeting of the Princesses! She was equally enthusiastic to see Darth Vader, Storm Troopers and Batman (she has been outspoken that this is definitely what Daddy should be for Halloween, "a batman," she says.)

A Halloween party is just not complete without the cookie decorating.


It was a beautiful day in the suburbs and we finished off the morning with a quick stop at the local brewery's Oktoberfest celebration, much to the enjoyment of Daddy. He got to sample the local brew and the little one and I enjoyed the band. Needless to say, I got Mommy props for planning such a fun day and was given a break from the dinner and bedtime nightly routine!

Looking forward to the tricks and treats on Friday.

A Genuine Pumpkin Patch

We took our annual homage to the pumpkin patch, and I mean a real pumpkin patch. Not the side of the freeway bounce house type. We ventured to the town of Valley Center, with some great friends, to a real farm where the pumpkins you pick are actually grown there. Some may recall the huge pumpkin picture from last year.

We all had a great time and I think the pictures capture the event nicely. The little one had been looking forward to the trip for several weeks now and did not disappoint in showing her excitement when we pulled in the dirt paved, make-shift parking lot. One of the qualities I most appreciate is her general, and vocal, enthusiasm for most every event we do. Her excitement is certainly infectious if you happen to be the parents in her life!

She laughed through the pony ride, got a little scared on the slide, and took off running through the pumpkin patch, stopping to hug almost every giant pumpkin. What a joy of a day!



More on the day at TMST.

An Emerging Princess

Yep, it's happening and there's no point in fighting it any longer. My daughter is intent on entering the princess stage. It's just what girls do although I do not remember ever going through this myself. Perhaps it's the super marketing by those geniuses at Disney or just the American consumer that fuels the fire. It brings out the inherent femininity of a little girl.

The little one has had a mild interest in the different Disney princesses and fairies for the past year but yesterday the words came out of her mouth for the first time, "I'm a Princess. Where's my magic wand?" I admit it's very cute but I refuse to overly douse this fire with lighter fluid for fear it will spin out of control. It started a couple weeks ago when the local dance studio was our neighbor vendor at the Harbor Days festival. I asked my munchkin if she wanted to try dance classes. She said yes, of course, and made mention of it daily since then. I knew she had a friend in the class who just started so I agreed to a free trial class to check out what it was all about. She was the youngest in the class but you would not have known by her enthusiasm and readiness to jump right in. About half of the class needed coaxing by Mom to get involved and a few banished themselves to the wall and outright refused any part of the charade. The little one laughed, smiled, and followed instruction for the full hour and refused to leave class when it was over. She sat in the big empty room by herself in total denial that it was over for the day.

Since I had not committed to joining and was unsure it would even work out I didn't purchase the appropriate dress code for the class. She was the only one not in leotard and missing both tap and ballet shoes. As we were leaving she said, "We have to go buy my dance costume." And so we did.


Last night she insisted on putting the leotard on and that is when she became our "little princess". Daddy rolled his eyes but could not help but to comment on how cute it all was.
I finally got her to take her "dance costume" off for bath time and she asked, "Where are my dino's (dinosaurs)?"

The Great Costume Debate

As some may remember, the little munchkin won the costume contest last year for her representation of a pink octopus.


She selected the costume herself and it was a big hit at the parties. So we sort of set the bar pretty high in our first "real" year out and now there has been much discussion as to what costume we will display this year.

Since the due date for the next irresistible bundle of joy is scheduled for Halloween day, I feel the need to button down and purchase this year's costume asap. The problem is, in typical kid fashion, the costume choice changes from hour to hour and day to day. Some top choices have been a bunny, Aladdin, Princess Jasmine, Leo from the Little Einsteins, and an elephant.

I took her to several costume stores and there was mild interest in a couple here and there but mostly unimpressed with the selection...on her part. I saw a half dozen adorable costumes to fit the bill but she confidently said, "NO." At our fifth store they had a super selection and impressive Halloween display. She thoroughly enjoyed all the decorations. "Look at that Mommy," she said, and "Oh, look, what's that?" Then she said, "I want to hold you," when we got to the scary, spooky decorations. Then the great wall of costumes. We finally selected two that were try-on worthy and headed to the dressing room. We put the first one on and she refused to take it off. "Are you sure this is the one you want," I asked. "Yes," she responds without hesitation. We head up to the check out counter, still wearing the costume, and pay for the empty packaging. As I was checking out, the lady says, it can be returned up to ten days before Halloween. She is experienced enough to know that the little one is likely to change her mind about 20 times before the actual holiday and God Bless the lady at the counter for her reassurance.

The excitement has already diminished on our selected costume since last week. I am fully prepared to just place this one in the dress up/costume box and pick up one or two more before the big day. That's just the way it goes as I try to plan ahead but it sure is fun to watch her imagination go and think up all the fun things she can pretend to be. I have one or two costumes in mind that I would like for her and I might just put one together and give her a choice of costume displays.