Miller Update

After realizing I have a blog and that I haven't updated it in about a year, I figured I'd sit down real quick and take some time to update the blogging world on the last ten months of our lives.


Lukas's year of Kindergarten flew by and as his class Room Mom, I was able to really eat up what went on in the academic lives of five and six year olds. I can tell you it was a rollercoaster ride and there was never a dull moment. I knew being Room Mom was a commitment, but I didn't realize it was going to take over my life. However, it was by far one of the funnest years of Lukas's life so far. I feel so blessed to be able to stay at home and be so involved in his school. I met so many cool Moms and made a lot of new friends. And for my son, well, I couldn't have been more proud of how he did this year in school, socially and educationally.



A definite highlight of the past year, was being Kindergarten Room Mom. For those of you who don't know what the duty entails, it involves a lot of interaction with the kids, which was my favorite part, party planning, teacher assistance, and being the liason between the PTA, teacher, and parents. I am going to miss all the little smiles and the hugs with the hi Miss Jamie! Another thing that absorbed a lot of my time was organizing house remodel projects. We still aren't done beautifying our new home but we've made a lot of progress and are very happy with the work.

Another HUGE highlight that hit home for us was a healthy pregnancy! We found out in February but held out announcing to family until recently. There are many lessons to be learned in life and as I get older, I realize to never take even the simpliest things for granted. Pregnancy is not a simple thing, however, some may think it's easy to get pregnant or easy to keep a pregnancy. Both of those statements aren't true and sometimes it takes experiencing it to actually ascertain the possibility of both. But what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger and the bond that I feel with this baby is unbelievable. I've discovered a lot just to get to this point in my pregnancy and I feel it's worth it to others for me to share my story, however, that I'll do at a later point. Needless to say, I am in my 25th week and I am nurturing a strong boy or girl. We decided not to find out the sex of the baby because we don't care what we're having. God has given us a lot of HOPE and LOVE and we want to give thanks for that and give birth to a healthy baby, first and foremost.

Lukas starts first grade at the end of August and I think I'd be terrified of what I was going to do with myself (I know, get a job) but with the new baby on its way, the timing couldn't be more perfect. I'm a very sentimental mother and coming to the realization that yes, your child is only six years old but he's starting "real" school now, was one of extreme letting go for me. It's like the rest of his life starts at the end of August. Having this little one to take up my time is really going to help me cope with letting Lukas go on to the "big" playground.

I felt like being Room Mom was such a huge contribution from me that I couldn't let it just stop at Kindergarten, however, having a newborn baby is a challenge on its own that trying to help out in the classroom in addition just didn't seem feasible. So, I decided to take on an officer position on the PTA board at his school instead. Having a small baby attached to my hip and attending occassional meetings was going to be more realistically achievable than Room Mom. Another commitment I've had to give up was my devotion and dedication for the Rescue House, an organization that will always be very important to me. http://www.rescuehouse.org/ Where I was keeping my foster cats is now turning in to a beautiful nursery, thanks to my hard working husband and his bossy wife ;) We make a great designing duo! Before and after pictures will be posted to my Facebook once the project is complete.
For the last month, I've been viewing the world in a whole new way. Having vertigo has really given me a new perspective on life. At times, I get frustrated thinking when is this going to go away but then I think back to our recent vacation to Hawaii and a moment when I really slapped myself in the face.

I came down with an inner ear virus the night before our flight to Oahu. I had no idea what was going on but the extreme vertigo caused really bad nausea and by the time we touched down in Honolulu, I was so dehydrated and really concerned about the baby. I can't even believe I survived the trip to Hawaii, let alone the two hour delay in LAX. But I don't think I've ever been called a wuss so I wasn't about to start at the ripe age of 32. The first full day in Hawaii was spent in the ER diagnosing my vertigo symptoms and pumping my body full of liquids through an IV. None of this was what I had imagined my vacation to start out like, but my husband, son and mother-in-law were all there to support me and make sure I was fully entertained. The baby was fine and even though I had to spend the rest of our vacation in a wheelchair or holding on to Cliff as my crutch, we still made the best out of the situation we were given.
Oh yes, that moment when I slapped myself in the face, not literally, although with all the dizziness I'm wondering if that might have helped me see straight again. I think we are all guilty of taking things for granted. I don't know if any of you have spent any time in a wheelchair but I saw one day what it was like being confined to a wheelchair and really relying on someone else to push me around. While we were shopping in Waikiki, I was looking for a beach hat. Instead of just walking over, picking it up, trying it on and walking over to the mirror to see if I liked how I looked in it, I had to rely on Cliff to push me to each hat, and then push me to the mirror. And as if it wasn't blurry enough with the vertigo trying to see what I looked like, I also had all these thoughts running through my head making hat shopping seem so irrelevant. I thought, wow, I can't believe I can for one second complain about having vertigo when there are so many other things that can happen in life that are so much worse. I knew I had to just be patient and "Grin and Bear It" and not let the dizziness ruin our trip. So I did just that and now almost a month later, I feel better, but am still dizzy. However, every day I remind myself about that day when I really realized what being so fortunate is about.
I'm thinking, I've pretty much covered most of the highlights of the last ten months along with some philosophical mumbo jumbo. If you stuck around to read to this part, good for you, now you've been enlightened. Stay tuned for more from The Millers.........