Kolson weeks 1-3

I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted something! I'm so far behind!! 

Kolson's first picture taken at home!

The first night (day since he was born at 2 in the morning) that we spent in the hospital was absolute hell for me. Since Kolson got stuck in my birth canal for so long, and with all of the pushing, my poor baby came out with very large cone shaped head. Because of this, that first day he was in a lot of pain. Everyone (including the nurses and lactation specialists) were afraid to touch his poor head because of the pain it would cause him. Because of this, it made breastfeeding a little difficult. Lucky for me, Kolson had a very strong latch, and an even stronger urge to latch (kid still tries to latch on to everything!). I got very little sleep during the time we spent in the hospital. It got so bad that the nurses would have to come in and basically force me to let them take him to the nursery so I could get some sleep. The whole time I was there I felt as though I was the reason he was in pain. Thankfully he was a little better the next day, but it still made me wonder how I was going to be able to do this without the help of the nurses...

First family picture :)

We were originally scheduled to leave the hospital after three days, but because Kolson and I were both recovering well my doctor (after a few failed attempts at convincing me otherwise) let us go home after one night. I was very lucky considering all that had happened to me in labor. I had a lot of tearing and a ton of blood loss, but the next day I wasn't in any pain and felt like my old self again. I only took the pain medication because the nurse watched me to make sure I was taking it haha. 

Cooper meets Kolson!

I spent our entire last day in the hospital freaking out because the night we spent there with help was miserable and now I wouldn't have nurses to help me out. Thankfully, Kolson must have sensed my dismay because he was a dream his first few days home. He barely cried and slept most of the day. At night he woke up every two hours to eat, be changed, and get some extra cuddles in, but otherwise he was a dream. Oh! he was strong too. From the first full day of his life he could actually lift and somewhat support his head. At first I thought I was just being a mom and thinking my kid was amazing. But two nurses and three of my friends were all surprised at his strength  I'm not kidding when I say this kid has superpowers ;). It seemed like everything was falling into place and I was really going to get the hang of this whole motherhood things. Cue my bad luck...

My parent's and their first grandchild

Newborn photo session

Holding daddy's dog tags!

My favorite...goes with his Monster's Inc. nursery :)

The third day we were home with Kolson I got a phone call from my younger sister who lives in Philadelphia. I thought she was just calling to see how Kolson and I were adjusting to life at home (she's a seasoned veteran with 2 kids), so I answered without any concern. It didn't take long for me to hear the sadness in her voice, and when she asked me to sit down I knew this wasn't going to be a good conversation. I asked her what was wrong and she told me our youngest brother had passed. I've never been shot before, but I swear the pain I felt was way worse than any bullet wound. I could breathe, I went completely numb, if it wasn't for my mom, I would have fallen to the ground with Kolson in my arms. I called my older sister and we made arrangements to fly to Philly whenever the service was. A few days later my Maria called and told me the service would be in a week. I almost had another panic attack. That wasn't enough time for me to book a flight and a hotel room and figure out if Patrick and my parents would be ok with Kolson. After discussing with Patrick, we decided that it would be best if Patrick, Kolson and I drove up to Philly together. My mom wasn't happy, but since Kolson is breastfed, it was really the only option we had. So with Kolson at almost a  week old we made the drive to Philly at 1 in the morning.

Kolson was a dream the entire time...from the drive up where he slept almost the entire ways (through Patrick and my screaming at stupid drivers), to the service, and finally to the drive back home. Between stops to feed and change Kolson, stops for us to go to the bathroom, stops to eat, and stops to fill up for gas, the entire trip was about 16 hours each way. I couldn't have been more proud to be Kolson's mother than when we would bring him out in public and people could not believe how young he was and how well he was behaving. I have the best son in the world. 

Kolson's first visit to the ER :( only 4 days old 

After we returned home, Kolson's scheduled changed. Since he had spent the past few days in the car, he was used to sleeping almost all day and had a few pretty rough nights, but we got well adjusted. A week after we returned from Philly, my parents left to go back to Mass. It was really hard for me to say goodbye to my parents. Not only because I would miss them, but because they were lifesavers to Patrick and I the few weeks before Kolson got here until they left. They cooked, cleaned, took care of Cooper...you name it! They made the first two weeks of Kolson's life so easy for me because he was all I had to focus on. I didn't know how I would survive. 

Throw onto the pile finals for college and a huge move coming on that's how the first three weeks of Kolson's life went. Somehow I managed to get through finals, and my parents help us pack a large bulk of things for the move (I will talk about that another time). But now for a ton of pictures of Kolson's first three weeks. 

Grandpa's little sidekick

Like father like son :)

One week old!

Sleepy smiles

He turned 2 weeks old on Thanksgiving 

Big Yawn!

Mommy's Little Monster

Kolson Patrick Miller: Birth Story

Since we are basically caught up until October I will make part two relatively quick so I can get to the good stuff! Let's start with November...

National Bump day! Patrick wearing an empathy belly haha :)

The last two weeks of October I did everything I could to try and get Kolson out. By the last trimester of pregnancy I felt like I had been pregnant for 18 years. I walked two to three miles everyday and at night I bounced on a birthing ball until I couldn't feel my legs. A few people suggested drinking two tablespoons of castor oil to guarantee that he would make his grand entrance. Apparently Kolson was really comfortable where he was because I tried Castor Oil three times from October to November with no such results (by the last time I didn't even go to the bathroom once). I'm still convinced my mom worked some magic to make sure he wouldn't be born until she got here. 

35 weeks pregnant

Fashioning a belly on my first day of classes

My parents flew down to Beaufort on November 2nd and from that day on we were on baby watch. We all thought it would be any day because every time I went to the doctors they told me he was measuring ahead and he could come at any moment. Boy, were they wrong. Every day we would hope it would happen. I made sure Patrick had his phone on loud when he went to work just in case. Every night I went to bed disappointed. I didn't experience any BH contractions during my pregnancy so I had no idea what I was in for. 

Aren't they just adorable :) 

The night of November 10th Patrick and I were joking around. He was saying that since he got the Veteran's Day (the next day) off, he was going to do nothing but relax all day. Well, Kolson thought otherwise. Around 8 that night I started to feel very sick. I had a headache and was very tired and irritable. It was starting to feel like my period was coming. Around 11 my stomach started to hurt and it felt like I was getting mild cramps. I thought that maybe I was finally getting BH contractions and hopefully Kolson would get here by the following week. I went back to sleep and around 12:30 I was woken up with some pretty powerful contractions. I wanted to get excited but I kept telling myself at my appointment a few days ago I was only 2 cm dilated so it probably was nothing. I started to time them and when they got really uncomfortable I began walking around the house. My mom was awake and we decided around 5 am when the contractions were still pretty powerful that we should start to get ready. I woke Patrick up around 6 and at 7:30 we all started to make our way to the hospital. 


When we got there, I was put on monitors and the nurse would have to call the doctor to see if they should admit me. After a couple hours of waiting with serious contractions, the doctor came in to measure me. He said even though I was only 3 cm dilated I was 90% thinned out and having strong contractions so they would admit me!!! I was moved into labor and delivery and told they would give me some pitocin to get the process moving faster to see if my water would break on its own. A few hours later and there wasn't much progress. The doctor recommended getting an epidural before he broke my water because after that the labor would move along quickly. 

I got the epidural (did not hurt at all) and he said to get ready to go into labor soon. I was so anxious to meet my son, but unfortunately there was no progress. I stayed in that delivery room (not able to get out of bed because of the epidural) from 10 am to around 11 that night when the nurse finally said I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing. She did some practice pushes with me before calling in two other nurses to help me get where I needed to be before the doctor came in. I pushed for almost 45 minutes with them and they said the baby wasn't going anywhere so the doctor came in to talk to me. He told me he wanted me to push continuously for the next hour and if there was no improvement he would have to do an emergency c-section since the baby had been trying to get out for so long. Tired, hungry and extremely frustrated, I began to push...and push...and push. I asked my mom and Patrick how long it had been and everyone kept saying they weren't sure. By this point I'd just about had it and was begging for a c-section. My body was shaking and I was completely drained. No one told me I had been pushing for well over two hours straight. Finally the baby started to move down and the doctor was called in. After about 10 more big pushes Kolson was finally out. Poor little guy had the biggest cone head ever from getting stuck in the birth canal for so long. He didn't cry for a little bit which was very concerning to me, but eventually he let out a few little cries. Welcome to the world Kolson Patrick Miller!! Born November 12, 2015 at 2:22 in the morning. Weighing 7 pounds 3 ounces and 22 inches of pure perfection!

My prefect little angel a couple hours after he was born :) 

Kolson's favorite way to have his hands!

His crib tag :)

After that everything went by in a blur. I held him for a while and when Patrick went to bring my parents back home the nurse took him to do some tests (which he passed with flying colors!) and I basically went into a sleep coma. The nurse woke me up to take a shower and to show me how to bathe and care for Kolson. I didn't end up going to sleep until around 8 that morning. 

Later that same day Kimber her sister, and a co-worker all came by to meet Kolson. Kimber's sister took some really great pictures of Kolson in his Monsters Inc. onesie. When they left Patrick went to pick up my parents so they could come by for the day and spend some time with their new grandson. The rest of the first day went by very easy and we all just spent the day just enjoy our little one. 

Picture taken by Kimber's sister 

Kolson in his bassinet 

Mom and I opening gifts from my study group!

Until next time, 

Tati :)

Catch-Up Part One

It's been so long since I last posted a blog. I was just coming back to Beaufort from a months stay in Mass and I still had a ways to go in my pregnancy. Well a lot has happened in the 4 months since I posted. 

I came back from Beaufort and started school a little over a week later. After experiencing going to school while pregnant I must give credit to all women who do it. I didn't think it would be that hard, but towards the end of my pregnancy it took a lot for me to drag myself to class. I was taking four classes; two on campus and two online, so my schedule was pretty light, but with all the baby planning I had to do, I still had a lot going on.

With all the gift cards from the shower back home, I put a pretty big dent in both of my registries and I had a lot of the things I needed for his arrival. August seemed to go by pretty quick; with the planning for the shower back home done I spent most of my time planning the shower here in Beaufort. Patrick and I decided on a Lion King themed shower (I couldn't find much for Monsters Inc.). The shower was on September 13th at a function hall at the Marine Corps Air Station. 

Kimber and I with a car full of decorations, waiting for the hall to open!

The day started off as a disaster. We reserved the hall from 12-4 that Sunday (having to pay extra to be there at 12 to set up) and were told to make sure we got there at 12 sharp. Kimber and I decided on the way to get the cake from the baker that we would go to the function hall for 12, unload some of the foodm then go to the bakers and finish unloading. Well, we got there at 12 and all of the doors were locked! We called the function hall about a million times and no one answered. I was getting so angry at this point. Meanwhile, Patrick was going to the exchange to pick up the sandwiches we ordered for the shower. I called him to tell him that the people who work at the function were not there and he told me that the people at the deli forgot to make our sandwich platters. Let me tell you, I was fuming at this point. No sandwiches  and the function hall wasn't open for us to start decorating. Kimber and I waited outside in the heat until around 12:45 and decided to go get the cake and come back. When we got back it was a little after one and the place was finally open. 

Patrick and I opening gifts :)

Kimber and I 

I ran in to talk to a worker about what happened and to see if they could extend our time an hour to compensate for the missed hour. The guy at the front desk was very apologetic and willing to work something out. After that it was a mad dash to get everything set up before two when the party was set to start. Somehow Kimber, Ashley and I managed to pull it off and we barely had time to get changed before people showed up. 

Our snack table with Lion King themed food

We put a lot of time and effort into it and, unfortunately, of the 40 people who said they were going only about 18 came. However, the people that did come were good friends and co-workers and it made for a very good time. We had a bunch of fun games and activities (my personal favorite was writing messages on diapers for us to read when we change Kolson in the middle of the night) and a ton of food and snacks. Even though it ended up being a good day, I don't think I will ever plan my own baby shower again for co-workers haha. 

The girls one the diaper relay of course ;)

A few weeks after the shower I began to freak out about not having a car that would be safe for Kolson. In May I got into a pretty bad car accident and my car was totaled leaving us with Patrick's two door Honda Civic. So, we started the time consuming process of searching for a car. We made an appointment and drove up to Charleston (which is around 2 hours from Beaufort) to test drive a car that I really liked only to get there and find out they sold the car while we were driving up. I know, I have terrible luck, but they could have at least given us a phone call so we wouldn't have wasted all that gas. We figured while we were up there we might as well look for other cars, but had no such luck. The following weekend we made another appointment in Hilton Head to test drive a car only to find out that the car was in Savannah Georgia. Then another car we made an appointment to test drive was being leased to someone who was having their new car detailed. By this point I was ready to say forget the car and just deal with a two door for now, when Patrick suggested we check out a Nissan dealership. We both were in a terrible mood when we went in, but that changed. We had the nicest car dealer I've ever met. She was an elderly lady who owned her own restaurant and had been on The Food Network and she said she was only working to make new friends. She truly cared about what we wanted and did everything in her power to make sure we found a car in our price range that was safe and reliable for a baby. The manager was willing to negotiate with us and brought the price of our car down to below our asking price. We left there happy and with an SUV that I am in love with. I would definitely recommend this dealership to all of my friends. Thankfully after that October went by smoothly and nothing really crazy happened. Catch-Up Part Two to come soon.

Until next time,
Tati :)





                                                                Some more shower pictures:

Our beautifully decorated favor and sign in table

Isn't this cake adorable? :)

Everyone got to guess when Kolson's due date would be

Table decorations

Mass Trip Part Two

Okay get ready this one is going to be a long one: 

After about a week relaxation back home I should have known things would get hectic. When we planned the trip I wanted three weeks off to make sure I got sometime to relax. At seven months pregnant just getting out of bed makes me exhausted. So, I go to enjoy my first week home doing absolutely nothing but soaking in some rays and floating out on the lake all day (and hanging out with cute little ducklings!!). 

 That weekend I had my sister’s baby shower. She’s about to pop any day now. I can’t wait to meet my little nephew Aksel!! It was definitely a good time. It was nice to see her boyfriend’s side of the family. Can you say holy Portuguese! None of them spoke English but talk about close togetherness. Their number one focus was clearly Johnny Laticyah and little Aksel. The dedication they have to this little one who isn’t even born yet is mind blowing. They reminded me a lot of my family. She had a great time and I can say with confidence that Aksel will be well dressed and they never have to worry about him not having clothes! 

I decided to get creative and make a whale name tag since her theme was nautical 

The second week I was home was filled with getting together with friends. I never thought I would say this but boy was that tiring. There were days where I would go out to breakfast with one friend, have lunch or meet up in the afternoon with another, and end my day by going to the movies at night with another friend. When they say tiredness hits you in the third trimester they aren’t kidding. I would get home around 9 and crash thinking it was after midnight. Between hanging out with friends and sleeping, I made sure to spend plenty of time with the soon to be grandparents. My parents took me out to all of the places that Beaufort either doesn’t have or shouldn’t have (like Dunkin…never go to the one in Beaufort if you were raised in New England…it’s terrible!). When I wasn’t filling my face and stomach with food we would all relax outside. To be honest I think that was my favorite part of the whole vacation.

The second weekend ended with my baby shower. Because we had to plan the shower last minute I was not expecting many people to show up with it being summer and the hot time for everyone to go on vacations. But, to my surprise a ton of family and friends ended up coming. Some I hadn’t seen since my wedding over a year ago. Everyone was great and it was a blast. The theme was rubber ducky which I thought was absolutely adorable. Because I had to fly up to Mass and back my mom and I agreed that it would probably be best to do a gift card shower. At first I was bummed out because it’s not as exciting and I love seeing baby clothes and accessories, but I definitely think this was for the best; now I can choose exactly what I want from my registry to spoil little Kolson. We had a gorgeous cake and cupcakes and the favors were cookies in the shape of onesies, duckies, and little baby buttons! Everything went fabulously and made me realize how lucky I am to have such amazing friends and family. 

Shower invitations that my mom worked so hard to create!

All ready for the shower!

Kolson has been moving like crazy now. He must be happy to get out of the heat of South Carolina and just lay back and enjoy the day. He most active at night; right before I fall asleep…getting me ready for when he gets here. With my sister being so close to delivering and Patrick’s brother just having a baby I’m getting so anxious and excited for our little bundle to get here. It’s not his time yet and I know these next couple of months will go by quickly with all the preparation we have left. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow to see how he is doing and I can’t wait.


My last weekend there we spent up in Belmont for my brother’s wedding. Justin and his new wife Stephanie are both very laid back people so the wedding was very down to earth and casual. It was beautiful for something they planned on their own and very last minute. Her family is very sociable and made sure everyone felt welcome. I did a reading during the ceremony which was nerve wracking but also exciting. The weather was beautiful for anyone who wasn’t pregnant. It was sunny and hot…I thought I was going to pass out at some point. We took a ton of pictures with the bride and groom and then wen in for dinner and a sundae bar (obviously everyone’s favorite part of the wedding). The night ended with some dancing and DJ (Stephanie’s son and Justin’s new step-son) stole the show with his awesome moves. I am so happy for Justin; this is the happiest I have ever seen him and if anyone deserves happiness it’s him.

Aren't they so cute!

My brothers Justin (Groom) and Brant (Best Man)

Had to sneak in a baby bump picture ;)

My adorable parents :)

The Bride and Groom

So that wraps up my three weeks back home in Mass. I am now sitting in the airport both happy and sad to be going back to Beaufort. I am beyond excited to see my amazing hubby and fur baby, but I am very sad to be leaving my friends and family back home. Also, I definitely don’t want to go back to the heat and humidity waiting for me back in Beaufort. Unfortunately for me I will be spending a lot of time indoors until it cools down. I am however looking forward to doing a lot of shopping for Kolson’s nursery!

I'm definitely going to miss waking up to this view everyday

Goodbye Boston :(

The theme for Kolson's nursery is monster's Inc.

Can't wait to get started!!!

He's already so spoiled :)

 Until next time,

Tatianna :)