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Greetings family and friends,

On 11/11/11, we had the surprise of our life. Three weeks early, Annie’s water broke with no warning. We rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night, completely unprepared: no bag packed, no name picked, and – despite all the classes we took – no clue what to do. It really felt like a miracle nine hours later when Milo Minh Chaffin was born at 9:18am, 6 lbs 5 oz, 20 inches.

Life before Milo

Annie was cruising through pregnancy. She paddled with her dragon boat team up until the last race, enjoyed every match of her tennis summer league, and luckily never felt sick. Pregnancy wasn’t so bad, right? That is, until seven months when we had our family’s first scare. Annie went into early labor at 31 weeks. After a long night, we checked into the hospital and thanks to modern medicine (epsom salts — who knew?), the labor stopped. The doctor ordered bed rest for the next month. Now that was hard! Lying on a couch is only fun if you should be doing something else.

Entering the Anniemaniacs’ 9th season, honestly we were skeptical. Nearly half the team was new this year, and we were trying a new, punishing training regimen which could easily backfire. But at all six races this year, we outdid our expectations and took home hardware. The new paddlers don’t believe us when we say dragon boating really isn’t this easy! And for us, it was the most fun season yet with our Maniac family: the camaraderie, good humor, and dedication of everyone on the team are great to be around. We have no idea what we’ll do next season. How can we paddle? How can we quit?

Annie never seemed to be saturated with tennis, calling on her Team Soft Serve at any chance to play, and fulfilled her new year’s resolution to win a tennis tournament – three times! Of course that was in doubles; now she has to try it alone.

After a year of waiting and obsessive web research, Ben became a very proud electric car owner when our Nissan Leaf arrived in March. FAQ: it goes 80 highway miles, takes 4-5 hours to charge at home, and goes 150 miles for the price of a gallon of gas. And we haven’t been to a gas station since July! Annie’s just excited to have a car with cupholders again.

In April we drove 1000 miles to Joe’s Valley, Utah for a climbing trip with our friends from the gym, otherwise known as Team Group Send. We found out Annie was pregnant just before leaving, so Ben did most of the climbing and gave her an excessive, super-paranoid spot. It rained and snowed the whole time (in the desert!) and the heavy, sticky mud made everything more fun. Still, we’d never miss out on the annual “spring break” trip with TGS.

We are both reaching big milestones at Intel. Annie hit 10 years (which means one more week of vacation) and Ben is eligible for his second sabbatical – that’s 14 years! – next September. Annie changed roles and became a manager, which obviously suits her more than sitting in a cube. She can’t seem to resist planning things, and this year’s Intel 10k race reached 3000 participants. Ben’s work is demanding and stressful, but he was able to travel to Barcelona where he enjoyed prosciutto and goat cheese with every meal. The Sagrada Familia cathedral is worth a trip all by itself.

2011 is also a big birthday year. Our house turned 100 years old, and despite Ben’s excavation projects in an endless effort to fix the wet basement, it’s still standing. The kitchen got a minor makeover when Ben refinished the floor, one of those educational projects which teaches you the value of hiring a professional. But the most impressive celebration is for Annie’s grandfather in Vietnam, whom Milo wished happy 100^th birthday via Skype.

Life with Milo

We knew having a baby would be hard, but only now do we comprehend how all-consuming it can be. Annie is wondering if she would even remember how to sleep through the night if Milo were to allow it (Ben says, “YES”). Diaper changes aren’t as bad as Ben feared and he’s even been heard discussing scatological topics he swore he would never mention. Annie is amused at how often Ben uses the word “cute”. Yes, even though we’re exhausted and days have become a blur, we are smitten. We ask where the time goes yet we’re guilty of spending hours simply watching him. Milo is a very expressive baby; his repertoire is ever-expanding and each one is, well, cute!

Our holidays have been filled with family, who were eager to come help and hold their grandson (and we don’t blame them!). Annie loved having her mom for an extended stay, not only for the home-cooked meals but for the many afternoons of hanging out on the couch as she rested or nursed. Annie’s dad joined them for Thanksgiving and happily held Milo through all the dinner preparations. Ben’s parents just spent two weeks here over Christmas and New Year’s. Despite their offers, we spared them the night shift, but their help made the days a much more relaxing vacation for us. And we’re so lucky to have Tata Chippy: resident aunt, professional photographer, and Milo’s official nap companion.

We’re gradually easing back into life outside the house. Annie is gently running and playing tennis again (and feeling the effects of 10 weeks of enforced inactivity!); Ben gets out for a run a few days a week and as usual has the Hagg Lake 25k in February looming to keep him motivated. Milo already has a waiver on file at the climbing gym, where he loves to sleep through the hubbub in his carseat.

We feel incredibly loved by all the support and celebrations from our family and friends…YOU. Thank you for the advice, the gifts, care packages, hand-me-downs, meals, visits, emails, cards, phone calls, FB messages… It goes on and on, and though you can’t grant us sleep, you’ve given us the coziest welcome into the community of parents.

We hope you had a wonderful holiday and look forward to lots of play dates in 2012!

Love,
Annie, Ben, and… MILO!

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