Ale is not only a newlywed, but she's expecting their first child. There is so much joy in these stages of life, but there's just one problem-- her husband is overseas. Ale and Ryan were married in May, and soon thereafter, he found out that he was going to be deployed and would be in Korea for a year. On the day that I took the photos, it had been exactly a month since he'd left, and it's been a major adjustment. She's getting ready to have their baby, Micah Ryan Miller, in the next month. Sadly, he will not be able to be present during his first child's birth-- but, on the bright side, the military now has an option where they can have live video feed so he can see it happen, and also give words of encouragement during the birth, just as though he were there with her.
I met Ale a couple months ago when I did maternity photos with the two of them. Here's a photo of Ale and Ryan, before he left.
Ale is still new to the area. She moved here just after their marriage, and has made a few friends, but neither of them have family nearby. Her mother is coming to help her with the birth and the first week, but since she holds down a full-time job, she can't come a few weeks early-- so they are just hoping that she'll make it in time, because they don't know if Micah will come early, late or right on time. If her mother is not here yet, she has a great friend who is willing to come pick her up and stay by her side during the process.
The distance isn't foreign to Ale and Ryan-- they met through eharmony and remained in a long distance relationship right up until their engagement. But even though they have known what it's like to be apart, it's so much more difficult now.
Ale and Ryan are able to communicate every day through online chat and they can send each other Facebook messages throughout the day. However, Ryan gets off work at 5pm there, which is 2am here. So her schedule is all out of whack because she can't help but want to chat with him whenever it's possible.
The military provides resources for families going through deployments-- it helps them to keep lists of what to send for care packages or ideas about letter writing.
As soon as Ryan returns, they will be moving to Florida. So even though this is a new home for Ale, Ryan received his "goodbye" plaque before he left.
He does construction work for the military-- and he has a lot of toys and models that reflect the type of work he does and/or the equipment he uses.
Both Ryan and Ale are musical. I met Ryan a while ago when we played in a worship band together at church, but did not know him personally. Ale goes down to play piano in the basement once in a while. Their office is also downstairs, but she currently leaves the laptop upstairs all of the time because it's difficult for her to climb the stairs, now that she's approaching her due date.
She does have some company in the house-- their 2 dogs!
They weren't going to decorate too much, because Ale knew that it would just be her and the baby and then they'd be moving as soon as Ryan returned. But what a wonderful husband-- he wanted to make sure everything was in order and comfortable for his wife, and made sure every room in the house was decorated and homey-- even the bathrooms!
It's difficult to get used to sleeping alone. Because of Ryan's schedule, she doesn't go to bed at the normal time with the same rituals as when he was here, because she's often chatting with him, and everything is different. She said it's weird not to do his laundry-- and that everything makes her miss him. He had a TV on the dresser, and took it when he left. She told him that even seeing that gone made her sad and miss him even more.
This is the box that the ring was in when he proposed-- he bought it when he was away on his last deployment.
A lot of his clothes and other items are in the closet. He didn't take a whole lot with him to Korea.
He loves shoes... she showed me some of them. He doesn't throw the boxes out :)
Dad and baby have matching red Pumas!
Micah also has camouflage shoes...
And several others pairs... following in dad's footsteps :)
As I said, Ryan made sure everything was in order before he left. She'd told me this before I went to their home, but I was AMAZED!
Look at that beautiful nursery!
They took a trip to IKEA and other stores and got everything you could think of... and I mean, everything. Clothes and toys and blankets and socks/shoes and more toys fill the room. This stuffed animal was Ryan's as a child.
Even all of the drawers and bins were full and ready to go. I'm so glad that she won't have the stress of preparations on her shoulders and that everything was prepared in advance.
She has her bag packed for the hospital. They picked out the items together before he left.
She showed me and of course, they are adorable.
Thank goodness for loving and supportive friends-- this is an album that she received at her baby shower, and there are words of encouragement inscribed by her friends in the front cover.
She looks so different from the last time I took her photos! As you can see, the day is rapidly approaching.
Micah is expected on April 5th. I'll come back within a week or two of his birth, and see how Ale is adjusting to motherhood. She's such a strong woman through it all. There have been a lot of twists and turns in the road-- causing a lot of frustration for both of them and making it very difficult to make choices about their current situation-- but I'll let Ale share those things in more detail in her bio for the project. Her endurance is inspiring-- and her smile is refreshing.
