Christmas

From our home to yours, Merry Christmas!

Fall

We have been far too delinquent in regularly posting pictures.  Here are some pictures and videos of the last month and a half.  Simon is developing so much and is interacting more and more with his surroundings.  Check out the album to see what he's been up to.

Tour

Welcome to our new place in Rockville, MD.  After about a month of being here, we are settled in enough to give a video tour of the place.  For best results, view full screen at 1080p.  Enjoy.

Weeks 15-18

We safely arrived in Maryland and have begun to settle into our new apartment.  We will give you a better tour of our apartment and neighborhood once things are better organized.  All three of us are experiencing lots of new things since the move; we've especially celebrated lots of "firsts" with Simon.  During the past four weeks, Simon slept in his new crib (in his new room) for the first time, sat in his new high chair for the first time, sucked his thumb for the first time, sat in his "big boy" stroller for the first time, played in his new exersaucer for the first time, rolled over from back to front for the first time, and (tomorrow) will go to a church nursery for the first time.  He also got to spend lots of time with Bekah's mom, who came from Indiana to help us with the process of unpacking.  Simon seems to be enjoying Maryland, as he is full of smiles every day.  See for yourself how happy he is in these pictures we snapped during the past few weeks.

Weeks 13-14

Simon's 13th and 14th weeks of life were mostly spent watching Mom and Dad pack up the apartment with a brief visit to Providence, RI so Dad and his friends could ride their bikes and see Water Fire.  There were lots of farewell parties and events as our time in Boston came to a close.  We miss you all dearly and will always treasure the countless memories we have of our lives in Boston.  Here are some pictures of our final days in Boston.

Weeks 9-12

Simon did some rather impressive traveling during weeks 9-12 of his life.  First he took an 8 hour car ride from Boston to Maryland to look for housing in the DC area.  We successfully found an apartment in Rockville with lots of parks, pools, and green space for him to explore.  We are excited to have a place we really like in a walkable community close to where Mitch will be working.  Relieved the apartment search was over, we drove the 8 hours back to Boston so Mitch could head out on a bike trip to Canada the next day.  The trip took him 3 days (Day1, Day2, Day3) and covered over 200 miles of beautiful countryside.  Simon and Mom followed him as a support vehicle and cheered for him as well as Todd and Kari along the way.  Unfortunately, there were no moose sightings.  Since Simon was in Canada, we thought we would see some French Canadians so we drove through the Quebec countryside and spent a day in Montreal.  Tired of people speaking French to us, we came back to America for the 4th of July in Burlington, VT, where we watched fireworks over Lake Champlain.  The next couple of days were spent touring the Vermont countryside and returning back home.  Simon had several first in these past 4 weeks. It was the first time he visited several states (Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Vermont), went swimming, traveled to another country, watched fireworks, and started intentionally playing with toys.  We posted some pictures and videos from the past 4 weeks here.

Maryland

It's official.  Mitch has accepted a post-doctoral fellowship in the Laboratory of Translational Genomics at the National Cancer Institute in Maryland.  His start date is August 6th, so we will be packing up and moving down there in a few short weeks.  We're sad to leave Boston and all the wonderful friends we have here, but we are excited for the new opportunities ahead.  Keep us in your thoughts and prayers in the coming weeks as we deal with all the logistics of a big move.

Week 8

Simon is now 8 weeks old.  How the time flies by!  This week we took Simon to the Cape to enjoy the weekend with friends and celebrate Mitch's first Father's Day.  Simon saw his first seals there and even got a tour of the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory.  Check out the pictures.

Week 7

Week 7 was again more eventful.  Simon had more visitors come by, he took a trip to Bekah's work, visited our garden, had his first picnic at Bunker Hill, traveled to Rockport for his second time, and enjoyed his first trip to the beach in Portsmouth, NH.  What a lucky guy!  Check out the pictures (and videos) here.

Week 6

Week six was a bit slower paced.  We were able to recharge and rest from the previous busy weeks we had.  The paucity of pictures is a testament to the fact that we really didn't do too much.  However, to make up for the lack of pictures, we posted a few exciting videos.  Check out videos of one of Simon's first smiles and Simon with hiccups here.  Enjoy.

Week 5

Week five of Simon's life was predominately filled with activities surrounding Mitch's graduation.  We had a few family members left in town from Simon's baptism and had even more come out for the graduation.  In all, there were 10 guests here for the occasion, although we are pretty sure Simon's birth had something to do with so many family members wanting to visit.  Other memorable events of the week include trips to Rockport, the Harbor Islands, and Cape Cod, as well as touring around the city of Boston.  Here are some pictures from the week.

Week 4

The highlight of week four was Simon's baptism.  We were lucky to have both sets of our parents and Mitch's Grandma come out for the occasion.  The baptism was a great opportunity for us to reflect on our past blessings and our future hopes Simon.  If you weren't able to make it in person, there happens to be a video of the baptism here.  Other events of the week include some more visitors stopping by with delicious dinners and a trip to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.  Check out pictures of the week here.

Week 3

This week was extra special because Bekah got to celebrate her first Mother's Day.  For Mother's Day we took a trip to Piers Park and went for a lovely stroll along Boston Harbor with great views of the skyline.  The week had its fair share of challenges, with Bekah getting a pretty nasty case of antibiotic resistant mastitis.  She is feeling much better, but still has some recovery to go yet.  Other exciting events for Simon this week include wearing his first pair of jeans, his first bath, first babysitters (thanks Laura and Kari!), and a visit from Grandma Machiela.  Check out the pictures here.

Week 2

By popular demand, here are some pictures from Simon's second week of life.  It was an action packed week that included a trip to Park Street Church, the Museum of Fine Arts, the New England Aquarium, and many other adventures.  Thanks to everyone who came by to deliver delicious dinners and love on Simon.  Enjoy the pictures!

Submitted

After years of research, weeks of writing, and hours of formatting, Mitch's dissertation entitled "Germline Genetic Variation and Prostate Cancer Risk" was finally ready to be published.   With the help of the Buys in selecting dissertation paper, Dan with the color laser printing, and the folks at a local book binding shop, a really sharp-looking professional product was achieved.  After receiving signatures of approval from his committee, Mitch submitted the final bound copy to the Registrar's office, thus fulfilling the final requirement of his doctoral degree program.  The copy will be housed in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine where you can check it out and marvel at it if you are ever in town.  For those eager to read the final work, a pdf file of the dissertation can be found here.

Simon

On Monday April 23 at 4:25am, we welcomed Simon Andrew Machiela into our family.  We can't tell you how proud we are to have our 9lb 2oz little bundle of joy with us.  We have been pretty busy with feedings, diaper changes, and visitors these past few days, but we finally found a little time to post some pictures.  Many, many more pictures to come in the future, so keep checking back.  Enjoy.

Car

After being car less for nearly 4 years, we finally broke down and bought a car today.  We decided on a shiny new Toyota RAV4 with plenty of room to help us haul around our family.  We were able to negotiate a pretty spectacular deal on a 2011 model and both feel amazingly blessed to own a brand new car with just 30 miles on it.  Check out our pictures.

Preview

This past Monday, Mitch and a few select others got a sneak preview of Blue Like Jazz, a movie based on the New York Times best seller by Donald Miller.  The movie is an autobiographical work about how Donald Miller escapes his evangelical upbringing in a journey of self-discovery to understand what he truly believes.  The movie, rated PG-13, seeks to honestly depict some of Don's struggles and is not your typical wholesome Christian movie meant to be viewed by the entire family.  Steve Taylor, of Sixpence None the Richer, Newsboys, and Veggie Tales fame, is the director of this film that almost never got funded.  Both Donald Miller and Steve Taylor were present at the preview and spent a good amount of time greeting everyone and fielding questions.  Check out the trailer for the movie and mark your calendars for its national release in theaters on April 13th.

Showered

Bekah truly felt showered with love at a baby shower thrown for her by close friends in Boston.  Highlights of the morning included yummy food, a fun memory game, cute owl decorations (check out the cake!), lots of beautifully wrapped and fun to open gifts, and a visit from Bekah's mom via Skype.  Take a look at the pictures for a taste of the excitement.  We can't wait until our little bundle of joy arrives and we get to put all the gifts to use!

Defended

Great news!  After a 45 minute presentation and 1 hour of questioning, Mitch has successfully defended his dissertation on "Germline Genetic Variation and Prostate Cancer Risk".  Mitch is thrilled to have completed his doctoral work at HSPH and Bekah couldn't be more proud of him.  Special thanks to all of you for your support and kind words of encouragement along the way.  The above picture is of Mitch (second from left) along with his advisor (middle) and research committee (everyone else) celebrating after the defense.

29

Yep, he is really that old.  Thanks for all the birthday wishes!  As always, Bekah really pulled through and made a delicious cheesecake.

Epidemiologists

Mitch often gets asked what an Epidemiologist does.  Well, here's a description he stumbled across.

Growth

This week marks the end of the second trimester of Bekah's pregnancy.  We continue to take weekly pictures to track the growth of Bekah's belly.  Although tired (to be expected, right?), Bekah is healthy and doing well.  We are both enjoying the months of pregnancy and are doing a good amount of "nesting" before our little guy comes in just under three months.  Stay tuned for updates!

Arizona

As a last adventure before the baby arrives, we took a trip to Arizona to thaw out from the New England winter.  We and our friends Todd & Kari and Dan & Laura were graciously offered a beautiful house to stay in while we were in the Scottsdale area for the long MLK weekend.  The Scottsdale weather was beautiful and allowed us ample opportunity to relax in the sun, hike up Pinnacle Peak, and even go on a bike ride through the desert.  We got a good taste of the Southwest by eating some authentic Tex-Mex and barbecue cuisine, watching bull riding, listening to live Western music, and even taking a trip to the shooting range.  Feeling adventurous, we drove up to the Grand Canyon on our final day.  To our surprise, we encountered blizzard conditions on the drive there and arrived at a snow-covered Grand Canyon National Park.  The views were spectacular and were made all the more gorgeous by the light dusting of snow.  We had a wonderful time and took plenty of pictures.  We then got back into the car for the 4 hour drive back to the airport so we could catch our red-eye flight back to Boston in order to be at work on time the next morning.

Preparations

With a baby on the way, we have been hard at work converting the 4' x 5' area at the foot of our bed into a nursery before the impending birth of our firstborn son.  First, the bikes had to be moved into the living area, to make room for Mitch's new pride and joy.  We were able to get most of our big ticket items like the stroller and car seat through Craigslist.  Since we needed a way to organize everything, we took a trip to IKEA to buy some shelves for storage and Lowe's to get wood for a bassinet stand and a rod for hanging clothes.  Mitch masterfully pieced everything together and Bekah lovingly organized all our baby loot.  To see pictures of the handmade baby quilt and other preparations, click here.

Holidays

For Christmas this year we headed over to Indiana to visit Bekah's family.  The week went quickly.  We arrived on Christmas Eve and spent several days hanging out with family, outlet shopping for baby clothes, and working on the baby quilt.  Mitch even had a chance to see Indiana's longest train tunnel which was way out in the middle of nowhere.  We also enjoyed meeting up for dinner with Bekah's high school friend Rachael and celebrating the New Year in Cincinnati with friends from Calvin.  Despite all the fun we had, we also succumbed to a violent stomach bug that was going around the area.  Lucky for us, our immune systems were able to overcome the horrid disease in just 24 hours.  As always, we posted some pictures.