I met Milanda's mom in the spring of 1989 when Milanda was about 6 months old.  We got together and I moved in with them toward the end of that summer starting my first year at CSUS.  We were together for 4 years and I got very attached to this wonderful little girl. The relationship with her mother ended, but I was able to continue seeing Milanda.  She became an honorary member of the ever-growing Oushakoff clan and had Great-Grandmothers (Babochka, Baba), Grandparents (Babbie, Dyeda), Aunts and Uncles and Cousins (Nicholas, Alex, then Nyles, and finally Ian) too!

In the fall of 1995, Milanda came to live with me (temporarily), and stayed for a whole year.  Imagine a bachelor with a new house, suddenly turned into Supermom....sounds like a sitcom, doesn't it?  So now, we had to deal with Daycare (Wholly crap, how do you people afford this stuff?), getting up in the morning, getting dressed, fed, out the door, to daycare, to work, to daycare, to home, food, homework, quality time, bath, bedtime story, and finally bed.  Did I mention that we remodeled Milanda's room into a very nice little girl's room? Paint, wallpaper (chosen by Milanda, of course), mirrored closet doors, ceiling fan, re-painted furniture, and the finishing touch...glow in the dark stars on the ceiling (applied by Milanda and myself). What a thrash, but oh what fun!! It was a learning and growing experience for both of us.

Milanda went back to living with her mom, and I got to have her over, usually on Saturdays, sometimes all weekend. This continued for about another nine months.  Then it ended........

It's hard to gather up a bunch of things with so many good memories and put it in a box, hoping that someday, maybe she'll get to see this stuff again and  smile and say "I remember...".

Here's some photos of Milanda as a baby:

Milanda with her traveling companions - her thumb and Blankie
Milanda with a self-inflicted haircut

Did you notice that Milanda is always smiling?  This is one happy kid!

Milanda's Art Gallery (coming soon)
 

Waaay back in 1994, I took Milanda and my nephew Nicholas to Disneyland.  I took a bunch of pictures with a disposable camera.  The camera got buried in Milanda's stuff and I found it when I was boxing up her stuff.  I recently had the pictures developed and here they are.

Pictures from Milanda's last Christmas with us. (Coming Soon)
 

Milanda in her room, modeling a new dressMilanda at her last Christmas Eve at Babbie and Dyeda's house

I Miss You, Kiddo....

If you know anything about Milanda and/or how she's doing, please (!) e-mail me.

updated 7/6/99

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