Contra Costa County’s first baby ready to take on the world

WALNUT CREEK (Jan. 2, 2024) — The first baby born in Contra Costa County in 2024 has healthy lungs, as she revealed in her inaugural media interview.

Little Miss Miller’s proud parents, Elena and Geo Miller of Concord, welcomed her into the world just before 1 a.m. on Jan. 1 at Kaiser Walnut Creek. She weighed in at 6 pounds, 8 ounces.

Figuring there would be lots of babies born to kick off the year, Elena wasn’t giving it much thought as 2023 approached its end. But, she admitted, “it’s kind of cool.”

Although Jan. 8 was the actual date projected for the birth, Geo recalled the ribbing he started receiving from coworkers who suspected he was going to have the year’s first baby.

“It wasn’t something that I thought would happen,” he said.

The parents declined to reveal the child’s name, but being English, Elena knew they wanted a British sounding name. Ones under consideration included Scarlotte, Sky, Hazel and Jade.

Growing family

The couple, who have called Concord home for seven years, already have a 2½-year-old toddler, so they are pretty much ready to take her home. But the first point of order was bringing their son to meet the family’s newest member in the hospital.

“He is quite eager to see her,” Elena said of her son, who is surely ready to assume his big brother role and tell his sister all she needs to know.

Along with a good set of lungs, Little Miss Miller already demonstrated an immediate predilection to the world around her.

“As soon as she was born, her eyes were open and she was lifting her head and looking around,” said Geo.

“She is ready to explore and take on whatever comes her way,” he added.

David Scholz

David Scholz is back in journalism as a freelance writer and photographer after nearly two decades in education. Prior to moving into teaching in 2000, he worked as a full-time journalist since 1988 for rural community and small daily newspapers in Central Ohio and Northern Nevada, and later in California with The Business Journal in Fresno and dailies in the Bay Area, including The Oakland Tribune and The San Francisco Chronicle. More recently Scholz also worked in an editing, writing, and page layout role with the Rossmoor News.