He smiles with his whole body

Micah started daycare last week, which was a bit sad and (I'll admit) a bit of a relief to have an hour or two after work so I can run an errand or get to the gym. The first week was challenging for him because he has to get used to sleeping and eating with more distraction around him, just as he's starting to be much more aware of his surroundings. He definately didn't do as much eating or sleeping during the day as he would have at home, and unfortunately the fact made itself evident at night -- he had been sleeping for an 8 hour stretch, from 8 pm to 4 am, but this week, he woke up a few times at 1 as well. He's such a good sleeper, though, that he goes right back to sleep. That, combined with needing to get him to daycare a few days before 7 am when I start work left mommy and daddy a bit zonked. Daddy also started a new work schedule last week, and has two days a week where he works 6 am - 6 pm, so if you see a family looking like zombies in the next few weeks, it might not be a Halloween costume. (OK, Adam is actually obsessed with zombies anyway, but Micah has picked out a different costume..... photos to come soon.)
Although we're not going to the fanciest day care on the block, I've been pretty pleased with them so far. The staff spend plenty of time holding Micah and really seem to enjoy being with him. His daily report card on Thursday noted "I like to see him smile. He smiles with his whole body." I did get my first experience with The Call that every parent dreads; a mid-day "please pick up your child, he's sick" call. Turns out that he had spit up several times in the first 3 hours of the day. He wasn't really that sick, so it wasn't a big rush to get him, but Adam had left me without a car that morning, so it was stressful trying to figure out how to get him home (Grandma saved the day! Adam, time to install the car seat base in your car so I can keep my car at home!)
Another sad event last week was that my sister and her family, who had been here visiting for 9 days, left on Monday. We soooooo enjoyed having them here, and it was wonderful to see how "grown up" my 5 year old nephew Logan and his 3 year old sister Natasha were. They loooooved "Baby Micah" and were happy to help feed him his bottle. Baby Micah got out on the town a lot more often during their visit, making trips to the zoo, to Grandma's house, and to a great playground.

Micah's first trip to the zoo!

With Grandma, Grandpa, Logan, Natasha, and Aunt Victoria on our back porch.

Riding the locomotive at the zoo!

Where did you get those.....

Where did you come from, baby dear?

Out of the everywhere, into the here.

Where did you get those eyes so blue?

Out of the sky as I fell through.

Every day we ask each other whether Micah's eyes are still blue. We expect they will change, but they are still incredibly blue at 10 weeks. Adam's are green with brown around the edges, and there was a lot of blue on his mother's side. From what I've read, eye color genetics is a lot more complicated than those simple diagrams we learned in elementary school led us to believe. I've never been one who was impressed by blue eyes -- never dated anyone with them, never imagined having children with them -- but I have to say that they are pretty striking on my lil' guy!
Not quite big enough for this toy, but daddy improvised a little, and Micah seemed to enjoy it. Mommy will breathe easier when he can hold his neck up just a big better.

This is Adam's interpretation of how to use the Baby Whisperer. I'm not sure that this is exactly what she had in mind......

Quote of the week: "I have a certain sense of style and I"m trying to accomplish something here" -- Adam.

TGFG (Thank Goodness For Grandma!)

Grandma Judy has been a lifesaver for us -- helping out with babysitting on several workdays before our daycare starts, and giving us several nights out. She rightly pointed out that there aren't many pictures of her on the blog. So without further ado, I present this one. Not the most flattering picture in the world, but she had just slept over so that Adam and I could get a full night's sleep, so I think she looks pretty beautiful. I promise to post some better pictures next week, when family fotog extrordinaire, Aunt ("Hurricaine") Victoria blows into town with cousins Logan, Natasha, and Uncle Darren for a nice long visit.

In other Micah news, his 2 month visit was last week (he was actually 9 weeks old at that point.) He's catching up nicely in some of his growth, weighing in at nearly 11 pounds and 23 inches long, which puts him in the 37th percentile for weight and the 54th percentile for length. (Since these measurements were comparing him to babies who might have been full-term, I'm not sure how much attention to pay to them.) Unfortunately his head still lags behind his body -- his very unscientifically measured head was only in the 2nd percentile for size. We're a little concerned, but hey, somebody has to be in the second percentile. And later in the week, when Adam pulled out a photo of his sister Jaime and realized that Micah has exactly the same shape head, we stopped worrying so much. Jaime turned out pretty good, so we have no fears that Micah will too!

In other big news, Micah slept last night from 10:30 to 4:30! It would have been a bigger cause for celebration if Adam and I hadn't been waking up every half an hour wondering if the baby monitor was broken or if something had happened to him! Hopefully he'll recreate this stunt and give us a chance to get used to it!

A flutter of babies....

Is there a collective noun for a group of miracle babies? There should be; I propose a "flutter". I was at a gathering a few days ago with lots of new parents, nearly all of whom had "miracle" babies. There were the parents of new twins, conceived with the help of IVF and donor eggs and carried by their mom; there was a two year old conceived with a boost of progesterone, whose parents are hoping for another miracle soon; there was the couple who found out about a potential adopteive baby being born to a distant cousin just days before her birth, and there was Micah, conceived and carried with a lot of help half-way around the world.

I'm not a huge believer in or lover of the idea of angels, but certainly looking at this squirming, cooing, crying bunch, but looking at this group -- like looking at People magazine's assortment of stars having babies in their 40's -- makes you realize the amazing variety of medical miracles we have available to us today. Working in the health care industry, I know they aren't just for babies, either -- so many technologies keep us alive that just were pipe dreams 10 years ago.

At this point in Micah's life, as we get absorbed in the daily routine of diapers, projectile vomit, and mid-night feedings, it is easy to forget what it took to get him; what we sacrificed and what we achieved, so I thought it was an appropriate moment to reflect in thanksgiving.

And on the Micah achievement front, he's gotten a good report at his 2-month (actually, 9 week) check-up! He looks huge to us, but is still small relative to his peers (although the measurements don't take into account that he was 3 weeks early gestationally, so we don't think much of them.) The important thing is that he's on an upward swing, and thriving like crazy! Next stop: more sleep please!!!

Is parenting everything you expected?

I think this is a funny question..... how can anyone ever anticipate what parenting will be like until you're there? Nonetheless, even a funny question deserves an answer.....

It's exhausting....

It's heart-warming....

It is intellectually stimulating....

And it is a basket of fun!!

Astute observers may ask, what's with the tape on Micah's ear? It is a doctor-supervised, non-surgical intervention for the correction of protruding ears. Little tyke's cartilege isn't hardened up at birth, so can be re-molded a bit. Apparently this is quite common in other parts of the world, with mamas pinching noses and sticking ears to the head with chewing gum to fit a cultural norm. And while protruding ears are taken as a sign of good fortune in other parts of the world, they tend to draw nicknames like Mickey Mouse here, so we're trying to gently convince them back. Its just tape and wax, so we figure it can't hurt and he might thank us for it later.....

Dear Micah,

Today is the start of the Jewish new year, and is as good a time as any to write you the first of what I hope will be annual letters. You will be two months old later this week, and your daddy and I love watching how each new day bring subtle changes in you. One day you can't focus on anything; the next it seems like you're staring intently at everything. One day you're barely finishing 2 ounces of formula; the next you're chugging down 7.

You're developing great strength in your neck and back, and even though you don't like "tummy time" very much, it seems like you'll probably be crawling and getting into trouble really soon. Just the other day you managed to turn yourself over from tummy to back several times while I was watching, but no one else has seen you do this yet. You've started to really enjoy your bath time, and you seem to already dislike having a dirty diaper. We've seen a few little crooked smiles, but can't wait to watch your face fill with joy and wonder at the world.

More importantly, Micah, in your brief two months, you're managing to change us. I didn't get to give birth to you the regular way, but even so, it is becoming true that, as Ghandi said, "the child gives birth to the mother." Learning to sacrifice for you (oh, sleep, I do miss you!!!) , to take care of you before taking care of my self, and to worry more about your future than my own are just a few of the lessons I've been learning. You're daddy and I haven't left the house as often as we used to, but we're getting enjoyment from holding you and wondering what you're going to be like when you're bigger; where you'll go and what you'll do.

We're trying so hard to be good parents to you, Micah -- to set a good foundation for you to sleep well, be healthy, use your body, and have fun. I promise to try not to compare you to anyone else and to be proud of you in everything you do. I am fully prepared to have all of my theories of how to raise you go out the window faster than the cloth diapers I was so excited about did (3 days), and to continue to learn from you how to be the best mother I can be.

With all my love,
Your Ima

Little Tree Frog Takes a Road Trip & I Earn My Second Bad Mommy Badge

Ahhh, ignorance is bliss.
"Let's go away for the weekend!" she proposed.
"OK, where do you want to go -- someplace close?" he asked cautiously.
"Nah," she said, "Let's go to Pagosa Springs! There's a hot air balloon festival."
"Uhm, that's about 4 hours away," he cautioned.
"But I really really want to see hot air balloons. And there's lots to do there."
"Uhm, OK, but I think its a pretty far drive. And I can't leave town until after 4 pm" he gamely replied. "But its your birthday, so whatever you want."

Long story short, it was actually over 5 hours to get there. And we didn't hit the road until 5 pm, so it was after 10 when we got there. Happily, Micah slept most of the way there, until we arrived at our tiny, one-room cabin. I tried to feed him while we were driving, but the bumps in the car loaded him up with gas. Unhappily, that meant that he hadn't taken in enough calories for the day, and so was up every 2 hours during the night. Blearily, we figured we had missed the hot air balloons, launching from the center of town about 5 miles away, but we arrived to find them just taking off (or rather, going up and not going very far due to lack of wind currents.)

It really is beautiful country here, even if you can't walk to Harvard Square....

We enjoyed a hearty western breakfast, then set off on Micah's first hike -- just about 2 miles along a lovely stream bed. As we hiked, for some reason I started thinking about my high school chemistry teacher, who had filled most of the year with showing us old documentary films like "Paddle to the Sea." (The following year, in physics class, he showed the same films backwards. I guess that's why there haven't been any great chemists or physicists from my high school.) The hike ended -- just as it started to rain -- with a surprise I've never seen on a hiking trail: wild cows!

Micah seems to think the best scenery on the trail is looking at Adam!

After our hike, we headed back to town to try out the hot springs in the center of town. The sky was starting to look pretty overcast and it was getting cool, but Micah was bundled up in the car seat, so we went into the hot springs resort -- a collection of man-made pools set next to the river that flows through town. Absolutely stunning setting. Google Pagosa Springs if you want to see some photos. The sky was getting darker, though, and pretty soon it started to rain. Micah was underneath a beach umbrella, happily sleeping, although I had a hard time relaxing in the hot springs. Then we began to see lightening in the distance, getting closer and closer. Finally came a crash so loud and close that we all nearly jumped out of our bathing suits (what a sight that would have been) and the management shooed us into the shop. Seriously, if there's a Bad Mommy Girl Scouts organization, I think I've earned a merit badge for taking my baby to a hot springs during a lightening storm..... But he slept peacefully through it all. When the rain, thunder, and lightening passed, we had a truly glorious late afternoon bit of sunshine for a last few minutes of soaking.

We slept a wee bit more on Sat. night than the previous night, or maybe it was just the good mexican food and cold beer that we had after the hotsprings. On Sunday, we had a relaxed breakfast at a little tea room with an outside patio, then headed to another very short hike to see Treasure Falls. Then it was back in the car for the "scenic route" home on smaller roads -- which took quite a bit longer because we stopped several times to let Micah eat without the bumps of the car ride (and to get lost a little, but never mind.) All in all, it was a lovely weekend trip, and I'm really glad we saw that part of the state, although next time, I might just opt for a closer destination!