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!