Fall is here...

....and so are colds. Don managed to pick up the first "school" cold of the season two weeks ago, and by the end of the week, I figured I had escaped infection! Of course, I hadn't, and neither had Micah. Last Friday, he had his first real fever: 101.0. Not too fun! He slept an awful lot that day, probably 2 hours longer than his normal naps, and he was really snuggly (which I didn't mind!). Thankfully, my cold never went to my throat, so I still taught lessons all week, and washed my hands like crazy! Micah and I both ended up with a cough....the best part about that was that he was absolutely tickled by my cough a few times and he just cracked himself up :o)

Despite his cold, he has been rather upbeat and is still eating and playing well (sleeping is another story, but we'll leave that alone). One morning, after his typical half hour nap, I went in to find him all wrapped up in his blankets, and completely facing the other end of the crib! He was rather proud of himself.

Now, we're all feeling quite better and even (finally!) got to take dinner to our friends Jon and Stacy who had their first baby, Danica, back in August. Yes, August. It was still good to see them again and spend a few hours together with our babies. Micah even ate from a REAL spoon, as I forgot to take a baby spoon along...that was interesting.

On another fun note, now when I get the camera out, Micah knows what to do and he gets all full of smiles :o) So, here are some new pics of him being all cheesy for the camera:

I'm really bad at this!

Well, it seems that my ambition to be a blogger has failed miserably! But, Cherith is my only follower, so I can only apologize to her ;o) It has been a whopping FOUR months since I posted anything, but I am constantly looking at other people's blogs and desiring to be like them....first, I'm wondering how in the world I get cooler-looking blogs like them. They use "blogger", too, but I just can't figure out how they get their neat set-ups and backgrounds and colors! Maybe if I were more diligent....
On another front, Micah is SIX months, ONE week and TWO days old today :o) He's such a big, growing boy....hardly cried at all for his 2 shots yesterday! He's up to 17lbs, 8oz and is almost 27" long. It's amazing to think of carrying him inside me for just shy of nine months. We are making a visit to Houghton in just about a week and a half, and I can't wait for our friends there to meet him for the first time! It will be so wonderful!

My studio is up to 18 kids, which thrills me to death, but I am dealing with the reality that Don and I don't get to see each other much at all during the Mon-Thurs time frame. That's getting a little tough, not to mention the fact that the musical is right around the corner, taking away even more time that we may have had together! That's another problem in itself, since we don't have family here to help with that after-school-during-musical-and-lessons-and-Micah-getting-up-from-his-nap-and-needing-to-eat time......yikes. We'll see how that goes!

So, perhaps I'll try doing this on a more (than 3 months at a time) regular basis. Don't hold your breath....

Overdue

Amazingly enough, another thing has slipped behind! Perhaps the idea of posting to our blog in a somewhat "daily" fashion was a bit lofty, considering we're still adjusting to life with a baby! The last month and a half has been full of ups and downs, but lately, mostly ups. Micah turned two months old yesterday and has the personality to prove it :o) A few weeks ago, he started showing us some social smiles (see the progression of a smile pics) and they have continued to blossom into some wonderful and interesting conversations during his happy awake time!
Mimi was up to help out for nine days in late April/early May, and during that time, we were able to successfully determine the different sounds of his cries and what they mean (hooray!), and I was also able to determine that a full belly is truly the key to a happy Micah. Thankfully, he's settling into a good routine, including a morning nap and afternoon nap, and only waking to eat once at night. Things are much more enjoyable this way! He is also a little more independent and doesn't need to be held all the time--thank goodness!Don is still keeping busy with school, getting his 7th/8th grade choir and select choir ready for their June 3rd concert. He also had his debut with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra for their Gala concert on May 2! It was so exciting :o) I started back into lessons with the whole studio during the first week in May and now we're looking forward to scheduling summer lessons! It's hard to believe school is just weeks away from being over :o) I also had several rehearsals, assemblies and concerts for two of the elementary school choirs to accompany; now, I have Don's (hard) music to work on for his concert....if only I had the time to practice!Last weekend was my first Mother's Day and it was a delight! We made it to church for the third week in a row, Micah had a 3+ hour nap in the afternoon and we got to nap, too, and a wonderfully delicious dinner made by Don. It was great! This weekend, we look forward to my brother, Brandon's, college graduation from Messiah! We'll post pics from that event next week--hopefully ;o)

Gaining

Last week, Mimi and PopPop came up for a visit! They arrived on Sunday, and Mimi stayed all week (for the record, they're Devin's parents). Besides just being an extra pair of hands to care for Micah while I took a shower or we ran to the store in the evening, she vacuumed the house, helped make dinners and made beautiful curtains for Micah's room! Now that they've gone home again and Don is back at work for the second week, I'm home alone, and it's not at all what I expected it would be...though I'm filled with love for this little boy, I am, at the same time, filled with a tremendous amount of self-doubt and loneliness. I long for a day when either we live around my family or they live around us (don't worry, Don knows of this....I think!).

At Micah's two-week appointment, I discussed with the nurse practitioner his tremendous sleepiness and the fact that he didn't seem to be eating a whole lot--at that point in time, he had also only been getting up once or twice a night to eat! Well, when she put him on the scale, we quickly learned that he was getting all he needed. Micah gained 1lb, 1oz in just one week!! So, as of last Friday, our tiny baby already weighed 8lb, 7oz :o) I can't wait to see where he's at on Good Friday at our 4-week appointment! On the same day, he lost his umbilical cord AND got his first bath that night, which he loved more than life itself ;o)

On another note, Sunday began a less-enjoyable time in Micah's short little life so far. For the last three nights, from about midnight to 4:30 or 5am, he has been extremely fussy. He'll eat well, but either be wide-eyed and awake after, or wake up as soon as we go to burp him or lay him down. It's been an extremely frustrating, trying few nights. The doc's office thinks it's his "3-week growth spurt", and he'll get back into a schedule soon.....here's hoping!

One Week

We've been home with Micah for one week now! It's truly amazing to think that just 10 days ago, I was still pregnant! I was very afraid that I would actually miss being pregnant, and while I might have initially, I certainly don't now. Having Micah here is absolutely the best thing ever, even at 3:00 in the morning when he was screaming and seemingly inconsolable. ;o)

When we left the hospital last Sunday, he weighed 6lb 12oz, so he was down 9oz from his birth weight; he was also slightly yellow, so the pediatrician who stopped by to check him over for discharge asked us to make an appointment for Monday. We went on Monday and he was the same weight, but we had to go back to the hospital to have his blood checked for his bilirubin level. The level ended up being just fine for a 3-day-old, so we were asked to come back on Wednesday! On Wed, he was back up to 7lb 3oz, which we thought was pretty good for 3 days :o) By his one-week check-up on Friday and was up to 7lb 6oz! Great job, Micah!! He's also come back from his yellowy-orange-looking skin :o)

The first couple nights home were a little rough, to say the least! He pretty much had his days and nights mixed up, so it made the 3-6am hours a little trying, but the last few nights have been tons better :o) He's really only up to eat 2-3 times during our sleeping hours and he is able to go right back to sleep, which I love. He's also sleeping 2-3 hours at a time....a few times, he's gone 4 hours at a shot!

Today, we've got new friends from church visiting! They brought us lunch and TWO meals for the week. They're also expecting their first baby in August, so we've got lots in common and they're thrilled to visit Micah. My parents are also coming up (currently on their way) for a visit. My dad will be here till tomorrow, but my mom will stay for the week to help me out while Don returns to school (*tear*), so I'm very thankful for the visit. I'll post some "recent" pictures, well, they're all recent, but we hope you enjoy them!

Micah Donald Schuessler

Micah Donald Schuessler was born on Friday, March 13th at 1:39am. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 5 oz. and measured 20 inches long. He is such a beautiful baby. Mom and baby are doing very well. Dad is hanging in there too! More to come...

T-minus 10

Well, here we are--10 days away from our due date! I don't think we expected to still be waiting right now, but since I've been feeling pretty good yesterday and today, I don't mind as much. This week has been back to "normal", with a doctor's appointment Monday morning and all my regular lessons going as planned. According to the doctor on Monday, I'm still 4 cm dilated, but also 70% effaced, so it's nice to know that my body has already started the early labor process without any pain involved! Perhaps it will lead to a faster labor....

This morning, the temp reached 50 outside, so I went for a nice walk around the neighborhood. It was terribly cloudy then, but the sun is out right now with beautiful, clear blue skies!! I am SO ready for Spring :o) I think the addition of the baby will make Spring more beautiful this year. This afternoon, I'm simply doing laundry, which is more of a task now with a huge belly out in front. The ladies at Don's school seem to think that carrying baskets of wash up and down the stairs will make me go into labor, though, so we'll see if anything happens....HA! Before we went to bed last night, we snapped a few more pictures, including some with Don in them, too. Enjoy!