A few more pictures...

So photogenic! :)

Happy little guy! :)

Goofy Uncle Jim making faces at Micah

Goofy Uncle Jim giving Micah bunny ears

Goofy Uncle Jim being somewhat normal... probably because he knows he's not in the shot ;)

Micah's first Valentine's Day, complete with a bib from Grandma and Grandpa K. to commemorate the day

Brunch with our friend Katy

Goofy Grannie Jannie, making faces at Micah

Saying hi to Katy

Micah with our friends, Molliann and Russell

Camera Happy...

As the title of this post suggests, I have been quite camera happy lately. I think most new moms go through this... feeling like I have the camera out and ready more often than not, and wishing I had it out and ready even more often than that. Like right now... I'm sitting here working on our blog and Micah is sitting in his swing next to me, grinning from ear to ear. (He's probably working on a poop, but he's smiling) :) iPhoto is ridiculously full on our computer right now, and more than half of the pictures are of our almost 7 week old baby! So rather than keep all those pictures to ourselves, I thought I'd post them here for you to enjoy too.

We had a few days at home due to a major snowstorm

I love this picture with Micah holding on to Aaron's finger

Tiny hands...

... compared to Aaron's hand, which looks absolutely huge in this picture! :)

Nap time with Daddy

Dreaming some good dreams :)

It's a bird... it's a plane... it's SUPER BABY! (complete with the bib on backwards to look like a cape... not on purpose, it just gets that way eventually) :)

Tummy time

Micah's first "play date" with Val and Logan.. which was somewhat similar to that Tostitos commercial with the moms chatting while their babies sleep in car seats :)

I will never understand how that position is comfortable, but Micah seemed to like it

Micah meets more friends... Heather and her daughter Meghan

Julie

Naresh and Tulasi, whose baby is due in May

My boys in the hood ;)

Micah and Cheena get some loving

Happy guy! :)

Snuggled up with a gift from Grannie Jannie

Quite amused by the mobile above his crib

A few more of the many faces of Micah

At our wedding, our photographer kept saying, "It's okay if I take a ton of pictures... they're all digital. I only have to use the good ones." (or something like that) At the time, that was kind of annoying to keep hearing over and over, but it's true... if all I had was a film camera and had to pay to print every single picture, I don't think I'd take as many. But with a digital camera, and being able to see them right away and delete the bad ones, it's a lot easier to get camera happy. :)

Micah's first Superbowl

Before our Superbowl party on Sunday, Aaron ran in to Joe Caputo's on a mission to find cranberries for a dessert I was making. Micah was content where he was, so rather than bring him out in the cold, we stayed put in the car and I amused myself by taking pictures of the cutie in the car seat. Here are a few of the many faces of Micah ~

The "concerned look"

Uh oh... it's not my fault I promise!

What a big mouth! :)

I'm working on something here...

Sassy boy! :)

And to think, he's got more expressions in his stockpile that I haven't captured on camera yet! :) At one month of age, this boy is already so amusing! I wonder what the future holds for him... something in the entertainment arena, I would guess.

In addition to entertaining mommy, Micah also had time to meet a few more friends on Sunday.

We had lunch with our friends Chandra and Alex from our small group... Alex is sitting to Chandra's left, just out of the reach of the camera lens :) Micah was a little fussy, but only because he was hungry. Chandra handled it like a trooper... she'll make a great mom someday. :)

Here's Micah with Mrs. Benson... she was so excited to meet him!

And what post would be complete without a shot of the proud (local) grandparents...

This picture didn't turn out the greatest, but Micah's shirt says "Grandpa's... or bust!" I think Pops liked that outfit on his grandson. :)

We had a lot of fun on Superbowl Sunday. And the best part is we took $5 out of Micah's college fund to participate in my dad's game pool and ended up going home with $20! Not only is this kid amusing, he's also good luck... I NEVER win anything! :) Don't worry... it's all going right back where it came from. Micah's college fund is now $15 fuller.

More Friends...

Micah let me sleep for 5 hours last night before waking up to be fed!! I LOVE this kid!! :) (and for so many more reasons than just that I got a good night's rest!) :) There really isn't a whole lot to report... Micah is continuing to grow like crazy... he's already outgrown several outfits... and is getting stronger and cuter every day. He has been holding his head up pretty much since he was born, but these days, if we're holding him facing us, he will hold his head up to look around for quite a while.

We've discovered that he likes being held facing out so he can see what's going on around him.

I've always believed anyone who has told me, "kids grow up so fast," but now that I'm experiencing it with my own child, it's crazy how true that is! We love watching him as he looks around and takes it all in... especially when he makes a goofy face. :) Unfortunately, I never seem to have the camera ready when that happens. Hopefully I'll get better at capturing the many faces of Micah. :)

Micah is quite the star in our family... Aaron has even started referring to the two of us as "MTS", or "Micah's Transportation System"... since whenever we show up at my parents' house, they say "Micah's here!" I guess it doesn't matter if we're there or not... Micah's the main attraction these days. :)

In addition to visits to Grannie Jannie and Pops' house, we've had several visitors at our house as well, so without further adieu...

My old roommate, Sarah, was one of the first non-family visitors to see Micah with his eyes open.

Our friends, the Gustafsons came down from Michigan to meet Micah. (ok, not JUST to meet Micah... they were here for other reasons too) :)

Lori was another one of the lucky visitors to see Micah awake and active

Vanessa came by with her girls, Elle and Jazzy... one of my favorite families to babysit for!

Jazzy and Micah

Elle and Micah

In other exciting news, Micah made his first trip across the state line last weekend. We went up to Kenosha for the day to see Aaron's sister and brother in law, and Micah's cousin Emma. Thankfully, Micah doesn't seem to mind being in his car seat, and rides in the car put him right to sleep. We're hoping it stays that way! :)

Emma checking Micah out ~

After that last picture was taken, Emma wasn't too interested in Micah... but she did snuggle up next to him when Auntie Tracy (aka Emma's mommy) was holding him. I think she wanted some snuggle time too :)

Auntie Tracy is getting good at this! :)

1 Month!!

I would really like to know what happened to January. I'm having the hardest time believing that Micah is 1 month old already! Actually, one month and one day, as I'm writing this. :) We were at the pediatrician this afternoon for his 1 month checkup, and he's doing great! He's gained almost 2 1/2 pounds since his last appointment, and grown 2 inches since we left the hospital. He weighs 10 pounds, 9 ounces, and is 22 1/2 inches tall. (75th percentile for both height and weight... so right on target) I guess we're doing something right! :)

Battle scar from, not his first shot... he had one at the hospital... but the first shot he got while mom and dad watched. We all did pretty well... Micah howled as the needle went in, but handled it like a champ.

A friend of mine suggested that we take a picture of Micah with the same stuffed animal or object every month to track how much he changes, which I thought was a great idea! We got this enormous bear as a shower gift, so I thought it'd be fun to take his picture with that and see how long it takes Micah to outgrow this bear. (I'm thinking it'll be a while, but probably not as long as we think)

Here, Micah is 1 week old...

Here, he's 1 month old...

Already, quite a difference! Our little guy is growing up... and it's happening SO FAST! :) My mom gave me an embroidered picture as a shower gift that has a poem on it about how things like cleaning house can wait because babies grow up so fast, so enjoy them while you've got them, and it's SO true! Being quite the "Monica Geller" myself, (at times neurotic about the cleanliness of the house) I thought I'd struggle to let go of my OCD with that, but since Micah's been around, I haven't been nearly as concerned with how clean the house is. :) I've been far too wrapped up in this little miracle, and not wanting to miss a second of his life! And I've got the insane amount of pictures of him to prove it! Here are just a few...

Some friends of ours gave Micah this adorable hat! This picture just makes me smile. :)

Aaron had said, before Micah was born, that no child of his would ever wear shoes unless they were necessary for walking. I thought I'd found a loophole for that when I found socks that looked like hightop sneakers, but when we got these shoes as a gift from our neighbors, I had to put them on him. Even Aaron agreed they were really cute. :)

One of our other favorite things about Micah these days is his ability to suck on a pacifier. He doesn't really hold it in his mouth for too long by himself, but when he does, he really goes to town! Since my dad is such a Simpsons fan, I compared Micah to Maggie Simpson once, and Dad/Pops thought that was pretty appropriate. :) I've never tried to post a video before, so I hope this works...

The first time we brought him to church, I thought to myself, "what will I do if he starts fussing during the service? I can't give him a pacifier.... that'll be louder than his fussing!" :) Thankfully, he's done really well the two times we've had him in church, and I haven't even needed the pacifier. The doctor told us today that we're in the middle of the fussiest time in his life, and that if he's not too fussy we should count our blessings. Which we are... and the fact that he's not terribly fussy is just one of the many blessings Micah has brought to our lives. We are incredibly thankful for him... we've had a great first month with him, and are looking forward to many, many more!