Saturday, June 27, 2015

Buck is back, Summer's family check-in, & Brutus tweeted us back

So my new schedule is working Wednesday, Thursday, Friday mornings on Good Day Columbus, doing the weather and what's trending, and then Saturday and Sunday evenings doing the weather.
And you may have noticed a new change.  Since everyone (except family) calls me by my middle name, the name plate, or "lower-third" now has the Buck added.  
So Summer has been doing well.  Before returning to work I tried getting into a staring contest with her... it is IMPOSSIBLE to try to beat her.  
Mom is doing well.   Dawn has been amazing the last few weeks.  Considering she used to get about 9 hours of sleep a night before... you cannot tell a difference now that that has been cut down to much smaller increments.  (I was actually interested to see how that would work out)
Buckeye is adjusting as well.  He jumped up onto the couch and decided to snuggle with Summer last night.  Dawn and I didn't get to see it.  Dawn's mom came down and we got our first night to "get out" and it was nice, but Dawn was super worried the three hours we were away. 
Grandma also put on the knitted Brutus hat... so I, of course, sent the picture to the official Brutus twitter account:
And Brutus responded this afternoon. Too funny!
I have been planning my next motorcycle trip around Ohio.  Thanks to MotorcycleRoads.com, it is easier to plan.  I actually added a route from Columbus to Dayton that I took last week.  I am not a fan of taking the highways.  The point of a motorcycle trip is to enjoy the scenery and winding roads.
The low pressure system that has kept the clouds/rain around will slowly move East tonight and tomorrow. A few spotty showers are possible overnight. Sunday the rain will mainly affect Eastern Ohio as it continues to slowly drift towards the East Coast.  Winds will stay brisk overnight and Sunday as temperatures remain cool.  More storms arrive later Monday and we slowly warming back into the upper 70's and low 80's for afternoon high temps for the week ahead. Rain sticks around as well, with Wednesday looking like the least chance of rain.  Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Tracking storms for your Thursday

I try soaking in as much time with Summer as possible... and she LOVES being outside.  She could be crying her head off inside, but if you go outside, she instantly stops.
Yesterday was her 2 week birthday.  Of course we spent as much time outside as possible.
Dawn and I were able to babysit our nephew Anderson a lot when he was a newborn and he is now coming up on three years old in a few months.  He got to meet Summer yesterday and he sat next to me and asked if he could hold her.  So precious!
Keep an eye to the sky later today.  Some strong storms expected later Thursday with a Slight Risk for severe weather across most of Central and Southern Ohio. Strong winds and hail are the main threats.

Another storm system expected late Friday into early Saturday with the Slight Risk for severe weather again and flooding also possible due to the heavy rainfall.  Temperatures will cool off for the weekend, with highs in the mid 70`s.  Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Back to work from my two weeks with Summer Rain...


The past two weeks have FLOWN by!  But back to work this morning.
I am going to try my best to get photos every milestone.  I managed to get the 1 week photo... She turns 2 weeks old today, but it is 5AM, so I will work on that when I get off work.
So Sunday was my first Father's Day.  It wouldn't have happened without these ladies.  They were worn out on their special day.
We have had some VERY generous friends bringing us some delicious food.  We had Polish food, Italian, and then American... because ya gotta fire up the grill!  Thanks to everyone for their delicious food!
I did have to grill in the rain... With the remnants of Tropical Storm Bill, we had 2.8" of rain in less than 12 hours on Saturday... That is insane!  Luckily our raised garden didn't see too much of a flooding issue.
The rain rolled out and so did we to the local Metro Parks.  We wanted to check out the local parks and we found out our stroller is more for shopping than off-roading... so we might need to get a better stroller for our adventurous expeditions.
It was hard for Summer to say goodbye to my baby beard.  But all good things must come to an end...

Wednesday looks to be the pick day of the entire week with lower humidity, sunshine, and mild temperatures. Rain begins to work in overnight with some early morning scattered showers possible Thursday. It looks like we dry out midday Thursday then some strong storms expected later Thursday with a Slight Risk for severe weather across Southern Ohio. More on and off showers/storms Friday and into the weekend, but a lesser of a chance of rain compared to Thursday. Temperatures will cool off heading into the weekend as well with highs in the mid 70's and lows near 60. Have a good one!



Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

The first week of Summer...

Sure the calendar says that the first week of summer is a week away, but Summer's first week has been quite a fun trip.  Figured I would do a little update while Summer is getting lunch.  In case you missed my last entry, here it is.
It seems like it was only hours ago that Dawn and I were sharing sugar free popsicles at Riverside Hospital.  Despite the lack of sleep and going over 36 hours without eating, Dawn was a champ and switched into the zone and brought our little Summer Rain into the world. 
One of the happiest moments in my life...
Grandparents are very excited as well...
And the gifts from family and friends were beyond thoughtful.  Our freezer is still full of meals and house still smells of flowers.  Again, thanks to everyone!

So precious.
Look at those toes!!!  She got my super long toes.  Her legs, hands, and feet are pretty big... hope that's ok Summer.  You got your mom's nose, but you got a lot of my traits too.
Alright... we DID finally head home.  And yes... we are sleep deprived.  Buckeye did awesome!  He did a lot of smelling, but has been fine with the crying and has only barked once, the first time Summer started crying.
Summer Dawn... (Get it?) ;)
We keep joking about how big Summer's hands are so we started working on her ball handling skills.  She was worn out from practicing so much.
The first bath went awesome.  A lot of holding her breath when we were pouring water over the top of her head, but she was a champ. 
I have to be honest... most of these photos were taken my Grandma Mary... I have taken a few myself, but Grandma hasn't stopped taking photos.  Grandma is going to need a spare hard drive to hold all the photos.
You know what a summer rain brings?  A rainbow... and with all the rain the last few days, we finally had a rainbow last night.  All the other rains had clouds move in and no sun hitting the rain at the perfect angle, so we had to go snap a photo last night for Summer's first rainbow.

I still have one more week at home before returning to work, and I am trying to enjoy every minute of my time at home with my ladies.  It has been really nice to unplug and just enjoy these precious moments.  See you all next week back on TV, but back to being daddy now.  Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Introducing the newest part of the family... Summer Rain Michael

I am blogging from the hospital this morning...  We have some beautiful flowers from some of our visitors.  The last three days have been a whirlwind on very, very little sleep.  Dawn and I might have had three hours of sleep in about three days.  
The reason... Summer Rain was born!
Summer Rain was born at 3:26 AM on Tuseday, June 10th, 2015.  We thought she was going to be a lot bigger, but weighed in at 7lb. 1 oz. and 20.5 inches long.  What a breath of fresh air to have her with us.
This is one of my favorite photos... Summer and Dawn were skin to skin for the first hour after delivery and Summer was very alert.  It melted my heart seeing Dawn and Summer looking at each other.  For those that do not know Dawn, she VIOLENTLY sneezes.  And they come from out of nowhere with no warning.  Dawn said that is how Summer will know mom and dad apart.  Well before Summer even started crying when she was born... Summer sneezed then started crying.  How fitting.
Yesterday we had family only come visit since Dawn and I were so delirious from lack of sleep.  My mother is now a grandmother and she was so excited.  Notice the hair!
And my grandparents came up from Cincinnati to see their first great granddaughter.
This morning, we are more alert and feeling better.  My Made Local, Stay Local story on the Honda Marysville Auto Plant aired on the morning show.  I was able to prove to Summer that I do work on TV.  She seemed skeptical until I showed her.  Dawn's mother has been staying since Sunday.  She was in the delivery room with us and has been keeping an eye on Buckeye.  Last night she took one of Summer's onesies home.  Buckeye kept smelling it for a long time then snuggled with it and laid his head down on it.  Feeling absolutely blessed the last few days.

This may be a little more than some would share, but it was a proud moment for me and changed the course of how we brought our little Summer Rain into the world.  It is a story that I never want to forget.  We only had one minor hiccup during the labor.  About 20 hours into labor, Dawn's heart rate was spiking, no one knows why it started doing it, but regardless... it was pretty scary because the alarm monitoring her vitals starting sounding like when you leave the keys in the ignition of your car and the door is open... Beep... Beep... Beep... There were a handful of other babies being delivered at the same time so our nurse had to leave to assist.  Every few seconds I would keep muting the alarm on the monitors in the room because it was causing more anxiety for Dawn and it was just a perpetual problem.  Dawn has always been somewhat of an anxious person, and for there to be alarms sounding... not good for the situation. Before the nurse had to leave the room, she started paging a few nurses to prep for a possible c-section.  Dawn went through a lot the 20 hours leading to that moment, with being induced, and a c-section was not what we had planned...  Luckily the contraction/heart rate monitor machine was still feeding data to charts and I was able to see that it was spiking during the time leading up to the contractions.  So Dawn's mom started asking trivia questions to distract Dawn and I had her take three deep breaths leading up to the contractions and that reduced the heart rate spikes.  Dawn's mom and I kept distracting her and I kept having her breathe deep.  The anxiety dropped and we got her back to normal... just in time for the nurse to come back.  High fives were going around.  So happy to be there and able to help her.  If we can avoid the prolonged recovery time... we are all for that! But the entire experience has been fantastic and the care of the nurses and doctors, amazing as well.

Anyway, I just thought I would share a few moments from the past few days.  I have had more emotions in the last few days that I have never really felt before.  Everyone says when you see your baby for the first time that there is no moment like that in the world.  And now I know what they mean.  I know I usually finish off my blogs with a weather forecast synopsis, but for the next couple weeks, I'm not a meteorologist... I will be a stay-at-home dad.  So my forecast is calling for: a Summer Rain.  See you all soon enough back on the TV, but looking forward to unplugging with some time at home with my ladies.  Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Honda plant, BIG baby news, plus the Memorial and storms coming

You may have caught my segments on the news called Made Local, Stay Local.  It is a weekly segment that highlights local companies that make Central Ohio a great place to work and live.  And this week, I got to do one of the coolest stories so far.  I have driven by the Honda plants just north or Marysville quite a few times and always wondered what it was like inside...  So I tweeted them two months ago and now I did a two-part segment with them.  They opened up a museum about six months ago showing all the vehicles they have made here in Ohio.  That story aired last week, but this week I have a SUPER cool story.  On Wednesday I went up and shot video of the factory in action making Honda Accords.  I was told that every Accord in the United States was made at that factory.  From rolls of metal being stamped into car panels to final assembly.  I even got to go on a test drive in a car that was only seconds old... rolling right off the assembly line.  It will, for sure, be a REALLY cool story and will air this Thursday on ABC6 and FOX28.  Here is a link to the other Made Local, Stay Local stories.
 
I was blessed with tickets to the Memorial Tournament this week.  I went with a producer from the station on Thursday, then I took my brother on Friday.  It was my first PGA event and it was a LOT of fun.  I even got to see Jason Dufner hit a hole in one on hole 16.  See me in the picture above?  Dawn REALLY wanted to go, but she said she could not walk more than a hundred feet without getting too tired to walk so she insisted that I go and enjoy some down time after working 33 straight days. 
We had some epic clouds this week.  I took the above photo on Friday after dinner. 
With the baby coming, I needed to get any final chores done... Like rotating the tires on our cars.  Done and done!
Tracking storms to start the workweek.  Some could be strong to severe.
Especially Southern Ohio on Monday afternoon.  Strong winds will be the main threat, but also flooding with upwards of an inch of rain expected for many parts of Ohio.  There is a little bit of wind shear that could cause a brief spin-up of a tornado near the Ohio River, but a better idea tomorrow morning, so be sure to stay tuned to the forecast.  We dry out for a day or two then heat, humidity, and pop-up storms returning later in the week.

As mentioned... big baby news... this is my final weekend without a kid!  Dawn and I had some fun on my Facebook page asking what people thought... Boy or Girl. Well we will find out in about 48 hours from when I am typing this...  We are starting the induction process tomorrow.  So it is looking like the baby will, hopefully, be born on Tuesday or Wednesday.  I have so much respect for my wife.  I always have, but she has been a real trooper during the pregnancy.  We had a couple hiccups that the baby tossed our way, but Dawn has been an absolute rock star and I know she is going to make an excellent mother.   So my next blog entry will likely have a little one to show you all!  Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

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