The First Year

It's hard to believe that almost a year has passed since we met Eli. In fact on Monday we will celebrate his one year birthday. In that time so much has happened. We have tried to keep up on this blog, and it does contain part of the story. Much more is shared on our Facebook pages, and on my instagram and flickr feed. Meagan joked that I probably had a few thousand photos of Eli already. I haven't counted them but it would not surprise me.

It has been a journey. As I think back to when we first got word that he had been born, and they asked us if we would be willing to adopt such a small, small child. He was born so early, and there were no guarantees as to health issues or anything really. I remember one long drive to Oklahoma City, walking in to the NICU for the first time and seeing this tiny little baby, covered in hair, with no fingernails. I looked over at Meagan and she was already crying. We spent as much time as we could just sitting and looking at him. And then we got the chance to hold him. The nurse picked him up and set him on my chest. I could barely feel him, or see him amidst all the blankets and covers they put around him.

From that point forward our weekends were crazy. We would leave after Meagan got off of school, drive 6 hours up, stay with him as long as we could, then get back in the car and driving home so I could lead worship and be at church.

While he was in the NICU he was getting stronger and growing bigger. There were many milestones he had to reach before he could come home. It seemed like that day would never come. But at last, on Mother's Day weekend, and close to my birthday, he finally got to come home.

It was nice to be home, with him finally, but the work had only just begun. He needed to be fed every 3 hours. So Meagan and I took turns waking up, changing him, feeding him and then laying back down for a few hours rest before the next alarm clock went off. Along with this he required oxygen when he was feeding and traveling. I will say it was a whole lot to contend with as first time parents. Looking at it then I was sure we would never get through it, looking back on it now it doesn't seem quite as bad as I thought.

I don't remember when, but at some point we were able to stop using the oxygen and we were wireless!!! This meant we could move him around more, go on more trips and get him out and about into the world. He had so many people who he hadn't met yet.

Yet, that too only seems like the beginning, our journey was still just barely starting. Over the next few months he continued to grow stronger, and get bigger. His red hair and mischievous smile captured hearts wherever he went. 

Over the winter we had our first real childhood illness. RSV hit and the poor baby was coughing and wheezing. Fortunately we caught it pretty early, and we were able to avoid a stay in the hospital. It did mean that we were introduced to the nebulizer and breathing treatments. I can tell you this was not his favorite thing in the world to do.

Not too long ago we finally were able to finish those and we are finally back to not being dependent on a machine or anything else to help him breathe.

The joy has been watching him discover new things, and discover he can do new things. He is now eating baby food, picking up small crackers and putting them in his mouth, and even crawling... well kind of crawling.. well check it out...

We will try to make sure and keep you updated on what's happening, on a weekly basis. I have a feeling there will be a lot more to share in the coming months as he begins to crawl, walk, talk more etc...

For now it's time to finish up plans for his Birthday Party!!!

Officially A Martin

Well it's now official. It was December of last year when we were getting our profile book together and sending our info in to be posted online with the adoption agency. Now, just around a year later we have completed the entire process and are glad to officially introduce you to Elijah Glenn Martin!

In other news Meagan has been going through Eli's clothes and has been boxing up some that he has outgrown. I'm not sure I thought Eli would ever grow out of anything, but our little one is growing up.

In yet other news, the sleeping schedule has been working great. Every night he has gone to bed between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. and he is sleeping all through the night. It is amazing how much this simple schedule has helped with his feeding, naps, personality and all other aspects of his day.

As always.. here are a few photos from the past week or so.

"Daddy.. Mrs. Sue gave me candy, Can I eat it?"

"Yummy"

Eli and Mommy at Hanging of the Greens

Eli Update - Sleep Schedule and Growing

I came home from rehearsal on Wednesday and Eli was already in bed asleep. For the past several weeks we have been fighting him being cranky at night, not eating well, and not wanting to go to sleep. Meagan did a little reading and found out that we weren't being consistent enough with his bed time.

So...after a little research Meagan found a method that we thought would work. About 8:00 p.m. we give him his final bottle and lay him down to go to sleep. We are not supposed to rock him to sleep but lay him down and let him try to go to sleep himself. If he cries we are supposed to wait 5 min before going in to soothe him the first time, then if he doesn't go to sleep wait 10 min the second time before trying to soothe him.

I would have thought it would be incredibly hard, listening to him cry. However we never got the chance.

 We have been doing this since Wednesday and every time he has gone pretty much straight to sleep. Only once did he wake up hungry, about 11:00 p.m. Other than that he sleeps from 8:30 all the way through till about 8:30 a.m.

This has changed so much. He is eating less feedings, but taking more at each feeding. His naps are getting onto a schedule and he seems to be less cranky, and happier. 

I'll take it!!!

It seems really like one of the first things we've done that has worked on a consistent basis!

That's the big news for the week. In other news, Eli is weighing in, unofficially, at 16.5 lbs.

Oh, final big news. Our lawyers have completed the paper work and filed it with the court. So I think we just lack getting a court date to get this whole thing finalized and official.

Eli and Daddy

Hanging out with the office volunteers

Sitting with Mommy in Church

The Crud, Thanksgiving and Teething

The Crud

That's about what you could call what the baby boy is going through right now. He's congested up, and coughing. Thankfully there is no accompanying fever or any other problems, just a persistent cough. Ugh.. Unfortunately it affects everything, his eating, sleeping, being happy. Just when he'll get dozed off he'll wake himself up. Just when he gets eating good he'll cough and spit up. Excuse me from saying but it just plain sucks!

Meagan tells me that when I am sick, I am a baby about it. I don't know whether that is true or not. I do know that I can handle myself being sick. What is hard to do, is look at this sweet baby, and know he is sick, and know that he pretty much has to get through it, and there's not much to do.

So on to solutions...We have some decongestant prescribed by the doctor, have a humidifier in his room and spend time in the bathroom with the hot water running. Hopefully that will help break it up and get it out of there. Any other suggestions?

Teething

In other news there are no teeth yet, but so many signs continue. His hands are constantly in his mouth, drooling, and "chewing" on stuff. We have found a few things that help relieve the pain. The cold wet washcloth seems to help. Thanks also to those who suggested the teething tablets over the orajel. Those seem to work well too.

The problem continues in that it is a constant guessing game to figure out what is wrong. Add being sick to the mix and it's really confusing. There are times we are not sure how anyone does this, how anyone survives being a parent. When I read the news that the world just reached a population of 7 billion people, I know that somehow parents, and kids make it through.

Though days are tough nights are short and sleep is infrequent, I know that we have several things going for us. First, we believe with all our hearts that God has been with us through this process, and he will give us strength to face whatever challenges are ahead. Second, we know that we have a countless number of friends, and family who are reading this, thinking about us, providing feedback and helpful hints, and praying for us. Finally we know every time we look down at that blue eyed, red haired, grinning baby that somehow, we will all be ok.

Thanksgiving

We were so glad to have Russell's sister Miranda come visit for Thanksgiving. She spent a few days hanging out with us. As always it was too short and we look forward to seeing more family at Christmas.

Here are some recent photos.

Like father like son

Our little Aggie

Eli's glowing red hair.. Daddy's shiny forehead

What you talking about Willis?

Rockin to the Music

Laying on Nanny's Quilt

All Marooned Out

Who's the Boss

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An Eli Update: 8 Months, Crying, Adoption Process

It's hard to believe that Eli is now 8 months old. When I look back to see where we have come from I am consistently amazed and perplexed. This is by far the most difficult thing I have ever done in my entire life. It is difficult because there are no rules, and no rhyme or reason to getting a baby through the day. For instance Eli will start crying. Some parents have said that my child will have a different cry for different things, and by learning those cries we would be able to figure out what  is wrong faster.

Ok maybe for your child, there were different cries, but we have yet to discover them with this little one. It is usually narrowed down to a short list of possible problems: Hungry, Gas, Reflux, Tired, Teething, Wet, Dirty. The problem is it's a guessing game, and a wrong guess can make it worse. For instance, if he has gas, yet we are trying to feed him, that only makes it worse. If he is hungry, but we think he has gas and are trying to help him work that out, that makes it worse too. 

So we guess, and try, and fumble through, and cry, and get exasperated. And then, finally, he looks up at us with those blue eyes and that funny grin and smiles, and laughs. It's then that we know it's all worth it, and somehow know everything is going to be ok.

We are just about done with the adoption process. We have completed all of our paperwork, got a loan and made final payments. All of our home studies are done and we have met with a lawyer. Now it's just waiting for all the forms to come in and court date to be set.

I do want to say thank you to all who ask about Eli, who check on how he is doing, comment on Facebook photos, and pray for him. 

Here are some photos from the past month...

Hello... the bottle is empty!

Eli and Pastor Danny

Hanging out with Christian

My friend Sarah

Just laying around

Fishy face

Love the Exersaucer

Getting so big

Crashed Out

Look at my new hat!

I'm all clean!

Yeah.. I'm cute

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Rolling Along

Well we knew this time would come. Eli has finally figured out that he can flip over. He first started about a month ago. He figured out he could roll over onto his side, however he first couldn't get his arm out of the way.
We put him on his stomach for "tummy time", which he hates by the way. We were told that by placing him on his stomach , it would force him to try to roll over. However he just sat there and threw a tantrum, and never rolled over.
He did however figure out that he can grab his feet. And that's when it happened. He was playing with his feet, apparently preoccupied with those cute little toes, when his momentum caused him to flip over on his side. Then he let go of his feet and straightened out, and when he did he was on his stomach.
Let's go back to the part where he doesn't like being on his stomach. For the first few weeks this didn't change. Until a few days ago when he figured out that with a few tucks, and pushes here and pulls there, and if he moved this foot, and that arm.. well that this would happen.



So there it is.. the roll from the tummy to the back. A few days after he did this, I had him on his back, on the mat. I looked up at the TV and then back down at him.. He was laying on his back, but had barrel rolled off the mat onto the carpet. I have a feeling fun times are ahead.

6 Months Progress

Wow... just think.. 6 months ago we got a call saying that we had been chosen by a birth mom, and to ask if we wanted to become adoptive parents. We said yes.. and as they say the rest is history.
The past 6 months have been pretty much a blur.

We started off traveling long distances, visiting Eli in the hospital. Long road trips and short weekends traveling back and forth. I was not sure that would ever end. But it did.

Then we finally got the O.K. to bring him home. Once we got home we had long nights, getting up to feed him every 3 hours. I was sure those days would never end.. but they did

And now it's 6 months later...

When Eli was born he weighed 2 lb 4 oz.. Today he weighed 12 lb 15.5 oz. When we brought him home it was a challenge to get 30 ml every 3 hours.. now he is eating 24-26 Oz every 24 hours. And the Dr. said we can now start using regular formula instead of the more expensive infant brand. YEAH!!

He used to sleep most of the day. Now he is awake, and alert a lot.  He recognizes our voices and turns to our direction when he hears us. He loves to make faces at us, and that cute kid in the mirror.

We were worried about his eye development, he had a check up last week and everything is perfect. Don't have to go back to ophthalmologist until 5 years old.

We really haven't posted much here in a while, because every day was pretty much the same. But I have a feeling that we are on the very edge of a whole lot of "Eli Activity"

But here are a few highlights from the past few months.

Eli did get Baptized



And he went swimming!




And he loved watching the dance lights



Stay with us over the next few months as we hopefully see him roll over, start eating some solid foods, and continue to grow and grow.

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