Our Second Two Weeks - An Update

I guess when you see Eli every day, you don't tend to notice changes so much. But as I look back I can see that the past two weeks have brought about their own share of updates, and milestones.

When I left off with the First Two Weeks Update  I shared he was eating about 53 cc of food, and was about 5 lb 2 oz. That has all changed... but let's start at the beginning.



The second to last week of my I took my first extended trip away from Eli and spent some time leading worship at College UM ARMY. This is a trip I have taken almost every year for about 4 years now, and it is great to have the opportunity to lead worship for such an outstanding group of young adults.

Special thanks go to Aunt Miranda, who came up and stayed with Meagan and Eli for a few days while I was gone. When we first called Miranda about the opportunity I think she was out the door and in the car before we hung up on the phone. She is one excited aunt. She took this great photo.

We had not taken Eli out in public much up to this point, but we were able to sneak him a few places with out to many people being near. One thing we did was to buy a small rocking bassinet and put it up at the church.

We used it so we can have a place for him while we work on decorating the stage, and so meagan can run lights on Sunday mornings. Though the word did start to get out and we were met by a small contingent of people at the bottom of the stairs each week after the service.

On Wednesday we took Eli to Arkansas Children's for an eye update. One thing they watch on preemies is for retinopathy of prematurity. So a two and a half hour trip up and an hour or so wait/appointment and we were good. They said that he is doing fine, but want to check him again in a few weeks.

After the appointment we met my friend Amy Forbus for lunch at her favorite hamburger place, Buffalo Grill. It was nice to be able to catch up with her, and for her to meet Meagan and Eli for the first time.

Friday was our 2 month checkup at the doctors. Now we all know what happens at two months right? SHOTS!!! Luckily the nurse was quick, though from the screams and cries I cannot say it was painless. We did get great news though, and this brings us back to where we started....

Eli now weighs 6 lb 3 oz and is 19 1/2 inches long. With that news the doctor said that we can stop feeding Eli every three hours and move to an as needed schedule. He has stuck close to the schedule during the day, but for the first time last night we fed him at 1:30 a.m. and he slept till 8:30 a.m. When you have been used to 3 hours of sleep at a time, 7 and 1/2 hours of solid snoozing is a wonderful thing. And he is eating 80 and 90cc of food at every feeding now.. we have a hungry, growing boy.

We also were able to take Eli off of oxygen when we travel around town. When we take long trips to Arkansas Children's or Houston and such we will still need it, but it is nice to have one less thing to worry about when we go to the store, or up to church. And yes, we now are taking him more places with us.

So that's about got you caught up. We again thank you so much for your prayers and support through all of this. We are now working on looking up grants and loans to help us with the rest of the money we need to raise by November to finish this off. We figure about $9,000 will finish out the lawyer fees, home study post placement feeds, and final adoption payment needed.

Look for a future post showing ways that you can help out if you would like to.

As always I'll close with a few more photos you may have not seen yet.

Our First Two Weeks- A Photo Update

It has now been almost two weeks since Eli has come to live with us. I can honestly say it has been one of the greatest, and most trying times of my life all at once. We went from being able to go, eat, sleep, and do what we wanted, to having to schedule everything in three hour increments.

So how is Eli?

The first thing we did after arriving home was to go in for our first doctor appointment. They measured and weighed him. He is now 17 inches long, and at that time weighed 4 lb 13 oz. The doctor said he looked good. We went ahead and scheduled the appointments with a cardiologist for his PDA and surgeon for his hernia.

The rest of that week we continued our usual routine. Wake up at 9, 12, 3 and 6.. on both sides of the clock  to change and feed him. Every other day Meagan will give him a bath. My favorite thing is to lay down with him for a nap.

Last Sunday some people from the church threw us a shower. We were able to get lots of clothes, supplies and baby stuff. It was great to have so many people there. We are grateful for the friends we have.

Tuesday we took a little trip to Arkansas Children's Hospital for his Cardiology and Surgery check up. We met with the cardiologist, and they did an EKG on Eli. Meagan and I were both surprised how long it took to put on all the leads, but how short the EKG actually was. Later the doctor came in and listened to Eli's heart. She could not find any evidence of the PDA, it had completely closed.

We then went to our appointment with the surgeon for Eli's hernia. They want to wait a little while to see if he can get off the oxygen before doing the surgery. So sometime in the middle of June we will travel back up to have that surgery completed.

Eli has been doing well here at home. It seems every day he takes more and more formula at his feedings. When we first got home he averaged about 40 cc per feeding, now he's up to an average of 53, and many times takes the complete 60 that we fix right now. I almost forgot, when they weighed him at Arkansas Children's he weighed 5lb 2 oz. So he definitely is a growing boy

Some of you were wondering how the dogs were doing. The answer is awesome. Mia and Honey are the ones who are most curious about Eli. Mia came in for almost every feeding at first and laid down in the room. When I am gone, and Meagan is feeding him, Honey will lay down half in the door, half in the hallway with ears alert.

We have not taken Eli out into the general public yet, and will not for a little while. However we have had a few people drop by and say hi. I'll close this update with some of those photos.