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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A Minute with the Martins - Eli Plays the Piano

I can play the piano by ear, but Eli can play the piano with his feet. Check it out in todays episode of  "A Minute with the Martins"

The Great Grandparents Tour Part 1

This week we are driving through Texas, introducing Eli to his Great Grandparents. At this point we are about half way through our trip. We started off by traveling down through the piney woods to Kirbyville, where we met my Mom's mom, or Granny.

We stayed with my great uncle and Granny came out to visit with her most recent grandson.


After lunch at Jenny's fried chicken we loaded back up in the car and headed due west till we got to Livingston. Meagan's mom's parents, or Nanny and Granddad were excited to get to see Eli. We were also visited by a host of great aunts, uncles and cousins. Eli even got to meet his cousin who was born a week after him, though she is a little bigger than him.

We woke up on Wednesday, got back into the car and stopped to visit some of our friends in Katy. It was great to catch up, see their kids and hang out for a while.

And that's the trip so far. We are looking forward to the next few days where we will meet the last set of great grandparents, along with a host of family and friends. Will post those photos soon.

A Minute with the Martins and a July Update

Here's something new just for you. We've started a series of video clips I'm calling "A Minute with the Martins." It's a glimpse into our daily lives in one minute segments. Being new parents, I am figuring most will be about Eli, of Eli, or have to do with Eli in some form or fashion. But who knows what else could happen.

Here's the update...

Eli now weighs just over 8 and 1/4 lbs. That's just about 4 times his lowest weight in the hospital. We are also now getting to sleep about 6-8 hours most nights. The down side is that our "night" usually starts sometime between midnight and 2:00 a.m. but sleep is sleep, and it's more than we used to get.We will be taking a trip this next week that I am calling the "Great Grandparent's Tour" We will spend a whirlwind trip down through East Texas and into Houston. At each stop we'll get a photo with Eli's Great Grandparents, none of which have seen him yet. We'll also see family and friends, and catch the last Harry Potter movie.

We are just about through summer, shhh don't tell Meagan, but soon school will begin. We are trying to enjoy these last weeks that we have together, with Eli, before the daily routine kicks in. Pray for us as we seek to find someone to watch Eli during the day while we are at work.

It was great to have family up for 4th of July. Miranda, Grumps and Honey (Russell's Dad and Mom) came up for a few days and got to spend time with Eli. Somewhere there is a video of Russell eating Sushi for the first time in many years.

We'll that's about all the update I have. If you want to know more, or know it sooner make sure and follow us on facebook www.facebook.com/lullabycd. And speaking of Lullaby CD... if you haven't picked one up yet they are only $12 and all proceeds go to help us in the financial cost of adoption. Click here to purchase.