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.

A Surgery Update #2

In my last post I talked about how our day began at 3:00 in the morning on our way to Little Rock for Eli's surgery. Here's how the day ended...

We got to Arkansas Children's right and checked in by 6:30 a.m. After waiting a while we were taken back into the pre-operation room where we changed Eli, they took some blood work and then asked us a lot of questions like: 

When was the last time he ate? Is he allergic to anything? Has he ever been under anesthesia before? 

I am glad that they asked this, and that we could answer it the first time. 

It did seem however that every person we talked to asked us those same questions over and over again. I would think entering it into a computer with a connected database each dept could access would solve this, but I am sure there is a reason, and I digress....

They weighed Eli in at 6.8 lb and we got him into the provided robe and socks. Ok the socks didn't work so well because they were gargantuan on him, and the robe, well it was way too big.

After that we kissed him, said a prayer and he was off.

The surgery was to fix an Inguinal hernia and to be circumcised. About 45 minutes after he went in they had both procedures completed and he was in the wake up room. 

It was kind of funny watching him wake up. You could tell he wasn't quite sure about things, and he was making some strange noises. Not ever having been under general anesthesia myself, I am sure I would do the same. And if Eli is anything like me, you'll be able to watch it.

Again with the digressing

By 11:30 a.m. we were moved to a regular room in the hospital. We were able to start feeding him again, and he has responded well eating a little more each time. We spent the rest of the day by his side. 

The hospital will only allow one parent to room in for the night, so Meagan stayed there on the fold out "bed" and I am staying with a friend, so I can be rested to drive back tomorrow.

Again we want to thank you for all your prayers, phone calls, facebook and twitter messages, and emails through out the day. We are so blessed to be surrounded by friends and family, near and far who have supported us in this journey.

Surgery

This morning we are heading to Little Rock for Eli's hernia surgery. This is something we knew we would need to do since we left the hospital in Norman. They usually would have done it there, however he was so small that they wanted to let him grow up a little.

At 3:00 a.m. then alarm clock went off and we prepared for our journey. The trip takes a little over two hours and err have to check in at 6:30 so we are just about on time with little to spare. Right now we're still on the road, the sun has just come up.

Everyone has assured me that this is a routine surgery and the simplest one there is. While that is true, there is no routine surgery when it is your son who is being put under. We know that his apnea he experienced is something they want to watch out for. For that reason they will be keeping him overnight.

We've done overnight in a hospital room before. They tell us that they are not sure here at Arkansas Children's whether we will be in a room that will sleep one or two. From previous experience I use the word sleep very lightly. If they only allow one of us in I'll let Meagan stay and I'll figure out other arrangements. Anyone have a couch?

For those who want to stay updated throughout the day I have added a widget to our home page that searches for the #pray4eli hashtag. I'll use it throughout the day. Also if you'ld like to leave a prayer or word of encouragement via twitter use the #pray4eli hashtag. You can also leave comments on this post and on our hopes prayers and lullabies Facebook page

Well we are almost to Little Rock so I will close this out. Keep us in your prayers. I'll keep you updated.

Eli Says His First Words...

In all seriousness Eli is doing very well. Thank you all for your support and prayers.