First Best Friend [Macaroni]

A lot of people have asked how Mac has dealt with a) being a big brother and b) sharing our attention....he's done great!

When we first came home from the hospital,  Mac went nuts! Not only had we been away from home for several days and he'd been at my parent's house, but we wouldn't let him near Anthony, and Mac just knew there was a living, breathing thing we were keeping from him!   He probably thought it was a puppy (sorry Mac!)! All night he tried to figure out what was going on. I (Sarah) stayed up with Anthony and every time he'd make the slightest peep, I'd hear Mac jump off the bed upstairs and try to shove his nose under the door of the bedroom to try and figure out what is in my house?!?
The next morning, everything was different.  Was Mac exhausted from not sleeping a wink? Did he realize the only way he'd get to see the thing is if he calmed down? Or somehow did he sense that Anthony was the newest addition to "his people"? Regardless, he was SO we'll behaved. He began spending all day and night curled up under the rocking chair, crib, etc. He gets up with us for every single middle-of-the-night feeding.  He knows that, at least for now, he's only allowed to lick Anthony's feet. And now when he comes in from outside, instead of running to his toy basket and then to the treat closet, he runs to Anthony (and then to the treat closet still, let's be honest!).

In the last week or so, as Anthony has started actually seeing us when he looks at us, we've noticed him seeing Macaroni too. And when he does, he smiles.

Best friends forever!

Godparents [They Said Yes!]

We are SO blessed to have many AMAZING friends who we love like family, but when it came time to pick Godparents for Anthony, we knew who we wanted. Fred and Celeste are a couple of our very best friends. They are a Godly couple who we really look up to. We both knew Fred in college (in fact, it was he who introduced us!) and fell in love with his wife Celeste only a little while after he did! 

To ask them, we had Chris' very talented brother Brian photoshop their faces onto a picture of Cinderella's fairy godmother and a picture of the movie poster from the Godfather! We are honored to have them in Anthony's life!

8/8/15 - One Month Old [Milestone Update]

Our little guy is one month old today!  He has grown SOOOO much already!



Age
One Month Old

Height
Our best guess is that he's about 23.5 inches right now...we'll get actual measurements for next month's update!

Weight
He was 9 pounds 3 ounces at his last appointment which was 2.5 weeks ago.  We're thinking he's got to be over 10 pounds by now!  His cheeks are fuller than they were then and his little thighs are starting to get rolls!

Eating
Anthony is eating 2-4 ounces at a time, about every 2-4 hours.  We’re still doing two bottles a day of donated breast milk (thanks to a couple of our very generous friends who are new mamas!) and we save that “liquid gold” for when we KNOW he’s hungry enough for the whole bottle.  Otherwise, it’s formula each time.  He takes a bottle really well and doesn’t usually spit up – one or two big burps after each bottle usually ensures that!  The best part is that since Anthony has never had breastmilk from a breast, he has always taken it at room temperature or cold from the fridge….soooooo nice for us!

Sleeping
It’d probably be better to talk about when he’s NOT sleeping!  Anthony is sleeping most of the day, and normally wakes up for food or diapering.  For a few hours a day, he’s wide awake and that time is so much fun.  His eyes open wide, and he smiles at us which we just love!  Unfortunately, one of his main awake stretches happens around midnight!
  
Firsts
Every single thing was a first this month.  It was such a blast.  First car ride, first time to church, first shopping trip, first smile, first time feeling like he was actually seeing us when he looked at us, first time taking Mac for a walk, etc.   

Clothes
When we got home from the hospital, we were sad to see that because of Anthony’s length, several of his cute newborn-sized onesies were too small!  Separates and PJs still fit great, but because his torso is so long, onesies just didn’t fit!  He’s grown enough in the last month that for the most part, he’s now wearing size 0-3 months but for some outfits, is wearing 3-6 month.  Wow!!!

Diapers
We’re using disposable diapers and he’s wearing size 1.  Once his umbilical cord fell off, it because size 1 all the way!  The newborn sized diapers were just way too short for him and resulted in several leaks that were so much fun to deal with!  We planned to start integrating cloth diapers last week, but when we put one on him, it was so big that a) his clothes didn’t fit under it and b) the joint where his thigh meets his torso was so diapered that he couldn’t bend at the hip!  It was hilarious to see him stiff as a board trying to sit in his swing!  We’re going to attempt cloth diapering again in a month or two.

Toys
So far he hasn’t played with any toys besides putting his arms around a stuffed animal.  Right now his favorite “toys” are just things to look at: the mobile above his swing, everything above him when he’s on his activity mat. 

Teeth
No teeth yet and he’s got such a sweet little gummy grin!

Mobility
Anthony loves to kick and loves to put his arms above his head.  At about two and a half weeks, he rolled from his stomach to his back with ease.  Thankfully, he hasn’t figured out turning from his back to his stomach or we’d be in trouble when he sleeps.  When he sleeps, he turns to the side and rests his little head on one arm…it’s so cute!  When he’s being fed, he will usually wrap one or both arm around our hands as we hold the bottle.  We just love that!

Friends
Anthony met a lot of new friends this month!  As far as peers go, he got to meet his second cousin Miles, and friends Jolee, Tori, Elyssa, Lucy, and Ethan!

Highlights
Obviously the best moments of the month were things like seeing him be born, holding him for the first time, coming home with him, etc.  Besides those major things, highlights included visits from lots of special friends, his grandparents meeting him for the first time, seeing him smile for the first time, watching Macaroni transition from being a baby dog to being a big brother, and toasting with champagne in our hospital room the night he was born with our dearest friends.

Funny Stories
Projectile poop coming out at his 5 days old doctor appointment when they took the thermometer out of him.  It got all over the table, all up the wall…we had to just laugh!  Also, throwing up all over our friend Sara about 30 seconds after he was placed in her arms!


Overall Thoughts
This was such a wonderful month!  Chris got to take almost a whole month off for paternity/adoption leave (thanks to Farmers Insurance for being the most pro-adoption company we’ve ever heard of!) and our time at home adjusting to being a family of three (plus Mac!) was magical!  We were so privileged to be there as he took his first breath, and it’s been our privilege to spend every day with him since that moment.



Paternity Leave Over [Real Life Begins]

Chris went back to work today :-(


We had the best three and a half weeks as a family of three (plus a Macaroni)!  Chris' employer, Farmer's Insurance, is SO wonderful.  In addition to using his PTO for a week and a half of leave, Farmer's provides an additional paid two weeks of leave for any parent who is adopting.  Wow!  In addition, Farmer's provides a stipend to go towards reimbursing the huge cost of adoption.  Way to go, Farmer's!  Having Chris at home that long was such a gift to all of us.




The other thing we are super thankful for is that I'm able to stay home full-time with our little guy.  We are very blessed.  I've been doing a couple part-time "gigs" for the last year or so, and my plan is to continue doing those two things, but my 40 hour a week job is done.  I'll miss working, and I'll miss my coworkers, but I won't miss it more than I will enjoy spending so much quality time with our son!
His face in this picture!  I die!



The Nursery! [Anthony's Room]

Here's a little peek into what Anthony's room looks like!

This is his room from the doorway.

This rocking chair belonged to my grandpa Art
(who Anthony is named after) and was
lovingly re-covered by Chris' dad!  We love it!

Picture was taken before we got blackout curtains for the room, obviously! :-)

The two pictures are from Etsy; the number picture
references the Bible verse from Matthew 10:30
 ("the very hairs on your head are numbered") and the
alphabet picture references Deuteronomy 6:6-9
 ("write them on the door posts of your house").  
Chris' parents gave Chris Jimmy Fallon's "Dada" book!

I painted this dog at a pottery painting place
when my mom and aunts took me to Portland on
my 30th birthday!  Chris' brother Brian and sister-in-law
Marissa gave Anthony this plant ("a succulent plant
for a succulent baby").  The sign and the
lampshade are both from Etsy.

My great friend and college roommate Kellie put the
paw print decals up all over the place!  We love them!  

This big dog is a humidifier!
 
The book was a gift for Anthony from his sweet birth mom!
The tiger shoes are from his Nana (my mom) and the
blue sneakers are from his birth mom's sister and mom!

This dog is fake!  Doesn't it look real?  It belonged to
Sarah's Nana and Papa, and she's always loved it!

We clung to this Bible verse throughout the adoption process:
"For this child I prayed, and the Lord has answered my prayer."
Our great friend Katie generously took this and many of the
other professional pictures on this site...the blurry ones are all ours :-)


We also set up an area downstairs for the swing/rocker/toys/etc.  Here it is!


This picture was taken on our first night home!



This figurine on top of the bookshelf was
from my parents; it matches the figurines
Chris gave on our wedding day and
on our one year anniversary!

This "I grew in their heart" picture was a gift from the Etsy shop
who made the pictures with the numbers and alphabet
Bible verses in Anthony's bedroom - we love it!

Splish, Splash [Anthony's First Bath!]

We did our first bath today!  We followed the advice that suggests waiting one week before washing the baby (okay, things were busy so we waited until we'd been HOME a week!)
It was scary and slippery and smiley - he loved it!!!

Anthony's first bath!

Around the World and Back Again [Meeting Grandma & Grandpa]

When we found out that Anthony's birthmom had chosen us, we were 99.99% excited and .01% disappointed...Anthony's due date was smack dab in the middle of their cruise to Scandinavia with their best friends to celebrate Floyd's retirement! We all agreed it was best for them to not change their plans, and the time away made their eventual meeting that much sweeter!
Anthony loves his Grandma and Grandpa SO MUCH already!!!!


Chris making our nightly check-in call to the new Grandma and Grandpa!
In addition to texting every single picture we took,
we'd also call at our bedtime, which was their morning!
It was the next best thing to having them there in person!

Karen and Floyd meet Anthony for the first time!

Surprise! [Telling the World]

While our family, very close friends, pastors, and supervisors at work knew about our adoption plans at some point along the way, the rest of the world (AKA facebook) didn't find out about Anthony until a few days after he was born, once we were home and everything was legally final.  We posted a few pictures and some text about our news in the middle of the night, and it was so fun to see "likes", comments, messages, texts, and calls come rolling in.

A screenshot from THE facebook post!

We have had almost NO time to write back to thank everyone, but if you were someone who contacted us with well-wishes, THANK YOU!  It meant so much.

What's in a Name? [Anthony Arthur]

ANTHONY
We came up with Anthony's first name in January 2015, before we even knew he existed!  Chris came up with it, and we both really fell in love with the meaning: priceless.  Once we knew he was on the way, we knew the name was perfect.  To us, he is priceless!  In other words, we'd do whatever it took to make him our son!


ARTHUR
Anthony's middle name comes from my (Sarah's) paternal grandfather, Arthur Case, who passed away in October 2014.  He was there when we told my parents we were starting the adoption process, and he was SO excited for us.  He was our #1 cheerleader.  We know he would have loved to meet Anthony!



ELDRIDGE
This one is obvious!  :-)

Anthony Arthur Eldridge

At the Hospital [The First 3 Days]

We were so privileged to be in the room as Anthony was being born!  Against the usual rules, the hospital allowed TWO guests in the C-section room, which meant both Chris and I got to be in the room!  Anthony was born about 10 minutes into the 90 minute procedure.  We spent the first 80 minutes of Anthony's life taking turns being with him (watching the doctors do their "you were just born a second ago" things, holding him, having skin-to-skin time, etc.) and sitting with Anthony's birthmom to keep her company and keep her distracted from the surgery.  The tough part about UW being a teaching hospital is that they explained every move of the surgery as they did it...no one wants to hear that!


We prepare to go into surgery!
Anthony's first picture!!!

Daddy holds him for the first time!
Chris' parents (Grandma and Grandpa) were in Russia the day Anthony was born but my (Sarah's) parents (Nana and Gramps) were able to be at the hospital to meet him in person! They were able to hold him real quick as we transferred from the C-section room back to the flex room, but got to spend extended time with him later that evening!

Anthony meets Nana and Gramps!
We were very blessed to have several framily (friends who are like family = framily) members visit us in the hospital late that night after Anthony's birthmom went to bed. While at least one of us was with him at all times, we tried to make sure that we were with Anthony's birthmom anytime she was awake and wanting company. The hospital was so generous and flexible, letting us have a room right next door to hers! Anyway,  that night we were joined by my parents and several very special friends. We champagne-toasted to our little guy's arrival and tried to memorize every inch of his little face! It's a night we will not soon forget!

The next two days are a blur of visitors, quality time, little sleep, and lots of kisses.

Katie!

Aunt Shannon!

Cousin Jill came from Seatac Airport
on a layover to meet him!

Nana and Gramps couldn't stay away!

Julie!

Karen!  (Not pictured: her husband Chris!)








We were discharged on Friday evening and it was so surreal driving off as a family of three.






Many thanks to the UW Hospital for being so wonderful!