Christmas Eve 2010

I was thinking about Monique, sammy's first mom, and wondering how she is doing this holiday. i think about her often, but more so since thanksgiving. i imagine the holidays are especially bittersweet for her - a painful reminder that she's missing out on sammy's first thanksgiving and christmas but keeping a happy face for her other two children. i hope her family is there for her, supporting her through this difficult time.

The Best Christmas Gift of All!

Yesterday our attorney emailed and told us that we have a finalization date before the end of the year! Next Tuesday (12/28) at 11:30a, Sammy becomes our legal son. We can hardly believe it. We're so excited! Expect a flood of pictures later that evening. So far, Chris' folks will be there and I'm hoping my mother and sisters can make it as well.

Seasons Greetings (and free cards) from Shutterfly!

 I’m so excited for this holiday season because I get to share it with Chris and our sweet baby boy Sammy! In the past, I’ve purchased holiday cards that were nice but not necessarily personal. I always envied my friends that sent photo Christmas cards with pictures of them and/or their children. Well, this year I get to send a photo holiday card too! Shutterfly had a sweet promotion for bloggers to earn 50 free holiday cards just for checking out and writing about their 2010 collection. So, out of 300+ flat and folded holiday cards, here are the ones that I liked the best:

Retro Love

Coco Snow Flurries

Flourish Elegance

Scrapbook Style

I wanted a card that was a little less traditional looking in either color or style, which is why I choose the above four cards. I really loved the colors and imagery of them all, but we decided to go with the Snow Flurries Coco Christmas card. This is the perfect card for us because we’ve taken so many pictures of Sammy that we want to share with family and friends who haven’t seen him since he was three or four months old and now he’s a big boy at seven months. We will probably include a family picture of us and two of Sammy. Unfortunately, this promotion is now closed. But don't despair, they have tons of other great products which I'm eager to use in the coming year. I'm particularly interested in getting birthday calendars made from his first year in photos, for the grandparents, aunts, and uncles. I’ve photographed him each month with his favorite toy to show how much he’s grown and it will be pretty cool to put them all together in either a desk or wall calendar. And speaking of Sammy’s birthday, I suspect there will be much celebrating and I can hardly wait to pick out invitations. I mean really, how cute is this?

12 Months

Happy Holidays everyone!

I'm Back!

Hey gang! I'm back on the scene. Where have I been you're wondering (or not LOL)? I've been doing my mommy thing and enjoying the summer with my sweet baby boy. I've also been reading your blogs and occasionally commenting. Basically I've been too tired to write in my own blog. But I want to get back in the habit because there is so much going on that I want to capture as much of it as I can.

I guess you've noticed the blog name change. I decided to change the name to better describe me and what's happening in my life. Not to mention that C (Chris) was not a contributing blogger so it's ok to make it all about me :) More than a notion is something my mom says all the time about things that are hard, complicated, or involved - such as marriage, adoption and parenthood. Meaning, these subjects are not to be taken lightly or entered into without great thought and/or care.

I'm still unemployed but so grateful for this time that I have with Sammy. I'm looking and applying for positions and will actually be happy to get back to work so that I have a paycheck again. I'm not knocking unemployment but it's been a little tough financially. While a paycheck is good, the thought of daycare makes me sad. Sammy will survive and probably thrive in daycare because he likes other little kids and he's also a social butterfly. I, on the other hand, will probably be a wreck for the first week or two. At this point we have only identified two places we want to see. We're hoping to get the child care issue settled so that it's ready in the event I get a job quickly.

So, that's it for now. I just wanted to check-in and say hey I'm still here. Expect a few more posts this week.

Comfort Nursing - Anyone?

All my life, when thinking of having babies, my thoughts turned to breastfeeding. I knew that's what I would do for my child(ren) and was undaunted by tales of latching problems, sore nipples, and pumping at work. I was ready to take it on! Well, infertility changed all of that. Just like I had to get over the realization that I would mostly likely never be pregnant, I also had to give up on my plans for breastfeeding. Or so I thought. Once we decided on adoption I was obsessed with adoptive breastfeeding. Most of the information I found said that women could induce lactation or use supplemental feeders. The supplemental nursing systems seemed a little complicated. For every feeding, a small plastic pouch needed to be filled with formula which is worn around the neck and then hooked up to a tube that is taped on the breast near the nipple. When the baby latches on it's able to get formula and help stimulate lactation for the mother. The other option involves taking birth control pills and some other drug (illegal in the U.S.) to simulate pregnancy hormones in addition to using a breast pump (every 2-3 hrs) to physically stimulate the breasts. I considered both options and decided against both. It was kind of depressing to think infertility had cost me another life experience. That is, until I learned of comfort nursing during one of our agency's mandatory workshops. I asked the nurse, who was moderating the workshop, what she thought about both options and she didn't care for either. She said that I could have the breastfeeding experience with comfort nursing. She put it in perspective when she said that babies don't expect milk from a pacifier so you can put a baby to the breast without it expecting milk. Talk about a revelation!

Once we were matched and Sammy was born, I probably waited about two weeks before I tried to comfort nurse him. I was a little apprehensive and didn't want to try it in front of Chris. I didn't want him to see me fail if I couldn't do it. My first chance came after I'd fed Sammy and he seemed to want to continue sucking. Instead of giving him the pacifier, I put him to my breast. Luckily he was small enough to maneuver and I was able to get him into position pretty easily. I had only read about getting a baby to latch on so I tried to remember what I'd read. It wasn't perfect but he was able to latch on and nursed for about five minutes. After that experience, I searched YouTube for breastfeeding videos and found lots of really helpful videos - specifically on positioning and latching on. I started comfort nursing Sammy instead of giving him a pacifier whenever he would get fussy or wanted to fall asleep. As he got bigger, it was harder to position him correctly so that he could latch on correctly but the videos helped me out. It's been about 1.5 months into our comfort nursing and we're really doing well. When he wants to nurse he sort of smacks his lips, opening and closing his mouth which is totally different from eating his fists when he's hungry. It's been a wonderful bonding experience and I can hardly believe that he's so attached to comfort nursing that if I'm holding him, he starts crying and rubbing on my shirt to nurse when he's sleepy. It's really the sweetest thing and makes me feel like I'm not missing out on the nursing experience.

Are any of you comfort nursing, considering it, or done it in the past? 

8 Weeks Old Today!

Sammy is 8 weeks old today and will be 2 months next Monday! I can't believe so much time has passed. Time sure flies when you're busy feeding, burping, diapering, and changing a baby 'round the clock. This afternoon Sammy peed through his diaper while he was on my lap, after having a stellar poop, and then he vomited on himself and down my shirt. All I could do was laugh. I know it sounds crazy, but what could I do but laugh, kiss his chubby cheeks, and go upstairs to change both of us. He's starting to coo and smile when he sees me or I talk to him. It's the most wonderful feeling in the world. I love him so much! He's a dream come true! Of all of the "dreams" I've had - traveling to Europe, running my own company, becoming a mom - the only dream I couldn't let pass me by was becoming a mother. I'm sure I'll get to Europe and I may even start my own business someday, but I wanted to be a mother now. I feel like I'd waited long enough; I married young, divorced young, had life adventures, found new love, and remarried. Now was the time and then I didn't get pregnant as planned. Hello adoption! Adoption was always an option for creating a family but I didn't think it would be my only choice. I'm so glad we found our agency and the process worked out pretty smoothly. All of this is to say that Sammy is the perfect baby for us because we were chosen by his first mother. We never got a definitive answer regarding why she chose our profile but I'm glad she did! Without her I couldn't have had the best 8 weeks of my life. And with that I'm sure that Sam's first mom has had the most difficult 8 weeks of her life. 

One Month Update (better late than never)

Sammy is 8 weeks old today and will be 2 months on Mon 7/12 so I know this update is more than a little late. I'll try to do better with the two month update.


One Month Update

Sammy is thriving! He's gained almost 3 lbs since his two week visit. That means he now weighs 12 lbs! We could hardly believe it. He is consistently drinking 2 oz and has recently started moving towards 4 oz. At night he's only sleeping in 1.5-2 hrs segments so I'm usually pretty beat. I haven't yet mastered the "sleep when the baby sleeps" thing yet. I'm up too late writing this post but I didn't want to forget anything. We're getting smiles and lots of drooling. He has a little reflux (spitting up) so we changed his formula to Enfamil AR which has added rice starch to ever so slightly thicken the formula. The thickened formula is supposed to help with the spitting up and so far he's having less vomiting. For the most part the vomit comes out during burps, hiccups, and sometimes on its own in the form of major dribble. I give him tummy time on his boppy and playmat. I think he tolerates tummy time for 5-7 minutes at a time and then he starts fussing.   


 At one month old he's been to several restaurants and has managed to sleep through most of the meals. He is just now starting to have a little more awake time so he is either awake when we arrive or wakes up soon after. We also spend as much time as possible outside - mainly Rittenhouse Square and Girard Park. Stroller time is a sure way to get him to fall asleep.

All in all, Sammy is a happy, healthy baby! We love him to pieces!

Stats: 12 lbs, 22 in, 15 1/4 head circumference