Coming out all over again

I've  noticed since getting Andrew I feel like I'm getting more attention than before. This may be my self consciousness talking ,but when J and I are together , it seems like people are looking at us and saying.."hey look it's two Dads!" The responses have all been supportive and positive but its something that I'm getting used to.
I think it was more evident in Georgia, I could tell people were twisting their necks to get a good luck at the gay Dads coming down the street. I'm sure it doesn't affect J. That's what I love about him, he doesn't give a flying heck on what people think. I, on the other hand, have the opposite affect. I'm not sure if it was my upbringing or what, but it's something I struggle with till this day.  Gay fathers aren't an anomaly anymore. There are so many examples in the media, celebrity culture, which makes it more palatable to the general public I guess. When I mentioned to my mother that I was adopting, I could sense the apprehension in her voice. She's in her 80s, and I'm sure she did not expect that her gay son would have children. Her first reservation was that J and I were too old! She does have a point, but I reminded her that Elton John who just adopted is in his 60's. In a bizarre way , it kind of made her feel better.

For Those Thinking About Having Children

 I read this on one of the blogs I'm following ....funny!
For Those Thinking About Having Children


Lesson 1

1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2

Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.
Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3

A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4

Can you stand the mess children make? T o find out...
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5

Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6

Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment.
Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 7

Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8

1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 9

Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 10

Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11

Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

This is all very tongue in cheek; anyone who is parent will say 'it's all worth it!' Share it with your friends, both those who do and don't have kids. I guarantee they'll get a chuckle out of it. Remember, a sense of humor is one of the most important things you'll need when you become a parent!

How to Swaddle your Baby

Sleeping

Yahooo!!He's sleeping finally..and he's not on me!

I have to admit, Andrew's sleeping habits are slowly turning for the better. During those first couple of nights, he was sleeping only for 2-3 hours, then we would change him, then feed him. I tried to swaddle him, but maybe I was sleep deprived but my swaddle was easily breakable. Since we've been in Boston, I've been researching swaddling techniques ( on youtube!) and now getting the hang of it.

So the with a tight swaddle, Andrew is now giving me 4-5 hours of sleep. Then he wakes up , breaks out of the swaddle. I try to swaddle him back ,but now he knows better. He easily breaks through the second round of swaddling. Then he's either on my chest or J 's chest until sunrise.

During the day, Andrew pretty much won't fall asleep in his bassinet . He usually prefers to be held. Since I get anything accomplished with a infant on my hand. I strap him up in a baby carrier. Back pains.

We're having a cold snap now. The high today was only in the 20's. I usually walk my dog in the early evening before giving him his dinner. With Andrew in our lives now, I now have to take him with me during the walks. Despite the cold weather, Andrew is plenty warm. I double his layers and along with my body heat, he usually sleeps soundly when I bring him outside.

They say you're suppose to sleep when the baby is asleep..but who does that? There are too many things to do around the house...sigh.

Back Home

Actually the last post regarding our stay in Atlanta referred to the time period of Jan 2nd to the 7th.

On Jan. 6th, a Thursday, J and I were shopping with Andrew and we got the call from our agency in Massachusetts to let us know that they're letting us go back home to Boston! We were so thrilled because we thought were gonna have to stay in Atlanta over the weekend.

Nothing against Atlanta, but we were anxious to come back home and re-start our lives with baby Andrew. Atlanta was a nice place to visit, the winters are definitely more tolerable than Boston's , but the city reminded me of Southern California but the topography is flat. Everyone drives everywhere!

The flight was pretty smooth, except for a "Code Brown" mishap in the plane's lavatory. Andrew was sleeping during most of the flight but I took him to the bathroom to check on him. Initially he was dry, then the "stuff" started pouring out of him, soiling his onesie and the changing table. To make matters worse, I noticed I didn't pack extra clothes. Somehow I was able to clean him the best I could, and returned to my seat for the landing back to Boston. Fortunately newborn poop just doesn't smell as bad , thank goodness.

So we've been back to Boston for about a week now. Slowly trying to figure out a routine in taking care of Andrew. I have dear friends who've been eager for my arrival with Andrew. Donated baby clothes, baby advice, babysitting offers, all of it has been a huge help.

Atlanta

Atlanta

This past Sunday , we left Savannah and drove to the big city of Georgia...Atlanta! I've never spent much time in this city, only passing thru via the city's humongous airport.

We drove here because what else are we going to do in Georgia for 1-2 weeks?! Last Friday, our social worker called us to let us know that the Andrew's birthmother signed a legal document terminating her parental rights. Apparently , the lawyer then has to travel to Atlanta to file it in court. We are also waiting for inter-state compact documents to be filed so we can return back to Massachusetts. This process could take another week or so.


So we're stuck in Georgia, holed up in a Marriott Residence Inn with our newborn. It's kind of instant vacation ; in this case, we have a newborn and we're trying to figure him and ourselves out. Since we're in a new city, we are trying to get out and about doing stuff that we enjoy but with a newborn. We love to shop at outlets..so now I'm carrying a newborn in a baby carrier. We love history, museums...so we're sightseeing with a newborn.

People are amazed how small Andrew is or how young he is; he's one week old already. I'm looking at the expressions at their faces..wondering if they think we're crazy to take a newborn outside already. But our book...Baby 411 said it was ok...to take a newborn outside..so end of story.
So I'm sleep deprived, no surprise. I'm kind of a night owl myself. It's a bad habit of staying up late then trying to catch up throughout the week. However, with a newborn, this may not work out so well. Andrew is sleeping about 3-4 hours between feedings, changings.





Andrew had his first follow up pediatrician visit today. The doctor said feed him every 3hours. His advice regarding feedings was a little different than our resource books. We were a bit confused. Every 3 hours? what about feeding on demand? THis doctor was for scheduled feedings rather on demand.


Thats the problem with first time parenting. You're bombarded with advice from friends, family, doctors..all a little different with their own spin. Add some sleep deprivation ...then you're confused. For example, on facebook, I posted a comment that I was sleep deprived. A friend commented that I should try a teaspoon of rice cereal in the formula. Apparently it helps a baby sleep most of the night! My friend has two kids and it worked for both of them when they were infants.Another friend rebutted this suggestion. She said it was too many calories and this should only be used for infants with reflux. I'm tempted to follow this but I just don't want to mess up my baby boy's still developing GI system. I'm just gonna have to suck it up!
The bottom line is that Andrew added 10 ounces since birth. J is so proud of his son's "big appetite"!

Introducing Our Beautiful Baby Boy!

So we end up driving to Savannah, Georgia. We call the adoptions counselor who picked up our baby about our pending arrival in Savannah. She tells us that she's has friends coming over to her house , so she arranges to drive over to our hotel to drop off our baby.

Ten minutes after checking in at our hotel in Savannah, the counselor calls us to let us know that she is a few blocks away! We immediately run down outside of the lobby to meet her. The valet workers wonder what the commotion is all about. One worker asked me "So where's your wife?" I resonded that this baby has two daddies!

The counselor calls me to tell me that she's lost! While on the phone, I guide her to our hotel. She pulls up the curb and I see our baby in the back seat; he's hidden in the blanket.

She steps out her car, goes into her back seat and hands over our baby boy swaddled in a blanket. J takes him into his arms, then I take him. We shower the counselor with gratitude for taking care of him. We're both so elated at this moment. We're both so happy that he's healthy and finally we have him in our arms.

She hands over bags of clothing that the nurses gave our baby in the hospital. THe nurses noticed that no one was visiting him in the hospital ,so they showered our baby with clothing, hugs and extra diapers. The counselor said that nurses had such a hard time saying goodbye. Nurses rock!

When we stepped into the hotel lobby, we realized our baby (or infants in general) are female magnets! All of the ladies wanted him to hold him! J was firm about no one touching our baby during cold / flu season. J kept telling everyone to back off! It was quite funny.

We bring him to our room and proceeded to give our son, Andrew Anthony, his first feeding with his brand new fathers! We're so blessed!