.the.next.generation.

The third week in February Graycin and I flew to Richland to spend some time with my parents and for Graycin to meet his great grandparents. Flying with a 6 week old by myself was an adventure but we all survived and I didn't get too many dirty looks on the plane. Great Grandma Richards flew in and some of my best friends came to town to meet our little man. It is very cool to see the next generation of our families! Graycin experienced his first Bomber basketball game and got to meet many members of the Bomber family! We will be making many more trips home in the near future!

After his bath...

Showing his Grampy how well he can hold his head up.

Nanny and Graycin took a nap together.

Papaw and the little man

Great Grandma

Four generations

Graycin is 2 months old!

It has been an eventful February, early March here at the Rodes' house! Big mile stones, big events, new introductions and lots of fun!

Graycin has finally conquered strep, thrush, a yeast infection and his very first cold! Poor baby had a rough first eight weeks but we think he has finally gotten completely healthy and we are really starting to see him become a little man! He had his first (2 month) set of shots on Monday (March 7th). He took them like a champ! He weighed 13 pounds 6 0z (the 97th percentile for his age), was 23 1/4 inches long (the 90th percentile for his age.... are we seeing a trend here?) and his head is 16 inches around (between the 75th and 90th percentiles)!! He is growing like crazy! The doctor was very impressed with how well he holds his head up and how interactive he is.

He started smiling on purpose (rather than just when he has gas) on Valentines Day and hasn't stopped yet! He now finds great joy in funny faces and silly voices and has started trying to 'talk back.' He giggled for the first time on Monday at Mommy sticking her tongue out at him. He LOVES the front pack and facing outward so he can see. He has started trying to interact with his mobile and play mat toys. Before I know it he is going to ripping them all down!! He went on his very first plane ride the day before his 6th week birthday to Richland to meet more of my family. I will post again in a few days with all the details from that trip!

Hanging out with Daddy

Sleepy Baby

Waiting for bath time

Wore his tennis shoes for the first time!
Noah calls them his "cool dude shoes."

His favorite place to sleep

Getting SO big!

Trying to place with octopus on his mat

Sweet smiley boy

As for the rest of us, Zeb is working his butt off, and I'm working harder than ever and feel like I'm getting absolutely nothing accomplished. I still feel like a shower a day and more than one meal a day is a bonus. I am dreading going back to work in three weeks so much I cant even express. Noah and Christina (our two foster kiddos) have been with us almost a year now. We have come leaps and bounds. In the absolute best interest of the kids, they are being adopted!! We are so excited for them to go to their new, amazing, forever family. They have very neat 'forever' parents who will give them absolutely everything they could need or want and will have a huge extended family which, we know, is such an amazing gift! Their new parents came this last weekend to meet them and start bonding with them. They had so much fun and are so excited to be headed to their final stop in all of this! They will be greatly missed and always loved and remembered by us, but we are so excited for them to finally get what they have deserved from day one. I'm hoping that once everything is complete their forever family will allow us to post a few pictures of them so that you can all see these two munchkins that have been ours for the past year!!