Rhodes Family Campout (and Significant Others)

Watching the guys play kickball.

What a handsome couple!!

Wading in the water at Sherando Lake.

Playtime with Granddaddy.

"Grass Whistler"

Having fun with dad.

The beautiful future "Nazaritess". We'll miss her!

Just because I love this picture.

Another handsome couple.


A more detailed description of the weekend will follow, but I wanted to post some new pictures in the meantime.

Weekend Visit with the Yoder Family

Clara

Abigail

Looking for fish in the creek

A little monkey in the tree!

See any family resemblence?

One of the many lovely flowers at the gardens.

We enjoyed a weekend visit with the Yoder family this past weekend, and they truly got to experience the southern way of living. The crepe myrtles were in full bloom showing off their vibrant colors to the Northerners, and Brent mentioned that one of the differences between the South and the Canadian North is the more laid back atmosphere - such as seeing people sitting outside on their porches relaxing and enjoying the outdoors or simply enjoying the company of one another.

We took advantage of the lovely temperature - mid 80's with unusually low humidity - and had a picnic at Sarah Duke Gardens Saturday evening. It's always a favorite place to go with beautiful flowers and trees in bloom, lily pad pools with fish and tadpoles, and a pond with ducks, turtles, and fish.

Anybody else interested in visiting the south in the near future? We certainly enjoy hosting and our door is always open (though not literally, of course!)...

Luci and Graham

Clara eating a lime - has quite a palate for sour foods, I guess!

Brent caught a tadpole, and later Abigail managed to catch one of the fast little guys!

Elliot's been reaching out for anything within reach that looks interesting...here he's reaching for the camera.

Elliot's Friend Lilly

See those 2 bottom teeth? They made their appearance exactly a week ago.



Lilly is the little 2 year old daughter of Brad and Beth Yoder, our friends and neighbors who babysit Elliot 2 afternoons a week while I work. From time to time we take a turn babysitting Lilly, and this morning was one of those times. She loves Elliot, and the first thing she asks when she gets in the door is "Baby Elliot?". She is great at interacting with him and is quite the little "mother" and nurturer. This morning when Elliot was fussing a little bit she went over to him and said "it's ok Elliot" and gave him his pacifier. Elliot seems to like her too and is fascinated by watching her play. She is a sweet little girl and quite fun and easy to babysit! She'll be getting a new baby brother or sister in about 6 weeks, and we think she'll make a wonderful big sister!

Aunt Rebekah and Grandaddy and Grandmom Rhodes Visit

Hangin' out with Aunt Rebekah

Playing games with Grandaddy - he really got him to laugh!


Elliot FINALLY got to meet his Aunt Rebekah this past week (he's got 2 more aunts, 2 more uncles, and 4 more cousins to meet to make the family introductions complete...hopefully some day soon!!). We thoroughly enjoyed the visit, and Elliot seemed quite fond of his aunt. Some of the activities included a meal together at a Mexican restaurant in downtown Durham, games of Yahtzee and Settlers of Catan (hail Martin Lord of Catan), a tour of Martin's work - Counter Culture Coffee, and, as always, good table discussions.

Some of the entertainment/artistry at the festival.



Heather and Eli dancing to "Skip, Skip, Skip to my Lou".

Catching a few rejuvinating zzzzz's.


Eli and Pete wading in the water.

He's graduated from his newborn bathtub to this!

Saturday we went with Heather, Pete, and Eli to the Festival on the Eno (River) here in Durham. We enjoyed looking at the various local artists works of pottery, recycled metal architecture, clothes, framed art, handmade drums, jewelry, local bands & music, homemade icecream and delicious ethnic food. I enjoyed a fresh crepe of pesto, mozzerella cheese, tomatoes, and kalamata olives for lunch while Martin had some excellant Salvadoran food. Elliot also had his first experience of splashing in the river - he sat on the edge of the river bottom and splashed around. Seemed to really enjoy it! He was a real trooper through the whole event, as it was hot and humid, and he missed his morning nap.

4 month doctor's appointment

Elliot had his doctor's appointment this morning. He weighs 15 lbs. 9 and 1/2 oz. and is 25 inches long. To my surprise, the doctor was fine with the fact that we are supplementing with goats milk and said that she was brought up on goats milk too as a baby! She gave him a clean bill of health again and commented that his head control and balance/ability to sit up is more like a 6 month old. I had the doctor check out the white spot on his throat that he's had since birth, and she wasn't sure what it was. She first thought it may be a "white pearl" but after looking at it, said she didn't that it was that and will consult with some colleagues at the Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat practice and then get back with me. The nurse who gave him his shots was really good, and the first shot didn't even make him cry. But the next two did, and he didn't stop crying until I was out in the parking lot - he cried while I got him dressed, while I walked out the long corridor and into the waiting area, while I made the next appointment... And for those of you who've heard him cry, he was crying his lovely robust/almost mad cry! Got everyone's attention, that's for sure!! And sympathy, because everyone knew he had just gotten his shots.
We're certainly grateful to God for a wonderful healthy little boy who ads so much cheer, joy, and fun to our lives.
P.S. I didn't put any pictures of his bandaids this time because everyone seemed to confuse the last pictures with a tattoo!

4 Months Old Today

An update on Elliot again...

As of today, July 1, he is 4 months old and such a fun, happy, smiley, pleasant little boy. We call him "Mr. Smiley", because he's so quick to smile. We marvel at how fast he changes, and probably one of the most noticeable is how sociable he has become. He used to be overwhelmed in large crowds with lots of noise, i.e. restaurants and church, but now he's much more content to just sit back and take it all in, or give someone a smile and "talk" when they interact with him. He also has taken to laughing quite regularly - we never know what's going to make him laugh so it's fun to experiment and play games with him. He is quite contented and mostly just fusses when he's tired.

We don't know what his weight or height is, but he has a doctor's appointment this Friday so we'll be sure to let you know then. We guess he's around 15 to 17 pounds. We went to our local farmers market on Saturday and had only shorts on him (because it was swelteringly hot and humid) and somebody called him "little Buddha", which we also call him every now and then with his rolls and chubs.

He's still fed mostly breastmilk, with an occasional mixed drink of breastmilk and goatmilk.

He rolls over quite frequently now; however, this poses to be a problem when he takes naps because he sleeps on his stomach, so when he wakes up while napping (often 30 min. into his nap) he rolls over. Then it's often difficult to get him back to sleep. So we might just try helping him learn to sleep on his back - we'll see!

He's also finally growing some more hair on his head, and it's either very light brown or blonde. His eyes are still blue, and we think they might stay that way, which is so surprising because when Martin and I would imagine what our baby would look like (while he was still in-utero), we were almost certain he would be brown haired and brown eyed.

The following are some pictures we took today and later this evening at the Durham Bulls game. (Note the picture with Elliot's namesake, even spelled correctly!)



Elliot going down for his afternoon nap...

A few minutes later!!