our big BIG boy....

Guess who just weighed in at 10 lbs?! 10 POUNDS! wow.

I thought that Todd & I would've gained weight while travelling to NJ last week (b/c there's always food there that we try to stay away from, but inevitably can't).... but, thankfully we kept the damage to a minimum. We're a little confused: Mercer's meals comes in a bottle -- so why the weight gain? Maybe some of his cousins pureed some Easter candy into his formula so he'd gain some lbs?! I checked 3 times. On the scale with him / on the scale without him. Yup. It's true.

Ahhh... 10 lbs. He JUST got into the newborn clothes a couple of weeks ago which are earmarked for 7 - 12 lb babies. (He was around 8 or 8 1/2 lbs when he started filling them in a bit.) So, maybe we've got a little more time on the newborn-sized clothes?

Enclosed are pics of Todd's nieces, nephews, sister, mom, cousin, etc. We got pictures with everyone with the exception of one cousin, Tara; when Todd's sister emails it to us - we'll post it... but, Mercer met 6 of his 8 cousins on this trip... his NJ grandma and grandpa... an uncle... and an aunt.

+Top left: Mercer's cousins Meagan & Zach and Uncle Bobby.

+Top right: Meagan and cousin Ryan are subject to some bad gas that Mercer had. They loaned him their brother's Gas Pass. (Click on the photo to enlarge & read the card)

+ at right: Todd's cousin, Tina is teaching Mercer new tricks... she'd stick out her tongue at him / he'd do the same. She'd open her mouth real wide and he'd imitate that as well.

+ at left: Todd's sister, Tonia is rocking Mercer... she pulled much of the overnight shifts and gave us a break / allowed us to get 9 hours of sleep Friday night. yay!

Below:

+Rory Jr and Rory Sr hanging out with lil' M

+Todd's mom (Grandma Groves "GG" or "GiGi") getting in some last-minute Mercer Time. Same for Tonia and Tina (at right).

Home Sweet Home.

We made it home last night from the trip to NJ. THANKFULLY this leg of the trip went without a hitch. Our flight was on time. No luggage was lost. We got the seats that we reserved so we could sit next to one another. (The leg of the trip where Todd's mom flew down -- the flight was cancelled / she was re-routed on a much later flight on a different airline. The leg of the trip where she & I flew to NJ -- it was post-poned 3 times, then I didn't have a seat and when I got one -- it wasn't next to her as we had reserved. The leg of the trip where Todd came to NJ -- his flight was cancelled, so he took another (much later flight) and to boot, the airlines couldn't get his luggage on the plane in that 4 hours where Todd was sitting at the airport.) BOY... glad we don't have to do this again for a long time!

The social worker comes tomorrow morning for her first post-placement visit. We also have a "girls night" party for Mercer tomorrow night (sig. others / children are invited as well). It should be a big day for the not-so-little guy.

Candice