More Baby

Our first day home The proud big sister

Getting ready for bed

Grandma Erickson

First introduction to big brother and sister

Seeing mom for the first time in the hospital

What a whirlwind week it has been! I can't believe that Issac is almost 1 week old already! Sorry the pictures have been a little slow in coming. We've been a little busy adjusting to life with a newborn again.

Holly was able to come home on Thursday evening. Her "numb bum" couldn't handle the hospital bed for another night! Recovery is going really well and the kids have been wonderful little helpers. It has been so fun to watch them become more comfortable being around Issac. We were a little nervous at first but they are doing great.

Issac is such a mellow baby! He has allowed us to sleep for 6 hours straight at night--maybe he knows just how much his mama needs the rest to recover! However, Holly's chest isn't so grateful! No explanation needed on that one.

We feel so blessed as a family for the wonderful love and support that has been shown to us by family and friends. We don't know how we would have been able to pull this off on such short notice if we didn't have such an incredible support system. THANK YOU!!!!!!

Welcoming a New Little Rock: Issac

On Tuesday, June 9th we welcomed another pebble to our Rock Garden. We do live in the Garden State now and this is my first post:

Issac Jeffrey Rock was born at 8:38 am at the Princeton University Medical Center. He weighed 8 lbs 9oz and was measured at 20 inches long. Sounds like a rock to me, albeit a soft, squishy, pink one with a full head of dark brown hair and blue eyes, too. He has the smallest feet of all three of the kids, but the biggest cheeks and neck roll like our dog, Sadie. See below:

It not what you think! We have also recently welcomed a pink unicorn into the family, a gift Abby earned for being so brave while having new tubes put in her ears last Friday. That's right Dad has finally got the password to the BLOG:) Beware!

Mom is doing well recovering and we will all be back together at home by week's end. Abby and Jaxon are very excited to have a baby brother. In fact, Abby is already trying to take charge as the new mommy...

and Jaxon can't wait to to introduce Issac to one of his favorite superheros.

We will continue to keep the photos coming over the next few days, weeks, and months as there will be much more to share, so do come back and visit us again soon.

My Little Girl is Growing Up

So, Abby gave her first scripture in primary yesterday. We were so proud of her! She got up to the microphone and repeated the scripture about baptism and repentance without laughing (as she had been doing when we were practicing at home!) She was so excited to be able to do this and we are so well pleased with how well she is doing in her Sunbeam class.

She also has completed her first year of preschool and her first full year of dance class. She is so excited about next year, especially since she AND Jaxon will be going to the same preschool. She keeps telling Jaxon that he will get to have her teachers, Mrs. Bachus and Mrs. DeLoca in the 3's class while she gets to go to the 4's class. She has absolutely blossomed into such an independent little girl and I am so excited for her!

My Little Superman

Jaxon has become very enthralled with superheros as of late. This is evidenced by the Superman, Batman, and Spiderman costumes and pajamas that we have accumulated. There are days when I can't get him out of his pajamas so we go out in public with him dressed as a superhero. Oh, the comments we get!

Since Jax has been potty trained, we have also invested in Superhero underwear for him. He has decided that he doesn't like the fact that the pictures are on the behind instead of in the front, like his sister's. So, taking matters into his own hands one day, he put his underwear on backwards so he could see the pictures and that's how he wears them now. That's my boy!

That's Not How Daddy Does It!

So, Abby came to me and asked me to help her wrap her baby in a special blanket. Of course, I said okay. So, I carefully wrap the baby up, using the method that I've used since I was a little girl and gently swaddled the baby with care and handed it over to my little 4 year old. She immediately says, "That's not how daddy does it!"

"Well, how does daddy do it?" I asked incredulously.

"He wraps her in a circle. You need to do it like daddy does it!"

I stood there for a moment, dumbfounded. I'm the mom. I should be able to wrap a baby doll and have my little girl be okay with the job I've done for her.

So, I immediately head into the room where Sean is at and ask him how he wraps the baby.

"Well, it's not that hard, Holly. You just put the baby on one side of the blanket and roll it, like in a circle" and he and Abby proceed to educate me on the finer points of wrapping a baby doll.

I've learned something new today.

Baby Rock the 3rd's 3-D Debut

Well, we still don't have a name for this little guy. And for those of you who are desperate to know, we will probably be keeping you guessing until he is born. Gotta have some surprises! Sean was so sweet and for Mother's Day, this was my gift--to see our little man in 3-D! We've had the opportunity and privilege of being able to do this with Abby and Jaxon and we couldn't NOT do it with this last one. So, we took Abby and Jaxon with us and our whole family had the opportunity to meet our little guy. It was a lot of fun for us, however, the baby wasn't overly cooperative so we weren't able to get fantastic pictures but we were able to see him nonetheless. He definitely is a Rock! He has a head of hair (which I didn't have until I was almost a year old) and he has the Rock nose. It's amazing to me how seeing him in utero makes it almost surreal. I am getting so excited to meet him! This video is of his hands and feet all wrapped around his head.

This video is of his face (it starts upside down and then flips over) and of his hand waving.

In this video, you can see his face pretty well and the white thing in front of his face that he is playing with is the umbilical cord.

Baby Rock the 3rd is a..........................

So, here's our little guy! We found out a couple of weeks ago that we are expecting another little boy and we are so excited that he is healthy, strong and finally not making me so sick!

Jaxon was able to come to the ultrasound with us and the u/s tech was awesome! She made sure to point out all of the parts and Jaxon was absolutely fascinated by it. She even gave him his own little picture that he has carried around and makes sure to tell people that he is going to have a little brother.

The kids have been great throughout this whole pregnancy. They have been so sweet and understanding when I've been really sick and they've even helped me when I've had some really bad low blood sugars. It's amazing to me that they know what to do when mom needs some help. I couldn't ask for better kids!

We've been really swamped this past month with Abby and Jaxon's birthdays and gearing up for Valentine's day. We've also had some amazing success in the potty training department with both of the kids. Abby is now sleeping through the night and not having accidents and Jaxon is fully potty trained during the day and is trying to catch up to Abby where the night time is concerned. They are so helpful and supportive of one another. I love to watch them encourage each other!

Sean is doing amazing at work. He has received a lot of praise from his bosses about the work that he does. In turn, they are continually passing on more responsibilities to him and he is doing an amazing job. We feel so blessed to have a job and one that is constantly providing Sean with a challenge--there's never a dull moment!

Hopefully, I won't go so long between posts. We'll see!