It's been a while.......

Wow! Where does the time go? It's been 3 months since I last posted and I can't believe that it has flown by so quickly! Issac is now 3 months old, Abby and Jaxon have started preschool and Sean is super busy at work. I'm just plugging along, trying to keep up with all of them and trying to figure out what to do with myself.

So, an update as to what has happened over the past few months:

June: Issac was born on the 9th and we had the wonderful opportunity to have my mom come and be here to help for that first week. How great that my mom was able to drop everything she was doing to come and help us out on such short notice. We really appreciated it! Then, Sean's mom, Georgetta, was able to come out and help us for 2 1/2 weeks. We were very well taken care of with meals being prepared and the kids were entertained. I think that the reason that I heal so quickly from my c-sections is because I have such incredible help so I am able to focus on the baby and healing.

July: Georgetta left on July 4th and we had a very quiet day. The following week on the 9th, I wasn't feeling very well and came home after a very busy day and just collapsed into bed. My right side and back were hurting really bad and I could barely breathe. I tried to get some sleep through the night but by the next morning, I couldn't hardly move. Sean ended up taking me to the ER where they told us that my appendix was inflamed and needed to be removed. Between the time that I had the CT scan and the time that I went into the OR, my appendix ruptured. Here I was, just barely 4 weeks out from having a c-section and I was back in the hospital having a useless organ being removed. What a joy!

The best part about all of that was we were scheduled to move the following weekend. We had just started packing things up and then all of that happened. I made a call to my mom and she was on the next plane back out here. Again, we were so grateful that she was so willing to come and help us and for my dad and sisters who picked up the slack with mom being gone and took care of Grandpa Smith. My mom not only cooked, cleaned, packed and took care of my children for us but she allowed me to heal, physically and emotionally. She was here for 10 days and then she left. Meanwhile, I had also made a call to the 1st counselor in the Relief Society presidency and told her of my predicament and she told me not to worry--she would take care of everything. The next day at church, Sean was given a list of people who would be providing meals for our family for that week as well as she had arranged for a sister to call every morning to see what needed to be packed or cleaned so that we would have an extra set of hands to be able to get our house packed up. It was amazing! By the following Saturday, our house had been packed up, loaded up, moved and unpacked within a couple of hours plus the Falk's had mowed our lawn. It was a very humbling experience. Never have we lived in a ward that has been so efficient and willing to serve! I can't begin to thank them enough!

August: We were able to have Grandpa Rock come out to visit and he took the kids to the aquarium and to Terhune farms. He helped Sean organize our garage and he helped to get the yard looking nice. It was great to have him come and visit us and to meet Issac. He's so proud that there are now not one but TWO little boys to carry on the Rock name.

The first weekend in August, we blessed Issac. It almost didn't happen due to massive rain and flooding. We woke up on Sunday morning to rain, which wasn't a big deal. But then we looked outside and in front of our house was a lake. We couldn't get the cars out of the driveway without them getting caught in all of the water. There were police outside, blocking off the street with barricades. It was insane! Sean decided that he was going to drive the Civic across the lawn and onto a street that wasn't flooded so that mom, Issac and I could get out. He then piled the two grandpas, Abby and Jaxon and himself into the van and told the officer that he HAD to get to church and he was willing to risk getting stuck in the water. So off he went and was able to get through the lake without the van flooding. He was able to get to the church before mom, Issac and I did and then he had to tell the Bishop that the baby wasn't there to bless. Could he just hold on a minute? I got a frantic phone call from Sean telling me to just pull up to the front door and hand the baby to him while I parked. I told him no, that I wasn't going to miss Issac's blessing so I could park. I was pretty sure that Bishop Welch would understand (and he did). Sean gave Issac a beautiful blessing and I really felt that the Lord was watching out for us that day.

We were able to go on our annual Utah trip to visit family and this year was an extra special trip because we were able to celebrate my Grandpa Smith's 90th birthday. What a wonderful time we had! The kids got to play with their cousins and spend one on one time with Grandpa, whom they affectionately call "Grandpa Sniff." We were able to introduce Issac to Grandpa and I got some wonderful pictures of the two of them. It was a great trip!

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.