Rock's First Wedding!

Congratulations to Beth and Heath! Not only did they manage to make their love official by exchanging vows on the 20th, they also were lucky enough to host Rock's first official wedding! Seriously, Beth is one of my housemates from my junior and senior year of college at JMU. We were so honored to be able to share in their 'big day' and catch up with some old JMU buddies.
This picture documents a quite momentous occasion as it captures Rock's first dance to "LOVE SHACK." As I've told everyone before, I truly believe that a wedding is not a wedding without this hit from the B52's and a couple does not become officially wed until they dance to this song at their wedding reception. Exceptions to this rule are 1) if you got married before the song was released and 2) if you have a band that is actually good (sometimes they aren't!) and they don't have this number as part of their repertoire.
Rock loved the Electric Slide!
Okay so maybe he didn't love it THAT much... maybe he was much more interested in sleeping, but whatever!
Here are four out of the eight girls that lived in the JIREH HOUSE during our junior and senior years of college. They are (from left to right) Amelia, Angela, Beth (the bride holding Rock), and me! So fun to see them all and congrats again to Beth and Heath!

Chunky Monkey

As the double chin and chubby cheeks in these pictures can attest, Rock is no longer a petite newborn of 8 lbs. 1 oz. In fact, at his one-month doctors appointment, he weighed in at a whopping 12 lbs. and 6 oz. That's right folks, Rock has gained about a pound a week since he was born! So, now we affectionately refer to him as Little Chunk, Little Munch (used to be short for Munchkin, but now it just refers to his ability to eat), or Chunky Monkey.
But the extra weight does make for some pretty cute cheeks!

So happy together

Sometimes I think Rock looks like me. And then I see pictures like this and I realize that he's his father's son, through and through. Alas...
He's got the hair grabbing thing down pat!

Bath Time

First submerged bath! Rock loved his submerged bath as much as he hated sponge baths. He was super chill and loved the warm water.

His Happy Place

Rock loves his changing table. Really loves his changing table. He especially loves the part when we've taken off one diaper and are about to put on the next one. That's right, the boy likes to be naked. Go figure.

First Trip to Papa John and Nana Fix's House!

Above is a picture of Rock with his first cousin once removed (aka Fix's cousin, Kerry's sister's son, John's nephew) Andrew. He was in town to see the sights of DC and visit his Aunt, Uncle and cousins.
This was the first time that Rock got to see Papa John and Nana's house. Needless to say, he loved it.
That is, he loved their house until it was time to go. We believe that his large lower lip may have been inherited from Aunt Susi. In this picture she demonstrates her luscious bottom lip while Rock demonstrates how to be a fussy baby.

Smiling

I snapped this picture when we were on our way to the Fix (John and Kerry that is) house for dinner. I wanted to capture just how contentedly Rock was looking out the window when we were stuck in traffic on the Beltway. However, right as I took the picture, he gave a little smile. So although it's blurry, I thought it would be fun to post his first smiling picture. Enjoy.

Happy or Sad?

Aw.... what a sweet picture of a boy and his father sharing a happy embrace. Could there be anything cuter?

Alas, this is the problem of pictures with no sound. You cannot tell that the boy is truly, well...

FURIOUS!

And when he's this upset, it makes us all want to cry too...

Filling Out...

Perhaps you've noticed that Rock has been putting on a little weight...
As these chubby cheeks attest, he gained a pound and 8 oz. in his first two weeks of life -- bringing him up to 9 lbs. 9 oz. at his two week doctor's appointment.
Even his feet are getting bigger.
Now that he's a big guy, he likes to sit in his Boppy and stare around the living room.
Of course, part of what's growing is his big brain! Here he is pondering some very deep thoughts.

First Haircut at 3 weeks old!

One Wednesday morning as I was about to leave for Bible Study, Fix called to me from the changing table. "I can't take it anymore, I'm cutting off the mullet." The extra hair around Rock's ears and especially on his neck had been getting to both of us and Fix was the first to break down. Fix snipped away at the hair around the ears and then we buzzed the back to try and get it a little less white trashy. Once again, we didn't get an "after" shot, but you'll see what it looks like in future posts.
How many adults does it take to trim up Rock's mullet?
Rock liked getting his haircut -- I think because the hum of the buzzers sounded like the white noise that they say is continually present in the uterus. However, the real question is, when is MOM going to get her hair cut?! Look at all those split ends!

Monday Night Dinners

Every Monday night, for many, many years my family has eaten dinner with the Rabenhorst family. One week my mom would make the meal and Judy would make the dessert. Then the next week, vice versa. This offered not only the opportunity for our mom's to get a night-off from cooking every other week, but it provided a great time of fellowship around a meal. I cannot tell you how much the memories of Monday night dinners mean to me and how important it was to have another family to grow up with and share the good and bad aspects of our lives. The Rabenhorsts were/are great examples to me of how the love of Christ causes people to care for others and I consider them all 'family.' Our parents continue to meet weekly to this day.

Of course, it didn't hurt that my best friend, Annie was a member of the Rabenhorst family. We were born just three months apart and have been friends as long as we can remember. We have shared many experiences including growning up at Wallace Presbyterian Church, going to ERHS High School, being the wife of a Seminarian, and most recently, giving birth to a baby boy. It is crazy that now, 27 years after we were born, we both had a son within a month of each other. Where I was my mom's third child and Annie was the first, our sons are the opposite -- Rock is my first and Annie's little boy, Clip is her third child.

Both of our husbands graduated from Seminary (Nick went to Covenant in Saint Louis, MO and Fix went to Westminster in Escondido, CA) and have taken on jobs at churches in the area. The good news is that now we can all get together for Monday night dinners once again. Although we can't come weekly, our plan is for all four families (Hathaways, Rabenhorsts, Brockmans, and Fixes) to meet together once a month. The pictures in this post are of the first dinner with the new babies. Above is my mom with Rock and his "Going to Grandma's" shirt. She bought this for him the week after we told them I was pregnant. Since this was his first trip to Grandma's house, he wore the appropriate outfit.

Here's another picture of Rock looking cute -- this was before all the families arrived and it got crazy...
Annie and I holding each other's little boy. Daniel Clipston Hathaway -- they are calling him Clip -- is her son's name and of course, Rock Daniel Fix is in Annie's arms. Annie's younger brother Daniel died unexpectedly a few years ago and he is just one of the many wonderful Daniel's that we named our son after. At dinner, Marty gave a beautiful toast to honor Daniel Capell Rabenhorst and the two new Daniel's in our lives. It was bittersweet to not have Daniel R. with us, but exciting to introduce Monday night dinners to a third generation. A good reminder that no matter what happens, the Lord is blessing our families and using all things for our good.
This bassinet is the one that my mom slept in when she was an newborn. I also slept in it (and so did my three sisters) when we were infants. It was so fun to put Rock in it. And then of course, we couldn't resist throwing Clip in there with him. In the picture above Aiden, Annie's oldest, and Sophie, her second child, are looking in on the little guys.
We pray that these boys will grow up to love the Lord the way that their parents and their grandparents have done before them. It really was SUCH a treat to be with all four families. I wish I had better pictures. But you can check out more shots on Annie's blog... http://thehathawayhome.blogspot.com

Sometimes there's just too much milk!

Chick Magnet

It's tough work being a chick magnet.
Thank you to Megan for one awesome onesie -- Rock loves it and it makes him oh so popular with the ladies!

Military Man's Photo Shoot

Fix and I made a bunch of receiving blankets for Rock. This camouflage one is one of our favorites. In the picture above, I think Rock looks like a wounded veteran. So sad he lost his leg, but it was for a good cause...
Another shot of the hairdo that makes him "The Hairy Beast."
Half-grin.
His funny feet.
A little bit surprised? We like to have staring contests. I always win.

Pacifier

So Grandma Brockman (or Cokie, or Mommarama, or whatever you want to call her) is one of the few people who can get Rock to take a pacifier...

She just pops it in...

And he happily sucks away...

Here's what happens when we try...

A visit from Patty and Trixie

Patty and Trixie came to visit to bring us a meal. Patty (holding Rock) can remember when I was the same size as Rock. She and I grew up across the street from each other. Now her daughter is trying to toughen up Rock by kneeing him in the head. Seriously though, Trixie was really sweet and excited about meeting Rock.
Trixie got her fingers into a candle we had out on the side table. When we jokingly prompted her to wipe the blackness from the candle on her face like a football player, she was more than happy to oblige! Could her curls and her lashes be any cuter?! Here's another shot of the black stuff on her face. Trixie also taught us about photosynthesis and about Jupiter during her visit. Rock survived the visit and snuggled into his Boppy to relax.