California Here We Come!

That's right folks! At just six months old, Rock is off on a new adventure to SUNNY CALIFORNIA! Last time he was there, he was inside the lady in the green dress.

There are many friends, and most importantly FIVE babies in California (although little Ella is holding her tummy like the other mamas, she was not in fact pregnant in this picture!) that we need to visit. So, we are off! In the meantime, I have some pictures that I've held off on posting. I'll try and get them up while we are away so all you faithful readers will be able to carry on without us. See you in two weeks!

Drewby

Rock was so excited that Drewby came to visit.

He's so much fun to play with! And since Andrew was in town, we went over to see Sophia again!
The cute pic that Fix took.
My failed attempt to take a close up.
Of course the main reason Rock was smiling about Drewby being around is because he brought his Wii.
Fascinating.

Before and After

BEFORE: Look at this horribly plain and sad woman.

AFTER: Check out how wonderful she looks after the transformation of her shirt! WHOA BABY! Whatta HOT MAMA!
Just my cheeky way of showing that I do other things besides take pictures of Rock all day. This shirt was baggy and (as you can plainly see) blah. I sewed on a little trim and voila - I am now a flawlessly manicured woman with no stress and a perfect life... Or something.

ROCKbridge

Three members of Rock's fan club from church.
They all wore their ROCKbridge shirts for his visit.
Rock loves Mary, Daniel and Anna!

Pacified

Here's a sight i thought I'd never see. Rock has despised all pacifiers from day one. But, recently I just tried it on a whim and he LOVES to teeth on the pacifier.
I love this new onesie from Grandma Cokie. It says "Mommy's Hunky Monkey" -- which is ALMOST my nickname for him. I like to call Rock my Chunky Monkey.

Easter Food

Okay, so I tried to make a carrot cake for Easter because 1) it's Fix's favorite and 2) it's what the Easter bunny would eat. It was a disaster. It was not moist or fluffy. It tasted okay, but on the whole, it was disappointing. The good part was, only family had to eat it and now they will all really appreciate it when I perfect this dessert someday....someday...

Equally disappointing was the Easter egg cheeseball I made. I somehow picked up chopped pineapple instead of crushed. NOT the same. Double dang.

Rock's First Easter

Happy Easter Everyone!
Rock enjoyed having his Aunt Zuni and
his Aunt Susi and
his Grandpa Rocket and
Grandma Cokie and Papa John (not pictured) over for Easter dinner.

But he enjoyed his Easter basket most of all.
The green 'grass' was the best part.

Rock's mom and dad took care of eating the chocolate in Rock's eggs while he provided great entertainment for all.

My favorite Easter picture by far.

Half a Year!

Rock was shocked to hear that he's half a year old!
To celebrate his 6 month birthday, he let his tooth pop through his gum!
Which was so exciting he couldn't sit still for a good photo shoot. Thanks Annie and Nick for this awesome I Heart NY onesie.

Women's Retreat

Part of the reason that I didn't post pictures last week is because Rock and I went on the church Women's Retreat and I left my camera in Linus' (pictured below with Rock) Mom's car!

Rock enjoyed playing with Linnea too. They were born a few hours apart at the same hospital and have become good friends in the church nursery.
Anyway, when we arrived at the Retreat, I saw the building below and thought "I've been here before. This looks like Cedar Point Farm." CPF was a retreat center we went to with the Summer Fellowship Group when I was about 5 years old. But since I was remembering this place through the eyes of a child, I figured I was wrong...
But then again... this building REALLY looked familiar! So, I asked our retreat coordinator "Did this use to be called Cedar Point Farm?" "Not that I know of" she said. So I thought again that I must be crazy. But then, in the dining room, I saw this sign:
Ah ha! I asked the waitress and sure enough the place used to be called Cedar Point Farm and I had been there many years ago. Thus, before we left, I walked around and took pictures of all the places that looked familiar to me. This brick house was definitely a place I remembered. I think we slept in a room in this place. I vaguely remembered this covered picnic bench. My parents said we had a crab feast here.
I'm not sure that this barn structure was here when we were there...
This looks kinda familiar to me too -- like maybe it was the place where the kids hung out with the babysitter during the day while our parents met together? So, isn't that cool that I got to go back to a place I'd been 23 years earlier?!?! And the Retreat was wonderful on so many levels. We had a great speaker, fun times, and wonderful food. I love the ladies at our church!

Preggo Meggo Beggo!

We were so excited that Megan called us to hang out when she was in town! We can't wait to meet her baby - due any day now!

Cake for Fix

Fix has a sweet tooth. And ever since I got pregnant and had a baby, so have I. Thus, we've been wanting to eat cake. HOWEVER, Fix also has a corn allergy. When he eats corn he gets an awful headache and falls asleep like this (sometimes clutching the coffee table, sometimes not).

ALL powdered sugar has cornstarch in it (if you don't believe me, check the box in your pantry). So, in order to satisfy our sweet teeth and make cake with icing, I had to figure out a way to make corn-free powdered sugar. All I can say is hooray for kosher eating - Manischewitz makes Potato Starch! I ground up some granulated sugar in a coffee grinder, mixed it (2 cup to 1/2 cup ratio) with the potato starch and VOILA! CORN-FREE POWDERED SUGAR! Thus, I was able to make AMAZING Pumpkin Cake Bars (courtesy of a recipe from my friend Aimee) and we were both able to indulge in delicious cakey-goodness. Yes, I quickly snapped the picture above before polishing off the last piece and yes, just the two of us ate the entire thing in two days!

A few days later, our friend Dave had to have his 30th birthday and we all ate carrot cake to celebrate. This reminded me that Fix's favorite dessert is carrot cake and if I am truly going to make his dessert dreams come true I need to master this treat... Stay tuned for more on that quest.

Audrey and Nathan

Rock loves to visit Audrey and Nathan. If you look closely above, you can see Audrey in the reflection of the window behind Rock and Nathan.
Nathan has an awesome watch.
Dad has an awesome hat. Thanks for having us over again!

Rice Cereal

So, Rock has been really bugging me lately. He really wants to eat a Fix Bar.

But, unfortunately, for him, they have way too many complex ingredients for his little tummy. Instead, a few days ago, we decided to start him on good ole rice cereal.
Rock had to familiarize himself with the box of cereal before we went any further. Once he approved this as his first meal, we got out the bib and the tray for his Bumbo.
Look at the camera in your cute bib!!
First bite... hmmm.... kinda weird.
Rock wasn't quite grasping the whole "you-need-to-swallow-the-food-for-it-to-count-as-eating" concept (note the long line of drool/cereal dripping down from his mouth) so Dad showed him how it's done.
*For the record, that's a smoothie, not rice cereal that Fix is using to demonstrate*
Hmmm... Rock was still unsure. Mom just couldn't quite get him to swallow.

Although it doesn't look like it in the picture above, Rock did MUCH better once Daddy took over the feeding reins. See below.

As you can see, Rock was more enthusiastic about eating by the end of the meal, but he still hasn't conquered the fine art of swallowing. But don't worry Rock, we'll keep at it until you can have a Fix Bar of your own.