Rocco's Baptism

Last weekend, April 18, 2010, Rocco was baptized Catholic. The ceremony was performed by Father Bob at All Saints Roman Catholic Church. Rocco's Godparents are Josh Waller and Kelly Doria. There were two babies being baptized and one cried the ENTIRE time and one was a perfect angel. Guess which one Rocco was? I hope you said the perfect Angel b/c you would be right! He did so good. He didn't cry when the oil ran down his little forehead into his eye or when the priest poured the water over his head. I have to admit that I was a little surprised that he didn't fuss one bit. After the ceremony, we had our family and friends back over to our house for some cake and ice cream. Rocco also got some nice gifts from everyone. I know I should send out thank you cards but finding the time is difficult so I was say thank you to everyone again here. We appreciate not only the gifts but just that everyone came to support Rocco in this special moment in his life. I can tell that he is truly loved by all of our family and friends so much and it means so much to us. Here are some pictures from the day.





Here are some cute pics my mother-in-law got as I was changing Rocco into something more comfortable.

Recent Rocco Pics, My Bday & Opening Day

April has been a busy month so far. Besides Easter, which I already posted about, we've visited family, celebrated my 33rd bday and attended the home opener for the St. Louis Cardinals.

The day before Easter, Rocco and I, went over to my grandparents house to visit with them and my dad and stepmom. It was the first time my stepmom got to meet Rocco because she hasn't been feeling well. Here are some pictures of Rocco with his great-grandparents.



The Sat. before my bday, Nathan and I went to Jive and Wail Piano Bar with a few friends to celebrate. I had fun and the bar was OK. The piano players weren't the best singers but I liked that they played older and newer music. Thanks to those that came out with us. The day of my bday, me, Nathan, Graham, Rocco, mom and Josh went to dinner at Outback. It was yummy! Here are some pictures from Jive and Wail.






The day before my bday was the home opener for Cardinals baseball. It was a beautiful day and Nathan and I had a lot of fun hanging out together just the two of us and with our friends. Gail watched Rocco for us but we still dressed him in some Cardinal gear!





I took Rocco to get his 12 week pictures at JC Penney last weekend. It didn't go too well but the girl managed to get about 7 shots. I only bought one pose so I was still able to find a cute one. I think the lights were just too bright for his little sensitive eyes and she had him posed in positions he did not like. But the one I ordered is really cute. I can't wait to get the actual pictures. In the meantime, here are some recent shots of our little man.

Easter 2010

We hope everyone had a nice Easter. I think I enjoyed this one even more than usual. A big part of that was Rocco. Even though he has no idea what Easter is, it made the holiday even more special to have him there (I can't imagine how much cooler Christmas will be this year!). We gave Graham and Rocco a combined Easter basket. The 4 of us took a walk (well, Graham rode his bike) that morning. The weather was just perfect. It's been so long since we've had an Easter with such nice weather. Later we headed to Nathan's parents' house. We had good food and fun times with his family. That night, we met my mom and brother for dinner at Cracker Barrel. Everything was perfect. (Even our experience getting the above picture taken with the Easter Bunny was easy, peasy, lemon squeezy! We were in and out within 15 minutes and Rocco slept through the whole thing!)

In other exciting news, Rocco has started sleeping through the night for the most part! I'm sure this will not be an every night thing all of the time but we are just happy that he's doing it majority of the time. It started Sat. night and has continued every night but one so far. When he does wake up, it's usually about 5 am which is when we get up for work anyway. So I feed him and he either hangs out in his swing afterwards if it's a day I take him to my mother-in-law's house or he goes back to bed if it's a day my mom comes to watch him at our house (or it's a weekend). Let's hope this can continue!

He had another appointment last night with the therapist from The Delta Gamma Center. Right away, she commented that his eyes looked darker to her. I don't know if was just the lighting or what, but that was a surprise to hear. He did really good. He held onto the rattle for a minute or so and shook it himself once or twice. She also worked with him at rolling over. He almost did it. He just couldn't figure out how to get over his one arm. But I think if we keep working at it with him, he'll have it in no time. He's a very strong baby and amazes me on a daily basis. The therapist commented that he's doing great!

Don't forget to register or donate to Rocco's Rock n Strollers for the Delta Gamma Center's Annual Run for Sight. Early bird registration ends April 24th! (See the post that is 2 before this one for the link!) We've raised over $1000 so far and have been so overwhelmed (in a good way) by the tremendous response/support we've received. Thanks to everyone who has signed up or donated. We will be selling Rocco's Rock n Strollers t-shirts to raise even more money and to make sure we stand out in the crowd on race day! Let's all pray for nice weather that day!

-Dawn

A few Recent Pictures and 10 Week Dr. Visit

The pictures go from the most recent to the least recent - ending with the Sat. before St. Patrick's Day. Rocco continues to grow like a weed. At his 10 week check up, he was up to 12 lbs. and 24 inches long. (His previous appt. a month prior he was 8.10 lbs. and 23 inches!) His head was 15 1/2 (I think. I'm too lazy to get up and look right now! It was 15 something.) Dr. Bradshaw said his head and weight are in the normal range and his height is above normal. He said he could still put on a few pounds with his height and be in the normal range. He had to get 4 shots - 2 in each leg. That was hard to watch. He won't get any next time but then the time after that, he'll have to get another boost of those 4 he just got. They did make him fussier than normal that night. It was the only time I've seen him cry while he was eating. We gave him some Tylenol and that seemed to help.

This week was the first week he was with the babysitters (the grandmas) for the whole work week. He did great. I can't say that mom and dad didn't have some adjusting to get used to but we're dealing with it. I'm so desperate for him to sleep through the night that I keep asking people about bedtime routines, etc. But I think he's still too young at this point and we just need to go with the flow. I don't think he'll be sleeping through the night for another month or two. But he's a pretty good sleeper and usually only gets up once during the night to eat and goes back to sleep pretty easily so I can't complain. Nathan and I take turns getting up at night. We alternate nights and that's been working pretty good.

Graham has started having baseball practice Monday - Thursday so that complicates our evenings a little bit too. But I believe his games start next week. I'm not sure if that will make it better or worse b/c he's playing on 2 teams. We are currently selling TJ's Pizza for one of the teams if anyone is interested.

Graham multi-tasking: watching TV, using the laptop and keeping Rocco's binky in his mouth!

We're going to try to take the boys to get a picture with the Easter Bunny tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. I have a feeling it's going to be very crowded! I am going to try to get a good picture of the 4 of us on Easter. We haven't done that since the day Rocco was born!

Happy Easter to everyone!

-Dawn