Rockam's first day of preschool at Grace

Rockam has been in denial about starting school. Even this morning at breakfast he insisted he wasn't going to school. (see video below) But he gladly had his picture taken.

Oliver was a little jealous so he photo-bombed it from behind.

My little-big boy is growing up!

Feeling some trepidation.

Finding his hook.

Rockam chose a seat away from the little girl that was trying to "help" him.

"Wook, Mom, I made a boat! Ok. Byyyyeee, Mom!"

[My cue to get lost before I dent his reputation]

He seemed pretty well-adjusted despite his attitude at breakfast:

Rockam is 6 months

I should have posted this five days ago... but life is busy.
Rock is now 16 lbs and 10 oz., 25 1/2 inches long and at 50th percentile for height and weight. Yay, Rockam!

Here's a little video I just took of him sitting up in his crib.

Sitting up, with help

Post-bath Rockam

Pacified

A few more photos

Stephen and I the night I went into labor... I thought it might be indigestion from the birthday meal Joe and I shared at Harper House... but I timed them all night at about 10 minutes apart. I'll be posting that yummy meal on Moody Foodie... eventually.

Rockam really looks like Stephen did in this photo.

Rockam at a couple days old. He's a pretty good sleeper--especially compared to his big brother who was (and still is) the prince of touchiness.

Rockam shares Stephen's dark complexion and hair, but I think he's got more of Joe's nose and my eyebrows and cleft chin.  And he's already getting used to Stephen's noise. In the photo below, Stephen hammers his "forklift" while Rockam dozes right through it.

Getting to know Rockam

Joe and I still need to post something about Rockam's name, (pronounced rock-um). I got a good 5 hours of sleep last night, so, here it goes! The name is an Anglecized version of the Hebrew word racham, which means mercy or compassion. Before we knew the gender of our baby, Joe heard the word "Mercy" from the Lord during his prayer times. Assuming that meant we were going to have a girl, we eventually settled on the name Mercy (as opposed to Mercedes and a few other variations, including the female Hebrew of Racham: Rachmiela.) So, imagine our surprise when the ultrasound revealed Mercy wouldn't be such a suitable name afterall -- unless we wanted to bestow on our son countless years of playground taunting and a life-long struggle to prove his manliness!

Joe felt strongly that we needed to retain the meaning of mercy in whatever name we chose... so we started spending lots of time with the Strong's concordance, which has several versions, both Hebrew and Greek, of the word "mercy." For those of you into linguistics, Racham is number 7356 in Strong's, meaning compassion and tender mercies. The vast majority of verses it appears in are in Psalms and it always seems to be paired with the phrase "unfailing love."

Joe and I feel that Stephen, which means "crown" in Greek, is like a prize or treasure the Lord gave us for running His race these years. Rockam, on the other hand, is just His tender mercy, completely beyond what we could have ever earned or deserved.

So far, this sweet little baby has lived up to his name. He's pretty tough for a little guy and full of vigor, so a manly name with "rock" in it suits him. Also, he's been a really great sleeper (something Stephen definitely wasn't)... so that's a major mercy for me!

Stephen has been an excellent big brother to his protege in the munchie arts. He's learning to comfort him with "Don't cry Little Brother" at night and he always lets me know when Rockam is crying. They're sharing a room and so far, the relationship is amicable... though I'm expecting there will be nights when they take turns waking each other up. :-)

More munchies come

From Joe: February 6, 2011 was the most incredible day. Sorry Super Bowl, you take a backseat this time. The real highlight was the birth of our second son, Rockam Victor Parrino. He tipped the scales at 7 lbs, 3 oz and stretched 20 inches from hairy crown to wrinkled toes. I will never forget watching Emily press through 17 hours of contractions to deliver this little guy at home. I will forever be thankful to our midwife Rachel who coached Emily through the "I can't go on" moments, to my mother-in-law Mamie who took care of the house and to Brendan and Jennifer Couchman who watched Stephen. God, you are so merciful.