T minus 3 days until 6 months!

Yet another FEW months has passed us by! Kader had his 4 month old well child check on 7/15. His stats from that visit: weight: 13lbs 13oz (20th %), length 25inches (50th%) and head circumference was 25th percentile. He's a long slender little guy!! (Since birth everyone says that he came out looking like a little man, much older and mature than his age!)

We continue to enjoy the summer, although not much of that has been doing outside things because it's been SO hot! A few weekends ago we went to Lake Gaston with 3 other couples and their children. We had a great time. There were four children: two 4 year olds, 1 almost 4 year old, a two and a half year old and a 10 month old and then Kader. It was so fun watching the older kids interact with each other. They all did great on the boat and Sawyer (one of the 4 year olds) wakeboarded with his daddy, Scott!! I look forward to watching Kader play with his friends like that, but definitely do not want to rush things!

Kader met his PaPa Giaccone for the first time when he and Mary Jo came down from 7/24-7/27, while he was home on leave from Korea. We all had a great trip and I was so glad for my Dad to finally meet his first grandchild! It was a visit well overdue.

On 7/17, Kader had his first try of rice cereal and LOVED it! I thought he would probably spit and sputter the mixture all over the place, but he did great! He talked the whole time and if you didn't give it to him fast enough he would protest (he continues to do this)! His bowel patterns have regulated since we started the cereal which I am grateful for (he's pooping 3-4 times a day compared to 2 or 3 times a week)! Never thought I would be happy about changing poopy diapers! Over the past few weeks we've introduced peas, carrots, zucchini and bananas. I'm proud to say that I made "homemade" baby food (peas, zucchini, squash) which Kader enjoys! I'm trying to stick with organic foods for the first year, and well see how things go after that.

Over the past few weeks Kirk and I have talked about possibly putting Kader into a more "scheduled" daycare situation so Kirk can work a little more consistently. We have been so fortunate to find Tori, a friend of a friend. She lives about 5 minutes from our house and is on my way to work at MinuteClinic. She has 2 girls, Aiden-10 and Sarah 3 1/2. She's nannied for over 12 years and comes highly recommended. She's kept Kader two days so far and she loves him (who wouldn't?!?). I am a lot more comfortable leaving him with her than I thought I would be. She's really great with him.

GiGi continues to keep Kader from time to time when Kirk needs to work and we've recently started using a teenager in the neighborhood to occasionally watch Kader in the afternoons while Kirk works in the yard or will be close by. I'm not comfortable enough yet to let her keep him when me or Kirk will not be around. That's what GiGi and Auntie Ray are for! Kirk recently took a concealed carry class while I was working. Our friend Ashlee watched Kader while Kirk and her husband, Jeff were at class. She was able to keep track of Kader and her little girl, Lily who is only a day older than Kader. She even had extra time to take pictures! What a super woman!

Kader continues to refine the skills that he's already got and hasn't added too many tricks up his sleeve. We recently got him an exersaucer and a johnny jumper. He LOVES both of these contraptions. We add a few extra toys to the playing surface of the exersaucer plays with them and throws them on the floor! He is so cute bouncing in his jumper. He has started to put associations together. He knows what his paci is for. If you hold it in your mouth, he leans to your mouth to put it in his mouth. On a few occasions he's been able to take his paci out of his mouth and put it back into his mouth. This morning I woke up to Kader sleeping on his belly. He must have flipped between 4am (when I got up to use the bathroom) and 630am when he woke up to eat. Over the last week he has also gotten mobile in his crib, so he'll be out of his "nest" and at the bottle of the crib. The first time I woke up and he wasn't on the monitor I was a little anxious!! This past weekend Kader's Auntie Allie and Ray as well as his GiGi came up to visit. He had a blast and enjoyed all the attention! He continues to take Prilosec for his reflux and anticipates the syringe for his medication. He also seems to know that after he takes the medication he will also be fed. It's so amazing how they continuously develop and change. Of note, Kader continues to have random low-grade temps, ranging from 99.2-100.4. His temp has been elevated more often than not. He has no other symptoms and acts fine. Just very odd that his temp is elevated for no reason! Kader's temp was 99.5 for his last well child check and the pediatrician said to keep an eye on his temps and if they continued to be elevated to bring him back in. I haven't brought him back yet, because he continues to act fine and they haven't been higher than 100.4 for more than a day or two.

In less than 2 weeks Kirk and I will be going on a 7 day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean with 3 other couples. I am looking forward to the cruise because I've never been on one before but I am very anxious about leaving Kader for SEVEN days!! His GiGi and Grammy Jo will be taking care of him while we are gone so I know he is in great hands. I'm hoping that we can Skype while we are gone and that will ease some of the anxiety. This will probably be one of the last vacations Kirk and I take for a long time, so I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to be able to vacation with friends when it was available. Kader has his 6 month well child check on 9/9, two days before we leave for the cruise. Maybe I will be able to post an update before we leave (don't count on it)! I'm hoping to get some pictures up before he turns 1!!

Love to all!
Kirk, Tiffany and Kader