Swimming lessons & another chomper

Hello!

Jack and I have started baby swim classes. We had our second lesson on Saturday. So far he's not liking them too much. He cried the entire first class with a little screaming here and there. He didn't like going underwater or floating on his back. I didn't like the singing. You would think with being a teacher I would be over the public singing, but I'm not. So far he is the only baby that has cried. All the other kids go with the flow; splash around, swim when their supposed to and are excited to jump back into the water. I'm hoping he will get used to it soon. So far it has been an experience. We're going to try and bring his favorite bath toy, the pink squirting starfish this weekend to make it a little bit more comfortable for him.

More teeth... Yes after a couple long days and nights of a very fussy baby the darn thing came through. He didn't want to eat, he cried for no reason, wanted to be held, wanted to be put down, wanted to sit in the high chair, wanted to get out. The only thing that made him happy was Kona. We woke up on Thursday and there it was, his second bottom tooth. The first one is growing in and he's starting to look like such a big boy. I'll try to take a picture of them, it's hard since he doesn't stay still for long.

Thats all with us right now! We'll fill you in after his Dr. appt on Thursday.

Monica

Most recent Baby Jack Pics

Here are some pictures of Jack from this morning. I tried to get one with the tooth, but it didn't work. He was definitely hamming it up for the camera. He just started making these new faces on Friday where he closes his eyes and smiles big. I got it a bit in some of these.
I forgot to tell you he is waving hi and bye and claps when you say YAY! He claps for himself a lot when he thinks he's done something good. We're working on mama b/c he's got the dadada down really good. He just doesn't use it towards Jack, its part of his rambling.
Look how big he is, 8 1/2 months!

There's a tooth!

That's right! We discovered last week that Jack has his first tooth. It is the lower right if you are looking at him. I only noticed it b/c I stuck my finger in his mouth and it hurt when he bit down. He didn't seem to be fussy at all with this one so we got off lucky. It would be great if all of them came in this easy.
He's at the age where he supposed to be trying different finger foods. You would think Cheerios are a good one to start with. He hates them! He likes playing with them and feeding them to the dog. It amazes me how smart they can be at such a young age. He'll put his hands over the o's so they'll stick to his hand, lean over the side of his high chair and move his fingers till they fall off. When they're all off and Kona has eaten them he'll go back and do it again. I try and put them in his mouth and he seals his lips shut. I've gotten a couple in during breakfast and he uses his tongue to push them right back out.
Baby proofing!!! Now that we are crawling full speed, crawling up and down our step with no problem and now starting to stand things have got to move. I feel like I need to put padding on every corner and edge. He really likes the cable box and surround sound b/c of all the pretty lights. He will occasionally turn off the volume to the tv and not even know what he's doing. He opens the dvd player and reaches in for all the dvds. That's one of his favorites. Baby gates are up everywhere! Kona gets so confused with all of them, she doesn't know where to go. Both her and the baby will be standing at one crying.
We're having a lot of fun, he's keeping us on our toes. At times it is a race to get him to bed so we can go to bed too. When was the last time you went to bed at 8pm 3 nights in a row?

We're Crawling!!!

Yes that is right, Baby Jack is crawling! He's still working on getting it to look like what you would typically call crawling. Right now he looks like a seal moving across the sand. He's gotten really fast at it too. On Tuesday he started to get the knee and cross hand crawl down a little. He gets frustrated b/c he can't go as fast and returns to the seal crawl.

For Christmas we got a little video camera to document all of his upcoming milestones. For those of you that know me well, this is a big accomplishment. I extremely DISLIKE being on camera! (We don't say hate in my class) I don't like hearing my voice so I stay away from them. Of course while I was video taping Jack crawl after Kona he managed to get his first bruise, smacked his cheek against the coffee table. You guys wont be seeing that video. As soon as I figure out how the get the videos on the computer I will be getting them on. (baby steps here)

Since I was home for a couple of weeks we were able to spend a lot of time together. It is amazing how much every month gets better and better. Each month I keep saying I love this age the best so far, but I really have only experienced 7 months. I know the time ahead is going to keep getting better.

Jack has such a cute personality. He loves to laugh, and pretty much anything makes him laugh. I look at him while he's eating and he cracks up. Kona walks by and he thinks it's hilarious. She licks his hands and face and he is rolling over on the ground. Rissa got him to laugh so much one night just by rolling an apple on the counter, and he was rolling it back. I will definitely have to get that video on for you.

Aunt Casey took some amazing pictures of us as a family and a couple of our little man on his own. If you saw our X-mas card you have seen one of her many great works of art. Here are a couple more.

Enjoy the pics! We love you!

6 Months

Hey all! Sorry I have no new pictures to add this time, I'm not at home where all of them are. Once I get a chance to breath I will download them and add them to the blog.

Baby Jack turned 6 months today! I can hardly believe it. The time has gone by so fast. Those of you who have seen him recently know how cute he is. With all of the attention that he is getting these days he has turned into quite the ham. He loves it when some people talk to him and hates it when others do. He starts to cry in an instant, his face turns bright red, his eyes fill with tears, his mouth opens wide, and the noise starts to come. Or if he likes you he gets the biggest grin on his face.

He went to the Dr. today for his 6 month check-up. He is now 26 1/2 inches long and 15 1/2 pounds. If you look at him he's got roles and chunky thighs, he hardly looks skinny. The Dr. says he is 1 1/2 pounds under where he should be. Looks like I need to start feeding him more rice cereal and baby food.

Well I've got to go feed him. I'll try to add more later!

Monica

5 MONTHS!!!!!

Jack is 5 months tomorrow. In the past 2 weeks he has reached many milestones and does so many new things. He is eating rice cereal and sweet potatoes. He enjoys it when they are mixed together, thinks that the rice is plain by itself and puckers his lips when the potatoes are on their own. Last night we made the biggest mess! There were sweet potatoes in his eye, eyebrows, on his fingers, all over his hands and on my face. How, I don't know! On Thursday he was so tired he fell asleep in his high chair, it was the cutest thing.

He has mastered the "raspberries" and is spitting everywhere. When I try to get him to sleep for his naps and lay with him, rubbing his back and singing he just lays there spitting all over my face. Jack thinks its pretty funny.

He can hold on to anything and everything he gets his hands on. It can be the phone, papers, toys, clothes, skin on your face, and lips! Last night he had a good hold on my hair which he ripped out. I might be bald in the back soon.

He rolls over from his belly to his back and back and forth. He scootches along on his belly and kicks his legs back and in the air like he's trying to crawl. I have a feeling before long we will be chasing him around the house. It's exciting, but happening way too fast.

Friday night was a big night for us. He finally spent the night in his crib. Jack and I had been talking about it and decided it needed to happen soon. He was getting too big for the bassinet and now that he can role over it made me nervous how much he could get it to rock when he moved. We gave ourselves a week to get ready for it mentally. Finally on Friday we set up the monitor, and put him in the crib for the night. We layed their watching him from our bed watching to see if he was moving, crying or anything to give us a reason to bring him back. He had a great nights sleep and woke up at 4:30 am. which is late for him. I couldn't believe how well the first night went. I was hoping that he was going to be sleeping longer now that he was in his own bed, but so far it hasn't happened.

Kona is great with him and such a good protector. He was sleeping in his stroller one day and she wouldn't leave his side until he was awake. Their buddies now, he watches her walk around the room and sometimes won't take his eyes off of her.

At his last check up he was almost 14lbs. so I'm sure he's hit the 15 lb. mark by now. His first Halloween is coming soon and he has some cute costumes. We've taken some pictures in his Jack-o-lantern costume, get it "Jack" - o - lantern?

We love you!

The Raders

4 Months

Baby Jack is now 4 months old. He is the cutest little guy and usually very happy. I swear if he could walk now he would. My little man wants to stand ALL the time and is so interested in looking at everything. He no longer wants to lay down and is always trying to sit up. It looks like he is doing little baby sit-ups. He hasn't quite figured out how to rollover all the way but likes to practice during diaper changing time.
He is having a good time with his Grandmas during the day and is being spoiled rotten I'm sure. He decided he was going to start giggling the other day and hasn't stopped. Kona is very funny or funny looking b/c he likes to giggle when she is around him.
At his 4 month appointment he weighed 13 lbs. 13 oz. and was 24 1/2 in. long. He's growing like he should and right in the center of all the averages. The shots of course made him cry and very cranky that night. I wish we didn't have to give them to him.
Baby Jack is very observant and watches everybody who walks by him. His neck is so strong now so he is able to turn his head and follow things. He loves mirrors and looking at himself. He doesn't know that it's himself yet, but he really likes what he sees. His eyes get really big, he starts bobbing his head and he starts to babble.
We are playing with all of his toys full speed now. Anything that plays music or lights up are his favorite. He has started to play in his exersaucer, but can't sit straight up for very long. He starts to get really mad because he leans forward and gets an arm stuck in the leg hole. I always know when the arm is stuck b/c he has this awful cry that I have never heard before (it kind of makes me laugh).
I will try my best to keep updating this, I was bad at it before and now that work has started I'm even worse. I'll post new pictures later!
Love you all,
The Rader Family