Keeping Up with the Kramers

August 12 - Honeymoon Island, Palm Harbor

We've spent the past two weekends visiting both Florida coasts to enjoy some time with family and take in some sun on the beautiful beaches!

Sam first visited the beach during a visit to Aunt Kath's house in Palm Harbor. We were having lunch at the cafe on the Gulf coast beach of Honeymoon Island when we decided to take Sam down to the water for an impromtu first (saltwater) dip. He was so into the sand and water that we couldn't even get him to look up for a photo!

Learning to be a beach lover

Right before he got knocked over by a wave

About two weeks ago, Sam and I were playing on the floor and I thought I saw something white in his mouth. Sure enough, when I put my pinky on his gum, I felt the sharp edge of a tooth bud! Today, he's up to two tooth buds peeking through his gum line. So exciting!!! They're still very small and Sam isn't quite cooperative enough to allow us to snap a photo of it, but you can definitely feel and see that they are there. He must be doing really well managing the discomfort of teething, since he has hardly fussed at all and doesn't ask for much from us!  He's taking those chompers like a champ!   Although he's putting just about everything he touches into his mouth, he doesn't really like teething rings. We suspect that, even though the cold rings should be soothing, they are just too hard for Sam's liking. His favorite things to gnaw on are the nose of his Mickey Mouse toy and the nipple of his bottles. He had been taking 6 ounces of formula really well, until recently when he began stopping after about 4 ounces to chew on the nipple for a little while.  Because he's messing around, he can sometimes take longer to finish the last 2 ounces of milk than it took to consume the first 4!

Munching on a baby cookie

Speaking of food, so far we have introduced Sam to eating sweet potato, apple, pear, banana, green beans, peas, broccoli, nectarine, squash, prunes, peaches and carrots, in addition to rice cereal and oatmeal. He's also had a taste of ice cream, Nilla wafer, watermelon and the baby cookies from Ella's Kitchen. He loves it all, as long as we keep mixing fruit into his veggies!

Baby bird and Grandma Kramer

We are still making most of our own baby foods at home, and can make and store about two weeks worth of food at a time. We are going to have to get some more storage containers though, as Sam has progressed right into two solid meals a day.  It won't be long before he is up to three.  Look out Harry & Larry's BBQ, here we come!!

At Sam's six month well visit, he weighed in at 18.9 lbs (70th percentile) and 26 3/4". Our pediatrician says that six month olds are the perfect children because they stay where you put them, don't talk back and they eat everything. And we agree! Sam is delightful! He's a happy, energetic boy.... very curious, talkative and has a happy disposition. I use to ask him if he was happy when he was a newborn and hadn't yet figured out how to smile. Now we know he's happy because he gives us lots of smiles every day. He is tons of fun!

Six months old today!

We also celebrated my birthday on July 27. Shawn took me out to the Chef's Table in Downtown Winter Garden to celebrate. If you've never been, please go! The food is incredible! The menu is created based on what's in season, everything is locally sourced and prepared to perfection. They are one of the few places in Orlando to cure their own meats too. We had been hearing great things about this special occasion experience and we were not disappointed. They even have what they call The Tasting Room portion of the restaurant that is more of a bar and tapas experience. It's also fantastic and a perfect spot for a date night! I enjoyed the day very much and getting to spend a romantic evening out with my sweetheart! And I especially enjoyed the dinner leftovers for lunch the next day!

On the weekend of my birthday, we also had Sam's six-month photo shoot with our friend Kristen from Ella Lu Photography, the same photographer who shot his newborn photos. Despite the weather being hot and muggy already by 8:30 am, we had a great time and Sam did very well. We shot the photos in the Downtown Winter Garden area, which has a great small town feel with rustic looking walls, vintage tile fountain, and tree-lined brick streets. We also visited our favorite lakefront park to snap a couple of shots with the beautiful green grass and tall oak trees. We took tons of photos of Sam and even squeezed in a few family shots. Here is our favorite picture from the shoot. You can see the rest of Sam's six month photos here.

Super boyyyy, da-da-da-dat-da-daaaah!

Since the weather had been so warm on the day of our photo shoot, we decided it would be a good time to get Sam into the  swimming pool for his first real dip! So, along with my sisters, brother-in-law and niece, we got into our bathing suits and headed for the community pool. So far, Sam seems to really like being in the pool. He splashed around and enjoyed being pulled through the cool water. We sure hope he enjoys swimming, because he will be learning infant water survival and swimming skills in a month or so!

First time in the pool!

Sam's Olympic rings. Could he be the next Michael Phelps?