A few weeks ago, the boys and I joined Kaden's speech pathologist and some of her friends to go pick blueberries. There is a place here in Chapin where you pick your own berries. I never thought of doing anything like that before, but I'll tell you, it is good, cheap fun! Kaden had a ball picking berries (and eating them!), and it was so nice to be around other kids and moms. We are definitely going to investigate some other "pick-your-own" farms later this year for pumpkins!
Not long after that, we went on our second beach trip to Folly Beach. Our family went with my parents, sister, and nephew. We had such a good time! The stretch of beach where our house was located stayed pretty empty the whole week, so we usually had the whole beach to ourselves. The weather was awesome and we just had a relaxing week. Since Folly is so close to Charleston we got the opportunity to check out the Charleston Aquarium. Kaden really enjoyed that. We also got to visit the outlet mall a few times (I enjoyed that!). This was the first extended beach trip we've ever taken to Folly, but I really hope we go back because it was such a nice place! Now we're back home and back to reality :)
Since things are always changing around here, I'll let you in on the most recent change. Patrick has gone back to his job on the ICU at Richland. Wound Care just turned out to be the exact opposite of what we thought it would be. There were definitely a lot of office politics that got in the way of it being enjoyable for Patrick, and he is not the type of person who likes drama. Also, it was a salaried position which means he only got paid for 40 hours of work per week. Unfortunately, the requirements of his job cannot be met in 40 hours, so he usually had to stay late everyday without getting paid (because salaried positions don't get overtime). So, we decided that it would be better for him to go back to the ICU, work days, and actually get paid for any overtime he chooses to work. We are very hopeful that this will be the best option for us!
Both boys are doing fantastic! Kaden is talking A LOT and putting three and four words together to make phrases now. He starts preschool in two weeks - I cannot believe it! We go next week to meet his teacher and check out his classroom, so pray for us that this is an easy transition for him. We took Noah for his 6 month checkup yesterday. He is doing well - the only concern is that he has only gained about 5 ounces since his last checkup in June. He sure doesn't appear to be undernourished, but he went from being in the 75th percentile for weight to only being in the 15th, so we are definitely shoveling in the solid food now! Noah has also recently learned to roll over from back to front and from front to back! He is sitting up better (still using his arms for support), and he is reaching out for toys and putting EVERYTHING in his mouth. We love these boys so much and are so blessed to have such wonderful children!
Thanks for sticking with me to read all this - maybe when Kaden starts preschool I'll have more time to update! Enjoy the pics!
