solids.

we are already here.
well, actually we've been here for almost two months now.
gracie is eating solids!
we're slowly introducing more and more and she's doing so good!

so far she's tried sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, green beans, peas, rice cereal, prunes, applesauce, pears, peaches, bananas, chicken, turkey, prunes, pumpkin and maybe one or two more that i can't remember. i've even tried giving her some little puffs to see how well she can pick them up and get them to her mouth. she's not too bad at picking them up but not so great at figuring out how to get them in her mouth yet. and when i tried putting one in her mouth so she could see what it was, she made some awesome disgusted faces until it fell out of her mouth. so i'm thinking she's not quite ready for those yet :)

she loves fruits mixed with her cereal for breakfast.
the meats and veggies are growing on her still, i think. heck, veggies are still growing on me.

she's getting the hang of eating and for the most part gets her tongue out of the way so i can actually put the spoon in her mouth. it's kind of just hilarious. i'll say open! and hold the spoon up and she'll open her mouth and move her tongue around, waiting for the spoon.

she just gives us this look like i'm not sure what that was but i think i want to try more.
the cutest!

six months.

baby girl is halfway to her first birthday.

i absolutely love watching her grow and learn and seeing more and more of her personality.

i absolutely hate the thought of her getting older and not being my baby anymore.

*eating more and more foods every day (and liking most all of them!)

*loves watching the Zo pup and tries to grab her tail and play tug-o-war with her rope

*just this past week or so she's been sitting up by herself like a pro

*her ankles and wrists have some seriously deep dimply chubby skin and i love it

*she laughs and squaks and yells and giggles

*she loves playing with toys - her ruffly butterfly is her favorite

*she seems to be seriously teething now (something her momma is not ready for); though none have popped through yet

*she loves to find her toes and pull them up to suck on them whenever she can

*she throws her tiny arms around your neck and gives hugs. or at least her best version of a hug. and buries her face in your shoulder/neck. sweetest thing ever

*she is SO SWEET

15 lbs (33%)
24.5" tall (12%)

happy 6 months, my sweet gracie jane.

a perfect mommy moment.

 

since Sunday, Gracie has not been feeling her best. She had a terribly runny nose come out of nowhere, a weird little cough, a red bum (she very rarely has any sort of diaper rash), and she was just generally louder and whinier than usual. I thought about all these symptoms and can't help but feel like she might be teething. Which I am not ready for. I wouldn't mind if her teeth didn't come until 10 months honestly! I might be wrong, but they say teeth can take a good while to come in and she's been a drool case for a couple months now.

Anyway the last couple mornings she's woken up stuffy and congested as ever and I just feel terrible. She hasn't been sleeping well and she's just a mess! And I've just been feeling so inadequate as a new mom lately. So to try to help her, I decided to stick her in the bathroom and turn on the hot shower to steam the room up and hopefully just clear her up a bit. Well she wasn't thrilled with that and wasn't calming down like I had hoped. So, after sitting on the bathroom floor for a few minutes and listening to her be upset, as weird as it may sound, I decided to just pick her up and get in the shower with her.

 

One of the best decisions I could've made. She wasn't very happy at first but she calmed down after a couple minutes and was just completely quiet. I rocked her, talked to her, rubbed her back. Even nursed her. She was sleepy and comfy and warm and her eye lids were heavy. But she just stared up at me. She let me cuddle her the whole time, even when she wasn't nursing. She never does that anymore. She just stared and put her pudgy little fingers up to my face. It was totally quiet except for the sound of the water. It was one of the sweetest, most tender moments we have ever had.

Before I knew it, tears started filling my eyes. I knew that choice to pick her up and take her in the shower with me was exactly what we both needed today. I just felt an overwhelming feeling of love for her. It was just such a perfect moment and I know I will never forget it.

*pictures compliments of torrie lynn