on solid ground

Someone please tell me that time doesn't actually go faster with each subsequent child. Because really, I swear my little Pear was a newborn yesterday, and here we are now, teetering on the verge of 6 months. SIX! I do not know when that happened and I have loved it all so much, but time is just slipping through my fingers and I can't believe how fast her first 1/2 year of life has gone. There are so many priceless moments in these stages, so many things I want to remember. She is the rolliest, chubbiest little ball of girly squish I have ever seen. I can't go anywhere without people commenting about those two things-- #1) her feminine, pretty features and face, and #2) how chubby she is. I get the comment, "She sure isn't starving, is she?" all of the time. Really, I am not sure a rounder baby exists.

Speaking of chub, this age brings along with it the rite of passage of starting solid foods. We have slowly dipped our toes (or tongues, I suppose) into this new pool over the past couple of months, and it is becoming more and more apparent that this little baby does NOT want to be left out of the culinary delights that the rest of her family gets to enjoy. She reaches for everything we eat and gets all squealy and offended if she is not offered a fair portion. It is pretty entertaining.

We started out with rice cereal, of course, about a month ago. I came home from a run on a Saturday morning to John and George making some pancakes for breakfast. I had purchased some rice cereal about a month prior, thinking I would introduce it to her around 4 months, but just never did. So that Saturday, with the boys making us breakfast, I decided it was time for us girls to get busy giving Pearlie her first taste of solids.

Of course as soon as Georgie heard what was going down he had to be front and center, wanting to give his little sister her first bite. This picture is blurry, but I love it because it is the only one we got of baby girl anticipating her first taste from her brother's eager hand.


Love Georgie's hand holding the spoon and Pearl's anxious little tongue.


She wasn't totally sure she was a fan at first. (Completely unrelated, but on my mind: I swear I don't look quite this freckly in person. I was shocked when I saw this!)


But she got a few good bites and swallows in. It was a good start, for sure.


I took these pictures of Pearl on my lap after she ate, not realizing how much I would love the picture of our family life feeling that I would get when I look at them. I love so much that you can see George in the background on the counter with his daddy's cowboy hat on, bruises covering his legs, the mess of magnetic letters peppering our fridge, and John over by the stove cooking breakfast. Just a little glimpse of a Saturday morning in our house, and that makes me happy.


A few weeks later (can you tell that I am not really in any hurry to push solid foods?) she got some more yummy goodness. This time in the form of applesauce, and she was definitely a fan, but she might have liked holding and chewing on the spoon as much as the actual food.


And then finally, this last week I let her try a little rice rusk. This was a hit. She loved being able to hold it in her hands and gnaw at it with those wet little gums. Oh, is there anything not to love about a six month old baby?!


Her tongue kills me.


Love the way she lights up and laughs at her funny brother. Also love that her thighs are so chubby that she could arch and arch all she wants, but she will never be able to squeeze them out of her Bumbo.


After she was sufficiently covered in rice goo she got to hop in the tub with her brother. These pictures are just fresh out of my camera, totally unedited, and I adore everything about them because it is just a pure image of my precious children. Seeing these two together makes me want to have about 10 more kids just to give them more of each other. Seriously.