One of my Clemson friends posted a photo of her little boy earlier this week saying they weren’t sure how they were going to make it 3 months, but here they are celebrating their son’s 3rd birthday!  And part of me feels that same way with Catherine.  Those first few weeks and moths feel like a blur, but somehow we’ve made it past the 6 month mark already.  And as difficult as some days are, I would not trade any of them for anything in the world.

I love looking at all of these month to month photos together because it just makes it more obvious how much she’s grown!  And it also reminds me how much of a baby/children photographer I am not ;-)

With each of these above photos, I’ve taken several others because I want to remember her little milestones, her sweet developing personality, the “looks” that she’s already giving me, and even the mundane day to day stuff that goes on.  My biggest fear is that she’ll grow up to hate having her photo taken, that each time mom brings out “the big camera” she throws a fit or runs the other direction.  So, I don’t have it out every day, that’s what my iPhone is for!

Catherine’s biggest milestone this past month has been trying solid foods for the first time!  We definitely pulled out all the big guns for her first taste of sweet potatoes, including Ben’s camera to capture it all on video.  7 minutes isn’t too much footage of your baby eating for the first time, right? ;-)

She’s sitting up a lot more, but is still a little wobbly on her own.  She went to the pool and the ocean for the first time this past week (and fell asleep while in our arms at the beach!).  She is very serious when inspecting a toy or book, but her face lights up with a smile when we join her in her play.  Crossfit keeps her quite entertained when I go several times a week.  I think she just loves watching the constant movement around her… and of course she loves the attention everyone gives her too!  They all love her sweet smile as much as Ben and I do!

She’s mastered tummy time and lifting her head up, but it’s still not her favorite thing to do.  Although sleeping on her tummy is!  She starts out on her back, will generally fall asleep on her side, and at some point end up on her tummy for the night.  She knows HOW to roll back over on her back, but I’ve only seen her do it a couple of times.

She’s also found her thumb!!  And even though I tried really hard to get her to take a paci instead, it’s probably the cutest thing I’ve ever seen when she has her thumb in her mouth.  She usually just sucks on her thumb when she’s tired so hopefully she’ll keep that trend going.  Although we’ve already found out that as soon as we get used to one thing and think we have her figured out, things change!

This picture cracks me up!  I promise she wasn’t in time-out… she’d been on her tummy longer than she would have liked but I really wanted a photo of her sitting up, so the corner of her crib worked the best.  Even when she’s sad, she’s really cute!

She loves her little toys and being able to figure them out, mostly by sticking them in her mouth.  Her latest thing has been playing with the tags on things.  If a toy has tags attached, chances are she’s going to find those to be the most entertaining and tasty thing she can find!

One of my best friends said the other day that moms in India always put spices in their baby’s foods and it made me wonder why we don’t do that over here.  When we did Whole30 a couple of years ago, I became more bold with trying spices and it’s amazing the difference they make!  I love it.  So, I tried mixing some squash and sweet potatoes together for her and adding some cinnamon and she ate.it.up.

But do you know what the most fun part is?  Watching this man with his baby girl.  He loves her so much and it makes my heart swell with joy to see their relationship growing already.  I can’t wait until she realizes how much she loves him too!

We are so thankful that she’s already a good eater (and we’re praying she stays that way!), and she’s also done really well with sleeping (so far).  I know all of that could change tomorrow so I’m soaking these things up while I can!

I think we’ve all grown more than we’d expected in the past 6 months.  I just can’t believe that we’re already half way to her first birthday.  I have no idea where the time has gone because all of it feels like a blur.  Thankfully, God has been gracious and given us more strength than we could have gotten on our own.