In honor of Reese’s six month birthday yesterday, we started giving her some solid food (if you consider applesauce a solid). Here’s what she thought of it:

And here she is in another Ruth outift. Adorable.

I enjoy the juxtaposition between mommy and daddy time in the video; in reality I actually do a lot of physical play with her, but it’s still funny.

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Reese turned 6 months old yesterday! Wow! I can’t believe she’s been with us for half a year. She had a doctor’s appointment yesterday with her new doctor (who I liked a lot). She’s 18 lbs. 10 oz (90-95%) and 26 inches long (75%). The doctor says she’s developing really well and seems very healthy. Reese also got three shots, for which she was very, very brave. For her 2 and 4 month shots she screamed and screamed and had a very rough week afterwards, but yesterday she protested a little and was pretty normal for the rest of the day.

We also started her first solid (applesauce) yesterday, and she was hilarious. I’ll post some pictures of the funny faces she made, but she did eat a little and spat very little back out. We’ll move on to some bananas, cereal, sweet potatoes, and squash soon.

Here she is wearing an outfit “Aunt” Ruth Monsma got for her from BabyGap.

Here’s one of Reese showing how well she sits up in my lap (she doesn’t do it on the floor yet because she won’t bend her knees, silly baby).

I regret to say that in order for her to giggle, I have to make the silly sounds. I tried it without making them, but she refused to laugh. Enjoy (but ignore me!) !

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We are about 95% unpacked and settled now. Still no pictures up, but I’m trying to be patient. When our kitchen table comes and we can stop eating off of the card table, it will feel much better. I must say, though, having our old couches certainly does make it feel very homey around here. Reese finally seems to be adjusting to having a full-tim mommy again. The girl’s amazing. It took her a full week and a half to get completely out of whack in her sleeping, and one day to get back. We had some naptime struggles yesterday, but today we’re back on track. What a sweetheart. Her dad has been coaching her on the road to crawling, so hopefully that will develop faster than rolling over! She rolled over again a few days ago, but refuses to anymore. I don’t think she likes it.

Reese loves sucking on her exersaucer toys. This is a little elephant (orange? I know…).

She’s really digging her toes lately. I also have her in a shirt that says “I love (shopping with) my mommy” which is the truth. She never cries while shopping. She loves looking at everything and she loves having everyone talk to her. People here love when I have her in the sling - they think that’s really cute and always come up and talk to us.

Brian was having a little photo shoot with her when she was wearing this adorable red sweatshirt (the matching jeans have red hearts emrboidered into them).

Here she is sucking on those toes. It happens most often while her diaper is off and she shows off all of her little parts to the whole world. Not a great photo opp. She gets all confused when she wears footed sleepers!

We’ve had some fun and done a lot of work since we moved in. Reese has been wonderful. She’s still getting used to it here, but she’s doing great. It’s different having her room so far away, but we’ll make it through.

Here’s a series of photos of the shelves that Brian and his dad built in our TV hole. Didn’t they turn out great?!

We bought our own exersaucer for Reese, she really likes it (particularly sucking on the toys)

We also got her rubber mats since our floors are hardwood.

I finally got her propped up to sitting this morning, and she tolerated it pretty well. She did spend 25 minutes on her tummy this afternoon, too!

And we’re off! After a little over 8 months living here at the Vale (that’s East Coast Lyman for Mom & Dad’s place), we’re packing up and heading even further south. While I never imagined myself as a southerner (and I don’t suppose I ever really will be - ask Courtney about this), I couldn’t be more pleased to be a resident of North Carolina.

While we are very excited to finally be moving into our new home, I can’t help but reflect on what a wonderful season it’s been here since moving from Philadelphia. While I never would have planned it this way, I am so glad to have had the chance to bring Reese home to a household FULL of family, with grandma and grandpa, aunts and uncles and cousins always being near at hand. I only wish that Reese could have had as much access to Meg’s family as well, but we are looking forward to a visit from Janet and Kevin this summer.

My dad keeps mentioning (with some sadness) that even though this has been such a great time for the family, Reese won’t remember any of it. But what I keep reminding him is that everyone has played such a huge part in helping Reese to be the wonderful, content, secure, and sweet little girl that she is. Maybe it’s been crowded at times, but there has certainly been no shortage of love for our little girl, and for that we’ll always be grateful.

Here’s another great picture of Reese and her pal Aiden. Reese is sporting her new pink wetsuit. Nothing like a baby in neoprene.

Reese will laugh when I tickle her or toss her in the air, but she loves it the best when Brian or his dad tickle her with their wiskers.

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I’m looking forward to being home with my baby every day. In the meantime, here are some cute pictures of her.

Brian dressed her this morning in this hilarious outfit. I particularly like the popped collar. Bad to the bone, don’t you think?

Reese is getting better at sitting up, though you wouldn’t know it from this picture. I’m sure she’ll be sitting up in the next several weeks.

She has some 6-9 months outfits that might be too warm while she can wear them. Beth got her this cute outfit with these pants and a little jacket, but with 90 degree weather, all that work are the pants!

She’s just started pushing up with her arms on her belly. She’s getting so strong!