My sweet baby girl is 6 months old, and I can’t believe it. It feels like just yesterday I could feel her kicking (and hiccuping) in my belly.

6 months; the age I tell my clients I love so much. It is an age filled with smiles, laughter, babbling, exploration. I adore watching the world reflect in her eyes; as I’m rushing around the house cleaning up after a 4 year old or preparing meals I realize it is these simple, mundane moments that she is soaking in for the first time with such wonder.

Her smiles and laughter are so contagious. When anyone asks me about having two children, my favorite part would be watching the sweet bond that has formed between her and her big brother. He is her idol, constantly on the go, constantly smiling at her, sharing laughs. He is the person she looks for first thing in the morning, the ONLY person to get her to laugh her deep belly laugh that echoes throughout our house. They are two sweet little peas in a pod.

She has begun to move around the floor, motivated by all the cool trucks and cars my son zooms along the carpet. She is only 6 months, yet she wants to be with him, doing what he is doing, already, and I love watching those moments unfold.

On a personal, motherhood level this age is a milestone for me. When my son was her age, we had already begun introducing solid food due to his failure to thrive and gain weight properly. I remember with him feeling like I failed him, stressing for him to put on weight. Obsessed with breastfeeding and giving him the best, perhaps sacrificing my OWN mental health to achieve it.

With this sweet babe, I have taken a step back in that sense, to let whatever happens, happens. To relax a bit, in that sense. From the very beginning she has nursed great, gained weight beautifully, and I am thankful that right now I don’t feel the NEED to begin solids and have chosen to just take it day by day, seeing signs she presents to me. I feel a sense of relief in that. She is a completely different babe than my first, in many ways.

Happy 6 months, my sweet Gem. You are the light during a dark time; our happiness to share with the world to make life so, so much brighter. Thank you for choosing us <3