Smiley

I have to say that Mercy is more smiles than cries lately.  Every now and then when I need to distract her I walk into the bathroom and stand in front of the mirror.  She slowly looks up and sees us in the mirror and gives me a giant mouth open smile and then smiles at her own reflection for a few seconds.  Good times.

Welcome To My Weekend

On Wednesday of this week we took Mercy on another exciting field trip out to see friends and family in Riverside County. We finally got to meet our friends Kasey and Lindsay's 6 month old son Kalin.  It was great to see the Martin family too since we haven't seen them since Kasey's wedding two years ago.  It is kind of a strange feeling to be in your buddy's wedding and then see him two years later and you both suddenly have little ones in your arms.  Who woulda thunkit? We also went to the Sandoval Grandparents' house where my brother's family showed up too. Mercy learned how to play attack baby with cousin Ben, and Aunt Sylvia proved she still has the baby holding touch. My mom had pulled out some photo albums that had pictures of me at about the same age as Mercy is now. We all crowded around them trying to compare some of my baby pictures to Mercy. I was super chubby and all I remember from our house when I was really small is the carpet and the wallpaper. Another highlight was Mercy's two successful potty times on the toilet. We have been employing an infant potty training method for the past couple of weeks with excellent results.

So now it is the fourth of July weekend and we are going to make a big list of things we've been trying to get done but end up like the picture above instead. I think this picture was taken during the NBA Finals and apparently the Lakers and I had about the same game plan. We are house sitting for some neighbors for a few days so I'll be having some fun walks with Mercy in the stroller and the neighbors' dog in tow.

Chubby Smiles

Mercy sure is a cutie!  We really enjoy her "happy time" after eating.  She has been working on some new sounds like a nice gutteral grrrrrr and a sing-songy aaaaaa. She also has become aware of her own hands by sight now rather than just by shoving them into her face. It's fun to watch her try and track her hand and eat it at the same time.  Some days it takes a lot to keep up with her but I keep reminding myself that raising her as best as we can is worth it.

Road Trip

Mercy Update:

So we took our big trip with Mercy out to Murrieta, Menifee, and Lake Elsinore.  She did extremely well.  She slept in the car all the way there and all the way back which neutralized our main concern. We really enjoyed introducing Mercy to so many of her cousins, aunts and uncles, and even great aunts and uncles. The whole trip made me think a lot since we were going to graduation parties while we were just starting with our first little one. 

On the home front, Mercy has been showing off her dexterity. As you can see, she prefers to make the letter T before bonking herself in the head and face while trying to shove her hand in her mouth.  She eventually gets it in there.

Mercy's Future Earliest Memories of Family Visits

I think I need to write down the family visits that Mercy has had during these first two months lest I forget when I am old and senile.

At the beginning we had Sara's mom, Grandma Joan (Kiely) visiting for about three weeks while they were RVing in the area.  I believe I called her about five hours after Mercy was born when I realized how tired we both were and how much work we had ahead of us. She helped a lot with everything but most importantly with holding the baby. 

 

My parents, Grandma Sue and Grandpa Frank (Sandoval) came to visit right away as well.  They happened to be in Dana Point at the time so they weren't too far from us. They have been coming once a week since then and helping with lots of things, most importatnly, holding Mercy while she naps.

This weekend, Grandpa Toby and Uncle Travis (Villines), Sara's dad and brother were able to fly down and hang out with Mercy and us. It was a great visit with lots of happy baby times. Hopefully we will get to travel up to the Northwest before too long to show her off to even more relatives on that side of the family.

 

Next weekend we hope to introduce Mercy to a lot of her relatives on my side when we go to visit for two of her cousins' graduation parties. It will be our longest drive with her ever so it should make for a memorable time. I have to add two more things here just for the sake of posterity, her birth announcements.

 

2 Month Checkup Results

11 pounds and 3 ounces of pure joy (although it tends to be that variety that inolves frequent crying and fussiness).

The pediatrician said everything looks good.  She is 22 and a half inches and healthy.

Ma and Pa

I swear she was smiling just before I went to grab the camera!

She took a nap in my arms tonight for about 4 1/2 hours.  She has been fussy and not sleeping well for a couple of days so I just kept sitting there in the same position to let her sleep as much as possible.  I started going stir crazy after a while but it was worth it.

Mainly she just eats and cries these days.  But when she is alert and in a good mood she likes it if I dance and sing like Reb Tevya from Fiddler on the Roof, "If I had a baby, da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da, all day long she'd cry and carry on, If I had a baby girl..."