Everybody Duck!

As you can see Mercy has been working the delts and biceps extensively. Can you see the look of fear in the yellow ducky's eyes? She does have German ancestry on my side so I have taken to calling her Der Poopenstein. Ya, das est gud der poopenstein! We ran into a friend from church at the uptown wednesday night festival who prayed for us as a family.  His prayer was a big reminder that we have the charge of raising her to understand the things of the Lord. She did extremely well walking around the festival.  I carried her in the strap on carrier which seemed to keep her content more than the stroller.  It was really fun to be so festive together as a family with a happy child. Whenever I walk around with her everyone looks at us. When I say "us" of course I mean her. I can't blame them.

How to Dress a Baby

I found out it works better to put the collar on from the back of the neck first otherwise you get astronaut baby. I decided to walk her to church in the stroller this morning which worked fine for about half of the trip and then I had to take her out and carry her to keep her from fussing. I made it with a little extra effort and handed her off to the nursery ladies but I missed playing the first song. Sorry worship band but baby Mercy had other ideas.

Mercy has some of her best vocal practice during tummy time and when she is crying.  We're still waiting for her first giggle. We commented again today that the happy times make it all worth it.

Pink Lady

Our neighbor remarked yesterday that Mercy is a changed baby. This is one of the neighbors that already has grown children and has taken Mercy during some of her earlier crying fits to try and put her to sleep. She is definitely growing up. Yesterday towards the end of her ride in the stroller around the block she was putting all her effort in to trying to sit up on her own. I couldn't help but flash forward to her moving around on her own and playing with toys and moving away to college.  Okay maybe not that far forward.

Goo Goo Gaa Gaa

There was a time when we considered naming our baby Goo Goo Gaa Gaa since we named our cat Mew. It must run in the family. I heard through the rumor mill that I was almost named Geronimo. I may have been named Christopher but I think there is some Geronimo in me for sure. Here is one of Mercy's latest beauty shots.  We thought she might grow up to be a model but I fear she will have my ominous mono-brow. Maybe not.  She sure does kill us everyday with the looks she gives us (that's a good thing).

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.