6 months

Mercy is 6 months (or was 6 months last month, but I'm late in posting). She is so much more grown up now. She is crying a lot less than she used to, which is a nice break for us, and it's very joyful to see her be more happy. She's very social; if we're out doing errands or in a store and people stop us to talk to Mercy, she usually smiles at them and sticks her tongue out in happiness. It makes my life easier because it's always awkward when people try to talk to a baby and the baby just stares at them or starts crying and the mother has to try to make the person not feel so sheepish by saying something like, "oh, she's just tired."

At 6 months, Mercy:

weighs 17 pounds and 11 oz and is 26.25 inches long. However, about two weeks after her doctor's appointment at which she was weighed, Mercy came down with some sort of stomach bug that gave her terrible diarrhea for a whole week and she ended up losing a whole pound of her weight. Good thing she has extra to spare, but it was so sad hearing that she had lost that much weight.

had her first ear infection. At the same time as her diarrhea episode, Mercy caught some sort of a cold and was very stuffy for a week The cold then led to a ear infection. I had no idea she had an ear infection because she wasn't pulling on her ears or anything. She was just shrieking at night and hated being laid down. I just figured it was being uncomfortable from the diarrhea and the cold (I had called the doctor about her diarrhea and she she said it didn't sound like Mercy was dehydrated, so she would probably get better within a few days). After a few days of Mercy barely sleeping at night and just screaming, I took her to the doctor, and alas, she had an ear infection. After a couple days of antibiotics, Mercy was back to her happy self, thankfully.  But she was so miserable for that week and a half before Christmas.

still loves to eat. She nurses about every three hours during the day. She also eats oatmeal and some applesauce or some pureed vegetables for dinner. At the end of her 6th month, we increased her solid food intake to twice a day. Her favorite food is applesauce. She also likes green beans, squash, peaches, pears, and spinach. She hates sweet potatoes and peas (like her mama). When she eats her solid foods, she is so impatient in waiting for her next bite. She often breathes really heavily in anticipation. Here she is with a spinach mustache:

loves to play with tags, any type. If you give her a stuffed animal or piece of clothing, she will inevitably find the tag and focus on that, running the tag through her hands and, of course, sucking on it. She finds them so fascinating.

has discovered a love for helium balloons. My mom bought her one that said, "Get well soon" when she was sick, and as soon as she saw it, her face lit up. She loves holding the ribbon and pulling it down to get the balloon to move. And if you give her the balloon to hold by the end part (not the string), she'll shake it vigorously and bop herself in the head with it. If she is shaking the balloon, she'll always close her eyes before she starts because she knows she's going to hit herself.

loves to be in her exersaucer. She loves to bounce in it and play with all the toys.

sits without support. I think her favorite position, though, is standing. She likes to pretend she's a big girl. She can stand by herself if she's holding onto the couch.

has become more independent in playtime. She will sit contentedly playing with some toys in front of her for a good chunk of time at this point, which is nice because trying to entertain a baby for her whole awake time is really challenging! She still gets bored relatively easy, so I'm constantly trying to think of fun things to do with her, but she is a bit better.

has chapped skin under her mouth because she is constantly sticking her tongue out. Her tongue is out so often that I wonder if her jaw hurts from being open so frequently.

loves when Tim comes home from work. As soon as she sees him, she puts on a huge grin and her eyes shine. She rarely does this for me because I'm with her 24/7, but once in a while, she will smile like this for me when she wakes up in the morning and I can really tell that she loves me from the way her eyes sparkle. It's a wonderful feeling.

laughs a lot. Things that her make her laugh are peekaboo, kissing her belly, slapping her five or her feet, and playing trampoline on our couch cushion.

enjoys looking at herself in the mirror. As soon as you put a mirror in front of her, her eyes get huge and her smile is so big. She just loves herself!

generally doesn't like to be put in her car seat (she arches her back and tries to get out). She also loathes getting dressed for the most part.

seems to be pretty stubborn. If you take something from her, she flips out. She also becomes very frustrated when she can't manipulate something the way she wants to. For example, we can't really read her books because she just tries to grab the book and put it in her mouth, and if she can't eat the book, she starts screaming. So we can't read to her, which is kind of sad. Hopefully she'll enjoy stories when she's older, but I sometimes I wish she would be a bit more laid back about these types of things.

still loves to be outside and seems to love the cold air. As soon as we go outside in the cold, she opens her mouth wide and sticks her tongue out, as if she's trying to catch the breeze with it.

has been making some more complex vocalizations. She says "bawawawawa" and "babababa." She also loves to open her mouth as wide as she can, put her eyebrows up like she's surprised and yell "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh." It's a happy sound, not the "ahh" people yell when scared or something. This is how she looks when she says it:

Here are some other photos of sweet Mercy: