Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's Part 2

Cousins!
Porch sittin'

Story Time

Sliding with Grandpa!

Weee!

Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's Part 1

Mercy was a little unsure about the slip and slide.
Junie was showing Mercy how to play in the water.

Mercy decided she'd rather watch than get wet.

Her first time wearing a swimsuit!

Love those bright eyes!

Junie is ready to play.

Jenn shows her how it's done!

Almost there!

Junie didn't really slide...she preferred crawling through the water.

Or sometimes running.

She is so stinkin' cute!

9 Months Old

Mercy's nine month birthday was the thirteenth...so I'm totally late on this post! We were vacationing at my parents' house all last week, so I'm a bit behind. I have loads and loads of pictures to post of our time with my family, so I'll try to get to that in the next couple of days.

According to her pediatrician, Mercy is a very healthy 9 month old. When I took her in for her appointment a week and a half ago, she weighed 18 pounds and was 28 inches long. Mercy has two bottom teeth and is eating some finger foods. She loves finger foods because she can do it herself. She likes anything she can do by herself- such an independent girl! Mercy still isn't crawling, but she is getting up on her knees and rocking back and forth. We can tell she really wants to crawl, though! Soon, I'm sure. We have been teaching Mercy some sign language, and she has now picked up several signs and understands several more. She can sign for milk, eat, bird, dog, and wave hello/goodbye. She is picking them up quickly!

Enjoying Our New Yard

What a beautiful time of the year here in western Washington! We have really been enjoying our property and our yard now that the weather has warmed up. I am kind of surprised that our grass is looking so well because the ground is very rocky. The yard is still patchy, but we keep throwing out grass seed, so maybe by next year it will thicken up. Our house is on a hill, and during the rainy season water drains down our hill and into the pond on our property. The pond is also fed by a natural spring that bubbles up out of the ground. We're having fun planning our yard and doing some landscaping. We would love to be able to put a deck off the back and a fence around the cleared part of our property. All in good time!

Girly Girl

Mercy is such a sweet little girly girl! I painted my toenails last week, and ever since she has been absolutely fascinated with my toes. She points at mine and then grabs her own. I would paint her toes too, except she is always chewing on them, and I don't want her eating paint. She loves to watch me put on chap stick or lip gloss, and always leans in and puckers up for some. We call it "putting on our pretty lips". She loves having her hair brushed in front of the mirror, especially when it gets brushed with mommy's hairbrush. She also loves her clothes. Whenever I open her closet, she leans in and caresses her clothes, mostly the dresses. I think it is so stinkin' cute! What is great is that not only is she a girly girl, but she also loves to be outside, which I'm hoping means she won't be prissy! :)

8 months old

Today is Mercy's eight month birthday! She is teething right now. One bottom tooth has pushed through the gums, and now the one next to it is working it's way through. She has been pretty fussy the past couple of days, poor baby! I had a hard time getting any happy pictures of her today, but it looks like she really enjoyed bath time.

Mercy is doing so well. She can sit on her own, though for some reason she just doesn't like to. I think she might be afraid of falling over, even though she holds herself up well. We practice sitting together everyday, so I'm sure she'll get used to it eventually. Mercy isn't crawling yet, but she can roll! She rolls all over the place. She also has a pull and scoot method of getting around when she's on her tummy. I can tell she really, really wants to move around, and it frustrates her sometimes. She'll get the hang of it soon enough!

Mercy LOVES to be read to. We read books many times throughout the day. She even has a few favorites that we must read anytime we read books. Her favorites right now include "The Very Busy Spider" by Eric Carle, and "That's Not My Puppy", an Usborne touch and feel book. She likes to help me turn the pages and then rub her hand over the pictures. If the book has animal noises in it, she'll make little cooing noises along with me. I absolutely love that she enjoys reading at such an early age. Oh, and she also likes to chew on each page before we move onto the next (we're sticking to board books right now). She just gets sweeter and sweeter!

Recent Pictures

Tyson snapped this picture a few nights ago while Mercy was sleeping. She has grown attached to that particular stuffed animal, and sleeps with it every night.
This was taken at the park a couple of weeks ago. She is so cute with that little ball cap! She doesn't ever try to take it off. Too cute.

I love this cute spring dress that Aunt Jenn and Uncle Bridger gave her for Christmas!