Clara Mercy, you are halfway to your first birthday already! How have you grown up so much? So often I forget how young you still are...and then other times I can hardly believe that you're already as old as you are! You are delightful at every age, my girl. Such a ray of sunshine!
You have had many new experiences this month. You started your sixth month in Manitoba, spent a few weeks of it in Saskatchewan, and now are in Mexico. You are suddenly a well-travelled little girl! You've had your first plane trips, your first all-nighter (thanks for not having had any before this!). You've been held by so many people you don't know and have done so well. At the beginning of the month, you were a bit nervous about being held by people you didn't know, but now it's just so normal that you go with the flow...unless you're hungry or tired or need a new diaper.
Speaking of hungry, tired, or needing a diaper, those are really the only times you usually cry. You are such a happy and easy-going girl. Occasionally you will be a little "off" and cry for reasons we can't figure out...but that is by far the exception. It is so rare that you are fussy that I just don't know what could be wrong! Probably teething, little Clara, probably teething. (No teeth yet!)
You are still nursing every two hours during the day. With all our travelling and changing routines, I have forgotten a few feeds so they've been late and you haven't been happy about it. You don't seem ready to stretch those feeds out to three hours yet! You haven't had many solid foods, though I've given you tastes of things like guava, watermelon, orange, and corn flakes. Whatever we're eating that I think you might be able to handle goes into your mouth. One of these days we will try some actual baby cereal and see how that goes. But I'm in no rush. There is so much new going on these days that adding one more new thing to the routine seems unnecessary. Soon, my girl. Soon you will be eating what all the rest of us are eating!
You are a beautiful soul, Clara. You radiate joy and thoughtfulness. You have a calming presence and are so easy to be near. Sometimes you just love to make noise for the sake of hearing your own voice, which is so fun to see. You can screech like nobody's business! We haven't heard your voice as much since coming to Mexico a week ago...I'm not sure if you're shy or just observing everything around you too much to think about making yourself heard.
Your sleep habits have continued with hardly a blip in all the changes that have happened. You wake 2-3 times a night. Your nights are about 8pm-8am. You nap three times a day, after being awake for two hours, for about an hour (sometimes two) at a time. All I have to do to put you to bed is pace the room 4-5 times with you in my arms and then lay you in your crib once you look sleepy and put a small blanket next to your cheek and you snuggle into it and fall asleep. You started sucking your tongue last month and continued all this month too. It seems to be a comfort thing for you. You snuggle the blanket into your face and I can hear a little clicking/sucking noise, though usually you're not actually sucking the blanket. You decided this month that you are a back sleeper! I would put you down on your stomach and you would right away flip to your back so I decided to just leave you that way and you sleep fine. There were some nights when you would wake up at a weird hour and be awake because you were on your back and not your side or stomach but I would just leave you to babble and you would eventually just fall asleep again. Now you sleep quite well in any position you put yourself in and are in a sleep-sack. I'm so glad weaning the swaddle wasn't a big deal for you.
You have slept in many different places this month! You started out on the floor in Manitoba. When we got home to Saskatchewan, you were on the floor in the corner of our room and then moved to your own room onto the toddler bed! Once when you woke from a nap, I couldn't see you in the monitor so I figured you must have fallen off the bed or moved to the other side. I walked into your room and you were nowhere to be seen! I got a little worried but there you were, UNDER the bed! You must have fallen off the bed and then rolled under before making any noise at all to let me know that you were awake! You usually wake up happy so I often have to check the monitor to see if you're stirring. You definitely don't cry every time you wake up! Now that we are in Mexico, you are back in our bedroom in a playpen. We have talked about moving you to another room (the shower in our ensuite to be specific) because our movement sometimes disturbs you...but I just haven't gotten over the idea of putting you in a shower just yet and you do seem to be less disturbed than you were at first so who knows. In a month, you could be sleeping anywhere!
Your hair seems to be getting lighter. You have a bit of a bald spot on the back, still, and the hair below it is still quite dark and longish. Not long enough to look like a mullet, though. If it was, I would have cut it off. You're welcome.
Your eyes are still so blue. Everyone here in Mexico loves them. I keep wondering if they will stay blue or if they'll change yet. They are such a beautiful colour with a ring of dark blue around the outside. My blue-eyed girl!
You have started reaching for and grabbing everything you see. We keep forgetting that you are grabby now and will often pull food off our plates or our plates off the table or cups out of our hands. It gets tricky. I can't hold you during meals anymore because my arms aren't long enough to hold you far enough away and also reach my food! But I'm glad you're curious. You love to hold things and look at them and taste them. Everything goes straight to your mouth!
You still love your siblings more than almost anyone else. When you see them come into the room, you just light up and start kicking and waving your arms. They still adore you too, and fight to be the one to entertain you and make you smile. They talk to you and do silly things like jumping up and down to make you laugh. Levi loves to carry you around and both Levi and Kayden love to take care of you for me if I need to run and do something. They are such big helpers with you. You are lucky to have a big brother and big sisters who want to help you and be with you.
Because of our move to Mexico, I have packed away most of your 6 month clothes and you are now wearing 6-12 month size. It is a little big on you, but we were short on space so I figured I would leave that size behind and bring the next size up for you to wear already. You are in 9 month sleepers and, thanks to cloth diapers, they work pretty well.
You are sitting like a pro, and have been all month. I guess you still have the occasional tip-over so I don't leave you sitting, say, on a table or concrete without supervision or something soft to land on...but most of the time you are fine. You also turn circles while laying down...though you don't like to lay down unless you're in bed. Sitting is WAY better! You can easily roll front to back and back to front.
Despite looking like you are enjoying these balloons, you now hate balloons. By the time our photo session was finished, you were acting fairly disturbed by the balloons. Your hands would grab them if they were in reach but they would be right in your face and you didn't realize that moving your hand away from your mouth would move the balloons out of your face so you did some good crying about that. I would take them away and you'd be upset that they were gone, but if I gave them back, you were upset that they were so close. Funny girl.
You've been through a lot of change this month and have handled it beautifully. You're a brave and strong little girl and we are so proud to call you our daughter. It has been a pleasure to be your mama these past six months and I look forward to what's to come. Happy half-birthday, Clara Mercy. I love you so much!
