Marissa is 6, um, er, 7 months old

Once again the time has slipped away. It's been insane! More to come on that later. I had every intention of posting pictures and stats when Marissa turned 6 months, but that date came and went. As of February 16, she is now 7 months old. Oh well. Here are the old stats from her 6 month appointment. We had a bunch of 7's at 6 months.

Height: 27 inches, 95%

Weight 17 lbs 6 oz, 90%

Head: 17 inches, 75%

I had to laugh when the doctor said that although Marissa has plenty of rolls, she's actually on the long and lean side. Well okay then. :)

Marissa has had a lot of firsts the last couple of months. Here are some I remember.

• In December, she officially started sitting up on her own (around 5 1/2 months).
• Started babbling da a da a da
• Started rolling over and over to get around
• Got her first tooth (February 3 - at 6 1/2 months)
• First solids (tried rice cereal right around 6 months)
• Caught her first cold the end of January
• First fever the beginning of February...
• Diagnosed with her first double ear infection (February 6)
• First diaper rash (a nasty side effect from her first antibiotic)
• Caught another cold just as she was getting over the ear infection
• Was back into the doctor with another ear infection (Feb 20)
• Got on all fours and started rocking back and forth the middle of February (I'm dreading the next part...you know, the crawling)

Here are a few more 6-7 month facts that I don't want to forget about this little cutie.

• I love Marissa's smile! It comes easily, but she gets shy and turns away at times.
• She giggles for no reason, especially when I tease her.
• She loves to reach her hand up and touch your face when she's tired, and really loves to reach for your mouth.
• She is a spitter. She blows bubbles for no reason at all, making solid feedings a complete disaster.
• She is horrible at taking medicine. I've never dealt with that before, but this one HATES taking medicine. Getting her to keep it in her mouth and swallow it has become an art form.
• She is so ticklish! You can barely rub her back without her tensing up and holding her breath to try not to laugh.
• She LOVES her feet. She grabs them and loves putting them in her mouth.
• Because she loves her feet, keeping socks on her is impossible! She always pulls her socks off to get to her little toes.
• She grabs her ear while she eats or while trying to fall asleep. It seems to be her own self-soothing ritual.
• She puts anything and everything in her mouth and is still very content to sit on the ground with a toy or two to play with (my favorite baby phase ever!)
• She loves her binkie, but uses it as a chew toy unless she is fussy or going to sleep.
• She waves her arms and flails them around in excitement (yes, I know this is a common thing for this age, but I still want to remember)
• When she gets excited (especially if you walk towards her and she thinks you're going to pick her up) she moves her feet around and around in circles (Preston used to do that with his hands and feet so it reminds me so much of Preston when he was a baby)

Maria & Marissa - January 2, 2011

My best friend, Lisa, with her baby, Tommy (Thomas Winslow) on his blessing day

Marissa loves chewing on a piece of apple in this little net contraption - an incredible invention, I might add!

About a month and a half ago, I strapped Marissa in the backpack to get some cleaning done while she was fussy. She was asleep in no time!

Isn't she cute? She looks so much like Dylan when she's sleeping.

Cowgirl. With two older brothers, Marissa is often sporting some form of dress-ups.

First time trying rice cereal. She looks happy here, but isn't really loving solids yet. She has a super sensitive gag reflex and isn't very fond of the texture.

Look at that smile!

We dogsat for my sister, Alicia. Marissa LOVED touching Belle.

Reaching for Marcos' mouth as she was trying to fall asleep

Being "loved" way too much by her older brothers

The three musketeers

Up on all fours

Rolling over and over on the ground