5 months

This post was written a few weeks ago, but I never got around to posting it...


Mercy is five months already. She's pretty spunky these days. She's not a very laid-back baby at all, but that's ok. Tim likes to say she plays hard, she cries hard, she laughs hard and she poops hard (but unfortunately she doesn't sleep hard). There is not much in between. She keeps our lives busy and interesting.

At five months, Mercy:

is always starving. She nurses every 2-3 hours (except at night).


has started solids. I was hoping to wait until she was six months, but we couldn't last. Every time someone was eating, she would stare and try to grab it. And since she couldn't have any, she would get very frustrated and cry. She just seemed so hungry, so we decided to start a bit earlier.  She had her first bite of oatmeal around her five month birthday and she was a natural. So far she's had oatmeal, applesauce, sweet potato and banana. She doesn't like banana so far, but we'll probably try again later on.

is slightly better at sleeping than last month. She used to get up every forty minutes right after she went to bed at least three times before realizing it was nighttime. I would just put a paci in and she would go right back to sleep. But recently, she's been sleeping soundly for about 6 hours or so before waking up. I usually nurse her only once throughout the night. She might wake up twice or so, but she just needs some settling to get back to sleep without eating.


's napping could be better. She used to take about three forty minute naps. Now sometimes we're down to a few 15-20 minute naps. Needless to say, my house is usually a disaster because I can't get anything done with only short naps like that. I know she's still tired, but I can't seem to get her back to sleep. This past week, she took a 1.5 hour nap and a 1 hour nap, so I know it's possible. She just might need a little help staying asleep, so I'm going to work hard next week to see if we can get somewhere.

weighs almost 17 pounds.

is almost proficient at sitting up

loves being outside. She talks a lot when outside and her face lights up when she feels the cold air and sees the trees.

can be convinced to fake cough if you cough, if she is in the right mood.

loves to eat her feet.


likes stroking something soft when she's falling asleep. She sleeps with a small sheep lovey from Aunt Diane.