5 months.

Man oh man! Time is going by so fast and we have seen Savannah transform so much this month. She doesn't seem like a helpless little infant anymore because of how much excitement she contributes to our family. Every few days we catch ourselves saying something like "Wow, she is like another little human hanging out and playing with us!" Her sweet personality is shining through. It never gets old... having our cute baby girl and her luscious, fat cheeks within an arms distance. Cheeks of which I smoother in kisses no less than 1,000 times each day.
 Speaking of those cheeks...

1. You have TWO teeth!!! The second tooth just poked through today! Your first tooth erupted on the day you turned 5 months. There we were, wondering what happened to our happy little child. Almost the entire 4th month was rough for you. fussing. drooling. reflux. refusing to nap. catching daddy's cold. excessive need to be chewing. ETC. Poor girl! I wanted to start checking your gums to see if I could feel your tooth coming in and sure enough I felt the razor sharp edges. Eeeek! I screamed for your daddy to come see! I think I freaked you out, actually. I was so happy to finally understand why you've been so crazy. On the other hand, my womb wanted to cry out "STOOOP growing!" I'm going to miss that gummy smile but your daddy keeps telling me we'll love the mini tooth. Buckle up Hunnybuns. We're teeth people. We'll always be all up in your teethy business ;-)
2. You are the best little jumper in your Rainforest Jumperoo! You've learned how to play with all of the attached toys. Sometimes you'll lean your head back onto the headrest while starring up towards the ceiling while jumping high up and down! It's the funniest thing to watch!
3. You are starting to recognize familiar faces. We love that you will return every smile from us. But you definitely don't like unfamiliar faces. It's been so funny to watch you start to cry and look anxiously at me to assure you about a crazy stranger. Don't you worry, that's okay. You're just learning all about stranger danger at an early age.
4. You discovered your voice a few months ago but something clicked in your head that screaming and growling is just so fun and so you do it all. the. time! And yes, you cannot get enough of the growling. I would've guessed that hearing you growl would be adorable and cute. Nope. It sounds incredibly freaky and possessed. And whose your favorite friend to growl with? The man who taught you. You'll be letting loose of high-pitched scream all day long with me but once daddy walks in the door, you'll furrow your cute eyebrows and start growling with daddy. But only after you have released the most excited hyperventilated breaths, of course.
5. You are so entirely fascinated with drinks and straws. Once you've spotted my hospital water jug with it's long, plastic straw it is all games to get you to forget that it once was.
6. It's still fairly difficult to get you focused on drinking. You're incredibly distractible and the smallest noise will have you whip your head around to see what's going on. As long as you're hungry, you'll drink 4oz without needing it re-heated. Embarrassingly enough, I'm excited about the improvement. A few weeks ago, we had a couple day stand-off over the milk's temperature. You won, my Princess. You'll give me a schedule as long as I continue giving you warm milk. 
7. You're working so hard on scooting. You can push yourself backwards a little bit, and so sometimes you'll inch further and further away from the toy you really want. It's so cute to see your perplexing face!
8. We tried solids this last month and you did quite well. We started on oatmeal with bananas, sweet peas, avocados, steamed carrots, and pears with granola. These days, you aren't too interested in the baby food but rather the foods you can hold onto and feed yourself (see Baby Led Weaning.)
9. Last month, we ditched the pacifier and swaddle and you've been a rock star about it! You love to chomp on the hard edges of your pacifier as a teething toy.
10. We decided to tough it out and get you back onto a consistent schedule. Eat. Play. Sleep. You've been having such an awful time with teething and the endless fussiness that I knew a routine would be better for both of us. Unfortunately, we had given in and allowed you to become used to being rocked, shushed, white-noised, and sung to sleep for all of your naps. I was dreading the cry-it-outs that we went through months ago. But anything could be better than the current feeling of having no idea how to help or anticipate what you need. We started the routine 2 weeks ago and during the first nap of the day, you cried for 1.5 hours S.T.R.A.I.G.H.T. It was awful and painful for the both of us. At the start of the 2nd nap, you cried for 15 minutes. And every nap after that you fussed for 3-4 minutes. Over the next two days, you would would fuss for 0-2 minutes. Hallelujah! We figured out the key to you being able to go down easily for a nap was to always wake you up from the previous nap. I've let you sleep in longer on your own terms and it's always bad news for the rest of the day. Lesson learned? Don't ease up on an already established schedule. 

Hunnybun's typical routine:

7:00: milk. play

8:30: nap

10:00: milk. play

12:00: nap

1:00: milk. play

2:30: nap

4:00: milk. play

6:00 nap

7:00: milk. play

8:30: milk. bedtime

Yours truly, Me