Sunday, September 16, 2012

Songs around the Fire, and Teething Woes

Abby woke up this morning requesting chicken pot pie for breakfast. Sadly for her, Tom felt that bananas and cereal would be a better choice. However, she was chipper and uncomplaining.  Her fantastic mood was a welcome surprise, given that she was put down to put after 10:00 pm last night, and woke up at her usual time. The lack of sleep did, unfortunately, catch up to her by the end of mass, and she had a meltdown on the way out of the church.

She had been up late due to our dinner with the neighbors last night.  Everyone had a lovely time, especially Abby.  Our neighbors haven't moved much furniture in yet, so she had quite a bit of open space to run around in- over and over again.  We ended the evening around a little fire pit in the backyard, complete with s'mores, and musical entertainment from- of all people- miss Diva Abigail. She serenaded the company with her rendition of A Bushel and a Peck.  I was pretty shocked by the whole thing, because, though I've heard her sing it before, I did not expect her to do it on command.  It was hilarious, and so incredibly cute.

Michael was having a rough time of it by around 9:00 pm, but after downing a nice, warm bottle, and getting tucked securely into my K'Tan wrap, he was able to comfortably doze through the last part of the evening.

Considering how much he's been struggling, lately, though, I'm surprised that he did as well as all that. The completely new environment certainly helped, up to a point. Unfortunately, distraction can only take him so far when he's in the midst of hard-core teething discomfort.  I think his worst day so far has been today, and no wonder: I can finally just see the ridges of his right-most bottom tooth poking out of his lower gum. Yesterday, there was just a small dimple in the gum where the breakthrough was about to occur. I'm hoping that his left tooth is right behind, and that we can put the worst of this behind us soon.  For now, anyway.

People often joke that babies have it so easy, but they really do go through a lot. First, there's the drastic adjustment required to go from womb to world. Then, they have to eat insane amounts of food to help them grow, which often makes them gassy and uncomfortable. Once they get the bottle- or breast-feeding down, they have to learn to eat in a whole new way with the introduction of solid foods. And, perhaps worst of all,  they have to suffer through the pain and discomfort of erupting teeth, over and over again, for two years or more. I'll tell you- I'm glad that I'm no longer a baby.  But I'd take all of that discomfort upon myself again to spare my own babies, if only I could.

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And now, I'd like to take a moment to thank all of you who have been reading faithfully, and supporting my efforts.  I'd like to especially thank those of you who have noticed my new badge and voted for me over on Top Baby Blogs (I've gone from #555 to #474- woo hoo!).  Though I don't ever expect to even enter the top 100, it would be nice to fall high enough on the list that I might get noticed by other "Mommy Bloggers" and pick up their readership.  After all, blogging is most fun to do within a community.  The badge is located just below the end of my post, and you can vote for me by clicking on it (unfortunately, it doesn't show up in the mobile view- just the web version).  Every click helps, but if you're so inclined, you can do so every twenty-four hours, and I would be greatly appreciative.