and then there were two...

Hi Liv!

Holy cow you have had a crazy week!! Today you are 24 weeks old. Today you cut your second, that's right your SECOND tooth! What in the world am I feeding you? Well I'll tell you. You are eating formula (6 oz. bottles 5 times a day) and you are eating two tablespoons of brown rice cereal in the morning. This isn't enough for you all of a sudden because you are waking up at night alot. I'd say it's your teeth waking you up but you're not fussing. You're looking to play. Whenever you act like this I find that if I increase your bottle or food intake, you settle again. That said, you have been sleeping like a dog lately, but I contribute that to your teeth and perhaps a growth spurt.

This week you have also started to make really funny faces. You have discovered the ability to crinkle your nose. I think you must be copying me cause I know I make a face similar to yours when I see something cute. Considering I stare at you all day and you are cute, well, do the math kiddo. You're turning into a copy cat. You have also figured out how to blow air out of your nose. You think it's pretty hilarious and so you do it alot. Like, so much so that I am almost convinced you have an alergy to the dog. Oh God tell me you are not really alergic to Otis. That would suck. I mean really suck. Anyway this nose thing of yours? Maybe you could park it for a bit just so I know it's in your control and not because your nose is really itchy.

Let's see....what else have you started doing this week? Oh. Heh. You have taken to screaming at the top of your lungs. You scream so loud it hurts my ears. You lie on your back and fill your lungs with air, open your eyes as wide as they can go and let out huge vocal shrills. I think you are singing. The neighbours think you get your fingers stuck in the car door - alot. You are sitting up for very small moments without my help and you are happiest now facing the world upright, as opposed to being on your back. Mostly, unless you are in your crib kicking around with your mobile, you hate being on your back.

This week we went to the park and played on the swings for the very first time. You. Love. To. Swing. I forsee many trips to parks with swings. Perhaps I even foresee trips to ToysRUs for swings. Your face lit up like a Christmas tree and you screamed and begged for more. So cute. There I go again, crinkling my nose.

Finally, you grew again. No surprise. But um...you're starting to get expensive. I'd really like to hold out until fall before I buy you any more pants so slow down!!!

Well Livvie, you have seemed to settle down after your evening bottle and unsheduled play time in your crib. Let's call it a night. Thank you for such a terrific and exciting week.

I love you,
Mommy.

Mother Pride

I am so unbelievably over the top with emotion I don't know if I can explain it all that well. I am warm and tingly all over. I am bubbling with emotions of happiness and sadness and pride and happiness and more happiness. That feeling that has, since the birth of Olivia, taken over all the other emotions that I have ever known. That feeling, can be none other explained as Mother Pride. It's that feeling I got the first time Olivia smiled at me. That feeling I felt the first time she recognized my voice. That feeling I felt the first time she reached out to touch my face. That feeling I relished in the first time she giggled. That feeling I wait for at first glimpse in the morning from her crib when I peek into her bedroom. Well, today is another one of those remarkable days where I get to indulge in that feeling because today, my baby girl cut her first tooth!

This morning started off as an ordinary morning. Liv squaking happily in her crib waiting for me to pop my head in and get the day started. After a quick play on the change table and a Poopy diaper change, we headed down for breakfast. Recently, Liv has been a little fussy pants when it comes to taking her bottle. She's always been the guzzling type so after a few time of her pushing the bottle away after only an ounce or two and refusing to drink, I hit the net. After weeding through all the standard self-diagnostic bullshit like: Your daughter could be experiencing early signs of anorexia BE WORRIED, and, Try gripe water Good Luck!, I found some reading info on teething and some of the obvious (duh why didn't I think of this?) signs of teething such as: Refusing to take a bottle. Check. Irritability. Check. .Drooling. Double Check (Step aside Niagara). Coughing. Check. (Sounds like she's been hackin' darts for 30 years). Biting and Gnawing. Check. (Puts Otis to shame). Ear Rubbing. This is a big one. Check. Check and Check. Okay -- my girl is teething, I get it, I get it!

So, I thought little of it this morning when she only drank 3 of her regular 6 oz. bottle. Besides, we have recently started on solids and figured maybe she was filling up. She had no problem packing in the baby rice cereal that's for sure! After breakfast, we played for about 35 seconds before she was rubbing her tired little eyes with her fists. Hmm....you've only been up for an hour. I thought it a little odd, but hey she's just a baby. I put her down for her morning nap an hour earlier then normal and hit the shower. Noni (Mother in Law from Heaven!) was on her way over to relieve me for the day. Tonight is date night! Yessssssss.......restaurants and real conversation with the Huzb and popcorn and a movie too!

Noni arrived and I ran for the door, I think I said goodbye. Off to run some errands, get a quick visit in with Dax and Bells before they hit the cottage for that's right, 10 days (not happy) and even managed to sneak in a quick pedi. Back at home. Time to relax a bit and take advantage of the day. Maybe I'll go do some gardening. Maybe I'll take a nap. Maybe I'll take a loooooong shower and shave my legs. It is date night after all. Decided. Am going to change, sit in sun for half hour then go have a shower and get ready.

Why, it dawned on my all of a sudden, is Liv so cranky right now? I peek into the living room where Noni is feeding her. She's shoving the bottle out of her hands and turning her head from side to side. Wow I say, that's aggressive. She's teething Noni replies. Hmm Mmm...how come she didn't need the Internet to tell her that? Noni sticks her hand into Liv's mouth and her (Noni) jaw nearly dropped down to the floor and her (still Noni) eyes nearly popped out of her head. OH MY GOD! She explained. Have you felt this? I run over to them and shoved my hand into Liv's mouth. What? What, have I felt what? I ran my finger across her bottom gum line. I do it all the time. I did it this morning. But this time it was scratchy. I screamed and cried all at the same time. I looked at Noni who was also screaming and then shoved my hand back into Livvie's mouth. Are you serious? Did she really just cut her first tooth? Like right now? I'm not sure I'm ready for this! She has a tooth coming in? She has a tooth coming in!

We brought her up to her bedroom and put her down on her change table to do a thorough inspection. Livvie, patiently, allowed me to open her mouth and check out her gum line and sure enough, there it was. The littlest most precious white sliver of a tooth peaking up through the gum line, like the top of a snow capped mountain just barely visible through the clouds. I broke down and ran around in circles then called the Huzb to tell him our little girl might as well enroll in college because she's all grown up. Then I called Dax and she told me next thing you know Olivia will be getting her period! We laughed and then we cried.

Olivia Jane you are growing so quickly it takes my breath away. Your first tooth. A 'special day' as my grandmother used to say.