Teeth and Sleep

Joey cut his 6th tooth yesterday (5th was late last week) and Dan's pretty sure that 7 and 8 are on their way through. 5 and 6 are on either side of his top front teeth, not sure where 7 and 8 are, he won't let me see ;) This kid does not give us any indication he's teething or cutting a tooth other than chewing on absolutely everything. But he does that constantly and I know that's totally common for babies his age, so either it means that he's constantly teething or he just chews on everything. He doesn't drool like a faucet and he's really only extra cranky when he needs a nap. He doesn't give us any indication that he's in pain (yay) so when another tooth pops through we're like, "Wow, another one!" Last week, Joey gave me a night where he only woke up a few times (3 or less, I can't remember because I try not to wake up all the way when I feed him), it was AWESOME. Then, last night and the night before, he was nursing almost constantly. When the tooth 6 and 7 cut through, it made sense. I'm eager for this teething thing to be over, but I know that he won't finish until his molars come through when he's 2 or 3 years old.

He sleeps great when he's not teething. The kid loves sleeping, he totally has that in common with us. I began reading The No Cry Sleep Solution to see if I could pick up some times to help him sleep. While Elizabeth Pantley gives lots of really great ideas and suggestions to parents of all sleep arrangements (co-sleeping, bottle feeding, baby in his/her own room, breastfeeding, etc.), she does mention that no matter what rhythm you end up in with your baby and how much sleep you're getting, things like illness, teething, and vacationing can affect even the best infant sleeper. So I have the book and will definitely use some of the ideas when it seems like the teething has slowed down, but what we're doing is mostly working at this point, so I'm not going to mess with it and change what we're doing. Granted, I'm waking up constantly at night but Joey and I go to bed so early that eventually I get the sleep I need to function during the day--even if I have to work (though that's a good night if he doesn't wake up before I leave).

March For Life 2012

I was undecided about going to the March For Life this year because it meant taking Joey with me. I knew that he would be good, he typically is too interested in what's going on around him to act up or be fussy, I was worried about the logistics of having a baby with me--especially once we started marching. Originally, I was going to play it by ear and decide to go with Holy Trinity last minute based on weather and if they had space on their bus (which eventually turned into buses!). Then my mom called and said that St. Jane's had extra tickets to the Rally/Mass before the March and would I be interested in going with their small group of high school girls? I checked the weather and it didn't look too cold so I agreed to go! Going to the Rally and using the Marc train were nice because I knew that I would have a decent place to sit and nurse as well as bathrooms with changing stations easily accessible.

I fed Joey several times while we were at the Verizon Center and changed his diaper before we headed out to the March. He even slept a for a couple of short naps before the March, thankfully. He stayed awake almost the entire time we were outside, whether it was due to the cold rain that was coming down (he stayed warm and dry under my jacket) or the fact that there was just so much to see I'm not sure. Eventually, he fell asleep and stayed asleep for almost an hour, so he had close to a normal nap schedule that he would have had at home. I got to change his diaper again at the Marc station and fed him on the train going home, so all was good and nothing was postponed for him because we were in a crowd or outside.

The Rally and March were amazing as always! I'm so glad that Joey and I got to go! I LOVE having Mass at the Verizon Center, how often do you get to celebrate Mass with 17,000 people??? Despite the weather, there was an awesome turnout for the March as well, I can't even begin to estimate how many people were there, but it was well over the tens-of-thousands and possibly even in the hundred-thousands. I'm proud to be part of the Pro Life Generation. Last year I marched while I was pregnant, and this year I marched with Joey. We marched because my generation is here (mostly, an estimated 1/3 of my generation has been aborted), it's his generation being killed now.

This Moment

It's been way too long since my last post, without any real reason besides being too tired/busy/whatever. Big things that have happened are: Joey can now sit up by himself AND drink from a straw (he figured out how to get water from my Camelbak so we got him a toddler sippy cup with a straw). I FINALLY talked to people in Medicaid and got somebody to explain everything to me AND fix what I knew was the problem. They have decided that we'll pay a portion of our medical bills but that's better than all of our bills. Work has been slow, we're hoping and praying that something comes through soon, either for Dan or me. At this point, even though it's not my ideal situation, I would take a full time position just to have a steady income.

Mostly, we've been passing time by playing with Joey. We didn't completely manage to cut out TV around him altogether, but we cut back significantly. When we brought Joey home, and for the several months following, the TV was on pretty much from the time I woke up until the time that Dan went to bed--whether there was anything on we wanted to watch or not. Now, we watch mostly shows that we missed because I was asleep or Dan was working. Occasionally it's actually a station and not On-Demand or Netflix. Joey is getting so big so fast that I feel like I blink and he's already moved on to another milestone, I'm trying to enjoy every second of his babyhood and there are already things I miss from when he was a newborn! He doesn't really look too much like a baby anymore, he looks like a little boy--even if he's just playing with his feet on the floor. Sometimes, during our "quiet" moments together, I just stare at him completely in awe. Eight months somehow completely flew by me and I have a baby on the verge of being a toddler who is getting smarter by the minute. He catches me staring at him and flashes me this adorable, 4-tooth grin, unable to comprehend why it melts my heart instantly.

He has no idea how much I love hearing him "talk", or how excited I get when he's about to master a new skill (you can see the look of pride on his face--so cute!), he just knows that I smile when he smiles at me and that I'm Mama and I love him. Sometimes I have to do things he doesn't like (putting clothes on him for instance, we're entering the Naked Phase), but at the end of the day, I'm still his favorite person. The temper tantrums will come later, making messes on purpose, embarrassing me in the store, projectile vomiting will return, but right now, he's still my little baby. He loves me unconditionally and I strive to be worthy of that devotion.

Pictures are forthcoming

I just wanted to post a brief update on the lace pattern whose butt I'm kicking! With some help from Theo and some paper-clip stitch markers, I've been on the right tack for more than several rows now (am up to Row 16!). I needed clip-on stitch markers because the repeats change position with each row, due to the way the shawl is worked (bottom up with decreases), so I couldn't just use my normal looped/knotted scrap yarn. My problem was (and typically is) not paying enough attention to what I'm doing. When I first started, I would add extra yarn-overs because I was talking or watching TV. This time, there were some extra YOs but mostly I would get my position in the repeat mixed up and start over from the middle instead of finishing then starting over. The stitch markers are like my breadcrumbs, telling me where I've been and how far I've gone. I count my stitches after every repeat to double-check myself (and have caught several errors), which slows me down a little, but worth the extra time in the end because I have the correct number of stitches every time now and I don't have to tink back whole rows anymore!