FIRST TOOTH! (and first ear infection)

So we woke up after an uneventful Friday night to Teddy having his first bona fide new tooth! He is cutting his two top front teeth, with the right one already poking out (we may have to call him Buck or Bugs given that he is only going to have those front two teeth for a while it seems, although lately I have taken to calling him the Orangutan because he likes to pull at my lips and try to take them off my face). Now you may notice I said "uneventful night" and I should clarify-we gave Teddy Benadryl for the rash to see if it would further decrease the rash. Given that he slept through the night without a peep, I now understand why the box for the Infant Benadryl says that it is contraindicated for making babies sleep--hahaha! It seems that other parents use the Benadryl trick to get their babies to just totally zonk out and sleep straight without so much as a whimper. I think the box also says that it is not appropriate it give Benadryl to babies for air flights unless it is needed--I bet hardly anyone obeys that rule once they find out how effective Benadryl is for making babies sleep! Hilarious! Congrats on your first tooth at 8 months Teddy!

Okay so with all this tooth cutting, I thought that a fever was totally normal and given the rash, I assumed that he was having an allergic reaction. Boy was I wrong--turns out poor baby had an upper respiratory infection that gave him a slight ear infection. He again had that 103 degree fever and was very irritable (umm, Momma needs lots of massage therapy now after holding a heavy Teddy for about 72 hours). Of course the minute we walked into the pediatrician's office he felt better (and I quote the doctor "Wow, he is pretty smiley for a kid as sick as you have described." Thanks Teddy for making Momma look like a jackass again for hauling you into the doctor's office only to for them to say you are fine. Although, I think we caught him on the upswing last night, as he woke up Tuesday with no fever and feeling a lot better...go figure.)

On to his swim class---he LOVED it. We had a very fun time singing the Tick Tock song and playing the Humpty Dumpty falling game. We met some very nice friends and are looking forward to the next 6 weeks of class. The funniest thing was that Teddy HATED being on his back in the water. Imaging a squirming baby trying to gain traction to flip over in water, only to find that there was nothing to gain traction with and turning meant he dunked his face in the water. It would surprise him every time! (Imagine when Adrian is surprised by something and his forehead scrunches up and his eyes are wide open--that face.) Then we would just give up and do the belly float kicking, and of course, Teddy loved that. He would get so excited by it and want to lunge forward he would, again, surprise himself with the water. It was really cute to watch him keep forgetting that the water was there when he lunged forward. Hopefully he will begin to enjoy the water more and be ready for this summer at BHCC. I am not sure we have a Michael Phelps protege on our hands, but we may have a professional belly flopper-I will be proud either way!

Teddy is also now saying both "mama" and "dada" but not to the right people. Everyone is either mama or dada and if he does not like the person currently holding him, he tends to scream at them until the object of his attention picks him up. (Hello, demanding much?) Adrian now feels the sting of jealousy I felt when all he would say was dada but I am hoping that we can start baby sign language to give him some new ways to communicate. (And no, the baby sign language does not include curse words for those of you who know Adrian well. My first real word was dammit so I am hoping that Teddy breaks that mold with something cute and sensible like "Gucci" or "Prada" but I fear it may be Top Gear, given that is what he watches with his father....)

Congrats to Holden Montgomery on his birth! Teddy just keeps adding wolves to the pack this year--where are all the little women for pack to chase?

Sick baby, Super flirt and Allergies

Well, it has been said before that if you send a baby to daycare, you might as well introduce yourself to the pediatrician's BWM dealer--they will get everything and you will see your pediatrician more than you see your spouse. Don't get me wrong--I love Teddy's daycare, especially Miss Helena his teacher, but he catches everything. Hand foot mouth was going around and poor Teddy caught the cankersore version and would not eat for 2 days--I am talking not a drop of liquid or food for a couple of days and a 103 degree fever. (While I am on the subject, the pediatrician was like, oh yeah a 103 degree fever is not a big deal, call me when its over 104???? My eyes nearly popped out of my head. I just don't get that level of calm because when I have a slight fever, I am feeling like absolute crap.) We gave him a popsicle and he ate a little of that and started to feel better. Babies are so resilient and by Sunday he was back to his jumping around, super smiley self.

I have to say that we are lucky-Teddy is a super smiley and happy baby. He just jumps around, smiles at strangers, plays with everyone. I went in yesterday and they told me that he was not wanting to eat because he was too busy flirting with 2 girls (Na'ama and Olivia). Both of their dads picked them up and when they heard about Teddy Roo flirting with their daughters--well, the reality of having a daughter hit them earlier than they expected. All I could do was laugh--I mean, he is the cutest and funniest baby in my humble opinon. Other parents always say that Teddy smiles at them just as much as me when they pick up their children. (Although, I went to pick him up the other day he was crawling up into the lap of another parent with blond hair. She was okay with it but I have to admit I was a little jealous.) I am certain that I will raise Teddy to be a gentleman and treat those little ladies with lots of respect, but I am starting to fear that I need to invest in nametags for Teddy.

And then we woke up today and poor Teddy has a rash all over his body--I mean face, tummy, back, legs, everywhere. Poor kid. But he was so normal and jumping around that I did not notice until I was changing him for daycare. Called the pediatrician and they were of course non-plussed. So he is apparently allergic to the baby lotion I used on him last night (Burt's Bees--so crazy!). I think by the time he starts school his immune system will be super tough, that is, if he can make it to year 1.

We have our baby swim classes tomorrow (Chinquababies) and I am hoping that Teddy likes the water. Adrian refuses to go--he has some germ phobia about public pools. So I will report back next week about baby swim class!

I have been blessed

So this is one of those posts to just say that I am blessed and I recognize that I have been a recipient of many good things in my life (family, friends, husband, baby, especially baby!). I was reading a post that a Chi O friend has on her blog (Masala Chica-she is hilarious, check is out) about her neighbor's son who is 1 day older than Teddy and is in the PICU with cancer. I just cannot even fathom dealing with that and I was reading about how that mom has 3 other kids at home plus a very sick baby that she cannot even hold most days because he has to take chemo and all the other bad stuff. (Okay, time for the truth, I cried when I read it and I am crying now as I write about it.) Perspective is a funny thing; everyone has their own and many times you fail to see another because your own is in the way.

I studied Buddhism in college (I know, totally bizarre for a gal from Lee County but I loved it) at the academic level and it was my minor concentration. I do think that reincarnation must exist in some way and that our loved ones come back to us in some form. I also believe in karma and that some people may not get what they deserve when I want them to but that somewhere their bank is drawing a negative that will bite them in the end. But what I don't understand is why people who are such good people, and why babies of all of God's creatures end up with these pernicious issues, and people like Osama Bin Laden or pedophiles or other truly terrible, evil people cannot get these cancers. As much as I believe in reincarnation and karma and God, I just cannot reconcile that a baby or my beloved Sandy R. deserves any of this. But then perspective hits me the head and says they don't deserve it and that they are fighting it and they are teaching me to cherish every minute with those I love, tell them I love them and let the little things go. I already feel guilty about being at work and not spending every minute with Teddy but I go down to daycare and his teachers love him so, and so maybe he is bringing them a little bit of joy also (and on a weird side note, his main teacher is from Johnson City originally--talk about a small world, fate was really working in our favor on this one!!!).

I am learning lessons all the time from my son and I am hoping that he is making me a better person, as well as a better mommy. If I have not said I love you to any of you recently, please know I love you and that I am working on saying it and showing it more often. I am grateful for a happy and healthy baby--what a true blessing. I am blessed with a husband who is likely a saint for having to deal with me (well, maybe that goes both ways and maybe that just proves we are meant for one another). I am humbled by all the love of family and friends who are family and their support. It means a lot to have people be so happy for you when things are good and be supportive when you need that too.

And we're off....Teddy is Crawling

Yes folks, it is official. Teddy is crawling (okay, okay, its the army crawl, but still, he can move). We came home from daycare this week, he threw a toy over his shoulder (another new bad habit we are trying to ignore) and next thing I knew, he rolled over and crawled to get it. I took him in the next morning and told daycare and they were amazed. At pickup on Wednesday, Miss Helena told me he was all over the room. She said they cannot keep up with Teddy! (Seriously, he has now figured out how to open drawers, everything...it's total chaos.) Teddy also figured out how to pull to a stand if he holds your hands or a low bar. He learned this trick and the mimic trick with my parents visiting, but saved crawling as a birthday present to his Momma.

Here is a little video of him showin' off for Uncle Murad:

In other news, we are super excited for Philip Williams to join the wolfpack. He was born on Wednesday, and I tried to convince Sara to hold out for another April Fool but she thought it best to go ahead and meet him on the 31st! Teddy cannot wait to run around on the farm, learn to fish, go ATV'ing and (if we lie to Adrian) hunting with Philip in the next couple of years. Congratulations Sara and Wes, Janie and Rod and Nanny!