A New Milestone

For months I've been watching my friends' babies deep in the throes of teething. I still remember my friend Laura coming to our moms group meet-up when her son was 4 months and how excited she was at the appearance of his first tooth. We all clapped, cheered, excitedly felt his new tooth and celebrated his big milestone together. From the fussing, the non-sleeping, to the not even phased, no matter how they handle it, a baby cutting their first tooth really is an exciting time.

Our little princess has been drooling and chewing her way through the last few months with no teeth in sight. Over and over we've blamed her behaviors and random crankiness on teething, only to still end up with no teeth. I guess we all have bad days, no matter the age.

This weekend as Adly was chomping down on my finger as usual, what felt like a little bump caught my attention. Could it be?! I excitedly began intentionally feeling to see if it was a tooth. I called Adam over to back up my claims. Sure enough, he felt it too. Just the faintest feeling of her first pearly white poking out.

First I panicked. Am I ready for teething? No. I've been witness to all of the texts from my moms group over the sleepless nights, the crying, the pain, the irritability. I want none of it. Why is it the minute you get settled with a baby, something has to change and throw all of your newly routined life out the window? This is just another thing that's going to try to mess with our current juju.

Then, I cried. My little bitty baby is growing and changing so fast. She's becoming a little girl. A human being with a personality. I love her more and more every day and there are times I just sit back and have to take a minute to mourn the end of a phase. Crazy isn't it? I cried because I realized in a matter of days I won't have a gummy-mouthed baby anymore. No, her grins will now be specked with pearly whites, making her seem that much older.

Now I've dried my tears and decided to fully embrace Tooth Watch 2014. It's coming any day now. The ridges of the top of the tooth are starting to break through. The drool is in overdrive. Seriously...I never thought it would be possible to have more drool.  The irritability is on and off. This is excitement! Who needs the Olympics when you have a baby cutting a tooth!? I mean, come on people.

So in honor of the coming tooth, I'm going to take a moment to post one last picture of my gummy-mouthed grinning munchkin. If only we could freeze every little moment.