Teething Troubles

Teething is awful. Topher is constantly shoving his fists into his mouth, drooling in streams, and sucking on any fabric within reach. We feel terrible for him and we wish those teeth would just break through already. That, combined with daylight savings time, has completely thrown off his sleeping routine. He used to take a bath at 6, have a bottle and fall asleep between 7-8pm. Now, he takes a bath at 6, has a bottle and falls asleep immediately. For about 30 minutes. Then he wakes up screaming and he continues to scream for approximately 2 hours before finally falling asleep (hopefully) by 9pm. Baby Orajel sounds great in theory, but we haven't noticed much difference when we put it on. The pharmacist suggested Gripe Water, which we might try next. It's just so frustrating because of course we want to help him but there's not much we can do. We have an assortment of teethers, pacifiers, and wet rags in the freezer, and those seem to hold him off for awhile, but he always goes back to screaming. I think this is the part of having a baby that the books don't ever accurately describe. How can you really tell someone that a baby's cry will eventually hit a certain decibel that pierces through your ear and straight into a very ragged nerve in your brain? How can you describe holding a red-faced baby who is throwing his weight against you, arching his back and crying to the ceiling? It's just so limiting that a baby cannot communicate better. I would do anything to make him feel better, but it's always a guessing game, trying to hold him different ways, laying him down, picking him up, offering him a bottle, etc. I guess it's not fair to say he cries for the entire 2 hours...sometimes he will just stop and start smiling like the little mystery that he is. In fact, last night I laid him on his back on the floor and he just stopped crying and started cooing at me, like he had never been upset. I told him I was glad he found his smiles, and when I said the word glad, he almost started laughing. A few little chuckles. So I kept saying it, Glad glad glad, and it was the closest to real laughing that he's ever come. But all good things must end, and he was crying again before long. But then TJ took over and laid him on his stomach in the crib, and he got all happy again. It seems like he's happy until he remembers that he was trying to be fussy. And wouldn't you know it, he rolled over for us, just like that, taking his blanket with him so that it covered up his face. And he was being so cute and happy, TJ grabbed the camera and snapped a few pictures: But we don't mean this to sound like a complaint. I'm not angry at all when he cries so much, I just feel terrible for him and I wish I could make it all go away. And once he does fall asleep again, he is down for the night so we still feel incredibly lucky. And when I zoom out, I realize that this is such a tiny part of his life. He will only be little and dependent once, and I want to savor every moment with him. And at least, even if he's upset, he knows that we're right here for him. HOUSE UPDATE: We have a second bathroom again! And it almost has a door on it! :) In fact, all the doors are here, leaning up against the walls, just begging to be installed. Can you hear them calling out to you, TJ? Haha, I'm just joking. TJ has worked his tail off getting this house put back together, and it looks fantastic. Here are a few pictures of the progress: We can't help but notice that we're coming into the rainy season again. I think we're going to meet with our flood insurance agent pretty soon so we know exactly what steps to take in case of a repeat season. Live and learn. --KC