The Day Off

Teeth.

Who'd have thought a single tooth could cause so much chaos in the world of a baby? Certainly not me, I feel like I was seriously unprepared for the first tooth saga.

I can honestly count on one hand the hours of sleep I've gotten since Monday (4 days ago) and that's without using all the fingers. Poor Willow has been teething for just over a month now and wow, this week was by far the most intense! Don't get me wrong, she is still our lovely and wonderful little baby and the moments during the day where she smiles, laughs and pretty much just lays there being her drooly self, make up for the stirring and grunting creature we get exposed to at night.

Up until this point it's all pretty much been pretty tame and sunshine-y daisy in terms of the things I write about, because those precious first moments are supposed to be exactly that. The smiles, the pictures, all the lovely leaflets and written books about this special growing and developing experience with your new baby. If I collect a good amount of the material that I've read and learned in parenting classes that relate to every day parenting, I'd be quite tempted to wrap most of it up in red tape, put in in a box and label it, Box of Lies (do not open) and send it down a riverboat burning like Viking royalty. But that's a bit much isn't it?

I feel like you only get prepared so far in terms of what to expect when you have the baby. Anything from the first night home to the first time the baby gets sick, the first tooth and more. But it's also really cryptic information.

Here's the NHS symptoms for teething:

• your baby's gum is sore and red where the tooth is coming through
• one cheek is flushed
• your baby is dribbling more than usual
• they are gnawing and chewing on things a lot
• they are more fretful than usual

And here's a real life update on those terms:

• Your Baby's gums will probably be sore and red, but they will be too busy gnawing your knuckle off and flicking their tongue for you to get a good look in.
• Both cheeks will be red like they've just been squeezed by Auntie Wendy for 3 hours, but not quite red enough to alarm you.
• Dribble? Nah, your baby will be soaking through bibs like the 'cheap brand' kitchen towel in the TV adverts, go buy a hundred bibs, that'll do for a day or two. Oh and their hands, your hands and every toy will be dripping.
• Gnawing and chewing constantly is pretty accurate, I'll give them that!
• More fretful than usual? Haha, basically, Willow was a lovely baby who slept quite well and smiled at just about everything. While teething she pretty much had the battle cry of 1000 Spartans going into battle and play time becomes rarer than seeing Halley's comet.
• What the NHS kindly leaves off this list is possibly the most noticeable of all. The poop. Oh you think the poonami of month two was bad. The teething poops are what separates the adults from the kids. These are what Bane was talking about when he told Batman he was moulded in the darkness, they happen at night and they are life changing, onesie destroying, armpit staining and bath inducing parcels of, shit.
• Side note - maybe invest in some nice clothes that aren't white for this period of time (See above)

But on the plus side, Willow's first tooth came in today, as if by magic, all that aggro is officially over. I can return to work after 2 long days off of pure sleep deprivation and the hoping to relieve a bit of stress from poor Jodie who doesn't get an 8 hour break from this part during the day. That is, until next time, because you see...there's 19 more teeth to come. Shit.

Here's to all of you parents who are going through it now, been through it all or are even halfway through. As for the parents yet to discover the magic teeth ritual of the baby human, get yourself ready. Get bibs, teething crystals, teething toys (Willow hates them) and plenty of sleep. You'll need it.

1 tooth down, 19 to go.

Back In Action!

Here we are sitting a day over the 19 week milestone with Willow. (I'm starting to wonder when we can stop counting the weeks and just say oh shes 4 and a half months! It's actually quite humorous trying to watch people work out the months by the number of weeks we come out with.)

Now it's been a pretty long time since I last wrote a piece, 11 weeks in fact, looking back at that 2 month mark like it was a subject in history class. Only this time, I was actually paying attention!

So much has happened in that time, too much to write in one post, so here's a recap:

Willow has gained to an impressive 16lb 4oz in weight! (Over double the birth weight, and wow are my arms feeling it)

We've had our first family holiday, first beach trip, first time swimming, first giggle (she's been laughing ever since) and almost a first tooth!

We've watched just about every episode of PJ Masks, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Miles from Tomorrow, theme tunes forever on repeat in my head. Willow loves the shapes and colours so it's all good! For the record, I've also personally watched Moana around 25 times, and not always when Willow was awake, but there's no complaints on that one either.

Without creating a huge list, we have basically spent the last couple of months taking in every morsel of our daughters life and cherishing out lives as parents, that mixed with a full time job and the need to still savour every moment of sleep has left me with not much time to really sit down and do this blog some justice, Now I feel we are becoming much more managed and organised, recently beginning a new routine for Willow which is working pretty well and getting more and more used to the whole life as parents.

So I'm ready to give it all another shot, I started this all to document my daughter's life and have something precious to look back on when it all seems to have gone so fast, so I'm going to document the *insert current nappy contents here* out of it, for her and for us as a family. These are the most amazing times to experience, and what an amazing experience it still is.

I recently got asked to guest post over at theycallmedad.com, which is a fantastic website for dads, new dads and dads to be, so I highly recommend a little brows through more of the material over there! I chose to write on the topic of "Fast Forward", it's all about how quickly the time goes when you become a parent, I feel it's even more relevant to this post! Anyway, that's all from me today, the sun is out and we're off for some shopping before my last shift of the week!