10 months. Teething bites.

If stories about screaming babies and poop interest you, today is your lucky day! If not, go ahead and skip this post. This is my life.

A few weeks ago Mariah cut her top 4 teeth all at once. I've heard stories about babies just unceremoniously waking up with new teeth. Not the case here. We have a pre-teething week with clinging, fussing and not eating well, and then actual teething week, with low fever, upset tummy, and constant shrieking and whining. Like, I can barely even leave the house because the only thing worse than a screaming baby at home is a screaming baby in public. NOTHING was working (we tried teething tabs, teething gel, Motrin, Tylenol, frozen teething rings, frozen bread. oh she liked biting my face I guess that worked). I felt really bad for her being in so much pain and I hate not being able to fix it. I'm also really sorry to anyone who saw her that week. Lastly, I'm sorry for myself for having my face clawed on and my ears screeched in 24/7.

But then, those 4 teeth broke through, and all was well. It felt like baby honeymoon all over again. I had actually forgotten how adorable, smiley, funny, cuddly, and cute she is. We had a week of baby bliss!  That was while Rebecca was here, so I was glad she got to see Mariah's better side.

At church last Sunday, Mariah started acting kind of nutso again, hitting me in the face with her sippy cup and screaming at anyone who looked at her. I felt around in her mouth and saw that two more teeth on the bottom were trying to come in. My stomach actually sank and I braced myself for another awful week. 2 at a time is easier than 4 at a time, so the meds and teething rings helped keep things a little more under control. Also, she broke out in a rash from roseola last week, so I'm not even sure how much of the fever and crankiness was from teething and how much was from the sickness. Poor thing can't catch a break. Not fun. The upside is that through all of this, she's been sleeping for like 12-14 hours straight through the night.

As of yesterday, I think this round of teething has come to an end, and I have my sweet, smiley little girl back. And she has a mouth full of 8 teeth!

Other charming anecdotes from the last month: Mariah learned to take her diaper off. I made the mistake of putting her down for a nap without clothes on, and after I heard her talking and yelling instead of sleeping, I went in to see that she had taken her diaper off and pooped in her crib. And placed one little surprise under the blanket in the corner. Nice one.

She has NOT pooped in the bath about five times in the last month. I've lost count of how many times she has. I've gone through almost a whole gallon of bleach in my cleaning efforts. I know, my life is so glamorous.

Umm other details that I might want to remember later: Mariah is wearing size 9 mo. clothes, and size 3 diapers. She weighs 17.5 lbs, and is 26 in long. I think. She does a lot of really cute things that have been kind of hard to remember through the blur of screaming that is clouding my memories. 

Yogurt Face

I love how happy she is while she eats.

And that she likes to keep one hand in the air while she's eating.

That's all.

California pt 2

We squeezed in one last beach day the day before we left. Sand was consumed in alarmingly large fistfuls, and a good time was had by all.

 

 

Cute little Madeleine enjoying her last few weeks as an only child. I want my nephew to get here pronto!

California pt 1

We went to see our families for the week of July 4th. We did the same thing last year, when I was almost 7 months pregnant and Matt had appendicitis. Good times. Our flight there went fantastic. It was Mariah's 9th flight, just a few days before she turned 9 months old. Baby be travelin'.

 

 We went straight to see Steph, Michael, and Madeleine. It is so sweet to see these two cousins together, 22 months apart, exactly the same as Stephanie and me. I think Mad was glad that Mariah is a little more fun to play with now, but she still didn't want Mariah to get too close to her precious princess dolls. She kept a close eye on her. She calls her "Riah" as in "Baby Riah's eating my princess."

When we went to see the Morris/Murray families, it was the same story with little Rhysse. After she gathered up all her princess dolls in her arms so Mariah couldn't touch them, I asked if she could give just one princess to Mariah for her to play with,  and she looked around the room and then gave her a pillow. When I asked if she could get a toy for her, she disappeared for about 15 minutes then eventually came back with some miniature Barbie sunglasses- probably the one toy she eventually decided she didn't care if she ever saw it again.

We went paddleboarding one morning with my family and the Skidmores, lots of fun. We went to a lagoon just down the road that I had driven by every single day growing up but had never really been to.

 

"Grr. Stop taking pictures and hold me." 

 

 

This picture sums up so many moments on our trip. She is fine and happy when I'm holding her, but the second she senses that I'm going to pass her off she loses it.

That same day, we went to the park with the Morris and Murray families.

Rhysse gave Mariah a wild ride in the stroller. They were both laughing, but I was a tiny bit scared.

Mariah had a rough week. She didn't sleep well at all, she was super clingy and much fussier than usual. I think she had a hard time being so thrown off her usual schedule and being away from her relatively quiet home. She finally started warming up to most of the family by the end of the week.

9 Months

Where is the time goiinnggg??? My work schedule has regrettably increased, so this last month I was out teaching Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and Matt has softball and soccer games on Monday and Wednesday evenings, so we basically only have time to breathe on the weekends. Now that we'll be here for awhile, we've been spending some extra time at the Home Depot and trying to get settled, again, for reals this time.


Mariah is extra precocious lately. She crawls around the house like a cuddly little monkey (some days more like a feral chimp), scavenging for food along the way. The teeth marks on her crib railings are like hash marks, a record of how many seconds it takes me to release her from the prison every morning.

She has become a little more fiesty and opinionated, but her giggles are infectious and she is still super smiley. She can pull herself up on furniture fairly easily, and cruises along the ottoman and the couch, and between chairs. Her favorite places to hang out are on the fireplace ledge, or on the houseplant where she can sample the local flora.

Her crawl is...eclectic. She sometimes does the traditional hands and knees, but sometimes she'll only use one leg and drag the other one behind, or sometimes she'll hunch over and do a weird walk/crawl on her hands and feet. That one makes me laugh.

Mariah has a new favorite food. It is- surprise!- whatever I'm eating. Or what anybody else is eating. She has major food-radar and whines and begs for food by your feet until you give her a taste. When you hold out a scrap she guides your fingers into her mouth with both of her hands. Stephanie calls it her tractor beam hahaha. We're transitioning to more finger foods and table foods and less purees. Even though it takes twice as long for her to eat, she's a lot happier feeding herself and making a mess. Lately she's tried berries, scrambled eggs, wheat pasta, yogurt, peas, beans, and bread. Also she likes eating my wedding ring. I keep expecting to have her look up with my diamond in her mouth, like that scene from Robin Hood.

She is mama's girl to the extreme. Separation anxiety is no fun. For any of us. At least she thinks I'm hilarious and gives me plenty of kisses and snuggles. It's a package deal, this motherhood thing. 

Dad's Day

I had Mariah wake up Matt by putting a piece of bacon in his mouth. Mostly for my own amusement.

We had a slow morning with chocolate chip pancakes, watching Matt open his cards and gifts, and baby play time on the floor.

Mariah got her dad a new football so she can learn to play catch with him, and I got him some Big Daddy Size root beer and a gift card for Ray's Barber Shop. Mariah also scribbled a card for Matt but I think it might have gotten chewed up somewhere.

          

How on earth did I get so lucky to have these two? 

We call her Queen Kong when she climbs on the fireplace like a gorilla, and sometimes waves her hands around and shrieks and pounds on the fireplace glass.

Matt is such a caring, affectionate, and fun loving dad for Mariah. She loves wrestling and climbing all over him. 

Everywhere we go, people comment how much Mariah looks like Matt. I love it.

She loves practicing walking across his chest.

So, I've been really into grilling lately, and trying to perfect our steak techniques. I had read a lot about it over the last week, and was convinced that I was going to serve up the best Father's Day Steak the world (or at least my husband) had ever seen. I insisted on doing the whole process. I bought a nice looking rib-eye, remembered to bring it to room temp and season it in advance, and went out to heat the grill. I went inside to prep the asparagus, and when I went back out with the tray of food to put on the grill, the whole thing was on fire. Like, giant flames, black smoke. Hahahahahah. I was scared the house was going to burn down, so I yelled for Matt to come outside and he saved the day. Still not sure what happened there. I was a little gun shy of the grill at that point, so he finished up dinner while I french fried some potatoes. We celebrated the fact that we still had a roof over our heads. Happy Father's Day to you.