Teeth and Teeth!

We are up to our elbows in teeth and dealing with teeth. Christopher has 3 or 4 teeth coming in at once. He just went to the dentist and got a great check up. He didn't like the dentist looking at his teeth at all. After all was done the dentist told him bye and all he did was give the man a horrific look then bury his face in my shoulder!

Evie's check up was not so great. She is still on the bottle. I can't get her off it! I don't know what to do. I don't want to just take them away! You all know how that will go, non stop crying for days. I can't deal with that at all. It is bad enough the constant screaming lately. Most days I am lucky if I get a few minutes to myself without a kid in my arms. I wouldn't change that for the world, but I'm not about to add to the noise. My head can't take it. However, I may have to! The dentist says she has what is called "bottle rot" on her 4 front teeth and it must be repaired!

She will have to drink something to sedate her just to get her to allow them to do the procedure! Plus, the meds they will have to give her for pain. She will need 4 fillings. This will cost us around 150.00$, all because we have let her keep drinking her bottle. I think the worst is that she always has had bottles at night and throughout the night as well.

She also has the front part just under her upper lip is way to prominent, and will most likely at some point need clipped. On top of all this she has only 4 front teeth instead of 6. Two of them fused together for some reason. For this we are waiting until she is old enough for X-rays to see how many permanent teeth she will have.

I have to hold the kids down each night to brush their teeth. I wrap them in their special blankets in order to hold them still. Most nights they protest, but it is usually short lived. I also have to put special paste on Evie's teeth afterwards. It is made up of the same stuff as her teeth to help strengthen them. Then all night only water until breakfast. Which is a hard transition for both of them, and I occasionally cave in a little for my own sanity. If they are screaming for a bottle at 3 or 5 am I usually give in. I try not to, but if I feel the battle will last for ever I cave. I need sleep to! I feel horrible about it because I know its for their best interests, but still I am so tired lately!

I wish I had followed my instincts and taken her to a pediatric dentist months ago, like last year! If you have a baby take them to a pediatric dentist at 6 months to get things started. The best thing for teeth is prevention!

Sleep please!

My son is up 4 or 5 times a night the past few weeks. I have no idea why. Previously, he was only up twice. I know that he is teething. He has 6 teeth now. The top four came in two at first, and before they finished coming in the other two started in.

The pediatrician says that he is in pain and that is why he can't sleep. Nothing I do seems to help. Tylenol, Motrin, teething drops, and tablets all help a little but he still wakes up crying and takes 10 to 30 minutes at least to get back to sleep. Half the time he will be asleep, but the minute I lay him down in his crib he starts crying and then sits up crying. I have to grab him because we all share a room, (My brilliant idea that has backfired) I have to get him out before he wakes up his sister. Unfortunately, for now we are stuck in a 2 bedroom apartment, and I refuse to change the toy room into a bedroom also. I like having a safe place that they can play. That way if I have to run to the bathroom I know they are ok. A bed in the mix just adds an unsafe toy for my monkeys to climb on.

So for now I am up every couple of hours all throughout the night. Complicated by nights when the kids take turns waking up. Those are the best! Add a sick mommy and you get a dangerous mix creating a sleep deprived, cranky, and judgement impaired whack-o. I can't wait for all this to pass! I don't want my kids to grow up fast I just want them to sleep all night, or most of it!

I'm Back!

I am sorry for the huge lapse in my posts. I have been having the worst time. It is as if the world is against me. Our computer got a virus and basically quit working. As if that wasn't bad enough nothing seems to work right for me lately. For example the other day I was making lunch, and I dropped the open can of Beefaroni, not our normal lunch but I was feeling very tired. It went everywhere, and of coarse my now super fast crawling son made it to a meat ball before I could stop him and choked on it. Lucky for me he coughed it right out.

Neither of my kids have been sleeping well. Christopher is getting 4 teeth at once and has a nasty cough, so he is miserable. Evie has a runny nose and a cough as well. No fevers, but sick enough to be miserable. So both of them a extremely whinny and cranky.

All I can say is that the past few weeks have been pushing me to my limits. All I want is for something to work out right, or maybe some good news, or just some time to myself (that isn't also my sleeping time. I just need a break, and I feel awful saying that. Mommy just desperately needs a time out.

First Tooth!

Christopher dad his first tooth pop up. I noticed it Tuesday the 26th. I felt something sharp, and upon closer inspection realized you could actually see it a little bit. It is on the bottom left. I was so excited we did the "I did it dance"! We move our arms up and down as mommy sings "You did it, You did it, Yeah!" He loved the extra attention.

No wonder my happy guy hasn't been so happy lately!

Mommies little biter!

My precious angel has a vicious mean streak. She bites, but only me. The other day we went to Indianapolis for a day trip due to my younger sister dancing in the half time show during the Fever game (WNBA). So we all went and afterwards we went out to eat at Jillian's. It's kind of like Chuckie Cheese only for all ages, but more for grown ups than tots. She was being so good at dinner. Until she was done.

Then she signed that she was done, but I told her to wait a minute mommy wasn't done yet. She leaned over put her head against my arm. I mistakenly thought how cute she's cuddling with me. Then ouch! She had bitten me! I actually yelled out because it did hurt. I told her, "NO, that is called biting and it really hurts!" She didn't seem to really pay me any attention. In fact I know she didn't because she proceeded to bite me three more times.

This isn't the first time though. Sometimes she will just pull my hand down to her mouth and bite my finger. This is the first time she's bitten my arm. A couple times while hugging me she has bitten my shoulder, but she hasn't done that in a long time.

For some reason I am the only one she bites. She has bitten daddy only once. Maybe mommies taste better??? I don't know. I am pretty sure she's not teething she has tons of teeth. She even has her molars in. She won't let me look long enough to tell though.

I don't know what to do about it other than what I have been doing. I always respond the same. I tell her that its not OK and it hurts. Then I make a point to not give her any extra attention, and if she continues to do it I ignore her. I don't know any other way to discipline her about it. I don't think biting her back will solve anything. If its not OK for her why is it OK for me?

Cranky Baby!

My son has been the completely opposite of my daughter from day one. She always seems cranky, but she's not really. He on the other hand always has a smile, but don't let it fool you. He goes from ear to ear smiles to screaming in zero flat. At first we thought maybe he was more sensitive and just easily over stimulated, but now I am not so sure. He blows his top more and more frequently, and with more and more severity. Sometimes it is down right scary.

His melt downs usually occur just after a period of play time. If it had been a couple hours or so after he had eaten I would attempt to feed him. Sometimes he would eat, but usually he would scream for a bit and pass out. Then he would sleep for 30 minutes to a couple hours, and eat after waking up.

Lately, when he screams like this it takes longer to soothe him, and he screams more violently. He has always stiffened up and arched his back when doing this. I am wondering if something might be wrong or if he could be in pain. However, after he naps for a bit he wakes up happy, smiling, and cooing away as if nothing had happened.

He also wakes up every morning screaming until I take him into the living room begin playing with him. Because of this I was thinking that maybe he is just getting older and more aware of his surroundings. Maybe what he wants to do and what he can do are not the same thing resulting in a melt down. He could be teething, but I can't feel or see anything. At two months the doctor thought maybe he had colic, but I thought he would have grown out of that. He wasn't crying like this last month. It has only gotten to be so excessive with in the past two weeks.

I plan on taking him to the pediatrician this week so I'll let you know. If any one has any ideas I'm all ears. I really want my quiet baby back. This is getting so frustrating.