A Tooth, A Tooth, A Tooth!!!!

A lot of excitement for one little tooth, huh? Let's just say that we've been waiting a while for this tooth. I was just commenting to another blogger yesterday morning that Hadley still, at almost 9 months, had no teeth. I had even started calling Hadley my "toothless wonder" since she is learning to eat all kinds of solid foods with no teeth whatsoever. We had thought that she was teething on occasion over the past few months, but since we never saw a tooth, we started to second guess that and thought maybe we were just attributing crankiness to teething.

Then, while out at lunch with my friend, Maria, yesterday, she commented that she thought she saw a little tooth on Hadley's bottom gum. I absently replied that nope, that must be a bit of a puff because there are no teeth in there.

I remembered Maria's comment last night while Sean and I were making dinner and out of curiosity, we went hunting to see if there might actually be a tooth. And lo and behold, there is!!! One snuck by us. The tiniest sliver of a little tooth has broken through on the bottom left. Sean and I were so excited that we were dancing around the kitchen-- Hadley thought this was incredibly funny.

Interestingly, Hadley hasn't even seemed to be teething this time. She has not been overly cranky or overly drooly and has not been eating or sleeping any differently than normal. It's like this tooth has not yet affected her one bit. I'm surprised, to say the least. Let's hope the remainder of her teething goes this smoothly. I'm positive I will live to regret that statement.

She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not...

Sometimes I wonder if Hadley knows I'm her mommy or if she just sees me as a source for food and frustration. Most of yesterday, I was pretty sure she just wanted me to go away. She was unhappy and whiny, and I'm just going to blame teething again, even if I don't yet see a tooth. Really, there is nothing else that could be wrong with the kid, but I'd like to see at least the slightest sliver of a tooth just so I have some confirmation that that is what has turned my sweet, laughing, adorable child into a moaning monster. I tried everything, too, including Orajel, teething rings, toys, a Baby Einstein movie, books, and nothing was working. So, I made the executive decision that we would lounge in my bed and watch TLC all afternoon while we waited for Daddy to get home. That was better.

At about 5:00, I dragged us out of bed, sat Hadley in her high chair at the kitchen table, and started dinner. Oh, and I was making a bottle, loading the dishwasher, and getting Hadley's veggies ready to go at the same time. This is typically how I operate. If I am not doing fifty things at once, I'm not being productive. But yesterday, I just didn't have my act together.

On my way across the kitchen to drop some potatoes into the just-boiling pot of water, I slipped on a few drops of water and fell flat-out on the floor. It was one of those slow-motion falls where you see yourself falling for like five minutes and you flounder about trying to catch yourself before you hit the floor. I watched the potatoes fly out of my hands in a giant arc and land in the pot of water, splashing water all over the counter. Totally embarrassing. And, as if that wasn't enough, at the exact moment I hit the floor, Hadley let out a screech and started bawling crying. So, here I am lying on the floor with a throbbing knee with water all over my clothes and Hadley screaming in the background. It was one of those moments where I just wanted to push pause and lay there until I could start the day over.

Since I couldn't seem to will that to happen, I leaned around the cabinets from the floor and tried to reassure Hadley that I was a-okay and that a bottle was still forthcoming. More wailing ensued. I then pried myself off the floor and hobbled over to her, feeling every bit of my 32 years. And just as soon as I leaned in to kiss Hadley and comfort her, she smiled at me. A big, beaming, tear-stained smile. I think she was actually worried about me.

Well, that or she was worried about who was going to fix her next bottle if I was hurt. But, either way, I'll take any smile I can get. It made the day so much better!