Now it makes sense!

Little miss has been quite the grouch lately. We've had numerous nursing sessions and cuddle times but she'd go from being happy and playing to cranky and throwing a tantrum. Now I know why. MOLARS!!!!!!

Those who have been there done that I now feel your pain. She already had one bottom molar pop through weeks ago but WOW she's getting her two top at the same time. Combine this with late nights, marathon nursing sessions and sleeping like a newborn makes for one tuckered out baby.

So here's how I discovered the little beauties causing pain to my babe. Whenever I cook dinner the past few weeks she insists on being part of the action. Normally this just means she'll open up the measuring cup drawer grab out a tablespoon and a cup and mix away till her hearts content. The past few nights have not been so easy. She MUST be held while I cook. This scares the crap out of me and then I end up handing dinner over to daddy and we go cuddle. So last night the husband took on dinner duty, yet again, and I stayed with the babe. We had spaghetti, one of our favorites because it's easy on the wallet, yummy and great for the girl to practice using her fork. About five minutes into eating she just started crying. That was that, I held her in my lap for the rest of dinner and she refused to use her fork or eat off her plate. She probably thought that's what made her hurt. So after a long dinner session, some applesauce and a few vanilla wafers later we were cleaning up. Daddy did a Dairy Queen run - YUM I have a new found love for chocolate dipped waffle bowls and the strawberry sundaes - and we treated the babe to some ice cream.

After that was cleaned up she signed and said bath. I was a little shocked because it was still rather early in the night- although it already felt like midnight. So I obliged and started the bath. 5 minutes in, she wanted out. I tempted her with a washcloth to help wash walrus (her adorable bath toy) and that kept her in a bit longer to soak and wind down. The washcloth was exactly what the Dr ordered. She gnawed on that thing like there was no tomorrow! So I asked her to 'bite' - a little game we play where she gets to chew and gum my fingers but where I in turn get to sneak a feel and check for new teeth - and much to my surprise she had TWO molars working their way through. I felt the one on her right and it had just begun to break through, a little sharp tip was poking out of the gums and on her left you could feel how swollen it was getting ready to break through.

I always tell her 'It's hard being a new person''; the things our babes have to endure the first few years of life are pretty baffling. Childbirth - as glorious as it is, is pretty intense on their little bodies, life outside of the womb - cold and dry, learning to crawl and walk and teething. There are so many more milestones they accomplish and all are spectacular in their own right but I think as an adult our minds make us forget what it's like achieving these feats. Just like a new mother after childbirth, she would do it again right then and there and endure every ounce of pain all over again just to get that first look at her precious child. You forget the pain. As cliche as it sounds I think this is exactly how it works for the first years of life. We forget what we endured for a reason.

But all in all, there's nothing a good cuddle and some mama milk doesn't take care of. I love this time of motherhood. Teething aside, she slept pretty darn good last night. Maybe it was the relief that mama finally caught on. ;) It's not a mystery any longer. Time to get out the Amber Teething Necklace and the Hyland's teething tablets.