Sister Has Teeth!

When Carter was 5 months old or so we kept thinking he was getting close to teething because he was drooling pretty much nonstop. I was daily checking his gums just so sure teeth were on the way. Then when he was 6 months old he went through a rough patch of sleep where we could only get him to sleep if he was on either Ty or my chest. Then voila, his bottom 2 teeth popped out around 7 months and sleep went back to normal. I've heard stories of kids who just all the sudden pop teeth and their parents had no idea because they didn't act any differently. Definitely not my kids! Teething isn't horrible and it has been much easier this time around because we knew what was going on, but it isn't easy. Little miss has been drooling for quite a while, probably about the same amount of time Carter was. Then she started in with only sleeping on my chest at night and I knew teeth were coming. She did the exact same thing Carter did although there was much less screaming this time. Poor Carter being the first child, we didn't know what was wrong and couldn't find anything that should be causing the crying so we had him cry it out for a few nights before chest sleeping and then the teeth eventually coming. Since Elise was acting the exact same way Carter had, I just popped her on my chest at night and although she tossed and turned quite a bit, she slept. There wasn't crying and it was all pretty stress-free.

Every night since she started struggling with sleep I'd check her gums before laying her down for bed. Nothing. Saturday night I checked her gums and still nothing. Then Sunday we went to a pumpkin patch close to my parents' house. Ty was holding Elise and put his finger in her mouth announcing she had a tooth. I couldn't believe it. Not there at night, there the next afternoon! I'm not sure why but I get so stinkin excited for that first tooth and so proud. It's not like they do anything to get there other than endure pain. I tried to take pictures but sis wasn't having it. She stuck her tongue out every time I tried. I was so excited about it I guess it rubbed off on Carter. Yesterday at the zoo he was sitting on the front of the single stroller while Elise was strapped in and she suddenly started scream crying. I asked Carter what had happened and he said, "I was just looking at her tooth. See?" and then proceeded to pull her bottom lip out very roughly.

Last night Elise was running a low-grade 99.5 degree temperature so we dosed her up with Tylenol. She woke up with her second tooth popping through right next to the first and still a low-grade temperature. When I took her temp and saw it was again 99.5 I was reminded of the struggle we went through with Carter at daycare. They used under arm thermometers so they added a degree to his temperature when they took it. If he was running a little 99.5 degree temp due to teething that bumped it up to 100.5 and their policy was a child got sent home if their temp was 100.4 or over. Obviously I wanted to be home with Carter every chance I got, but with a limited number of sick days and having to create sub plans it was so irritating to get a call to pick him up only to take him home and find his temperature was barely over 99 degrees. There were times I had thought his temperature was due to teething and I got a call saying it was over 100 degrees and I'd freak out thinking he must be sick on top of teething, but no his temp really was just 99. I'm so glad I don't have to deal with that anymore! I'm also so glad that on days like today when Elise isn't feeling up to par because of teething she can sleep in until 8:00 and take a 2 hour morning nap. I had to wake Carter by 7:00 at the latest to get him to daycare and make it to work on time and he never napped well at daycare. There are so many times I am reminded what a gift it is to be home with my babies and today was a huge one for me!