I Found Out The Hard Way...

...that Gabzilla has a tooth!

No, it wasn't through a night spent trying to comfort a cranky baby with swollen gums like I thought it would be. That would have been too easy!

I was sitting there feeding her and she did that thing when something catches her interest and she whips her head around whilst still ATTACHED to my nipple (dear God and here I thought stepping on legos whilst barefoot was the most painful thing) except this time there was a new and added dimension to the excrutiating pain of the "nipple stretch from hell". There was this scraping feeling along the bottom side of my nipple.

So after she looked up at me with this sneaky grin, I stuck a finger in her mouth and felt along her bottom gums and there it was in all it's shiny, sharp glory, HER FIRST TOOTH!!!!!

Whilst it's just poked through the gums, it's definitely there and I'm very cautious now when she nurses. I spent a year nursing Zack and never once did he bite me. Somehow I don't think I'm going to be quite so lucky this time around as this child already has quite the sense of humour.

As much of a milestone as it is, I can't help but be a tad melancholy about it. It's too soon. Wasn't she just a newborn? My itty bitty girl is blossoming so rapidly into full blown baby-hood that it makes me kinda sad. First solids, then sitting up, a tooth and if all that weren't enough, tonight I discovered that she can hold her own bottle. And the funny thing is, she never gets one!!!!!

She used to get one a night, of pumped breast milk when we were in NJ with Daddy. But on the rare occasion she does get one, it's a Daddy/Daughter thing, reserved as something special for just those two. She doesn't even like for me to give her one, which isn't really a problem. But being that I literally have FOUR GALLONS of pumped frozen breastmilk in the freezer, I need to use it. And I refuse to dump it. My heart just won't let me.

So I gave her a bottle tonight and after she peeled each of my fingers off, one by one, she did this...all by herself:

*sigh*

Oh well, nothing I can do about it her being a tad more independent or getting teeth, I suppose. It's not like I want her to be 16 and toothless. Although that would probably keep her off the dating scene. Now there's a thought! *lol*

In the meantime, while I wipe the tears away, how about some more pictures? Yeah, I thought you'd like that.

Here's one from the day Gareth flew back to Manhattan. For some reason I just love this one. Gives me warm fuzzies.



And in her purple eyelet dress.....That's my little "flasher".



Yesterday, after getting the OK from her pediatrician on Friday to add a couple more fruits to her repetroire, I gave her some watermelon in her mesh baby-safe feeder. Oh Lordy did she love that! It makes quite the mess and she was plenty angry when there was little left but pulp. I didn't think it was a good idea to give her any more though. She sure did enjoy it while it lasted.



After the massive hurricane of a temper tantrum passed when I took the watermelon away, I compromised and gave her a "mamacicle" in her safe feeder. What's that you ask? It's frozen breastmilk. Simple as that.

It was pretty messy but she loved it and it probably felt good on her gums. Although about 4 minutes into it she started looking for my boobs.



Well as late as it is, I'm off to try and find some place to donate about two gallons of breastmilk. There has to be someone who needs it. And yes, I did contact the NICU where Gabz was after birth and the nurse I spoke with acted horrified at the suggestion, yet they tested me and my milk before they'd even let me store it in thier freezer! She acted as if I'd asked her to give me her left breast and that the mere suggestion of donating my excess breastmilk was abhorent!

And you don't even wanna get me started on how I feel about the lack of breastmilk banks in this country. Oh sure, we have trillions of dollars to pour into inane and asinine pursuits like giving grants to artists who try and interpret the penis in watercoulors, or how about pouring billions into a war that more and more people are becoming disenchanted with?

Don't even get me started on that. It makes me see red.

There is literally something like 1 breastmilk bank for every 12 states. Un-effing-real!