Chompers #10, #11, and #12

Just 3 days after Bryce's 1st First Molar arrived, so did the other three!  Suffice it to say that we have one drool-y toddler on our hands lately...

Chomper #9

Oh, my goodness.  I haven't posted to my blog in over a month.  So.  Very.  Sad.

And I'm sorry to say that this post is going to just be a lame tooth post to get myself updated with Bryce's tooth chart.

Last night, as Bryce was crying in the backseat of our friend, Kristie's, car (because he apparently doesn't like when "strangers" pick him up from day care to take him to dinner!), he tilted his head back and I saw his bottom right first molar!  It actually looks like it made its initial appearance a couple of days ago, but, since I just saw it yesterday, that's the day that gets recorded.

Also, when I went to update the chart, I realized that I had neglected to input the date on which he got his bottom left lateral incisor.  So I just put "March ?" in the chart.  Bummer.  Falling down on my job even more than I thought...

Okay, that's all I've got.  But at least it's a post, right?!?

Chompers #6 and #7

I'm a couple of weeks behind in getting this post done on Bryce's latest 2 teeth. Both of his upper lateral incisors came in on the same day (2/22/2012), potentially explaining why he had such a bad night's sleep the night before my parents left town. Or at least that's certainly what I'm telling myself!

In addition to the boring tooth chart below, I'm also going to include some pictures I took of Bryce this morning in his overalls. Why have I had such an aversion to overalls in my 6 years as a mother?!? I've decided I've got to get over my "They're too frustrating to change diapers in" attitude. The cuteness far outweighs the annoyance factor!

A Visit From Toothetina

On Christmas Eve, Ivie discovered that she had her first loose tooth. She proceeded to spend the next 2 months "making it wiggly"...

Fast-forward to Valentine's Day. Since it was a Tuesday, Ivie rode home from school with Kristie, who sent me a text that read, "Hanging by a thread! She asked me to send you a picture." Here it was.


Besides thinking it was a bit gross, I was also excited, as it was clearly time for the tooth to come out! So when Ivie ran over to me upon my arrival to pick her up, I told her that I would be happy to pull it out for her. But then I got distracted talking to Kristie, and Ivie disappeared into the garage, presumably to get a bit more playtime before we had to leave.

Imagine my surprise when she ran over to me just minutes later, saying, "Look, Mommy! I pulled my tooth out MYSELF!". And she sure had! So much for her being nervous about it hurting!

So here's my girl, minus her first baby tooth...



Ivie was so excited for her Tooth Fairy (named Toothetina, inspired by the book Silverlicious) to make her first visit to our home. Toothetina didn't disappoint, leaving a whopping $5 in the tooth pillow. And she even let us keep the tooth, since it is Ivie's first one.

Since the whole first-tooth-losing experience was a positive one for Iv, she is ultra-excited about doing it again. So it's no surprise that her finger is constantly in her mouth working on the next one (which is, in fact, starting to wiggle a bit!).

Chompers #4 and #5

Turns out I didn't have to wait long for that top left central incisor to make its appearance. This morning when Bryce woke up, it was there! And then, as if his mouth believes in symmetry, the right one was popping through by lunchtime. So Chompers #4 and #5 arrived at 8 months and 16 days of age.

So I guess this means that I can, once again, blame the middle-of-the-night-awakening-turned-nursing-session last night on teeth. Phew. Another day of not having to believe that it's possible that Bryce isn't going to be as good a sleeper as his sisters were...

Along with the tooth chart, I'm including some pictures of Bryce eating his Cheerios this morning. Dale and I are both excited that he appears to be favoring his left hand for food-grabbing... (For those of you not familiar with the handedness in our family, Dale, Macie, and I are all lefties when it comes to eating and writing. Ivie is our sole righty. Time will tell on Buggy!)

Chomper #3

If you would have told me 4 days ago that the next tooth that popped into Buggy's mouth would be his lower right lateral incisor, I would have never believed you. That's because 4 days ago, he developed what our friend (and, as luck would have it, also our pediatric dentist), Dr. John, referred to as an eruption hematoma on his top left central incisor, which led me to believe that it would be the next tooth to cut through.

But when I felt around in his mouth tonight, still no tooth "upstairs", but the pointy end of another one on the bottom floor! So Chomper #3 officially makes its appearance at 8 months and 12 days of age.

So here's the updated tooth chart, along with a few pictures of Bryce I snapped tonight when he and I were hanging out with a toy frying pan from the girls' kitchen. Pardon the pink bib. Let's just say I didn't feel the need to go out and buy new eating bibs for B when I knew they would regularly be covered in squash, anyway...







(Side note about these next two. In the first one, he heard his sisters voices and looked toward the sound. In the second one, he actually saw them running down the stairs. I LOVE how I was able to randomly catch the slight changes in his expression that show first the anticipation, and then the excitement, of seeing them! Ivie and Macie are, by far, his favorite two people in the world - if you don't count Mommy in the middle of the night when he needs a little snack).

Chomper #2

Last Monday night (11/7/11), Bryce had his worst sleeping night in a while. I put him to bed around 7:30p, like normal. But he then proceeded to wake up to eat at 11:30p and 3:30a. Mommy was not a happy camper...

Until the next morning, that is, when I felt a new tooth (at 6 months and 16 days). Good work finding an excuse to keep me from being upset with you, Buggy.

Chomper #1

Bryce has been drooling since birth, so I didn't really have a basis for my gut feeling over the past couple of weeks that he was about to cut a tooth. On second thought, though, maybe it's just because he turns 6 months old this weekend, and both of the girls got their first teeth between 4 and 5 months, so I assumed B wouldn't be too far behind.

Backtracking a little bit to discuss this past week (because, let's be honest, it's hard to write a whole blog post just about a tooth)... Let's start with the positives:

1) We wrapped up a wonderful visit from Nina and Papa on Monday evening, and they made it home that night in time to watch Scott break ground on their new house on Tuesday morning;

2) It wasn't a fun work week, but I survived (and I continue to tell myself that I am thankful to be gainfully employed, when so many who want to be, are not);

3) I remembered that Wednesday was Macie's "Bring-in-a-Book Day" at school, and she chose "Pirates Don't Change Diapers", which I love;

4) Dale got home Wednesday night and does not have another work trip planned for nearly two straight weeks; and

5) On Thursday morning, Dale and I successfully prepared for Macie's Show-and-Tell Day, School Picture Day for Mac and B, Uniform Day for Iv, and "really-important-and-stressful-work-day" for me. And we still made it out the door relatively on-time.

So let me attempt to bring this story back around to why in the world it's relevant to Bryce's first tooth. I hope none of you are as disappointed as I am that I have no idea where I was when I first felt said chomper on Wednesday. It's a fact that you would think would be a fairly obvious one to include in a post that is attempting to make an interesting story out of one tooth. But, sadly, it's escaped me.

So we will just move on and I'll try to get over it.

Now comes the part that Stacy Warner just loves (wink, wink). THE TOOTH CHART. I had hoped to find a cuter version to use for Bryce, but Google (to the extent I had the patience to sift through sites) let me down this time. So I'm resorting to using the same one I have for Mac. Oh well, at least the lead-up work is already done.

I should clarify that it's not really the tooth chart itself that Stacy "loves". It's the fact that I have the nerve to put a tooth chart in a post without an actual picture of the tooth. Or at least a shot of the child who has the tooth, given that it's pretty hard to get a picture of a tooth that has just cut through the gums. Sorry, Stac. I'm behind on my photo editing, so you're just going to have to wait. (Not that you're actually still reading this, anyway - it's way too long and hasn't had a picture yet.)

Alright. I can't drag this painful first tooth post on any longer. Here's the chart, showing that B officially got his first tooth on Wednesday, October 19th, at 5 months and 26 days old.

Good night.

Tooth #19

I don't really have anything to say about this one, so it's going to be just a boring tooth chart post... But this should be the last post about teeth, at least until Ivie loses her first one. Which might not be long from now, considering one of her classmates has already lost 2! I can't believe it's almost time for the Tooth Fairy to be introduced in the Herman house. That should be fun...

Tooth #16

I bet most of you, when sitting around in your spare time, have been thinking that I've forgotten about keeping Macie's tooth chart up-to-date. Particularly since the last tooth post was a solid 9 1/2 months ago...

Well, that's not exactly true, though it HAS taken me quite a while to "fix" the error it is now apparent (thought it wasn't at the time) I made early in the game when I put January 16, 2010 in as the date that Macie got her upper right lateral incisor (for those of you that aren't dentists or orthodontics salesmen, go ahead and look on the chart below - it's labeled tooth #2).

Turns out that Macie's upper right central and lateral incisors are fused. Which explains both the size of the tooth, as well as the diastema (huge gap) between her two front teeth.

It makes for a cute toddler smile now, but we're hopeful that her permanent teeth don't follow the same trend. We won't know for sure until her pediatric dentist can take x-rays, which he won't even attempt until she's 4 years old, due to the fact that younger kids don't sit still enough, so we'll just wait it out.

That being said, I've corrected the chart below to show that Macie doesn't really have an upper right lateral incisor, or at least not one that presents itself as a tooth with its own identity...

And, in other news, her first second molar (otherwise known as the two-year molar) came in while we were in Missouri! She'd had a couple-day bout with diarrhea, and Bobbie randomly asked if she was, by chance, getting a tooth. So I checked it out, and, sure enough, there it was!

Hence, the updated tooth chart and blog post.

Please try to contain your excitement.

Tooth #15

Wednesday, Macie's 15th tooth made its first appearance. Or I should say that this was the day I noticed it. You know, this happened to me with Ivie, too. As the girls get older, I start paying less and less attention to certain milestones, such as the arrival of baby teeth. I'm not sure why... Maybe it's because the new teeth are the ones that are hidden in the back of the mouth? Not really noticeable? Or maybe it's because I'm not stupid enough to stick my finger in there to "look" for newbies, lest I get bitten by a few of the OTHER 14 already-present,-really-sharp,-and-humongous-(thank-you-Alfermann-genes)-teeth in the kid's mouth?

Yes, that's probably why.

Anyway, I've marked down 3/3/2010 for Macie's 15th tooth, the lower left cuspid, right on track for the 16-18 months the chart lists for "normal".

And I'm sorry I don't have an actual kid picture to share with you this time. Sorry, Stac. The camera hasn't left the dining room table in a while, sadly...

Tooth #14 (and, yes, MORE Popsicles!)

Another tooth yesterday. Upper left cuspid.

And since the only pictures I've taken but not blogged about since the LAST tooth post were more shots of the girls with popsicles, well, I guess you can take it or leave it!

Tooth #13 (and Popsicles)

Macie's teeth are out of control right now. Her newest addition is her lower left first molar. With 5 new teeth in the past 11 days, even I am tiring of the tooth chart. I mean, I haven't even been able to snap a normal picture of her since the last tooth blog to include in this post for you! So I'll do the next best thing and go back to a couple of pictures that I took early in January, when we, for the first time, tried out our new popsicle maker. You'll note that Macie's popsicle that first evening spans the entire length of the stick. I learned my lesson quickly. Her popsicles now cover only the very tip of it. More of a handle for her to grip, less mess for me to clean up afterward when it melts and drips everywhere because she doesn't eat it fast enough. Win-win.

It certainly makes her happy, though, can't you tell? So I won't be complaining anytime soon about the clean-up. I'm a sucker for just about anything that elicits her adorable grin...

And since I'm showing Mac with the popsicle, I'll throw in one of Iv, too. And one of them practicing "sharing". (Yes, I am aware that Ivie is shirtless again. It was right before bathtime. I know I sound like a broken record.)

Teeth # 10, 11, and 12

Bob (our soon-to-be-full-fledged-pediatric-dentist friend) wasn't joking when he told Dale that Macie had "4 or 5 teeth" ready to break through very soon...

I can't say for sure that all 3 of the newbies popped through yesterday, but that's when I first noticed them, so they're all going in the baby book/blog as 1.23.10! Upper and lower right cuspids and upper right first molar.

Don't worry, I've already started teaching her to chew her Starburst on the side with the molars. And I hope her speediness with cutting teeth on the right side doesn't mean anything in terms of handedness - I'm still holding out hope that she'll be my lefty...

Macie's response when I asked her to "Say Ahhhh and show everyone your teeth!".

Tooth #9

WEAK.

I'm sure that's what most of you are thinking. I mean, 3 fun-filled days at Disney World, and the best I can do for my inaugural return blog is to talk about Macie's 9th tooth cutting through while we were gone? Really?!?

There are several reasons for this:

1. Tooth #9 is the one we've been slightly worried about, since it's only a week shy of being 7 months behind its partner-in-crime on the right side. And the typical age for these teeth to pop out is 7-9 months. So, welcome to the world, upper left lateral incisor!!!

2. I'm going to have several Ivie-only blogs coming up. Don't want Mac-ster feeling left out!

3. It's 8:00a on the first day home after a tiring vacation. I'm home from work, thanks to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and I have high hopes of catching up on work emails and making some progress on pictures, blogging, and laundry (despite being home alone with the girls, since Dale has to work). But I've got to start somewhere, and it might as well be with a no-brainer post while the girls chow down on their mandarin oranges and Cookies & Cream Pop-Tarts...

4. I have to give a shout out to our wonderful friends, Bob, Stuart, and Will Cherry who took such wonderful care of Macie while we were gone. Though the report is that Mac was a little intimidated of him throughout her stay at their home, Bob must have done something to encourage her tooth to make an appearance. Who better for her to hang out with than him, since he's in his Pediatric Dentistry residency at UNC?

5. Since I always have to include a picture in the tooth blog posts, this is the perfect way to show you Macie's way of putting her hands on her head when she hurts herself. Just picture her doing this and saying "Owwww". Very cute.

6. And last, but certainly not least (it probably should have been first), I've got 2,247 pictures to sort through, choose from, edit/enhance, and organize (824 of mine and 1,423 of Brooke's). Can you say "overwhelming and daunting"? I'm not sure where to start, so I needed something to take my mind off of it before starting the process.

Back soon with stories from Disney World!

Tooth #8

I can't believe it's been nearly 5 months since I've been able to post a picture of Macie's tooth chart! She still hasn't gotten her upper left lateral incisor (which particularly concerns Dale, since apparently missing laterals is VERY BAD for orthodontic purposes...), but yesterday her lower right first molar made its debut!

So as not to just have the boring tooth chart picture, I've included another one, as well. If you click on it, have a really big monitor, and look very closely, you MIGHT be able to catch a glimpse of the molar... And if you can't? Well, at least you get to see another cute shot of Macie, eagerly awaiting the arrival of our elevator!

Tooth #7

I'm getting pretty good at predicting when teeth are going to cut through. Yesterday, I could "see" Macie's bottom left lateral through her gums, and mentioned to Dale that I thought it would pop out in the next day. And, sure enough, when we picked her up from school today, there it was!

So here's the updated tooth chart. The left side is working to catch up...