Stuck in Teething Hell

Poor little Alessio is getting his first tooth. When I first saw the little white mark in his gums accompanied by all the drool I was excited. It was a big milestone is in growth and development. That was about a week ago. But now everything has changed. The little white tooth that I once thought was so cute has grown to become my arch enemy. As it pushes through his sensitive little gums he is writhing in pain. The past two days have been so challenging. For the past month or so our days have been filled with joy, laughter and general happiness and I was able to manage any fussiness with ease. Now I just don't know what to do. I'm trying everything I can to make him comfortable, but to no avail. He is crying and pulling on him gums all day. To make matters worse we are staying with friends since our apartment is occupied with the new tenants. So on top of feeling like I can't help my baby I also feel bad that his fussiness is bothersome to our friends. I keep checking the tooth with my finger just hoping it will finally push through so that he will get some relief. I don't know how much longer I can stand to see him in pain. There is a bottle of whiskey on the counter that is looking more and more tempting (not for me, for Alessio's gums, although a little for me might make me feel better too :)

On another note Marco is expected to arrive in California today. They have been driving since Monday morning. The funny thing is that their entire drive across country has been nothing but clear skies and sunny weather until they crossed the Nevada/California border and it was snowing!!! Snow in May??? This weather is absurd. Hopefully by the time we are there in July normal California weather will have resumed.

Back to Alessio's tooth. I wonder how long it will take for this tooth to cut through. I hope he's better by Monday. We have our flight to France on Monday evening and that's the last thing we need, Alessio to have one more reason to cry on the plane. Poor baby. Please feel better.

Almost sitting up

As we sat in our near empty house today I placed Alessio on the couch
within the boppy pillow most of the day. He sat there content playing
with toys and chewing on everything he could grab. He also began
trying to sit up and the support from the boppy really helped. He sat
himself up and placed his hands in front of himself and balanced there
for a little while. He would flop back onto the pillow but try again
right away. A few times I had to help him up when he fell forward onto
his face, woops, but it was only on the couch. I'm sure he will get it
soon.

Also, another new development is that he is cutting his first tooth.
There is a little white spot on the bottom right side of his gums.
Poor little guy is trying to chew on everything including me when he
nurses :( I was surprised to see a tooth since this is the early side
of the teething spectrum, but there it is. I hope it doesn't bother
him too much.

Sent from my iPhone

First Tastes

Yesterday Alessio went to his 4 month check up and we got some great news from the doctor. She said that between 4 and 6 months we can start giving Alessio tastes of solid foods. He won't start getting full meals of solids until he's 6 months but now we can let him lick fruits, vegetables and yogurt.

So yesterday we let him try an apple and a peach! He loved the peach, he kept trying to smash it into his face. So cute! This morning I gave him a taste of yogurt and he made the funniest face. Plain yogurt has a tart flavor and he wasn't too sure about it but ate it anywayThEe also let him taste banana, he seemed to like it but kept trying to eat the peel. Funny little guy! We are going to have do much fun feeding him. I'll keep posting all his funny reactions to different foods.

My First Mother's Day

Today I finally got to be part of the club that gets appreciated on Mother's Day and it felt great! I was fortunate enough to spend the day with my family. In addition to celebrating Mother's Day we celebrated our Niece, Chloe's baptism. It was a day of joy and love.

I dressed Alessio up in this adorable blue and white suit. We put his baby jewelry on him and even little white shoes. He looked so handsome. We rented a car and drove out to Long Island for the baptism but Alessio wasn't too thrilled about being in church, he was a bit fussy so I had to carry him around during the ceremony and then half way through take him out to the car to feed him. But once we got to Sandra's house to celebrate he was back to his happy self. We had a great time there visiting and playing with the babies.

Even though a baptism wasn't my first choice for my 1st mother's day celebration, I had a wonderful time. And Marco did a great with my gift. I got chocolates, earrings and a fabulous Coach bag! What a wonderful day!

I didn't know eating was so fascinating

The other day I was holding Alessio and I began to eat an apple and all of a sudden he starting cracking up laughing. He thought the sight of me eating my apple was the funniest thing. Every time I crunched into the apple he was burst into giggles. Then he began to grab at the apple and tried to stick his little hands into my mouth. He is so funny. Lately he has been so much more observant and wants to put everything into his mouth. Soon enough he will be able to experiment with solids, but not until 6 months.

Little things like that really make my days so bright. He keeps me smiling throughout the day and makes me look forward to the next day with him.

On another note, he has been working really hard trying to roll over. He can almost make it but can't get over his shoulder. The other day he kind of made it with a little help from me. He was in his usual stuck position with his arm under him and I tickled his side and as I did that he squirmed and got over his arm onto his belly. So I don't know if I should count that as rolling over, but I guess he sort of did it :)