Five on Friday

So I'm taking a short cut, being that it's Friday instead of Tuesday.  And thanks to a certain little teething friend of mine, I've been getting less sleep the past few nights. ;)

1.  As I mentioned, Asa is teething.  The outlines of teeth 3 & 4 on the top (numbers 5 & 6 total) are clearly seen, and I think I see an upper eye tooth starting to descend as well.  Oh boy!  Asa had worked up to some consecutive nights with a 7-7.5 hour stretch to start things off.  It was AMAZING!  I declared generic infant Motrin my new favorite thing (it seemed to ward off the early teething pains).  We have progressed to a  point now where Motrin just isn't cutting it (pun intended).  I AM thankful, however, that with Motrin his wakings are every 3-4 hours instead of every 1.5-2 like his teething nights were with Tylenol (when he wasn't old enough yet for Motrin).  I'll take what I can get!

2.  Matt tried to go in and be the one to console Asa back to sleep the other night.  We have the double whammy against that working though--Mommy's milk + all-mommy-all-the-time for 6 weeks.  He was comforted by Matt, but would not go back to sleep for him.  Matt asked me to come in, and I got the humidifier set back up (we're fighting the downhill slope of croup) in case his throat was bothering him.  When I went into the *adjoining bathroom* to fill the humidifier tank, Asa could see me but pitched a FIT that I wasn't the one holding him.  It was actually pretty sad to see him step up the crying and reach and reach for me.  Matt did great at calming Asa down, and I settled in with him once the humidifier was up and running again.  He was not hungry, but nursing seems to soothe his gums and calm him back to sleep.  What do moms do during teething who aren't nursing?!?

3.  I had to make a "beaver guard."  Asa's crib had a plastic guard along the top of its side rails (the head and foot board are solid and arched out of the reach of Asa's mouth) to protect it from little teeth marks.  Lately that wasn't enough though.  He will rest his top teeth on the top plastic guard, and chew, chew, chew along the backside of the rail with his bottom teeth.  I would go in after a nap to find little flecks of paint on him!!!  NOT okay.  I googled for a solution and found a tutorial for a cloth rail cover I could sew.  PERFECT.  I had left over fabric from his curtains, and with the tutorial in hand I had the perfect excuse to unpack my fabric, notions, and sewing machine.  How I've missed its hum!  I really like how it turned out and will add a picture here of it tomorrow.  No more paint chips on Asa's face!

4.  We tried those gourmet cupcakes the day our house closed.  They were tasty but not earth shattering.  I decided I could try some of my own special combinations for some fun flavors and started with Reese's cups.  I made chocolate cupcakes with mini Reese's cups set into the batter.  The I made peanut butter butter cream frosting.  Oh. My. Goodness.  Matt has informed me he doesn't want a cake for his birthday.... he just wants a big vat of that frosting!  It is sooooo good.  I will post a pic of the cupcakes tomorrow too.  YUM.  And I'll hunt down the recipe for you.  TRY IT!

5.  This weekend marks some busy times for us!  On Saturday we're attending a cook out, on Sunday we're trying a new church here in Ohio (oh, what I would not give just to walk through the doors of CCC on Sunday and see Ken & Kathy, Rob & Kim, Frank & Suzanne, and all our other friends!), next Wednesday is Asa's FIRST BIRTHDAY, then on Friday Poppy & Nana are coming to visit, and the following week is Matt's birthday (it's a big one)!!  I am enjoying getting Asa's gifts together.  I wish we could have a party with his friends, but I am thankful we got to have his unbirthday party.  Just another one of those things that doesn't unfold the way you had imagined, but I am determined to make it fun.... even just the 3 of us.  Not only is it a day to celebrate the first year of Asa's life, but it's a marker for other milestones as well, like a year of exclusively nursing, making Asa's baby food at home (not a single jar has been purchased!), and surviving a much longer stint of night wakings than I thought I was getting into at the beginning of this journey (Ha!  I never imagined he wouldn't be sleeping through the night at a year!  But he's worth every minute of middle of the night cuddles!).  More on all that later though.  There is so much to remember, recount, and be thankful for!