Monday's Musings

So Audia is definitely coming into some sort of more regular "schedule" (if you can call it that). For the past few days she's been spending the majority of the day awake, and has only been waking up at night to feed. This is fantastic, as a week or two ago she was waking up in the middle of the night ready to play and it was getting pretty old.

She's also been smiling a TON; last night she actually greeted me with a huge smile when Chris handed her to me after a diaper change, and this morning when I went to pick her up out of her bassinette, there was that big grin again :-) YAY! It is amazing how validating it can feel to have your baby greet you with a grin; "she likes me, she really likes me!" has gone through my head a few times and I'm sure it will continue to.

To add to the fun, she's also started babbling a bit, and I swear she's said "Hi" to me twice. LOL. Ok, I know that's pushing it but her babbles sometimes sound like she's saying "hi", which is too fricking cute. I'll try to get some of these smiles and babbles on video one of these days, but usually when I bring the camera out, she's so fascinated by it that she forgets about me and thus the smiles and babbles cease.

Last but not least on the Audia updates, she held a rattle today! For about 2 minutes, she held and shook (by shook I mean that she was flailing her arms around per usual and thus the rattle was being shaken) a rattle. Very cool.

On a side note, I went to the dentist today to have a filling replaced cause it came out this weekend and learned a whole bunch of stuff about babies and dental care that I never knew that I thought I'd share with those of you that care.

1) if you have cavities, gingivitis, or tooth decay as a parent (mom OR dad), your baby can (and will) get the bad bacteria from you when you kiss your baby on the cheek or lips. This increases babies risk for tooth decay and gingivitis a ton. (you pass these bacteria on to your spouse/significant other when you kiss them as well) So take care of your teeth/mouth!

2) Mothers that get yearly flouride treatments have kids with less cavities

3) You should wipe baby's gums with spiffies (if you don't want to buy spiffies, a wet washcloth is better than nothing) after EVERY FEEDING!!! (I had no idea!) Baby's gums have tiny holes in them where the teeth will come through; the teeth are developing under there and the milk can seep into these holes and weaken the teeth as they are developing. Spiffies are wipes that have xylitol on them. Xylitol is a naturally occuring sweetener (found in raspberries and plums) that actually destroys the bacteria that causes cavities.

**Chewing gum that has xylitol is great for after-lunch tooth cleaning!

Just to leave you with a chuckle, I think Jaxon's feeling a bit jealous these days.....