This Weekend, I Became a Mommy.

I think every first time mom can identify with that "ah-ha, so this is what being a mom is all about" feeling. The "initiation" into mommyhood, if you will. You have a baby, you bring the baby home, you care for the baby like your life depends on it, but there comes a moment when all of the sudden it makes sense and you realize that you have become a mommy. I thought I had already had my initiation into the club with things like setting an alarm to wake up every two hours to feed my baby, or spending hours trying to get a poop stain out of my white comforter (which was retired, I know, baby + white=disaster), or maybe it was the projectile vomit in my face. I realize now that all of those things were mere hazing. This weekend, I was initiated. This weekend, I truly understood what being a mom is all about. This weekend I became a mommy. This weekend, Logan officially started teething.

Backtrack with me to Saturday. Mike and I decided to go out on a double date with a couple I know from work--they have a 6 month old and so we're all kind of in the same "baby on board" boat. We go out with them pretty regularly. Mike and I got to the restaurant, put our names in, got drinks, and went outside to sit and wait for the other family. All was well at this point.

The other family got there, sat down with us to wait and we began to chat. All was still well. Then out of the blue little Lo's lip began to tremble, and then came a small whimper, then a whine, then the screaming ensued. We thought maybe she was warm so we stripped her down to her diaper and her t-shirt and then went and stood inside while we continued to wait. Not a change in her mood, and I could tell we were irritating some of the other diners. At this point she stuck her little hand into her mouth and began to chomp on it...hard. My mommy mind switched from hot to hungry. I took her to the car and fed her--it soothed her for a couple of minutes but she was back in hysterics by the time we went back in to sit down for dinner.

Her crying continued for about 10 minutes before I decided she and I would just go back to the car and wait while daddy asked for the check and a box for our food. The box and the check took a lot longer than expected and 30 minutes later (crying the entire time) I called Mike, told him to ask our friends if they would take him home--I had to get somewhere where I had a little more freedom to console her. I strapped Lo in her seat and pulled out of the parking lot. We quickly drove across the street to CVS to pick up the mesh teether that we'd heard so many good things about. She stopped crying midway to the store and was pretty pleasant while we looked for her teether. They were out of them. So, we proceeded to stop number two to see if they had the teether. It was at this time I realized I had Mike's house keys and he had no way to get in. I quickly called him, told him I'd be home soon and then walked quickly into the store.

Went to the baby section and looked for a good five minutes at all of the teethers before spotting ONE mesh one in the very back of a rack of bottles--almost missed it. So we quickly traveled to the front of the store and asked for a bag of ice to go along with it (our ice maker at home doesn't work) only to be informed that they were out of ice. A lot of good the mesh teether was going to do if we didn't have the ice to put in it. I called Mike once again, asked if he minded if I made one more stop and proceeded to stop number three. Went in, grabbed some ice and some ice cream (come on, I needed SOMETHING to look forward to) and went to the checkout line. While we waited in line I could hear the thunder cracking and was just hoping I'd make it out before the rain.

As we were on our way to the car the rain started. It was just a trickle at first so I pushed the stroller quickly to the car as the rain slowly started to come down a bit harder. I quickly snapped Logan's seat in the car and went to close the stroller.

Stroller. Was. Jammed.

With the rain slowly beginning to seep into my clothing I frantically tried pushing the stroller closed with no avail. After a minute of this madness I haphazardly threw the stroller into the trunk (yes, still half open and jammed) and climbed into the car. At least she stopped crying, now I just had to get home. No sooner had a pulled out of the parking space when the screaming started up again. I pushed my wet hair out of my eyes, said a prayer and stuck my finger in her mouth and we rode the whole way home like that.

So, there you have it. My initiation into motherhood. I feel like I can take on the world now, or at least I can handle what my baby throws at me. The tooth hasn't poked through the gums yet, but her gums are swollen and I can feel the little tooth right underneath the surface--won't be long, now. Here are a couple of shots from the night (all after the waterworks had stopped):