Feeling Like a Mama

Last night I felt like a mom, I mean an actual get up in the middle of the night, start a pot of boiling water, go outside to cut some rosemary, put it in the boiling water, while the Bambino sits in his high chair and eats some Gerber puffs all because he's teething and can't breathe through his nose kind of mama.

That's right, the Bambino is teething. He's got his lower & upper front teether, the two teeth besides the upper teeth, and now he's growing some more lower teeth. He is not a happy camper. Add a stuffy/runny nose and you've got a sore gummed, clogged up Bambino.

Since I try to do remedies as natural as possible I put on some rosemary boiling water, then put it in the sink, hung a towel over the Bambino's and my head to let the steam help clear him up (I had just sprayed the shower with Tilex due to the massive mildew so there was no way I was having my baby breathe in chemical steamed air) and then we sat outside for a few minutes to help him clear up some more. We did this 5 times. Then I whipped out the Baby Vicks and rubbed that on his chest to help him breathe the rest of the night.

The stuffy nose wouldn't be so bad if he weren't teething but since he is, he wants to have the pacifier in his mouth ALL NIGHT which makes for even more difficult breathing hence the steaming and vicks.

But at one o'clock in the morning when he woke up again and I caved in to give him some infant Tylenol to help soothe his gums and so he could sleep without his pacifier.

The kid did not wake up until 5 minutes before we had to leave to go to the babysitters and me go to work. That's one tired Bambino.

What I found interesting about last night was that I wasn't phased by the crying, whining, steaming, rubbing, tylenol. It all felt natural. I really felt like a mom rocking the Bambino while we sat under the stars, watching him phase in and out. The patience that I had was surprising. In the beginning I was yelling and crying to his woes because I didn't understand and I wanted my freedom back. But now the waking up in the late night to bring him into bed with me because he just wants to snuggle feels right, normal, like home.

Even more, I felt like a mama last night because he looked up at me with his tired and drunk (from milk) eyes and mumbling mouth to call me "mama" while I swayed with him under the moon.