Ouch! Teeth! And a banana picture.

This week we have learned a lot about our daughter. Much of it learned at our fragile nerves expense. She cries longer, harder, louder than we imagined a 15 pound ball of fury ever could. Her record at this moment is 12 hours however we judge that she could have gone on infinitely longer. She only stopped at t w e l v e l o n g h o u r s due to our drugging her into a peaceful rest period. I believe she could cry for a good 24 hours ensuring that we, as mother and father, feel every bit of her pain.

We've been enjoying late nights as a family huddled around one or two stubborn teeth that refuse to move any faster then their current slow, deliberate painful pace. We think that these particular teeth must be deformed carrying terrible tiny sharp points all over causing extra awfulness. I'm not sure it is possible for one normal tooth to cause such agony. As I tongue my own teeth I wonder if my parents suffered as I suffer so.

My wife is an amazing woman. She's gotten less sleep than I have as she's a human feeding/pacifying/holding-the-baby-while-she-naps-for-fear-that-setting-baby-down-will-cause-premature-wakefulness machine. When we snap at one another at 3 in the morning, wondering how such a small human continues to wail at such deep dark hours of the morning, it always strikes me that there is no other woman I'd rather snap at. Even though I complain that she should have tried the left boob instead of the right and the left boob was the holy sleep grail and she should already be asleep due to my obvious suggestion. In reality nothing pacifies our little munchkin except fatigue or acts of God who we are thinking is not merciful - at least this past week.

My wife is bound boob to mouth to our child and I'm grateful that she's able to do so. Her boredom is mighty as she is tied to the couch with our child alternating between feeding struggles, bouncy chair manipulations, naps, cry fests and the slow transition between the various Sadie accepted stages. I love her very much and never tell her enough how much I'm delighted that she's my wife who bore my ever-tension filled babe.

I love you Christie.

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Our picture this week is telling. It has been over 110 for the past week with nary a cloud in the sky. The banana has scorched a bit and the bucket watering hasn't been sufficient due to the heat. Many of the sun-loving leaves have scorched creating a sun damaged plant. I, in the 110 degree heat, decided that this was unacceptable and finally ran a slow drip system line from our water valve to the banana. I can now water slowly for long periods of time in order to help water absorption allowing the plant to recover better from the unrelenting heat. This required trench digging, measuring, adapting, burying and testing. A trial indeed to me to help save and nurture out damaged banana plant. Obviously this lends nicely to a metaphor with our daughter.

Grandpa came over and played with an amazingly delightful Sadie this afternoon to give us a bit of a break in order to accomplish basic chores around the house.

Thanks Gramps!