I thought teething was about teeth

Teething...seems pretty self-explanatory, right? Baby gets teeth. That couldn't be farther from the truth. Actually getting the teeth is the least memorable part of the experience....and when I say memorable, I don't mean it in a good way.

Yes, Lindsay has teeth. But the 2 weeks it took to get them was a remarkable journey. Our sweet, little, perfect baby turned into a whiny, sick, oozing monster.

The first clue that something was up is that she became incredibly needy. Once able to self-entertain for quite awhile, the second we set her down, she starts screaming and giving us a look like we killed her puppy. Here's where I'd normally insert photographic evidence, but the look breaks us down so fast that we could never actually get a picture of it. It's impossible to not pick her up immediately. She wins this battle everytime. We are suckers.

The next clue was a slight fever...and now we can see the teeth trying to push through. Fever = bad. Not necessarily for any reason other than a fever means no daycare. No daycare means no work. No work means no money. So now the teeth are hitting the pocketbook and they aren't even through the skin yet. I thought that at least wouldn't start until a trip to the dentist was in order.

Finally, the most bizarre symptom of teething...diarrhea. Serious diarrhea. And this one makes no sense to me. How a couple teeth pushing through the skin in her mouth could cause diarrhea, I have no idea. But it happened. A lot. And in disgusting fashion. Three separate times during a 2-day period, this was our reality...

Check out all the poop in the water...we aren't talking about just a little mess here. These were two-step baths. Rinse the poop off, drain the water and then fill up the bath with more water and give an actual bath. Absolutely disgusting. I'm just amazed we were lucky enough that it happened somewhere with a bath each time. What would I have done if we were at a restaurant or something?

If you look very closely at this picture, you'll see what all that fuss was about...two little teeth poking through on the bottom of her mouth. Yep...only two teeth that are only about 1cm big thus far. How many teeth do kids get again? Because I think I might ship her off during those couple weeks each time another set starts sprouting.

Mother's Day...I like it

Growing up, we didn't have Mother's Day traditions (sorry Mom). It usually was a pretty typical Sunday Funday for the Pfeifer clan. We'd load up in the Ford Escort Wagon, three kids in the back sharing two seatbelts and make the hourlong trek to Minot to spend the day with the extended family...grandparents, aunts/uncles and cousins. That was what we did most Sundays I was growing up -- and in fact, my grandma's house still hosts every Sunday. Pretend the actors and actresses from the movie Soul Food are white and you have a general idea of what I mean.

So coming into my first Mother's Day, I didn't really know what to expect. There are tons of commercials on TV and the radio and people kept asking "Do you have big plans for Mother's Day?" It clearly must be a big deal. Despite all that, I didn't have any plans. No brunch reservations, no trips to visit family and no activities in mind.

Turns out, that was a pretty darn good decision. First, I woke up to Kevin (and Lindsay) making me waffles and eggs while I read the newspaper and drank coffee. I could handle that everyday. Then the day was my oyster...or something like that. I decided on the zoo. After a pit stop for a beer and apps at my favorite restaurant, off to the zoo we went!

Anyone that knows me, knows I love the zoo. In particular, I love the bears and the tigers. The bears were a little standoffish, but what a treat we got when we got to the tigers! One was pacing right in the viewing area. Just in case you can't tell from the picture, there is glass between Lindsay and the tiger...I didn't throw her inside the cage.

After the zoo, we had great intentions to head home, grill some dinner and call it a night. Instead, it was so nice out we got the firepit rolling and decided to order pizza instead! That may have been my slickest effort at getting out of making dinner ever! So we had a few drinks around the firepit before calling it a night. Lindsay particularly enjoyed her first "bonfire".

I keep telling her she needs to lay off the bottle a little, but clearly I'm losing the battle.

After going inside, Kevin even picked the "chick flick" of our Netflix movies to watch that night. Let me tell you, "Rachel Getting Married" is no chick flick. It's damn depressing is what it is. But despite the downer of a movie, the day was awesome. We may not have started any traditions, but I'd take that day all over again every year. Can't wait to drag Lindsay to the zoo when she's 16 and make her sit around the firepit with her lame parents.