Today marks day 7 of the teething chronicles at our house. Audrey is working on all of her molars at once and her gums are bright red with little white tooth polka dots brewing beneath the surface. Oh how I hate teeth! She can chew just fine, who needs molars?

This latest round of teething knocks out all of the other unpleasant tooth emergent weeks, including the first one we spent at the Lodge in Colorado and thought we were dying from dehydration. My poor bunny! She is so miserable and the only good thing I can think of is that she’s learned where her teeth are. Ask Audrey, “Let me see your teeth.” and she’ll shove her finger so deep in her mouth you have to back up in fear that she’s going to gag up her last round of green onion (numbs the gums) and banana (stops the drool.)

Last night was the culmination of a week without large chunks of sleep. She started to cry during the last few minutes of our recording the latest Man in Black podcast. This was 9 pm. While our friends were circling to leave, I went upstairs and got her back to sleep. That lasted 15 minutes. I warmed up a bottle (a special treat since she’s a sippy cup girl now) and Jake took a turn. Twenty or so minutes later, he had her quiet for a minute and a half and then we decided to let her cry for a while.

Blissful quiet. For 20 minutes. This was long enough for Jake to fall asleep and me to recharge. She would cry for 5 minutes then be quiet for 5… I eventually went in and found her and the sheet soaking wet. That bottle had leaked and she was whimpering. I win the bad mom moment award.

Fresh jammies, nice blankey covering the sheets and I nurse her back to sleep. More crying when she hits the mattress. I go back to bed and think she just needs 5 minutes. I give her 15. At this point, it’s 11:30 and I’ve given up on sleeping in my bed. I’ve taken plenty of red-eye flights and the rocker is more comfortable. The only problem is, I’m willing to sleep in the chair but she’s not. Audrey wants to play on the floor and point “oooh, ooh, ooh” at the light stripes the street lamp is casting on the floor through the blinds.

I take my pillow and blanket and lay on the floor and she plays around me. Who knew she had so many toys that made noise? Eventually, she points at the bottle that now only has 1 ounce of milk and I give the rocker another go. She finishes her bottle and lets me rock her to sleep for the first time in her 14 months of life. I wait until she’s snoring, place a folded blanket in the corner of the crib and angle her head on the raised blanket and her body next to the bumper. Quiet.

I go back to bed and watch the clock hit 12:01. I fall asleep praying the Jesus prayer:

“Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me a sinner.”

But by mercy, I mainly mean sleep.