How Teething Robbed Us of Our Happiness.

I have a happy baby. I'm not sure if you know that.

He smiled when he was just a wee wisp of a person, and laughed before he was a month old.

I even made a video about him smiling when he was a month old.

People comment all the time about what a good-natured, happy little guy he is.

Kid. Is. Happy. (I'm not bragging, as we obviously just got lucky. We won the baby lottery.)

So, we were understandably so frustrated we wanted to rip our hair out when Gabe started

teething a month ago. He suddenly wouldn't sleep, wouldn't smile, was grumbling, and wanted to

gnaw our faces off. We were all, "Huh? Who? What? WHERE IS OUR HAPPY BABY!?"

His normal bedtime routine results in him sleeping from about 7 until 11pm, then waking up and

eating before we go to bed.

While he was teething? He'd wake up FOUR TIMES before 11pm. FOUR. TIMES. (And then he

pretended to be like a newborn and wake up all night long.

So, I understandably felt the need to purchase every item related to teething pain relief there is. I

mean, can you buy your baby's happiness back? I wanted to. Oh, yes I did. Teething was sucking

the happiness out of my sweet baby, and as a result, ruining my life.

(Dramatic? What?)

When BlogHer sent an email about trying Baby Orajel® Naturals , I believe I might have scared

them away with how eager I was, "YES PLEASE ZOMG, I NEED TO TRY EVERYTHING IN

A DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO GET MY BABY AND SANITY BACK."

Is this how you use it?

 Plus, natural? That's sort of up my alley. I like that it is free of benzocaine, alcohol, and dye.

And I like that it had the potential to save my life. Or, make Gabe feel better. Same thing.

I tried it first, just because I like to know how things taste/work before giving them to my baby.

Just a tiny little dab. It wasn't super sweet and it definitely had the same numbing power as

benzocaine. Win. I squeezed a little on a baby toothbrush (my secret weapon for successfully

applying Baby Orajel® Naturals), and stuck it on his gums. I don't know if you've ever given a baby

Orajel® , but the faces they make are hilarious.

Happily, though, the Baby Orajel® Naturals provided poor little Gabe some relief and allowed me

to get some sleep (a few hours, anyway. He is still a baby, after all).

We've finally pulled through teething and our happy little baby is back:

Now, with teeth! Crooked teeth, oddly enough.

To enter a drawing for a $100 BABIES “R” US giftcard (that's a whole lot of baby teething

products you could buy!), answer me this:

When it comes to teething, how do you naturally soothe your baby?? (I'm already gearing

up for his second set of teeth. And am already nervous about it. Eeep.)

OR, if you don't have a wee one, do you think baby smiles are cuter with a few teeth or just

toothess little gums?

Rules:

The giveaway is open May 16th until June 16th.

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post (with your email!)

b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of

entry.

You can also enter on other blogs here.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older.

Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.

You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

Now, I just need something to help with the crying and sleep loss that have resulted from Gabe's

learning to crawl. Please?