Bellebration – 9 months

Happy 9th Month Birthday, my Belle!

[simage=2080,max,n,center,]

18 months ago, when your journey into this world began, I knew you would be a special little person. But I could’ve never imagined just how special you would be. You are an amazing person!

[simage=2079,max,n,center,]

You are serious and funny, you are active and serene, you are loving and independent. I love getting to know you a little bit more every month, and even though it doesn’t seem possible, I love you more and more every passing minute.

[simage=2078,max,n,center,]

This month was a fun one! You had your first Christmas, and you were the star of the show. You danced, you walked in a baby walker, you learned to eat bread and all sorts of things on your own. You wore the cutest Christmas outfit in the whole wide world, thanks to Grandma Tita.

[simage=2089,max,n,center,]

You now eat EVERYTHING. Whatever we eat, you eat. And you LOVE eating. Except for avocados, which you’ve recently decided you don’t like, you’ll eat pretty much whatever we give you. As of now the only thing we don’t offer you is honey, nuts, sugar/candy, and milk. Everything else, you eat. And how you love eating! In that you are your momma’s girl!

[simage=2088,max,n,center,]

You loved watching the snow fall in your backyard. You made us run outside and play in the snow as you simply couldn’t believe what you were seeing.

[simage=2087,max,n,center,]

You went skiing with daddy, and loved it! You weren’t too happy with the lift part, because it was so very cold…but as soon as you got off the lift and started skiing down the mountain, you were as happy as could be!

[simage=2086,max,n,center,]

You continue to experiment with sounds. The flavor of the month is TATA. We hear you say tata, tete, teta, tita, tate, all sorts of T sounds. You love playing with your mouth and making saliva bubbles and saying all sorts of different things.

[simage=2085,max,n,center,]

You can now stand without holding on to anything! We’ve counted you standing alone for up to 15 seconds. If you have a tiny bit of support on one knee, you can stand for about a minute! Every day now you are experimenting with standing alone and it’s become one of your favorite games. Unfortunately I haven’t yet had the camera handy!

[simage=2084,max,n,center,]

You are now getting into everything. And when I say everything I mean EVERYTHING.

You started going to child development classes with a group of 7 or 8 other babies. You loved it!

[simage=2082,max,n,center,]

You learned to fall asleep in your crib on your own, and to stay asleep all night. This was a major accomplishment! Mommy and daddy were really struggling with lack of sleep. But after a few days of resisting the idea, you learned to go to sleep and stayed asleep longer and longer. Last night you slept a full 10 hours in your crib, all by yourself, without waking up!!!!

[simage=2081,max,n,center,]

Your favorite toy is still your brother. You love going up to him and putting your fingers in his mouth. You also love slapping him, and you love that it makes him laugh when you slap him around.

[simage=2091,max,n,center,]

You started offering us bites of your food. You’ll take one bite, then offer us a bite, then you’ll take another bit. It’s the cutest thing ever!

[simage=2083,max,n,center,]

You want everything your brother has and want to do everything your brother is doing. If he is playing the guitar, you have to play the guitar too!

[simage=2090,max,n,center,]

You continue having such a serious face at times… as if you were 120 years old…and then you will give us the biggest smile in the whole wide world!

[simage=2077,max,n,center,]

You spent a lot of time with one of your favorite people in the whole wide world…auntie anabelle. You even spent a whole night with her so mommy and daddy could go out on a date!

[simage=2076,max,n,center,]

You learned to blow perfect bubbles in the pool and love dipping your head underwater all by yourself.

[simage=2075,max,n,center,]

Thank you for giving us another wonderful month with you my baby Belle, we love you so much.

[simage=2074,max,n,center,]

[simage=2043,max,n,center,]

[simage=2013,max,n,center,]

[simage=2001,max,n,center,]

[simage=142,max,n,center,]

[simage=225,max,n,center,]

[simage=195,max,n,center,]

[simage=148,max,n,center,]

Bah Humbug Part 2

I was going to write an update but I realized that I already did – 2 years ago.

Anatomy of a Hospital Visit

This is pretty much what happened last night.

Nathan is home but we still don’t know what’s wrong. Alas. Next: his regular doctor, maybe she’ll have some ideas.

Update on Nathan: We couldn’t get in to see his doctor today, so we are waiting to take him to her tomorrow. He is doing better today. No fever, and he only threw up once. He fell asleep at 5pm and has been down since – and probably will sleep through the night now. My gut is starting to point towards digestive problems – we didn’t stick to his diet in Mammoth and I have a feeling we are now seeing the consequences. I’ll keep everyone posted!

Bah Humbug

Today, instead of getting on a plane to New York for Medek, Nathan is with Owen at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Wbatever he has started on Wednesday…he got really whiny, didn’t feel good, didn’t have much energy. By Thursday he was eating much less. Friday he was super tired, whiney, and didn’t eat much at al.

Yesterday he had a fever and barely ate anything at all. I was still determined to go to New York because I thought maybe he was just a little “off”. But right when I finished packing all of our bags I noticed he looked really pale and was still upset.

I started praying and praying for guidance…and minutes later he threw up the little bit of food I’d been able to get into him.

So at 9 pm last night I called the airline to cancel the flights.

This morning was much the same like yesterday so we decided to take him in to emergency to make sure there is nothing major going on. On top of the vomiting and fevers, his breathing seems a bit compromised and he has a gnarly dry cough. He also seems a bit out of it and not quite himself.

I’m hoping they’ll rule out the shunt and find out what’s causing this quickly so they can come back home tonight. We didn’t want to take Belle to the hospital so Owen went with Nathan.

I’ll keep everyone posted. Bah Humbug.