[sev-uhn]

This marvelous little creature is 7 months old today.
HO-LY cow!

When did she get so big!? Somedays, it seems like I can't even remember her as a teeny tiny baby.

The poor girl has been through so much this past month. She is of course, forever teething but no teeth. Lots and lots of whining, biting and drool but no teeth. Which is fine by me.

She had her first trip to the ER too. She was particularly fussy last week and then by Saturday she had spiked a fever and started throwing up. They told me it was a bug and i needed to ride it out but if she wasn't better by Monday i needed to bring her to the pediatrician. I thought "No biggie. I can do this". She was so miserable and just wanted to be held and did NOT want any medicine of any kind. Monday came and her fever went up to 105 so i called the pediatrician. They didn't have an appointment until late morning so they sent us to the ER. One catheter and some blood work later we found out she had a bladder infection.

I know what you're thinking. Whaaaaaaaat? I had the same reaction. But apparently, they are fairly common with little girls. We were sent home with a prescription and instructions to follow up with her doctor. By Tuesday, she was still pukeing and couldn't take her medicine unless she had already thrown up everything in her stomach which meant every 4 hours for her fever. I called, yet again, the pediatrician's office. I was told by the nurse over the phone that she needed to be seen and that it was probably going to involve shots of antibiotics to jump-start her treatment and hopefully get her feeling better to the point of being able to take her meds the normal way. This worried me greatly.

You see, in the ER, i was instructed to hold her down for the catheter and blood work. She was in-con-sol-able for a good 45 minutes. I cried. It sucked. Those few minutes are at the tippy top of my all time sucky parenting moments list.

I brought my Madam with me. Even if she couldn't help comfort Noella, she could at least comfort me. She's wonderful like that. I adore that woman. She is the reason I hope one day to come up with some sort of elixir to stop the aging process so i can keep her forever. But back to the traumatizing office visit.

She was terrified of the nurse who took her vitals and SCREAMED when they had to take her temperature. Which i probably would have too considering how many times she had to have a thermometer in her... erm... tender bits. Then her pediatrician came in. She is a lovely lovely woman and Noella finds her innately fascinating. So for this bit, she was fine. Dr. Scherpa did however, notice that Noella had not only pooped, but it was leaking out of her diaper and all over my lap and her onsie. Her only onsie with us might i add. By the time that i finished cleaning her up and scrubbing my pants the best i could, there was a knock on the door. And not one but TWO lovely smiling nurses in brightly colored scrubs entered, each with a syringe and alcohol swab in tow.

I almost cried. They reassured me that they split it up only because it was too big of a dose for one shot and would hurt so so much more all at once. This logic didn't compute. But i didn't have a choice. I once again held my little girl and snuggled close to her face while the nurses simultaneously stabbed her thighs and Noella screamed until she turned purple.

The good news is that she didn't cry for nearly as long this time and she was pretty mellow for the rest of the day. They helped a lot actually and she hasn't thrown up but once since then. But her saga doesn't end there. Oh no.

Since her awful sicky symptoms are gone and she's finally taking her medicine like a good girl, she has developed an awful diaper rash from a side effect of the antibiotics. It makes her poop little bits many, many times a day. Little acidic poops that burn. Now we have to rinse her bottom and very very delicately apply cream to a screaming girl.

And tomorrow, we have to make the trek out to Keene yet again, for an ultrasound for her kidneys. The doctor wants to be sure the infection was localized in the bladder and check for any congenital defects in her renal system. I'm glad that they want to check it out though. I don't think i could bare having to go through this all again in a few months.

But for a tiny human without communication skills beyond crying, she's doing so well. She's such a wonderful girl. When she doesn't have a fever and her diaper is nice and dry, she's her own happy self again. And that's a great thing to see.

On to the happier bits of Noella being 7 months!

She has started feeding herself. Kinda. She tries.

She can roll both ways and frequently finds new places in the living room to get stuck. i.e. her arms under the couch, between furniture. It's quite entertaining.

She has started to talk a lot more which is wonderful to hear.

She has moved onto a "big girl" car seat. This is a blessing and a curse. She likes being able to see out of the window but she hates that the sun is in her eyes more.

She likes to imitate what Mister does with his mouth.

She has moved onto 6-9 month clothing.

She likes to pull her socks off and chew on them.

She is finally a fan of cold things to help her teething.

She rocks in her exersaucer like a madwoman. We are afraid she's going to tip it sometimes.

She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. A sure sign she's on her way to crawling.

Her hair sticks up like crazy and i've finally given in to the fact that i can't make it lay down.

All in all, she's had an eventful month. It's still crazy to think that she's already over halfway to a year old. She's so so big.

Favorite photo of the month!