My little bambina!

Jessica is 10 months and 6 days old today. She is just growing like a little weed. We have had quite the adventures lately, taking her to the ER and the local Children's Urgent Care often. She appears to be fine now, but we are still battling whatever infection that could possibly still be lingering with antibiotics. We had another episode of those crazy red spots, like last month. Only this time, the spots were accompanied with a high fever and congestion.

My sweet baby had the works on Sunday night... they had to draw blood and the nurse could not find her vein. She was prodding that needle around in every direction in my baby's arm. It was awful. And then when the vein was found, the blood was dripping so slow! So, they had to do a heel prick to retreive more blood-- which was not fun. Next up-- urine sample. They had to insert a catheter into my girl, in order to get a clean sample. They x-rayed her tummy, because she had only had 1 poo in 3 days. That is not 'normal' for her, being breastfed and all. However, the x-ray turned out fine... just lots of gas built up, which was probably giving her cramps. The urine sample was fine. The only 2 things they found were her extremely high white blood cell count-- meaning her body is fighting off infection-- and we found out she is slightly anemic, so we started her back on Polyvisol with Iron the next day. They had to give her 2 shots of Rocephin (1 in each leg at the same time!!). We had to go in the following day for another 2 shots. Ugh. They also prescribed her Amoxicillin, so she will be on that for another week. I am just hoping the red spots stay away and the fever does not come back. I know children get sick. I know fevers do not mean your child is dying. However, I am a mommy..... a first time mommy, at that! It sure would be easier if my baby could tell me how she was feeling.

Jessica weighed in at 21 lbs. 3 oz. last week at her 10mo check-up. She is 29 inches (and a few centimeters... don't remember the exact number). She has 7 teeth now. I have a feeling #8 will be coming in shortly. She can stand on her own when she wants to. As far as I have seen, her record has been about 30 seconds... and then she sits or falls to her hands. (You can see pics of her standing in her 10mo photos I posted below.) She still is not waving yet and man alive, I wave bye bye EVERY morning... sometimes she kinda holds her hand out or down with her fingers spread, but she has not actually gotten the whole 'wave' thing yet. I am still nursing her and loving every moment of it. Her favorite foods (besides mama's milk) are strawberries, mashed potatoes, green beans, chicken, bread, and yo baby yogurts. She absolutely refuses anything that has the appearance or texture of jarred baby food... even when it is fresh and I promise her that it is super yummy and that she would love it if she JUST opened those pried shut lips! She definitely cracks me up. I try to brush her teeth every morning and night. Notice how I used the word 'try'. That would be because she does not like me messing with her mouth. She will open up for Nanny, but not for Mommy. I fought with her for like 20 minutes lastnight, trying to get that mouth open. Silly girl. She gets around everywhere... I am convinced that she can crawl way faster than I can walk. She loves shoes... I am constantly picking shoes up off the floor, because if it were up to her, she would probably prefer those on her dinner plate over food. We pretty much always keep a sippy cup of water with her. She is outgrowing her hanging jumpy seat and that makes us all sad, because she loves it and everyone loves watching her go crazy in it. We are pretty sure that she says 'hi' every once in awhile and Nanny and Papa swear she said 'bye' to Papa last week. She is almost saying 'mama'. She says, "Mmmmmmom." She says 'ma ma' and 'da da' all the time, indiscriminately, but I have a feeling she will be calling me 'mama' very soon. In potty news, she is still my little amazing potty girl. She does both on the potty every morning and she continues to go multiple times all day for Nanny. The other day, by the time I had gotten off work, Jessica had not wet or dirtied one diaper-- even during her nap. That's my girl. This potty thing is pretty good for saving on diapers! Well, I think that pretty much covers everything.

Things with me are good. I started playing softball 2 nights a week and I am really enjoying that. I begin my teacher prep program mid-October. It will last 2 months and then I hope to be teaching 4th grade at GCISD (I pray for a job opening at Bransford Elem.!!!) starting the 2009 school year. My photo/video is going great. September was not so busy, but October is a super busy month. I am looking forward to all the weddings and finding the perfect Halloween costume for my little pumpkin. The recent change in temperature outside has been very refreshing and I hope it sticks around for awhile. I am also looking forward to taking Jess to the pumpkin patch and enjoying the fall festivities! You know me-- I like to get festive. I already bought my pumpkin shaped jell-o molds!!

Sorry, there are no photos this post.... but scroll down!!! You will find plenty! :)

Love,
Jess and Me