Can Belle Catch a Break?

A decent post is long overdue but I am seriously hanging by a thread! Belle is more mobile than ever and with all the teething, she has been doing little sleeping. Last night was the worst night in the past month and we were up every two hours. I actually fell asleep holding her in the rocker which I haven't done since she was first born! Finally the top left tooth is coming in and it's giving Belle quite a bit of pain. She also started to get a little stuffy nose :( which makes life even more difficult for her and me!

I just keep saying life will get back to normal once the teething is done but what is normal these days? I should just be going with the moment because nothing is normal or ever will be!

Normal these days:
Belle doesn't sleep through the night anymore and usually has at least one waking in the middle of the night for a little comfort or ibuprofen. She wakes up really early around 5am and sometimes even earlier.... no matter what time I put her to bed these things don't change.

She is very clingy and just overall hurting. For the month she now has 7 teeth and the 8th is working it's way out. I just feel so bad for her and there is nothing that I can do really. I give her frozen things to chew on which helps for an hour or so, oralgel for babies she hates, the natural teething tablets don't seem to touch her, and ibuprofen I can only give so much of. One thing I have yet to try are the amber teething necklaces that supposedly have analgesic properties... unfortunately you can't buy them in Brazil so I will just have to wait for my next visit home in two weeks. By then maybe she will have all of her teeth!

Tchau,
Sara

It's for Real Now

She is crawling for real now and pulling up!!



Tchau,
Sara

Belle Eating

Belle during one of her eating sessions and she can't seem to get enough!




Tchau,
Sara

I'm in Trouble

I meant to post this last week but better late than never!! Now that Belle is pretty mobile, especially with the walker, it's making day to day life pretty hard :) I have now reached the part of mommyhood where I never get a bathroom break. Below is why.... I go to the bathroom and five seconds later I walk out to find this- (of course I tried to get her walker stuck in the bathroom doorway so I could see her but she broke free)

What does she have you ask? Well it's the emergency flashlights that are plugged in to the outlets in the wall. I died laughing but wondered how she did it so I watched her!

There she goes!!

So there you have it! Now I had to take down all our emergency flash lights, which are needed cause the power does flash often. They are now replaced with socket covers. The medicine cabinets have also been locked down and the cleaning supplies. We now have to work on the cords for the TV and a few other things I haven't thought of just yet!

Tchau,

Sara

Tuberculosis Vaccine

For Belle's 7 month appointment, last week, she received the TB shot in her right arm :( While I hate to see her in pain I do feel comforted knowing that she will be protected from this terrible disease. Unfortunately in recent months there is a strain of Totally Drug Resistant Tuberculosis floating around India. I guess Belle will be safe if there is every a large epidemic!

Day after the shot- The vaccine itself is intradermal which means that it's given right under the skin instead of in the muscle like all the other shots. 

It's hard to get a picture of her sitting still but this it was it looks like this morning.

A few days after the shot it sort of looked angry red and infected. Of course since the vaccine is a weakened live virus technically it was infected. The instructions for care include ignoring the site. No creams, ointments or covering with bandaids. Pretend that nothing ever happened to prevent too much scarring. I have done just that so far and it seems to be running it's course pretty quickly although it looked gross for a few days. 

All in all she doesn't even notice anything and continues to be on the go all the time. 

Tchau,

Sara

Africa

Just wanted to let everyone know that my parents have made it safely to Africa. Their flight from London was delayed so by the time they arrived in Johannesburg they had to wait a while for the next flight. No worries the minute they got to the lodge they went on safari and saw quite a few amazing animals- Rhinos next to the car and cheetahs in trees!

They have also already seen the Big 5 (Lion, Elephant, Rhino, Leopard, and cape Buffalo) and baby giraffes. I honestly think my mom is in heaven :)


I will let you know if I get anymore updates from them so you all don't worry!

Tchau,
Sara

The Belle Brigade

Yes Belle is strategically planning my demise. I assume that she is at the age where she is starting to realize that her actions have consequences... just a little bit but not completely. The term "your being a baby" applies to Belle everyday. I even caught myself telling her those words exactly and immediately after the words came out of my mouth new words formed in my head telling me, "that's exactly what she is....". Thanks mind for clarifying that but it doesn't help the fact that my 'baby' is throwing herself backward crying because I took a cord plugged into the wall away from her or I wouldn't let her stuff the side of the trash bag into her mouth.

My favorite trick of hers is now on our morning walks when we reach the furthest point aways from the house she gets separation anxiety and I have to carry her all the way home while pushing the stroller too! I know that this too will pass but it's wearing me out! I don't know how much she really understands or is starting to and this is where the being a new parent is going to fail me.

Going with my instinct I believe she understands more than what I give her credit for but my head tells me she is still just a baby and that's what babies do. Needless to say I am not going to make any rash decisions and when she pouts or throws herself around the room I am just going to redirect her and go with the flow. I am sure this is where second children get the shaft.... can't always pick them up when they want... they kind of have to learn to deal with it :)

Other than that I bet for sure that she will be crawling pretty soon. The army crawl is still her main mode of transportation and she absolutely loves her walker. She can run around the house and explore tons in that thing. Not to mention run over mom and dad's feet to make us scream out in pain!!

Tchau,
Sara

Happy St Patties Day

When you live in another country it's easy to forget the little holidays. I dressed Belle this morning without realizing it was the perfect outfit for the day! Around lunch time I thought to myself what a great outfit for her to wear on St Patricks Day.... Then I looked at the date :) Still American to the core!

Tchau,
Sara

Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

The reason behind Belle's fever and crying is hand, foot and mouth disease which is a common infection passed on through saliva. Since all the kids at the park had a fever too I assume that she got it from one of them. Of course I don't think she was the one who spread the infection!! She was the last one to get the fever so I think it was the other dirty kids :)

So much for me being a mother who tries not to obsess with cleanliness and let my kid eat dirt. I do wash her toys regularly but I am not opposed to her crawling in the grass and playing with other kids. Maybe I should re-evaluate?

Anyway, I dismissed some of her symptoms to teething and other things. She had these little red bumps that looked like chiggers on her feet. Then she got a few little blisters on her toes which I attributed to army crawling or possible ant bites from the grass. Not to mention all the drooling she was doing. When we went to the doctor the other day I showed him the blisters and that's when I heard the news.

She had hand, foot and mouth disease over the weekend plus she was teething. No wonder the poor girl couldn't sleep or eat. I felt like I was giving Tylenol and Ibuprofen around the clock not to mention constant rocking and comforting.

I guess the disease can cause blister lesions on the hands, feet and mouth.... I am not sure if she had any in her mouth/throat but I bet she did. Other than a few little blisters on her toes, and one on her hand she was free and clear of any other signs.

Today she seems to be feeling better even though we had another sleepless night. The constant crying is over for now and she has moments of being her old self. I hope with-in a few days this will all be over and hopefully the teething will follow!

Poor little baby. I honestly hope she never gets sick again (I know that's impossible) because seeing her hurt is the WORST feeling in the world. Now I truly understand how a mother could commit murder to anyone who hurt her baby....

All of Belle's toy have been sterilized and we are going to avoid contact with other kids for a little while. At least until this whole thing blows over then it will be back to the park for some more natural immunity.

Tchau,
Sara

Belle Army Crawling

Here is a video to hold you over until I can write a real post later today!!



Tchau,
Sara