Viruses, Ear Infection, Scrathy Throat.....and FOUR STEPS, Oh My!

It has been one of those weeks here. Kind of a rough one to follow up last week's rough one, but it happens. It started Sunday. I didn't feel right in the afternoon, and Izzy didn't seem herself. By the end of the night we were both throwing up. I don't relish the sight, sound or smell of anyone having an upset stomach like that, but seeing Izzy like that and her not understanding what's going on is much worse. We thought that was over Monday, but Monday night and the Tuesday night and then here Thursday morning she still got sick...just once each day. That coupled with her not eating and the cough she's had for awhile (and a call to my sister) led me to take Iz to the doc today just to make sure there wasn't something we were missing. Well, we are now on our first batch of anti-biotics for an ear infection and hopefully they will also stop anything brewing in her irritated throat.

SO. With all this icky feeling and not eating and fussing....you'd think she's be relatively inactive, right? WELL! She sure showed us last night! She may not be playing as much as she usually does and require more hugs and snuggling, but last night she did a major first!

As we were playing with her, she walked from me to Dan. FOUR STEPS! 1,2,3 and 4...just like she'd been doing it for months. I don't think she quite believed what she did...and hasn't done it since yet, but she hasn't been feeling the best either.

Today she walked with me the whole length of the couch only holding onto one of my hands....she looked like such a grown-up! At lunch today, Izzy made SURE to tell me that she wanted some of what I was having...which hasn't happened in at least a week. When that was gone, we moved on to Cheerios. She must be feeling a little better.....but I'm a little leary....I really DON'T want to see everything she ate today again.

OH! Another thing that was happening while all this was going on? Another TOOTH. We're up to 6!

I'll post some pictures when I get the chance...

Sloppy Kisses!

Ah...this week has been an interesting one. This week, my work dropped a magnificent bomb on our family...but....this blog isn't about me. Isabelle, for her part, has helped me to remember what is truly important.

Isabelle now gives the standard kisses of a toddler-to-be...the full face, open mouthed, face plant. It's hilarious. I don't know where she picked this up yet, unless she just took Dan and I giving her kisses and adapted it to her own method. She also gives hugs of her own accord, but doesn't know their name yet. She continues to be quite snuggly and is working on knowing who mom and dad are by speech. This seems to be challenging, but I can tell that she's trying so hard to imitate us. As far as other speech goes, this week she's working on her F's FFFFFFFFFFFFfff... Aside from that, now when she babbles, sometimes it sounds like she's speaking her own little foreign language, complete with inflection.

She still has a cough at night and in the mornings, but it doesn't really seem to be bothering her too much. She's still backed off the formula, but she continues to eat well on solids, so we're not worried. Tonight Dan grilled steaks, and she helped me eat mine with great gusto along with corn and some tater tots.

Here are some recent pics:

Izzy "helping" mom with the dishes.

Izzy loves her books....right now more for emptying the shelves than for reading. The books rarely look this orderly

Izzy, clad in only her diaper, vaulting over Magnum after having a bath. Aren't baths supposed to relax children?? lol ;) (And yes, that IS American Idol in the background, we try to catch it every week. Izzy's current favorite is the gal with pink tipped hair. We stop and turn every time she sings...)I KNOW Mom is behind this stinkin' camera SOMEWHERE! Come 'ere! I want to give you a kiss!
Finally! I was able to get a picture of Izzy smiling that shows all of her emerging teeth.

Teeth, A Cold, and Activity Galore

Izzy usually has surprises for us...but I didn't think I'd miss something like this. I have been SO focused on that front tooth popping through that I was COMPLETELY surprised this week when I saw one of her next top teeth already in! So, now we are sporting FIVE teeth....unless there are MORE in there that I haven't seen.

Still battling a cold with marvelous amounts of liquid booger, Izzy was at least in a pretty good mood for Grandma and Grandpa S' visit this weekend. She had a great time charming the both of them!

Things she's been doing this week:

• Practicing her H's....(think "Don't I have wonderful breath??? HHHHHHHAAAA HAAAAA HHHHHAAA!)
• Starting to wave hello and bye-bye
• When she knows something is off-limits, she'll head towards it or reaches out for it while watching you....JUST to see if the limit is still there. She wants EVERYTHING that she can't have, and it suitably crushed when she finds out that not being able to have those things hasn't changed.
• She isn't drinking her formula all that well recently. We don't know if she's backing herself off it in favor of solids or if it's a having-a-cold thing.
• Isabelle LOVES, loves eating at the table with us and having what we're having. She hasn't had baby food all weekend. I have since put the valve back in the sippy cup and put the formula in there that she hasn't eaten from her last bottle, however, she seems to like water in it better. Probably tastes better with the food and it's easier to get through the valve too.
  
• Izzy continues to get more brave with her upright expeditions. Most recently she will still launch herself at the furniture, but will misjudge her distance and fall. Reaction to this depends on mood, what was in the way, if anything caught her, and of course your reaction to seeing her fall.
• Isabelle WILL take a single step herself....between things. She's learning how to balance well and can stand unassisted for quite awhile.
  
• She will launch herself off of anything she can with no fear....I have seen this happen with the couch. I turned to put something up to safety, and by the time I'd turned around again she had endo-ed off the couch head first. Since then we've been working on the correct way to get down....FEET first.
  
• Our little climber continues to climb over and through ANYTHING. Parents or other bodies on the floor (like the dog or visitors) are only one more welcome obstacle in her course. (aren't BOYS supposed to be more physically active??)

Isabelle and Magnum the jungle gym (you can see he's real concerned...ha!)

Izzy using Dad's legs as her fort...where she hiding out with the TV remote

Here, she's extolling the virtues of Dad's cool watch after having pulled it off her own wrist. (Note that she's standing unassisted as she's giving her speech)

Pausing to lay on Dad for only a moment. It's tiring being this busy!

Here we have our little explorer, suitably crushed that Dad is putting his watch back on....note the finger in the mouth trying to push on those darned teeth.

Ten Months Tomorrow!

Where does the time go? I was talking with my friend Jen who has a daughter 2 weeks younger than Izzy. Neither of us can believe that we have kids that are this close to being a year old. Didn't we just HAVE these little gals???

Not a week after the stomach ick, and the household came down with a cold. It is continuing to work it's way through the 3 of us. For the most part, though, it really isn't too bad. I'd SO MUCH rather be dealing with the boogers and runny noses. So, Izzy has had kind of a raspy voice this week. It's given her a sound of maturity as she's babbling that's sort of amusing once you get past the fact that she can't feel the greatest to sound that way. Her cold really doesn't seem to slow her down much though.

That darn top tooth! Supposedly it was through the skin when we went to the doctor for her 9 month appointment....here it is...10 months tomorrow and still not through! I can feel EXACTLY where the tooth is at, there is a bump where it will be, but it will just not give up and break through! I'm frustrated for Izzy, because it can't feel good...but again, it doesn't seem to bug her that often.

Isabelle has figured out that she can crawl holding onto some things. This results in weird noises as she traverses the house. She gets excited about things and squeals...then takes off like a bat out of you know where on all fours. I swear she gets quicker every day. She also loves it if you play a game with her by sneaking up and crawling after her, it thrills her to show you her world. I am also certain that she's gotten taller this month. This isn't because I've measured her, but because the speakers on the entertainment center and things on the back of the couch seat cushions are no longer safe. She seems to enjoy this....especially when she scores mom or dad's Blackberry or if she can happen to touch the lap top. ANYTHING mom or dad has is better, cooler, or more interesting.

And now the biggest event of late....tonight as Izzy and I were having a girls' night, we were on the floor playing. She picked up her noisy hammer off the floor........and stood up. Not holding onto anything, not pulling herself up with anything....she picked the hammer up, got up onto her hands and feet, bend her knees and stood up! I think she surprised herself by the look on her face. That look of surprise turned into one of glee, after which she let herself lose balance and dive into my outstretched arms. I am blessed to have been watching her face at that moment. I wish I would have caught it on tape...but then I wouldn't have been there to catch HER.

Here are a couple of pictures from the week. Honestly, she's getting harder and harder to CATCH! Getting pictures is becoming a challenge!

Mom's cap is endlessly fascinating....

Just playin'

Playing with her 'secret' toys.