Here we are at 11 months. Unbelievable.

… I know she looks like a little boy in this shot with the no hair & the gray distressed rock tshirt & leggings, but little girls can be rockstars &/or pinball wizards in retro band tshirts riding white stallions too.

On that note, I’m realizing I have significantly fewer pictures this month. I think it’s because I put the 4th of July pics in with last month, plus Libby was sick for a whole week this month so wasn’t much for being all perky for photos.

Yep, Libby finally contracted her first childhood illness: Hand, foot & mouth Disease. It wasn’t pretty & it wasn’t fun.

The week prior, I had actually taken her into the pediatrician because she had a rash around her mouth that I couldn’t seem to get rid of with my normal “keep it dry & lotion it” tactics, plus she fidgets with her ears constantly, had been congested & coughing a little and hadn’t been sleeping well. But she didn’t have a fever. So I was very confused. Doctor looked, ears were perfect, rash seems to be eczema (which runs in my family & makes perfect sense), if the congestion & coughing are keeping her from sleeping several nights in a row, try a baby dose of children’s  Zyrtec. I go get some cortisone cream & Zyrtec.

That was a Tuesday. We never give her the Zyrtec, we’re a little hesitant for drugs in general & were still in wait & see if it’s truly necessary mode. The cortisone cream doesn’t seem to help much with the rash, but it’s also hard to get on because she thinks we’re coming at her with something to put in her mouth not around it. In the meantime, my friend Lisa texts me & says her son Bryson has hand, foot and mouth. Libby doesn’t seem to have any of the symptoms – the eczema rash is totally different looking from the sores her son got.

Then that following Sunday, she’s still been a little weird & I notice she is burning up. She’s sitting in my lap & it feels like a hot pad. So I take her temperature… BAM! 102! This is the first fever she’s had other than quick spikes after an immunization or during teething that happen here & there, and certainly the highest number. I’m kind of freaking out a bit.

Luckily my pediatrician’s office actually is open from 12p-2p on Sundays & this went down at 1p so I was able to to get instant gratification of talking to a nurse within the hour, as opposed to having to wait until Monday. Or taking her to Vanderbilt Children’s ER. Which might sound ridiculous, to go to the ER for a 102 fever, but to a first time Mom operating on only a couple hours of sleep with a feverish fussy baby with a rash on her face, it was 100% my plan if I couldn’t get through to the nurse before they closed and the fever didn’t let up.

The nurse listened to me (patiently… I tend to ramble… maybe you’ve noticed?) and told me to give her Motrin every 6-8hrs and call back if either the fever didn’t let up after 72hrs or she gets even fussier or additional symptoms show up. By Sunday night, she was refusing to eat, by Tuesday morning she was refusing to nurse & totally inconsolable, just constant moaning & crying, and I found a little blister on the bottom of her foot just like ones Bryson got. So back to the doctor we went.

Ironically, at the doctors office, she seemed to get a wind of energy and was totally distracted. I had her in a ring sling so she just watched all the comings and goings with interest & didn’t just cry the whole time as I feared she would do. And it was confirmed: Hand, foot and mouth. The kicker? Almost all of the sore she developed were in the back of her throat. So that’s why she wasn’t eating. It was pretty terrible.

She finally nursed again that night but she was wincing the whole time. The only food I could get in her other than breast milk until her little sores finally crusted over Friday morning was rice & sweet potato.

By Friday afternoon, she was totally happy again & eating normal. But that was a long home-bound six days.

Sometimes I feel like I want a girl scout sash or something for all the new experiences. We could earn badges & pins for living through this stuff.

Unfortunately, that’s the big story for this month. Despite her illness, she did continue to develop new skills, like pulling up ON EVERYTHING, eating more by herself (some, we still help her a lot), taking lids off & putting them back on (probably her new favorite activity) & she’s very very close to really saying real words.

Here is the fun picture gallery:

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