Ella Joy at 7 months

I've already written this post once, then lost it. If this kid wasn't so cute....

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I know I say this every month, but I can't believe how BIG my baby is getting. Seven months. SEVEN. Seriously. Stop.the.time.

At seven months my sweet Ella Joy enjoys being in the thick of the family action. She enjoys being dressed up by her bigger sisters. I use the term enjoys loosely. Very loosely. She also enjoys finding stray markers that her older siblings have left on the floor.

Good thing that color goes so nicely with her eyes.

At 7 months Ella is sitting up nicely all by herself, obviously. She is oh so proud of herself because she can now do a 1-armed army crawl to find all the paper, plastic, much-too-small toys, shoes and whatever else is considered a no-go for her mouth. She drags herself everywhere and has just about given up being confined to 1 particular spot, like the exersaucer or bumbo.

I do believe, though, that she's at least 1/3 part billy goat. That girl will try to eat anything. In fact, just a week or so ago we brought her in and placed her in her exersaucer near (but not too close - we thought!) a pile of still-stacked groceries. Little Miss Chubby Fingers proceeded to give her Mother a heart attack when she weaseled her hands close enough, ripped off a small piece of plastic bag and then proceeded to half choke, then swallow said piece of plastic. Praise God she didn't seriously choke. I was a nervous wreck for the next 12 hours until I saw that same little piece of plastic show up in her diaper.

Truly though, this kid loves to eat stuff. And it doesn't have to be food. In fact, while I was playing around with the settings on my camera, Little Miss Goat decided leaves were a good snack. The little turkey even took a bite of one and ate it before I could get it out of her little fat hands. However, her appetite for all things non-food is not because she isn't getting any baby food. At night she eats anywhere from 6 - 8 cubes of baby food. The she nurses and goes to bed and sleeps anywhere from a 6-8 hour stretch.

See that yellow leaf? As soon as I snapped that picture she took her a chunk out of it and I couldn't pry her jaws open to retrieve it. Guess I'll see it sometime tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm having trouble remembering all the milestones that she's accomplishing because I've already written this post once and darn it if information doesn't leave my brain the second I tag it as disposable. Let's see, crawling, food, sleeping...oh...food again. She also eats some of those baby rice cake things. With all the other kids those gave a me a good 10-20 minute break. Not so much with Ella. She devours hers like a wood chipper. She's still not so good at picking up cheerios or puffs but I think that's mostly because she doesn't have to. If she struggles with them too long, other people feel the need to help her by shoving them in her mouth. She drinks from a sippy on occasion but prefers her liquid from 1 specific source. ;)

She's got a full 8 teeth in and is working on cutting her 9th. She grinds them constantly. She really belly laughs now, often at the other kids, especially Elizabeth. She gets such a kick out of them jumping and falling down just for her. I think she knows she captivates all of us with her smiles and laughter.

She's still incredibly laid back but she doesn't like be away from the crowd. Wherever the kids are is where she wants to be. She's rarely fussy, typically sweet-natured and has turned into quite the wiggle worm. She used to enjoy just sitting on my lap when ever we went outside or if I was in the floor with the kids. Not any more. She flings her body around like a worm in hot ashes trying to escape so she can crawl...or eat something. Goat. She still enjoys being carried in the sling or kikoi and she's still the sweetest baby I've ever known.

She just delights me so much everyday. They all do really. She makes our home so much more sweet and lives, every bit, up to her name by providing our entire family with unspeakable JOY.

It's a lip, it's a lip, it's a lip, lip, lip

Remember that time Lucas "swallowed" a brass peg?

Remember that other time Lucas pushed Ashlee and we had to have her forehead glued shut?

Remember how when both of those things happened, I wasn't actually supervising my kids? Instead, they were playing in our basement, unattended, both times.

You should also note that both times when I took each of my kids in to the pediatrician, we saw Dr. "R." Dr. R is the oldest doctor in our peds office and, despite the claims of other Moms I know, I really like Dr. R. He's seen a lot in his years of practicing medicine so I trust that what he says is usually right.

However, Dr. R always questions, to the detail, how mishaps happen in our family. When we took Lucas in Dr. R kept asking, "So did you see him swallow the peg?"

To which I had to answer, repeatedly, "No. I was upstairs and he was in the basement."

"Unattended?" Dr. R asks.

"Yes," I mummer, lowering my head in shame.

Then, just ONE WEEK later, I had Ashlee in the peds office and again, we see Dr. R. I mean, there are like 7 different doctors in that office. Seriously?

As Dr. R is looking at Ashlee's head he begins with the questioning. "So, how did she do this?"

"Well," I stammer, "I'm not exactly sure. She and her brother were playing in the basement and she hit her head on something, I'm not sure really. Maybe the floor or a toy..." I trail off.

"So, no one was with them?"

"No," I say, as Dr. R glues Ashlee's forehead together.

I'd like to proudly announce that we made it a WHOLE YEAR without having to endure Dr. R's questioning again. A whole 13 months actually, almost to the day.

Last night we broke our streak.

While I upstairs, I heard it. Aaron's first shriek came from the kitchen. I'll admit, I didn't run downstairs, mostly because Aaron cries. A lot. Over nothing mostly. He's a tough kid. He jumps off of things that make my heart stop and he can stick a landing better than most Olympic Medalists. He runs and dives face first in the yard on purpose, then giggles.

Yet, I wipe his nose and he cries for 3 minutes because "It hurt wite der." (Points to nostril) or he stubs his toe ON THE RUG and "Owwwwiiiiiieeeee. I hurt Mommy, wite der."

Seriously dude? Whatever.

Anyway, so I don't rush downstairs. But then, I hear it. That sorta silent gasping.

Uh oh.

Then Ashlee says, "Mom! Aaron's bleeding."

That could have been the understatement of the day. Or week. Or whole year.

I descend the stairs to find Ashlee escorting a bleeding, sobbing Aaron. His whole chin is blood. So much blood I can't tell where the bleeding is coming from.

I scoop him up and rush him to the sink. Blood is still pouring, literally, from his mouth. "Lucas, what happened? Tell me what happened!"

"Well, we were playing monkey and Aaron's mouth bonked my head," Lucas says sadly.

Mercy. So much blood. He's lost a tooth I bet. LOST A TOOTH.

Wipe, rise, wipe, rinse.

By now Aaron's pretty much stopped crying. I've soaked most of the blood out of his mouth and I finally find the source. It's not a lost tooth, instead it's a sizable gash on the inside of his upper lip.

He needs a stitch. I'm convinced.

Call the peds. 6:30pm appointment. Luke's meeting me there to switch off the other kids.

"Oh, and who's the doctor we'll be seeing?" I ask the receptionist as I begin looking for shoes for everyone.

"Dr. R." she states.

LOVELY.

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(PS: No stitches were needed.)

(PSS: 100 points to anyone who can name the source of the title for this post.)