She's almost one...11 months!

Oh darling angel,
I cannot believe you are almost one. At 11 months old, you are surprising mommy and daddy every day. You haven't been feeling great lately, so your progress is getting slower, but you are taking great tastes of food by mouth, and continue to work on your neck. You have also stopped gaining weight, so you are still around 16 pounds, but topping the charts with length at almost 30 inches. You really don't like peas, but we are working on it. We went to the beach this month and started getting ready for your birthday. We can't wait to celebrate your first birthday!!
Most importantly this month, we celebrated Alabama's 14th National Championship!!! You were sick the day of the game and to be honest Mommy really didn't want to take you to the doctor, because I REALLY didn't want to watch the game in the hospital, but you are more important so off to the doctor we went. I actually took you in your pajamas. Can you believe that? Mommy never takes you anywhere without being dressed, but you really were sick. Anyway, this family came into the pediatricians office decked out in their purple and gold...I know, you were thankful you didn't have to wear those colors. Red looks way better on you! :) :). We headed to the lab to get your blood drawn, and when they were putting gauze on your arm, they almost put purple on. Mommy quickly asked them to find another color, just for today. So, off we went with red tape covering the gauze. :)
Dr. Jackson called later wanting us to come back in because your white count was so high!! Mommy FREAKED OUT, called Daddy and he headed to meet us at the dr. Mommy thought there was something seriously wrong, but Cookie quickly reminded me that I had to remain calm. So, I put you back in the carseat and headed back to the dr. After all that panic, we began the week long search of figuring out what was wrong. More on that in the next post. Mommy and Daddy took you home, got some game food ready and dressed you in the appropriate outfit. You fell asleep at the beginning of the game, which allowed mommy and daddy to concentrate. We pulled out the bottle of 30th birthday champagne my aunt and uncle gave me when Bama won!! After a couple glasses we put you to bed, but I think we were so focused on celebrating we forgot to take you out of your jersey. :). Don't worry HK, it's the first of a few championship games you will watch in your lifetime!
Here are some pictures documenting this month. The beach pictures have already been posted.

sorry angel, just had to capture the moment!  

HK before falling asleep during the game...Roll Tide!  She's not feeling her best here...

still celebrating the next day!  

Mommy and Daddy's way of celebration!  It was gone that night!

She's getting more hair!  

pretty little angel...

A trip to the hospital....

So, I mentioned in the last post that Harper Kate hadn't been feeling well and that it would take a week to figure out what was going on. Harper Kate had been getting random fevers that would spike up to 103. We couldn't really figure out what was going on, but what we did find was that her white blood cell count was incredibly high which meant that there was an infection somewhere. Dr Jackson did a chest X-ray which didn't show pneumonia, did a urine test and no infection there. We did more bloodwork which revealed no blood infection and the other option was meningitis, but since her fever hadn't been constant, that wasn't assumed either. HK is ALWAYS a mystery and difficult. :). She got two shots of (a strong antibiotic) in the middle of the week, and by Friday her count was still high. Dr Jackson had no other ideas, so he sent us to the children's hospital to see if they had any ideas. We spent a few hours in the ER, and after a much more detailed chest X-ray, they found a small amount of pneumonia. The ER dr knew exactly what to look for and his picture was much clearer, so he was glad Dr. Jackson had sent us there. We were immediately admitted and began an antibiotic through an Iv. That week had been pretty frightening because when her white count was so high, the nurse called me and told me Dr Jackson wanted me to come immediately because her count was so high! I panicked, cried the entire way to the office, thinking the worst and then had Jarod meet me there. Therefore,when we finally found out it was pneumonia you can imagine I was relieved!!
Unfortunately for me, Harper Kate was admitted on a Thursday night. For Christmas my sisters and I had given my mom a cooking class at the Viking Cooking School in Greenwood, MS. My dad paid for all of my sisters to go with my mom. Of course, Harper Kate would get sick on the weekend I was supposed to go! So, while i was sitting in the hospital waiting to be discharged, my sisters, mom and aunt (who took my spot) learned how to make fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, greens and biscuits. Uhhh.....why me?!?! Anyway, hopefully I will get to go sometime soon! My child is such drama sometimes, but still I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world!! At least we had some fun while we were at the hospital. Harper Kate loves being there! She gets pampered and has to do no therapy. :). Here are some pictures from our stay.
We got home late Friday night from the hospital and headed to bed. I was so upset from missing the cooking class, that when we woke up Saturday morning, Jarod asked me if I wanted to go to Birmingham to see my precious new niece that had been born that week! Well, I still hated missing the cooking class, but visiting Jarod's family and Harper Kate meeting her first girl cousin made it a lot better. My husband knows me so well! Seeing my family always makes everything better!!