Bella's Bad Week

I am not sure where Bella gets her personality. I certainly was never this determined as a child... Katie is babysitting Bella one day a week for one hour while I am across the street at work and Maddy is at dance. We all thought this would be a fine arrangement. I guess we forgot to ask Bella. I got a frantic call from Katie about 4:15 p.m. saying that Bella was VERY upset that Maddy had left for dance without her and she ran down the street crying as Maddy pulled away. Katie SWORE she heard Bella come home, but as Bella hated Katie at the moment she just let her be. BUT NOW SHE COULD NOT FIND HER. ANYWHERE. I freaked out a bit because I know Bella. If she wanted to follow Maddy badly enough she would. Well, she tried. Here are her feet to prove it.
When I came speeding into the driveway, Katie had just found Bella in the garage crying and COVERED in hives. Huge ones. When Bella gets nervous or is in contact with certain things she breaks out in hives, but I have never seen them this bad. SO... I totally freaked out.

This picture does not show the extent of the hives and their size. I could literally watch them pop out, I was sure her throat was swelling shut as she indicated that it felt like a brownie was stuck in there. I dosed her with Benadryl and gave her a cool bath which yielded zero results. I put the child in my car (I forgot to mention that I left work in a panic, only telling two people) and dashed off to my orthodontist - in my pajamas - for him to evaluate her.

Um, he is an orthodontist, not a pediatrician. Nobody at work has seen me in my pink and black heart splattered pajamas. Dr. Payne said I was a pain (not really...) and said to go back home and give the Benadryl time to kick in. I did, but it took almost 24 hours for those babies to disappear.

Only a day or two later, Bella was riding Maddy's skateboard down the front driveway on her stomach, when she hit a bump, fell on her head and the skateboard smashed into her two top front teeth. She was a bloody mess and would not let me even look at the damage, but I knew there was some.

She cried herself to sleep and this is the best shot I got of her teeth, and yes, one is pushed back and a bit crooked. I guess another trip to Dr. Payne is in order...
He said that my life and kid was crazy (not really), and that she would be fine, but very tender for a few days.

Well, Bella decided to quit eating to avoid any pain and she quickly got sick (ketotic hypoglycemia - childhood illness in which the child CANNOT go without food for extended periods of time or her little body shuts down) - She spent two days in bed vomiting, then acquired some virus that left her feverish and kicked off a 3 day asthma attack. I called the pediatrician this time. He prescribed steroids. NOT A GOOD IDEA. I got to meet and spend a lot of quality time with Angry Bella. Fun.

This is Bella the day after her skateboarding trick...

This is Bella a week later. Yes, I did have a small melt down with Pat's family because she was still not eating - not a thing - and her weight loss was freaking me out. Thank you to Granne Hanne and Aunt Tanja for bribing Bella with money and Polly Pockets, but the Ritz crackers did the trick!

Good Grief. Thank heavens this week is over. Maybe I have the Swine Flu to look forward to now...