visitors & the gift of time

We have enjoyed having some visitors recently. Two weekends ago my friend Susan brought her two boys for a little visit. Gabriel & Iris made friends quickly.

Gabriel and Iris taking a photo break.

This past weekend Evan's parents came out to help work on the house. They stayed very busy -- as is the custom of their people -- doing several days' worth of work on each day.

Teresa cutting trim and baseboard.

The good news for them is that I think they've had more time to play with Iris this time than last time they visited.

Montie & Iris

Iris learning how to fly

We took Teresa & Montie to the Denver Botanic Gardens on Sunday afternoon. Teresa has a deep love of flora and so this visit was more educational than previous visits. The weather was completely gorgeous for their entire visit but we are likely to have snow again soon.

Morgans at the Denver Botanic Gardens

We have even more visits in store. My dad arrives today for a short visit to see Iris and to give me some time to work on my dissertation proposal. The Morgans will return for an early Thanksgiving in a couple weeks and then my mom is coming for the month of December so I can work on my dissertation proposal. 

It has been fun to have all these visitors around. Iris loves being with people and is very happy to have more playmates. 

It is a great gift to have our family members give us their time, particularly since it is the thing that Evan and I most sorely lack -- free time for self-care or for relationship maintenance or sleep. We couldn't have survived without all those gifts of time. I suggested to Evan that we not buy each other Christmas gifts this year since the work on the house has been eating up most of our extra money. Really, we need free time to spend together more than anything else. Perhaps we'll just have a "perishable gifts only" rule. We don't need more dust-collecting stuff, but we could do with a box of oranges, for example.

33

Evan brought home flowers on Monday in honor of my birthday. Cacti, also. Yes, we have a red wall in the living room.

'

We then had a family dinner out at an Indian restaurant.

 

 

Being 33 feels pretty good, all things considered.

 

Iris had an appointment at the Heart Institute and also met with the pulmonary nurse. It was an exciting meeting. They have concluded that her pulmonary hypertension is very mild and that she has likely outgrown her Sildenafil dose. So we can stop giving her Sildenafil. This is the medication that I had been giving her three times a day, once at 4:45 every morning. More sleep for me! We will also try her off Lasix in mid-December, about a month before going back for the next appointment. Otherwise, she's staying on Prevacid and Digoxin for a bit longer.

The other exciting news is that we are to start weaning her oxygen. I have had her back up to a 1/4L for the last few days because she seems to be showing signs of a cold. Evan and I both have some lingering sickness and it seems she got a bit of it.

When we first got the pulse ox for home use I was supposed to keep her oxygen saturation level to above 94%. Today they decided that we can lower that a bit, to above 92%. I don't totally love this as a new threshold but I will start weaning her a bit more once she has recovered from this most recent cold. They also mentioned that some babies have to have oxygen while sleeping for years, even after they are off it while awake.

And, she is on track with her weight. I had been quite worried about this, particularly since I've been sick and not producing as much milk. She weighs a whopping 6.61kg (14lbs 9oz).

 Here she is in her turtle seat.

six months old

Iris is six months old today. I got nervous that she wasn't growing a few days ago so I ordered a baby scale from Amazon. Today she weighs 14 lbs 2.5 oz. That's about on track. We'll get an "official" weigh in next week at the doctor's office.

She loves standing in her turtle walker and is starting to figure out how to navigate the living room in it.

 

Evan and I are both sick. I seem not to have gotten the bug quite as badly as he had. We are really hoping Iris doesn't get it -- coughing, sneezing, congestion, sore throat. 

cold weather

Here are some recent photos taken since the weather has started getting cooler. 

Iris loves this yellow blanket, which belonged to her daddy when he was a baby. She has started looking for it when she gets sleepy and she likes to hold it when I give her medications. A particularly fun game she likes to play involves her pulling the blanket up over her face and then we say "where's Iris?" Then she squeals with delight when she pulls the blanket down. 

This is her new jacket. For some reason all baby clothes with hoods are required to have ears on them. It is cute, I guess. 

walking practice

family outing

Despite having the first snow of the year on Friday, the weather was nice enough on Saturday for us to take a trip to the Denver Botanic Gardens. 

Iris got practice walking and standing.

Iris and the water.

Iris and the water.

 At the end of the trip we stopped for a family photo. We thought it looked nice at first and then we noticed how tired both Evan and I look...and Iris looks very menacing.

Trinity Place Child Care

In other news, she is down to 1/8L of oxygen in the daytime (but 1/4L at night). This makes me very happy. I also seem to have found a babysitter who can come during the days a couple times a week. Just having a few hours off to run errands -- or to do my dissertation proposal -- are a huge help.