eighteen months

At eighteen months old, Iris loves to practice putting on her sunglasses by herself and wearing other people's shoes. She has also gotten very good at saying "I don't know."

steamboat springs

Last weekend we took a one-night vacation to Steamboat Springs. My Aunt Nancy had been painting (she is an artist) there for a week and we wanted to be sure to visit while she was in Colorado. It is a four hour drive for people with babies, so most of the weekend was spent in the car. Iris did really well on the trip and it was her first car ride facing forward.

Facing forward for the first time

Riding in the car is a great way for Iris to see her city, especially the cars, which she calls, "gaga." This is also the name she uses for dogs.

We all need our sunglasses on

Iris usually dislikes having her sunglasses put on while we're in the car, so I often show her that everyone else has to have them on, too. I think this helps. At least for a little while.

We had to take the concentrator with us but failed to bring both portable oxygen tanks and since she was on a higher oxygen flow at higher elevation, that means we weren't able to do as much as we might have on Sunday because we had to be sure we were driving home with a full oxygen tank. This was a major planning fail. 

Concentrator packed

 Shortly before this photo below was taken, we hopped in the car and took off. Then I realized I had forgotten my cell phone and we had to turn around before getting going for real.

 We managed to keep Iris out of trouble while visiting the graphics studio where Aunt Nancy was painting. (All of the above photos were taken by my dad.)

Visit with Aunt Nancy

Looking at Iris's toes

In case you're wondering, I forgot Father's Day. Technically, I didn't forget it, but I thought it was on Monday since I couldn't imagine figuring out how to celebrate while we were on a trip. I think Evan might have forgotten too, but when we saw the print shop owner on Sunday morning, the first thing she said was, "Happy Father's Day!" And this was while Evan was making eggs for all of us. Ugh. Second major fail of the trip.

I tried to make up for it by bringing home a bag of cookies from Whole Foods and some meditation magazines. So after Iris was asleep we drank peppermint tea, ate cookies, and read meditation magazines.

normalcy

Life is looking increasingly normal. In the last week her vomiting has subsided dramatically and I've felt increasingly comfortable taking her out for social engagements. We had lunch with George [the all-purpose professor] last week and over the weekend Evan and I took her out to dinner after stopping by one of his co-worker's house to see the renovations planned there. We went to the park again on Sunday and she chilled out in her sunglasses. She is beginning to get some new vocalizations - cooing and shrieking (with delight). Both Evan and I are figuring out how to incorporate exercise into our routine. He was able to go to a jiu-jitsu gym on Saturday and plans to go a few more times this week. I only went to yoga once this week but did get in some good runs.

I have recently discovered that Iris's signals for "I'm tired" are nearly identical to "I'm hungry." Having discovered this, I've gotten much better at helping her get sleep during the day. This has really helped alleviate her afternoon fussiness.

I am working on writing the entire story of how we discovered Iris's health issues. It is taking a while.

Today's goals: exercise, address emails...it's a low-goal day. I hope to get a library card this week, though. 

sunglasses for Iris

I bought sunglasses for Iris since she has aniridia and is sure to have eye problems in the future. She won't return to the opthamologist until she is 6 months old but until then we'll do our best to protect her eyes. She seems to really like them.