30 November 2015

Trixie: Three Months

I feel like I could copy and paste from the two month summary with very little changes.

One big update is that her heart is improving. The cardiologist was really impressed with how her heart is working right now, and we anticipate that it will continue to gradually improve for a while. At some point she will need more procedures (like a valve replacement), but right now that appears to be years down the road rather than months. We are incredibly grateful for that.

Trixie is still a night owl, but once she is finally down for the night, she usually sleeps for about 8 hours, give or take an hour.

This month she has started smiling more frequently, and we all enjoy that. She still loves the ceiling fan and flails with excitement when we turn it on. When it is not on it she stares at it with anticipation.

Ike is still Trixie's biggest fan. He adores her and is constantly in her face trying to amuse her or something - I'm not really sure what his deal is. Felix likes her well enough, but he has ordered me to put her in a her bed a handful of times this past month. At the same time, he is protective of her and does not like her to get shots (which we do at least once a month because she gets extra vaccinations), and he regularly tells me that our baby is the cutest or best baby in the world. (His neighbor friend across the street, Charlotte, has the second cutest baby.)

Yesterday was her blessing day, and Eric gave her a beautiful baby blessing. She wore the dress that I wore nearly 31 years ago, and which my mom made for me. My mom couldn't be there, so it was nice to have this little heirloom.


Anyone who can get my kids to cooperate for pictures deserves their weight in gold. 

01 November 2015

Trixie: Two Months

With my first two babies, I've felt like 6 weeks is the magical time when I've adjusted to the new baby and life has reached a level of normalcy. Somehow, miraculously, I've felt like that with Trixie for about the last month.

Though she doesn't like to go to sleep at a reasonable hour, once she does go to sleep, she usually sleeps well, and that has been a great blessing for us. Most nights I get at least a six-hour stretch. We've had a few rough nights where she doesn't settle down until after midnight, but by and large, Trixie is a pretty good sleeper.

Trixie loves to eat and weighed 11 pounds and 12 ounces at her checkup last week. She turned beet red with anger when she got her shots. I nursed her for a couple of minutes afterwards, and all was well. Nursing solves nearly all her problems.

She started smiling this month, which has been delightful for everyone, especially Ike. He really adores his baby sister and loves to take any opportunity to touch her, cuddle her, and try to get her attention. Felix likes her too, but not quite as much as Ike does. On Sunday our bishop asked Felix if he would teach his baby sister about Jesus, and Felix talked to her for a few minutes about Jesus when we got home. It was really sweet.



Trixie is still on oxygen all the time (except I took it off for a few minutes to get a couple of pictures). I've taken her off her oxygen for short periods of time to see check her saturation levels without it, and she definitely needs it. Our next follow-up with a cardiologist is this month, and I think he'll confirm my suspicion that she will be on oxygen for several months. Having to haul an oxygen tank around when we go out is a bit of a pain, but it's become our routine, and I hardly notice it anymore. Having Trixie hooked up to the oxygen concentrator at home is also such a part of our lives that I don't notice the sound anymore.