Good news, everyone! Iris survived her first big trip! In fact, these are all of her new firsts:
First time in an airport
First time getting checked through a metal detector
First diaper change in a very unsanitary airport bathroom
First time on an airplane
First time at 35,000 ft elevation (awake and asleep)
First time in Florida
First time at Grandma and Grandpa Fitz's
First time appearing at a shuffle board match with 50 grandmothers present
First time she woke up without at least one crusty eye
First time near the ocean (though she didn't see it)
First time she took a bottle without fussing (and second)
First time she whined
First time she exceeded the capacity of her diaper on two consecutive efforts
As you can see we were all pretty busy. The flight down was in the evening, which is her fussy period that we normally can soothe by putting her in the swing. But alas we had no swing on the plane, so she fought us a little bit and cried some, eventually falling asleep just as we were about to land in Atlanta. She slept well during the brief layover and was ready to battle again by the second flight of the day. For some reason both planes we flew down on kept the bright flourescent lights on the whole time- perhaps this is a new security regulation?
But Iris saved really blowing her top for after we had landed in Ft. Myers and Grandma Fitz finally got to see her. We had to pull over on the drive home and just let her cry! She fell asleep soon enough, but overall it was a long night and none of us made it to bed until 2 AM...
The next couple of days were very nice. Iris quickly found her rhythm, perhaps more because mommy and daddy were relaxed than anything else. We met a lot of neighbors, including a very funny interlude at a shuffle board match one morning where we had to walk past 50 grandmothers (missing their own grandkids) to get to the back corner where Grandma Fitz was. Mama D and I went for a few swims, working out a short syncronized swimming routine, and baked Christmas cookies.. The biggest success of all was that for two straight nights, Iris fed from a bottle without a moment's fuss, while daddy held her in the baby bjorn on the porch, facing out toward the illuminated Christmas tree. Also, she seemed to finally get over her last crusty eye.. More on these things later..
It was our last full day in Florida when Iris decided to be really grumpy. She wouldn't sleep and seemed to be ready to eat again only an hour after her previous feeding. She cried, she whined, and she pooped an awful lot. We figured it was a growth spurt, which for some reason always seem to happen on a Saturday, though it had been over a month since the last one... Without the swing to soothe her, Iris grew more and more inconsolable as the day turned into night. And then finally Mama D got the idea to simply turn her sideways, perpendicular to the swing of the rocking chair, to simulate her swing at home and
she slept!
But it was a short sleep, for we had to get up at 4:30 AM to begin the trek back to the airport and, eventually, to home. This time everything seemed to go 10 times smoother- no doubt being relaxed helped (Mama D was about to kill me before the trip) as did Iris's generally more pleasant disposition in the morning.. She slept for most of both flights and the lay over in Atlanta, which was an hour longer than before..
All in all, we had a wonderful trip and I know Grandma and Grandpa Fitz were happy to finally spend time with Iris after we had to bail on the road trip in November.. As with any trip, we were glad to go, but also glad to get back...
