Mama D Gets Hired!!

Mama D had a hard time coming to terms with going back to work in January. And not because she didn't want to be back with her students again! But several good weeks with Nanny Carole has done much to ease her concerns. It was while in this frame of mind when, three weeks or so ago, Mama D was 'leaked' information that two teaching positons at the city's fine art magnet school were opening up for next year. Not only is this particular school one of the best in the state for arts and academics, but it is also a 5-minute commute from our home!

I guess with the title of this entry, you can already tell where this is going. But the fun is in telling how those next hectic two weeks played out.

Mama D was quickly able verify that the positions were indeed opening up, and that this information was still considered a "leak"- the sooner her name was tossed into the ring, the better! She had been considering staying at her current school next year and cutting back to 1/2 days, but forget that! Adding on the 30-40 minute one-way commute took away another big chunk of the day, and besides, this new school presented new opportunities!!

Nanny Carole took to the helm. At least while Iris took naps. In under a week, she created an eye-popping resume, conducted a professional photo shoot for many of Mama D's and her students' works, and helped assemble the portfolio. I was just the transporter, picking up picture CDs here, dropping off pictures for development there, etc. And on the final day of this blur of activity, Mama D's had her interview.

Friday night, where else did we go to celebrate but the downtown Red Lobster! For months we had waited for the right time to cash in on the almost $100 in Red Lobster gift cards I had accumulated from my employer, who doled them out for various safety and service rewards, and tonight was that time! And what a special time it was, each with our own little red friend:



For the next several weeks, no news. All of the formalities were handled with the new school system (change in county- red to blue, baby!), and Mama D fought off efforts by her current administrators to get her to sign next year's contract with tight lips until an annoucement came through one way or the other. All the while, the principal to-be was busy interviewing other candidates...

Then finally, something! This past weekend, the new school hosted a state-wide art workshop with a few hundred students coming from over a dozen schools. Being a local event instead of a hundred miles away as it has been most years, Mama D was able to get 17 of her students to attend, with most of them submitting peices for the juried competition. I was again the transporter, bringing Iris between home and the school for naps and feedings, respectively! On top of making several new connections within the school, when the jury results were revealed, Mama D's students racked up the awards, taking 3 of the 5 "places", including Best In Show!! A fine final feather in the cap!

So earlier this Monday morning, Mama D finally got the call that she was in!

Anyone know any babysitters?

The Fitzes Come to Town

This weekend we had a nice visit from Grandma and Grandpa Fitz. They arrived on Wednesday night, just hours after Iris's doctor appointment.. We were concerned that she'd be under the weather for a couple of days, but like the appointment itself, Iris seemed to rebound pretty well.

Nanny Carole took the long weekend to drive up to Baltimore and survey the life she left behind by coming to work for us, visiting friends along the way. So for a couple of days, Grandma and Grandpa Fitz took over the daytime watch..

Shots and needles aside, Iris had been demonstrating some poor sleeping habits all week, getting up 2-3 times per night and crying until Mama D went to feed her in addition to having a hard time getting to sleep period. We felt bad for our visitors, since the days were long at work and the evenings were long with Iris; we could hardly find the time to sit down and eat dinner together! By Friday night we were both completely exhausted (for further explaination, see the "Mama D Gets Hired" post) and ready to collapse..

But we made it out to dinner that night, where Iris did fine again. I don't think we've had a bad experience taking her out of the house once yet! And then we came home, watched some of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics, and crashed.

Saturday was a much different day. At 6 AM, Mama D woke me up, saying that she thought there were fire trucks outside our house. I got up and walked into Iris's room to find it lit up like an obnoxious Chrismas lawn display, flashing red in the pre-dawn hours. Yep, there were fire trucks! Six of them to be exact.

With our neighbors gone, as they have been for most of the last three months, I decided to go out and make sure it wasn't their house that was getting special attention. It wasn't- instead it was the house next to theirs, the "black eye" of the neighborhood with its six apartments and high, shady resident turn-over.. Flames were licking out of the roof as I walked out into the chilly, rainy air. A half-dozen residents stood outside watching the firemen battle, entering and exiting their homes with axes and shovels in hand and a dozen 4" water hoses leading somewhere now wet.

The guy who lives on the other side of that house, who we only seem to talk to when tragedy strikes the neighborhood, was already out there with a cup of coffee, watching the big show. He motioned me over and invited me inside his house to get a cup, which I just realized I needed now that the initial shock had worn off.. We sat on his front porch, which was like front row seats to the blaze being fought. This picture shows where we sat and what we saw:
Our conversation had a funny tone to it- "Anyone hurt?" "Are they going to have to tear it down finally?"

After a half-hour or so, Mama D and the Fitzes came outside. It was starting to get a little lighter out, and there was an asshole fire chief asking everyone to back up 20 feet without giving any updates to anyone, including the slum-lord owner himself who was now on the scene. Mama D went inside and offered coats to several people who had no access to one, at least one that wasn't soaked and reeking of smoke..

By 10 AM everything had finally settled down. The fire trucks and police cars and one ambulance had cleared out, opening the street to traffic once again. The residents headed out to stay with friends or family and the house, which was already dark brown and ugly to begin with, now looked even darker and uglier. It looked dead!

With that episode behind us, we set about our day, casually drinking more coffee and walking around the neighborhood, despite the fact that the sky never cleared or warmed up. One sunny spot was the fashion show that Iris had, trying on an outfit that she had recieved as a gift from one of the Fitz's neighbors back during our FL visit in December.

We enjoyed the rest of the day together, finally able to relax and catch up. The day ended early, it seemed, and by the time I woke up on Sunday morning, Grandma and Grandpa Fitz were already headed back home.. Thanks for coming, and we're glad you got to spend more time with Iris!

Iris's 4 (and-a-half) Month Doctor Visit

Iris had her 4 month doctor visit two weeks late. The first week was the doctor's fault and the second was ours, after having to reschedule an appointment that we showed up 45 minutes late to.. Better late then never!

The stats:

Weight: 14 lbs. 15 oz. (70%)
Height: 25.5 inches (90%)

Everything was going great until it was time for her vaccinations. Except this time, Mama D wasn't going to be caught midway between the office and the car getting the diaper bag, she was going to be right there!

As it turned out, Iris did cry but recovered much better than last time. Not sure if it was the result of Mama D being there or simply that she had gotten a little more comfortable in the world and familiar with the concept of pain- probably a bit of both.

Sleep well, baby Iris! Your grandparents are coming to see you!!

Auntie J's Birthday

After a few weekends of hanging around town, we headed out to celebrate Aunt Jackie's birthday up in North Carolina! By the time we had sat through over an hour in accident back-ups and getting lost, the drive up proved to be the longest time Iris had spent in a car. But that was ok- she basically slept the whole time!

We arrived in Greensboro on Saturday afternoon, to Jackie and Patrick's house, where Jackie's Dad and Joan and friends were hanging out.. Tonight we were celebrating Jackie's birthday (a few days early) by going out to a nice restaurant in town. Of course we were concerned about how exactly 4+ hours of extra nap time would affect Iris's condition the rest of the night, but mostly we were glad to be there and see a little more of Jackie's life after countless unanswered visits she had made to see all of us..

But the concerns about Iris hardly fruited! She was an absolute peach, in fact! Iris responded really well to everyone, particularly Robert near the end of dinner after she had started to fall off -ahem- her rocker...

Why is it that since becoming a father, I have not been able to find a single changing table in a men's room? Not Atlanta Metro Airport, not any restaurants at home, and neither of the restaurants we ate at in Greensboro (OK, one of them was indian)? Yet before it seemed like they were everywhere! I've been psych-ing myself up over the last year when I'd see them, telling myself that soon I'd have my equal responsibility to changing diapers when were out, and now that the time has finally come--?

Needless to say, the restaurant we ate at that night was the other of the two restaurants we found in Greensboro without a changing table in the men's room (I said it anyway). So I had to walk her outside to the car. It was cold out. She had a very complicated dress on. With tights. Walking back from the car, I set off another car's alarm- a very loud alarm that Iris became very aware of before we got to the car, but there was no getting to the door without having to walk within 3' of it... And I thought car alarms had gone out of style!

But yeah, Iris hung in there. After more time in the restaurant, she started to slip getting a big, about-to-cry kind of frown and Robert would look over at her, they're eyes would meet, Robert would make a little noise and face, and Iris would literally turn the frown upside-down! Unfortunately, when she reaches this point, the end of the game (read: day's waketime) is pretty much around the corner whether you're in a convenient spot for it to happen or not.. But it made for some laughs while it lasted!

That night we all worked our way to Patrick's mother's house, stopping to get beer only after Iris had fitfully fallen asleep. We slept and woke in the warmth and abundance of our new environment, and Iris spent her first night in the porta-crib we bought months before she was born while we were still under the Baby Preparaton Spell that every new parent inevitably catches yet seldomly contains. Until the second child, I hear..

After a mornng of fine breakfast and visiting, we went back to Jackie's and met another one of her good friends, who apparently is a fan of this site (holla!). With the 4-hour drive home looming (after less than 24 hours in town), we headed to an indian restaurant for lunch. Hold the phone- this was like the best lunch ever! OK, enough boring details! We pulled into the driveway after dark, with Carole already at home laying claim to her throne upstairs, seeped in a program that an alarming number of "children" find "comedic".

All was normal again.

Iris Jumps!

A few months ago, out of the blue, one of Mama D's good college friends, who is also now a mother, sent us a "Jumperoo". The concept of this thing is pretty simple: seat supported by springs on all 4 corners, with a few obligatory colorful sliding toys and even a few musical numbers triggered by, of course, jumping. When it arrived, we promptly returned the other jumper thingydoo (the one that attaches to doorways) we'd gotten for store credit.. This thing looked awesome! But at the time, Iris was nowhere near fitting into it. I think the seat would have swallowed her whole!

We've been putting Iris more and more into her exersaucer and this jumperoo lately, as she's shown a greater inclination toward standing and putting things in her mouth. However, with the height of the seat so far above the "ground", she's had little to do except flop forward or backward in the seat, suspended only by her butt and lacking the arm strength to do much about it.

Well, all of that changed a little over a week ago. Not only did her feet finally start reaching, but she also started grabbing at specific toys. So we encouraged her some more, trying to lift the jumperoo seat up and down so as to make her, well, jump. And then finally, on Sunday, she jumped! Individual, infrequent jumps, but jumps nonetheless. We took a bunch of pictures, a few of which kick-off the new "5th Month" photo set, but there was no movie material...

Today there was:


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Doesn't she seem to respond to the talking? Our neighbor had just visited and was going nuts while we chatted.. Also the grunting was a funny touch.

In just a few days, she's gone from putzing around to stringing 3 or 4 jumps together! We'll keep an eye on this- no doubt that with Nanny Carole's expert guidance, she'll be jumping all day long on this thing soon enough..!