turn and face the strain

Here's our last (actually, probably only) family picture in front of our DC home, on the day we packed up our moving truck and shipped out. Rhoda lived there for exactly six months, and it was the only home she knew. I'm sad to be leaving behind a big part of our married life (four years in that house!) but I'm excited for the changes ahead.

This week has been fairly quiet, but lots has happened aside from the big move. Robbie started school on Monday, and on Tuesday one of his classmates was killed in a freak accident on his way to his first class. That definitely changed the tone of a lot of the orientation activities (even though it was only the first week of school, the program only has 60 students so they all knew each other a little bit) and has had all of us feeling a little down and more pensive than usual, I guess. I really don't know what else to say about that other than the obvious—life really is so short and precious.

Rhoda has been adjusting pretty well to the move. Our new place is a HUGE upgrade from our last apartment in terms of size, so it's been a fun challenge to figure out how we want to set things up. I'm trying not to rush into filling it up with stuff and I'm trying to be thoughtful about decorating choices. I figure I owe it to myself to start decorating like a grownup. Anyway, back to Rhoda—our "second bedroom" is actually a giant newly remodeled basement. It never occurred to me that Rhoda might not be napping really well because our bedroom was so bright, because now, in the depths of the basement, Rhoda is napping much better than usual. Well, aside from yesterday's lack of quality naps—but I blame teething. Can't you blame everything wrong in a baby's life on teething?

I also decided to take the plunge and wean Rhoda from the blessed swaddle. After a rocky start, she falls asleep no problem (hallelujah). Keeping her asleep is a struggle sometimes when her binky falls out (you have a built in binky, Rhoda—it's called your hand), but she's doing really well at night and I think that's all that really matters in the end. Our next step is to get a real crib because she's currently in a travel crib with an inflatable mattress and even though I know lots of kids sleep in travel cribs full time (and ours is a pretty nice one), it is wearing on my back to be lifting her in and out while she's basically sleeping on the floor.

Hmm, what else? Haven't gotten around to much exploring, since I've had to stay close to home thanks to a predictable nap schedule and lots of maintenance workers traipsing in and out of our apartment. Also, ALLERGIES. I have been suffering big time this past week, and as it turns out, you can't take traditional allergy meds when you're breastfeeding. It has been the worst. We had our old friend Clark over for dinner last night (he has lived in Philly since 2009) and I told him at that moment I didn't feel like I would ever get to know Philly because I didn't want to go outside ever again and face the pollen.

It stings to leave a place we know and love, but Philly has welcomed us with open arms. The universe is sending me all kinds of signs that this was a good decision—like when I was exiting the freeway to drive into town on Saturday and Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia" came on Spotify randomly. And on Saturday evening our lovely friends Naomi and Andy dropped by with a couple of bags of essential groceries and I made a mental note to do the same next time I know someone is moving in (so helpful!). People are incredibly friendly here—much friendlier than in DC, which is quite surprising to me. At least once a day I get stopped by someone on the street or in the grocery store with a comment on Rhoda's big blue eyes. It's very sweet, and not creepy—like the time an ancient woman in DC asked me if she could kiss the back of Rhoda's head—I think that people just really like babies here because there's not too many of them compared to the baby explosion that is DC. Kind of a double-edged sword, since I'm enjoying Rhoda's novelty, but I'm not enjoying the lack of baby stuff on Craigslist. Student budget problems, am I right, guys??

Okay, I'm going to go enjoy the rest of nap time and drown my allergy sorrows in a bowl of ice cream. It's a pretty reliable coping mechanism these days.