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Hello there.

Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in life. Hope you have a nice stay!

Maybe Baby

Maybe Baby

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Time is becoming a blur with the early onset of parenthood. I am becoming better equipped to navigate the murky ethers of my sleep-deprived dream-infused reality with each passing day. Sometimes I see figures in the shadows and think we have ghosts in our house. Sometimes I remember I only got 4 hours of sleep the night before…

 
Workin’ that mid-shift

Workin’ that mid-shift

 

For those who are out of the loop, we finally had our long awaited baby girl! Cue the fanfare! Eliana Josephine Trujillo was born on 6/15/20 at 7:38pm. She weighed in at 7lbs 13oz, with a head in the 98th percentile and a body in the 48th percentile for girls. Needless to say, she is a top heavy ball of joy who is getting cuter on the daily. She is already one month old and it’s amazing how much Sophie and I can already tell a difference in her abilities and appearance. Her eyes are finally working in tandem and she is able to hold her bobble head upright most of the time. And did I mention she cute?

I think my favorite thing she does right now is something I like to call ‘zombie feeding’. Right around 7pm every evening, she becomes ravenous and inconsolable, crying and bouncing her bobble head feverishly in search of a tasty nipple to ravage. She’ll suck on necks, collar bones, shirt sleeves and just about anything that has the unfortunate fate of crossing her lips at this time of night. All non-nipple casualties meet their salivary demise to the sound of a baby banshee shrieking, undeterred in her quest for the real thing. Even after she finally has it in her mouth, the onslaught is not over. In her excited state she often pops off her treasured nipple, bringing about a flurry of jerky crazy arms aimed at anything and everything. All I can say is that I’m glad zombie feeding is done by a creature that has the strength of a-  well, baby.

We are in a pretty good rhythm with taking care of Eliana. Sophie feeds her throughout the night while I sleep so that I can be well rested to take care of us during the day. I typically wake up around 6-7am to change, dress and feed Eliana and watch her while Sophie takes an early morning nap. Throughout the day we take turns watching her and calming her to sleep. She can be difficult to put down for a nap although the discovery of her index fingers and thumb and the usage of a bottle have become powerful allies. With a bottle we can drastically decrease feeding times thus reducing the chance of her becoming overtired during and after a feeding. Once she is overtired, she expectedly becomes whiny, ornery, and downright difficult. It turns into a chess match trying to figure out which position to hold her in to get her sleepy enough to put in her bassinet.

Overall though, I wouldn’t change it for the world. As expected, Sophie has been an amazing mother and it’s been a delight seeing her with Eliana. I often find myself just watching the two of them together, staring at my new little family. I feel incredibly grateful for the time I get to spend with each of them and I look forward to all of the new experiences in store for us. It’s felt very natural taking care of Eliana. She’s given me a new energy reserve I never knew I had. It’s like discovering your fuel gauge can actually go past the ‘E’ to this invisible ‘C’ setting (‘C’ for ‘Child Rearing’). It’s an entirely different energy source that is fueled by the...‘son’. I guess in this case, daughter. Sorry, practicing my dad jokes. 

In other non-Eliana-related-but-somehow-always-related-to-Eliana news, our good friends Bryan and Camille came to town for a visit last week (to meet Eliana). We all had dinner at our house to celebrate our friend Dani’s birthday, then spent the day in Park City at their friend’s cabin. They were kind enough to make us dinner and leave us with a ton of delicious leftovers from both days. We got spoiled. Since all of us have been actively quarantining, it was delightful to spend time with friends in a setting that felt pre-pandemic-ish. Sophie and I were both surprised by how big Graham had gotten! He was no longer an infant; just a cute baby boy who was afraid of me, his Uncle Chester. I’ve inherited this nickname from a time when I shaved the top of my head, fro’d out the sides and sent a creepy picture to Bryan, smiling and wide-eyed with the caption, “Uncle Chester sends his love”. I wish I still had that picture. Bryan has made it his fatherly duty to ensure Graham is afraid of his Uncle Chester. 

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When I’m not tending to our baby, I try to sprinkle in some house and yard work. I’m happy to report that our garden is in full bloom and producing like it’s going out of style (except for the box in the front of our house). I am not so happy to report that our worm compost bin is...actually going out of style. And by style I mean outside. It smells. I have failed. I’d like to think this arrangement is temporary and it’s just a matter of time before the worm population grows large enough to quickly dispose of our food waste. I’d REALLY like to think that. I guess we’ll see where it is in the fall and winter. 

Welp, I’m feeling pretty done writing right now. I think I’m going to go take a nap. Can’t wait to get back in a rhythm...in 18 years. I’ll leave you with three photos of three entirely random babies.

Until next time,

Michael

(See the resemblance!?)

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