To prepare for Melody’s return to work last week, we hauled in a mini fridge to her office for milk storage, and dropped off a small couch for my office at the same time. My in-laws are back in the house to provide daycare service as we prepare for the real thing in June. Westley’s been getting better at keeping his head up during tummy time, and grasping at objects with some apparent intent. He’s also napping longer and spacing out intervals between feeds, but mainly in the daytime. His earlier bedtime also means keeping the house quiet during dinner, which makes the new season of Game of Thrones nearly impossible to hear without playing subtitles. Meanwhile, we’ve been continuing to upgrade our home with smarter devices, including a Rachio sprinkler system and an Ecobee thermostat. I’ve also been tinkering with our yard, installing a bigger deck box, repairing irrigation malfunctions, replacing the spa circuit breaker, and putting up Ikea string lights on the pergola. The timing was perfect for Memorial Day weekend, where our in-laws came over to play with the baby and chow down some char-grilled kebobs.

Westley turned 3 months old this week, and we’re nowhere close to putting him on a schedule. Despite our attempts to adhere to a regimen of feeding, napping, and activity, his unpredictable behavior continues to keep us guessing. His eczema migrates from one area to another, and we can’t tell if he cries because he’s hungry or itchy. For his rashes, we tinkered with laundry detergents, oatmeal baths, aquaphor variants, different diaper brands, and 3 kinds of steroids. To help his bedtime routine, we invested in a better baby tub, a motorized swing, dimmer puck lights, and even a fancy bluetooth speaker to serve as a dedicated white-noise machine. With maternity leave coming to an end, we could only hope that some form of regularity sets in. We celebrated Melody’s first mother’s day last week with tulips and breakfast at home with a pan au chocolat from Nugget and fruit basket cake from Ettore’s. We also went out for funky Japanese fusion at Skool for dinner, which included a delicious uni flan and squid ink spaghettina, but was cut short by baby-wailing. Between getting called in for several late-night surgeries, we also visited Merryhill School to check out their newly-renovated space and prepare for his daycare entry in June. For my department’s annual symposium in Napa this weekend, we decided to make it a mini family trip, which meant cramming several duffle bags along with our carrier, stroller, and bassinet into the trunk for a single-night stay. We had lunch at Mustards Grill for their famous pork chop (which was a tad sweet), before arriving at the hotel. Annoyingly, our room was not ready despite our earlier request for early check-in, leaving Melody stranded in the concierge lounge with a crying baby while I gave my talk. For dinner, we went to Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc, where we were treated to a casual but hearty family-style dinner with an arugula and endive salad, grilled flank steak, fish & chips, Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt. Tam cheese, and a cookies n’ cream pudding dessert. This morning, after moderating the conference, we went to Redd Wood for some crispy wings, pizza, and pasta. The sunny drive home appeared to have led to another eczema flare, so we’ll be looking forward to some intense skin therapy this weekend.

With my parents gone, I sent my wife and baby to stay with our in-laws while I attended ARVO in Seattle. This also gave us a chance to have painters come paint our family room and hallways while we vacate the house. Before driving to Stockton, Melody dropped me and my lab tech Eric at the airport for our short flight there. Upon arrival, an old friend picked us up from the airport to enjoy some cuban sandwiches at Paseo while we reminisced about lab life and beyond. After checking into my hotel, I went to an Alcon event where I received a Young Investigator Grant, followed by a Genentech reception nearby, before joining friends for dinner at Sitka & Spruce. On the way home, we noticed workers frantically boarding up the Starbucks Reserve Roastery, which reminded us of the upcoming May Day protests. Fortunately, despite the police presence, the violence did not get close to the convention center, and we were able to present our poster the next day. For lunch, I recruited some friends to go to the new Din Tai Fung, but ultimately opted for sushi to avoid the hour-long wait. I spent the afternoon at the inaugural Allergan FIRST (Fostering Innovative Retina Stars of Tomorrow) program meeting, where the agenda seemed as nebulous to the participants as they were to the organizers. I stopped briefly at the Harvard reception afterwards, before joining my Duke co-fellows for dinner at Lark. I successfully made it back to Din Tai Fung on Monday, but the soup dumplings were not as delicious as I remembered. I returned to the meeting in the afternoon, then met up with a friend for bistro food at Le Pichet and had dinner with the fellows at Japonessa. I stayed up late to prepare a few presentations, and luckily stayed awake at the follow-up FIRST meeting on Tuesday, where we listened to each other review interesting talks and posters from the meeting. Afterwards, I met with my Duke mentor to discuss research, attended a board meeting with a donor, before calling it a night. I was exhausted by Wednesday, but managed to grab some chicken gizzards and a salmon sandwich from Pike Place Market on the way to the airport for our flight home. The painters were not yet done by the time I returned, so I had to wait another day for Melody to come back. Despite enjoying my first few days of uninterrupted sleep since Westley’s birth, I was elated to see my family again.