Oh hey! We had a (boat) baby!

I’m not usually at a loss for words, but in the case of Zephyr and all that has transpired in the last 13 weeks… it’s a little tough to know where to start!

How about with some basics? Zephyr was born 4/19 at 4:13 am after 7 hours of labor and a mere 14 minutes of pushing (a fact the delivering doctor encouraged me to not share with my friends, lest they kill me in annoyed rage).

He was 6lbs 4oz and 19.5″. (Someone said that the reason people are so obsessed with these stats is because it’s really the only thing you have to talk about for a while, and I think that’s pretty accurate 🙂 )

Zephyr Alvah Kruger Tetro - Newborn baby living aboard on a sailboat in Portland, Maine

“Zephyr” was literally the *only* name that Jon and I agreed on, so it’s the name he got. For reference, Jon wanted to name him Ernest (cuz “Ernie” will definitely make you friends on the playground) and I wanted to name him Brio or Ocean or Bravery or something really out there. Which also probably doesn’t make you friends on the playground 😉

So instead we settled on something kind of in the middle, a name that people will probably always struggle to spell (apparently “zed” is a Canadianism and not well understood in ‘merica — add it to my list of USA lessons!) but that felt and continues to feel absolutely perfect for this little breeze of a baby. (A ‘zephyr’ — for anyone who doesn’t know — is a gentle west wind, sometimes considered the harbinger of spring… so a perfect fit for our nautical little babe).

Zephyr Alvah Kruger Tetro

^^He’s approximately 20 minutes old here.

I’ve made the joke that I wanted a baby just so I could dress him up and take a zillion cute pictures, and it’s really not far from the truth. I love this little man endlessly but I *especially* love taking his cute little picture. Dropbox is housing the 4,962 pictures I’ve taken since he was born to back this claim up.

Zephyr Alvah Kruger Tetro - Newborn baby living aboard on a sailboat in Portland, Maine

I hoped that having a baby on a boat would be similar to having a baby in a house, in that neither Jon nor I would have any idea what we were in for, so it really wouldn’t matter where we were!

And so far figuring out how to nurse the milk monster, get his teeny little fingers through impossible baby outfits, clip his frightening little claws, calm him down when he’s upset, soak in the early morning cuddles and learn to survive on not nearly enough sleep has been exactly the same on a boat as I imagine it would be in a house, except a) we can’t escape his sounds (and he was a NOISY newborn sleeper… no one warned me I was giving birth to a farm animal) and b) we have a built in noise machine / baby rocker.

Zephyr Alvah Kruger Tetro - Newborn baby living aboard on a sailboat in Portland, Maine

“Where does he sleep?” is probably in the top 3 of the most-asked questions, and I have to admit it was something I stressed about in the early days of pregnancy too. Brio has an offset vberth (to port) and there used to be a super deep sail locker to starboard, so we built a recessed shelf that I made a mattress for, and we’ve had the perfect little baby-bed ever since! The best part is that he’s literally within arms’ reach but also held in by a little wall of his own — so no rolling on the baby or worrying about him rolling out of bed when he’s napping!

Zephyr Alvah Kruger Tetro - Newborn baby living aboard on a sailboat in Portland, Maine - Baby bed

We came straight home to Brio from the hospital and spent the first 9 weeks in our DiMillos marina, surrounded by helpful family, friends, neighbors and marina staff. Then about a month ago we moved up to Harpswell, where we’re now living on a mooring off of Jon’s mom’s house. Zephyr gets the benefit of a full-time grandma (which he loves!) and we get the benefits of extra hands, laundry, and all the shore-side amenities that Brio sometimes lacks (bathtub, anyone?).

Zephyr Alvah Kruger Tetro - Newborn baby living aboard on a sailboat in Portland, Maine

Zephyr Alvah Kruger Tetro - Newborn baby living aboard on a sailboat in Portland, Maine

I could go on and on for hours about what it’s like to be a new mom (easier than I’d feared, exhausting and relentless, but also magical in a warm-your-toes, melt-your-heart, pull out all the cliches way) and how much fun we’ve had as a little family figuring out life over the last three months — not to mention share a few more hundred of the thousands of photos I’ve taken — but I think I’ll just leave it at this for now and go back to my baby instead 🙂 )

Many more photos to come,

LMK


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