Warm Enough.

Yesterday was warm, make that bording on hot. With heavy humid air. It was finally time. Time to but on Hawaiian music. I tried putting some on last week when it was merely warm, though had to turn it off...

Things have been good. Make that very good. Especially since it is now 6:45 am and Raelin is *still* sleeping. That's a full hour later. Of course I've been awake/up since 5:30, but no matter since I go to bed at like 8:30...

First off, a couple of Raelinisms:

In swimming class we sing a little song called "Cuckoo Clock" which has the very complex lyric "tick tock, I'm a little cuckoo clock. tick tock, tick tock, now I'm chiming one o'clock." At which point Raelin gets tossed into the air much to her joy. The song then progresses up to 3 o'clock in the class, though Raelin likes it so much she typically takes it to 10 o'clock, or more frequently just repeats 1 o'clock over and over with great gusto, typically while holding a stuffed animal. The best part though, is how she says "cuckoo clock"; her version is "hoo hoo haw". "tick tock, tick tock. I'm a little hoo hoo haw..."

Since it's spring, we've got a lot of flowers blooming here. Raelin's especially taken by the tulips and bleeding hearts. We've also got a large lilac bush in our front yard. While Raelin can wrap her mouth around the word "forsynthia", which is another flowering bush, she has a hard time with lilac. Instead, they are "bliblacs"....

And of course, how is Liam doing? In a word, great. He sleeps a lot. He eats. He looks around. He poops. Every few days spits up a tiny bit. Pretty much he's an infant, though a very chill and easy one to care for. The lack of spit up thing is really nice since Raelin pretty much routinely spit up. It gets old cleaning up partially-digested milk...

Saddle (back in the)

Today I went back to work. As I stood in our kitchen in jeans and flip flops, I asked Kelly questions, like, "where's my gray suit?" and "where's my 2 car garage?" I mean, this is about as close to the typical american family as I'm likely to get, just figured I push a little closer. About this time, Raelin piped in with a reassuring "don't worry, you'll get those things some day." =)

Seriously though, last night after Raelin was asleep I donned long johns and rain gear and headed out for an evening paddle. Wasn't raining hard, just steady drizzle. Turns out with all the rain the lake's come up about 12" or so since I was last down there; looks like it'll be a while before we have beach again. Not that I cared much since I was wearing galloshes and damn it was going out in the canoe rain, beach, or not.

Turns out it's a good thing I went; absolutely stunning. I never knew what rain on a lake sounds like; I figured it would be very soothing, sort of a soft patter. Not the case last night, more the sound of a few thousand small crystal glasses shattering; very stunning, just not quite what I expected. I paddled along the shore listening to the various song birds calling, mostly thrushes as they seem to be the ones that call latest into the evening.

At this point the light was low; the colors had faded to various shades of green and gray; standing over the lake among these dark hues was a single white birch tree. Absolutely stunning. I pulled the canoe up under it to listen to the ker-ploops of fat drops of water falling from the branches and leaves. These few minutes were an epitomy of why Maine.

For Mothers' Day I gave Kelly a forsynthia bush. It's only about 12" tall now though should get to be 6' or so. I'm personally not wild about the plant, though she certainly is and the fact that it's one of the first flowering plants to bloom in spring is very well taken. Over the weekend I planted it in the front yard with Liam's placenta underneath (told you we weren't very mainstream). Even before this I realized that it is very unlikely we'll leave this house. Once that kind of root goes down, it doesn't really come back up.

Add moments like the night paddle and the wide open yard, quiet streets, and almost total lack of biting insects, and that's a winning combination

Evening Sounds

The winds that blew the last of our latest storm front away have quieted. Raelin and Liam asleep as Kelly and I sat on the couch. A loon called out on the lake, then again, and again. I went out on our deck to listen and was greeted by the calls of frogs and the cascading waterfall of thrush calls; the last songs of the day. All of this pierced by the occasional haunting loons out on the lake that has smoothed to a mirror reflecting the black shadows of hills and fading grey of twilight sky...life in Maine is good; good beyond description. Really, a dream come true for this nature boy...

Thunder

This morning we had a visit from some good friends who had a baby about 10 minutes after Liam was born. Well, kid #1 and dad were here, to be exact. The rain that we awoke to this morning had stopped, and we took the opportunity of the weather break to head outside and play on Raelin's new playset that I put together this week. It wasn't too long before the telltale breeze of a thunderhead front came blowing through, and a glance to the southeast showed heavy dark gray from horizon to sky. We took a few more minutes then headed inside just as the sky opened up with a torrent. As we sat inside in the dim flat light and the occasional flash of lightning and burst of thunder I thought back a bit on this blissful week we've had and thought "I need to blog this stuff!" So here's some highlights and memories in no particular order.

Sitting on Raelin's bed with her telling her that today was the day her playset would be delivered, and that it would be coming on a *big* truck. She instantly wound up a few notches and every time something big drove by the nearby state highway she would squeal "I hear a big truck!" And then, looking out the window with both hands and her chin on the sill saying "I'm *so* excited that my playset will be here today on a big truck." Not soon after we were playing out on the back deck when we heard a semi coming into the neighborhood. We ran outside in time to see it stop in front of our house and greet the driver who cheerily unloaded 8 boxes of pure kid fun. I went and got my box cutter and Raelin started running around jabbering about which one to open first. After a few hours of drilling, banging, and a trip to Home Depot to pick up a tool I need to return, the main structure and swings were up. The next day I got the rock wall holds and slide up; mission complete. So we now have an awesome wooden playset in the front yard that will hopefully bring many years of fun to Raelin and Liam and their friends. So far so good!

The weather report for the week has been for 10 days of rain, so a few days ago when the sun broke through at 8:30 in the morning I said that it was time to go outside to the park. Kelly decided that she and Liam were up for their first outing, so we packed everything and everyone up and put the infant car seat next to Raelin's toddler seat, and away we went. The morning at the park was fabulous; the first of I'm sure many to come. More fabulous though, is the feeling of completion and peace that I have now that our family is complete. Complete in the way that I've always imagined myself with 2 kids, and that Kelly and I have always talked about having 2 kids, and that as Raelin's grown we've frequently commented about when the second one should come along. It's not a sense of completion like I get when I build something or write a nice app. It's so much more than that, like I've fulfilled a big part of my life's purpose, that this family, in this place and time, is why I'm here, and each little perfect moment is just icing on that experience.

A couple days ago I decided that it was time to put up our hummingbird feeders. I roped Raelin into helping make the suger water, which is a perfect and simple recipe to have her help with. So we dusted off and cleaned out the 2 feeders and got them filled. The next day I took a few minutes and built a couple of wooden hangers to screw onto the deck. R then helped me a little bit to put them together and then I mounted them and hung the feeders. Voila, within 5 minutes we had our first hummingbird and since then have many more. Add to this the massive amount of finches we have at our feeders and the other birds now filling the woods and willow thickets, and their various songs filling the air, and you've got the soundtrack for spring.

Leaves. Leaves are back and getting more every day. And not just leaves, but bursting, vibrant bright green fresh young new leaves after many months of bare branches. Leaves that rustle faintly in gentle spring breezes, breezes that are heavy with the scents of blooming flowers, wet earth, and new growth. Leaves that are perfect before bugs, disease, or age have weathered them. In essence, leaves that grab your attention and hold it with their message; spring is here.

And of course, Liam. Watching him change so fast from a newborn bary squinting his deep gray eyes open to an infant who watches everything; eyes deepening to blue. I remember how hard this seemed with Raelin, having a baby. This time it's just total gravy. He stays where I put him, there's no negotiation about the minutae of the day, pretty much just hold him, give him a finger to suck on, or a breast if he's hungry, change him and keep him warm. Total baby bliss.

Watching Raelin be so concerned with her new brother. He can hardly make a peep without her worridly asking "why's he crying, what's wrong with Liam?" She loves holding him in her lap and reading him books; her current favorite is Busy Doggies, which is a photo collection of dogs doing all the things dogs do with cute titles like "Doggies staring, doggies sharing" and "Doggies pawing, doggy gnawing." Since we're all a little bit dog here in this family, it's a favorite all around =) And one of my favorite things, when Liam's on the changing table and not liking being there and hence crying, Raelin stands up on the couch so she's over his head and gently strokes his hair cooing "I know, I know, I know" in a lilting soft tone that starts low and arcs up over "know" to come back down at the end of the word. She's been so fantastic with the transition from single child to sister; certainly very hard for her at times but she takes it all in stride and we encourage her to express the hard and painful parts, too.

And finally, watching Kelly take motherhood to a whole new level each moment. She's just fantabulous; the best I've ever seen. It's such a joy to raise kids and parent with a soul mate that's so damn good at it. She constantly inspires me to be a better papa, to show up in ways that challenge me. And if there's one truth about parenting, it's there will *always* be places where it's challenging. Always =)

The Easy Part

It's evening. All the awesome helpers have gone home, Raelin's asleep. Liam's racked out on my lap as I type one-handed for the first time since I opened up my hand 3+ years ago, and I'm not back to work yet =)

I know this little honeymoon won't last forever, but that's OK, because right now it is. Right now the house is quiet; the dog and cat are visiting K's mom and step-dad and the costant patter and chatter of R is gone in her sleep.

Right now I've got tunes quiety playing on yhe laptop and can look out the window to the trees and hills.

As I sat this morning with Liam sleeping on my lap and quiet music playing tears came to my eyes again and again. Bringing a child into the world does this...

I remember back when Raelin was born, that I felt like we pretty much had our shit together. I mean, there was definitely some serious adjustment bumps that K and I hit, but we figured it out as we went. Specifically I remember changeing a diaper early on and thinking "if we're this chill on #1, what's #2 gonna be like?" Well, I can happily report that the second is indeed leaps and bounds easier...at least when the baby and delivery were as easy as ours...

Anyhow, started getting photos posted as promised; mosy on over to the gallery to check it out...

Family + 1

Many of you reading this blog now know that Kelly gave birth this morning to a not-so-little baby boy. His name is Liam Cooper and he is truly a stunning little being. Some stats for those that are interested: weight: 9lbs 6oz, length: 22.25", labor: 3.25 hours (!!!), location: birth tub in our living room.

This all kicks ass. Very much. I'm also tired. Very much. So I'm not writing much now, just announcing. Also working on installing a new gallery app on my site since the old one more or less blew up many months ago and I have no interest in hacking on it to fix it.

The new gallery will be located at http://www.kevcallahan.com/gallery2/ and will feature some photos from today.

Until next time...