My birthday request was the scenic drive from Hotchkiss to Crested Butte. Gravel road, gorgeous sun, aspens shedding golden leaves. And, Amber’s little belly with a noticeable *pooch*. The little one is about two months along at this point.

Over the past eight months, I have witnessed the woman I love blossom ever-more-radiantly, becoming impossibly beautiful, graceful, open-hearted. And within her belly, a lively little being, kicking, pulling, stretching…

A sunny Christmas day walk, on the mesa behind our home.

This baby thing is simply - totally - amazing! Amber is now five months into her pregnancy, and the little being inside is over half-way baked.

Spring is well on its way, as these forsythias outside our living room window attest.

Only a few hours from the womb. Koen Aurelius Widom was born at 6:02 in the morning, at Delta County Hospital, in the hi-tech and comfie new birthing center. Amber entered labor at about 8:30 pm the night before (Friday, March 25), and we left for the hospital at 1 am, arriving at 1:30 am. Four and a half hours of pain and bliss later, this little guy popped out, weighing in at 7 pounds, 5 ounces, with a span of 21 inches. He was welcomed by a setting full moon and a rising sun.

One very happy, very sleepy family. At home now, about 5pm. Which puts Koen at about 11 hours.

Very seldom did he open his eyes on the first day. This is one of the rare first glimpses through the windows of his soul, fresh from the netherworlds.

Amber and Koen, sharing a quiet moment after a feeding.

“And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children.
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and the daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

“You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of to-morrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the Archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.”

From The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran