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

Ahhh…day 2. Renewed vitality. We took a walk today, and Amber traveled farther than almost every other walk embarked upon during the latter half of her pregnancy. I’m already dreaming of the day when Koen and I might hike Landsend Peak, which waits with great patience in the distance.

I wasn’t so keen on including this photo, but Amber insisted, saying that “it’s such a clear show-and-tell of how Koen has daddy’s nose”. Oh boy.

The little love-king, Koen Aurelius, all swaddled up and ready to embrace the world.

In case you are curious about his name, here are some details:

After browsing the world-wide web for umpteen hours, we finally gave up the search. Not long after, Amber came up with “Koen”. We’d been contemplating a name that embodied both a sense of strength and beauty. It turns out that the name actually means “gallant” and “brave” in a couple of languages. It also comes close to the word “koan”, as in “zen koan”. A definition: “In Zen Buddhism, the Japanese term for the posing of baffling riddles or exercises that cannot be solved in a discursive or rational manner. They are intended to force the student into a corner, as it were, so that he/she will be open to the immediacy of enlightenment, or satori, as a subjective experience of one’s own Buddha nature.”

“Aurelius”, well, I’ve always loved the sound of this name. And then, a few years back, I fell in love with a quote by Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who wrote, nearly two millenia ago, the following:

“And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last.”

The name carries the literal meaning of “golden” in the Latin language.

And lastly, “Widom” is passed down from my father. Thanks, pops! Originally, the name was “Widomlanski”, or some variation thereof.

To top it all off, a famous snippet from Romeo & Juliet:

“What’s in a name?
That which we call a rose by any other name
would smell as sweet.”

A lovely outdoor breakfast with the belly. Fresh mangoes, plump strawberries, crisp apples. Breakfast of champs.

Workin’ on buildin’ them grapefruit-fortified bones. Lordy knows, this daddeo will be needin’ all the strength he can muster.

Car seat trial run. Gorgeous hat designed and hand-knitted by Shaylen Moss, the Little One’s cousin.