Palmer, the town in Alaska that my wife Paisley spent most of her childhood years. Palmer, the closest town with a grocery store while we lived in the cabin in Alaska. And now, Palmer, the name of our newly arrived baby boy!

The last post, which was somehow 8 months ago, was written at a time when we had just found out that Paisley was pregnant. While we were not necessarily trying for a child, we had talked at length about the possibility of having one, so when we found out, it was not a total shock. The shock was more about how our lives were about to be forever changed.

At a time when our lives were in a complete makeover – we left our stable and well paying jobs, left the city we had both called home for over a decade, sold our house, at the time living in Alaska, just recently purchased land almost site unseen, and with no home or utilities on said land for when we made our arrival there in a just a few months – seemed like a good time to throw a baby in the mix. (What a long sentence!) If you are going to change your life, go big! So we went big.

Now 8 months later, since the last post, technically 41 weeks later if just talking about Palmer, we are here in Washington holding the newest member of the Hope family. So far the biggest change has been, not surprisingly, our sleep schedule modifications. Paisley and I now take shifts through the night sleeping out on the couch with the baby in his bed. This allows the other to be back in the “bedroom” getting 3-4 hours of actual sleep. I put bedroom in quotes as we are currently living in my brother’s 40’ RV while we try to wrap up the tiny house.

I am happy to report that all are in good health here. Paisley had an unplanned, but thankfully non-emergency, cesarean delivery. Seemed Palmer was plenty cozy and had no interest in leaving his home of 41 weeks. She bounced back amazingly, no surprise to us, but to some amazement of the doctors who have all sounded very surprised when they check in on her.  Palmer was, at only 9 days old, already over his initial birth weight – a feat usually taking 2 weeks or more. At this rate Palmer should be a fully grown adult by next year.

Personally, as a person who never though they would have a child, so far it has been a wild experience. An experience that I am unsure I have fully come to grasp, or maybe even accept as reality. What I can say is that I am feeling much better about it all than I would have thought. Had you asked me to hold a baby, much less change one, a year or two ago I would have told you to do it yourself. But now, with little Palmer in my arms, it all feels oddly natural – as pretty much everyone said it would when it was my own.

They were right, as much as I hate to admit it. I constantly catch myself staring down at this little guy, watching his expressions, completely lost in the moment. In these moments, time has slowed, the world still buzzing on, but between his eyes and mine, a momentary lapse in time. Then he pees on me, and we’re back.