The windows across the back of our new house allow the morning light to stream in as the sun gets stronger in the morning sky. It's almost blinding, since there are no curtains on the back windows or patio doors yet, and we're not really worried about it at this point, since there are no neighbours to 'see in' behind our house in our new development. The babies are in their high chairs, and their cereal is moments from being ready. I'll feed them on my own this morning, and for many mornings to come, since my lovely wife went back to work today, her maternity leave and two weeks vacation (to stretch it as far as possible) having now run its course.
She was just a little traumatized about it when leaving for work this morning.
Then, around mid-morning, as I get ready to leave for work after having about 10 days off, our nanny arrives to take over care of Liam and Morgan.
We are happy.
We have known happiness before, but this is somehow different. It's almost beyond happiness. We love our new house, our new neighbourhood, we love the way the sun comes into our kitchen every morning when we feed our beautiful children. We love how, when Janne and I wake up in the morning, we open our eyes to the line of trees in the park being built across the road.
The word 'idyllic' is frowned upon by many, and used by the negative among us to demonstrate an impossibly good situation; one considered too good to be true.
...but it is true.
We have no lawn in the front or back yards until spring, and about 150 boxes left in the basement to unpack, but our cat likes the new house so much he's become social (and he never has been), Liam and Morgan each have their own room, and they've been sleeping through the night almost every night since we moved in last Saturday (parents reading this know how big that one is), and we have room to breathe, room for our stuff, and room to grow.
Life is very good.
Although Liam and Morgan officially celebrated their first birthday(s) on Thursday (November 30th) last week, their party, which was essentially a surprise party, since pretty well every new thing that happens to a baby is a surprise to them, was this past Saturday.
...and then with two "1" candles, of course.
Janne made the cake from scratch.Our wonderful nanny, Anita, left two of her friends at home to be entertained by her parents while she came to see the babies on their big day, and Claire - my wife's best friend since Janne's family moved to Canada when she was 9 years old - her husband, Bill, and their three children, Marilynn, Nick, and Kirsten, also came. Our former (and favourite) Hamilton neighbour, Sue, with her daughters Paris and practically-newborn Ella-Maria, and their father Horatio, were also welcome guests at The Tinks' 1st Birthday.
We dressed 'em up for the festivities.
"Bond. Liam Bond."
"How you s'posed to crawl in one of these skirt things?" They had cake for the very first time in their lives!
Liam motored through his cake.
...and although it doesn't appear so here, Morgan was very dainty while eating hers....and then they got a little tired from the excitement of the day.
Janne tells me this is one of her favourite pictures of the day. (She took all of these shots. I was on videocamera duties.) Unbeknownst to me, as I crawled in between them to tend to Liam's cake-eating, he yawned at the same time Morgan started to lose consciousness and leaned over to use my back as a headrest for her tired little bean. "Ya can't pose those ones," Claire said.Like I said, life is very good.
What is beyond happy? I'm not sure.
But I know WHO is beyond happy. WE are.
