What I Did On My Summer Blogcation

Well, hello, blogosphere! It’s been quite a while since we last connected. I haven’t forgotten you – I’ve just been a little busy. June was month 9 of Jeni’s pregnancy, and July saw the arrival of Sheridan Danielle Adair, now three weeks old.

We have been tremendously blessed by the love and generosity of our family and friends both in helping us prepare for Sheridan, and after her arrival. It has been a blast to have people meet her. We haven’t known each other long, but in my opinion, she is the most beautiful baby in the world.

Ways she is like her dad: She is very hungry. She likes late evenings and sleeping late in the morning. She has enormous feet and long legs.

Ways she is like her mom: She is beautiful. She furrows her brow when trying to figure things out. She likes meeting new people. She looks good in a dress. She was the exact same weight and number of days late as her mother. She looks very, very much like the baby pictures of her mom. This bodes well for the future.

She is still a newborn, running mostly on instinct, and I am looking forward to getting to know her personality, and reading “Hippos Go Berserk” together.

There is a part of me that feels a little bad for not really having any deep spiritual insight to share about the birth of my daughter. But things can be deep in different ways. I am overwhelmingly grateful every day for the health of my wife and my daughter. I am amazed every day at the sheer fact of her existence. I suppose that’s not “deep” or profound in the sense that it requires a lot of mental gymnastics to comprehend. It’s deep and profound in the classic sense – seemingly inexhaustible, larger than one is able to take in at one viewing, or one thousand.

Better Living Through Zoology: Of Birds and Babies and Dreams

A few weeks back, a robin built a nest on our front door wreath. This was both pretty cool and nerve-wracking. There’s a window in the top of the front door, which meant we could see her, but also that she could see us. She was understandably nervous, and flew away whenever we had to cross the living room. Plus, the front door is a pretty high traffic area. At the very least, you had the mailman coming by, and us coming by to pick up the mail. All of this made me worry a bit about Mrs. Bird.

My wife lovingly pointed out that it wasn’t my bird, it was God’s bird. Sort of a reverse Matthew 6:26. “Why then do you worry about the birds? Doesn’t God take care of you?”

Anyway, two weeks or so ago, the eggs hatched, but only one baby made it. He’s the pink and gray blob at the top right.

But Junior has been growing steadily, and some day soon will leave the nest.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Adair has been nesting as well, getting ready to hatch our baby girl come the end of June. Sheridan Danielle has been well supplied by family, friends, church folks, and co-workers, so there has been much nesting.

All this is introduction to say – last week I had some weird dreams.

I dreamed I was holding Sheridan. She was about three months old. Chubby. Kind of fussy. And she had red hair.

This is a possibility. Everybody in my family was born blond and turned brown except me. But I have a red beard. My dad was a carrot top. Jeni’s family is pretty evenly brown-headed, but you never know.

My friend Matt has a theory that there are only three kinds of red-headed people:
1) Nerds, especially the band variety
2) Bullies
3) The hot red-headed girl (the rarest of all)

I hope Sheridan is the third kind, but I’ll be happy as long as she isn’t a bully.

I also dreamed on a different night that I was helping Jeni clean out the closet in the baby’s room, and I found some baby birds nesting in there. Including a baby toucan.

Here’s a picture of a baby toucan:

I’m pretty proud of my subconscious mind. To my knowledge, I had never seen a baby toucan, but I knew that’s what I had seen, and after looking it up said, “Hey, I was pretty close!”

In dream world, by the way, it is perfectly reasonable that a toucan might find its way into our second bedroom and build a nest in the closet.

As always in these situations, I turn ironically to the internet to help me interpret my dreams, and then add my own two cents.

The internet:
Babies: “To see a baby in your dream, signifies innocence, warmth and new beginnings. Babies symbolize something in your own inner nature that is pure, vulnerable, helpless and/or uncorrupted.”

Bird (nest): “To see a bird nest in your dream, symbolizes independence, refuge and security. You need something to fall back on. Alternatively, it may signify a prosperous endeavor, new opportunities, and fortune.”

Redhead: “To dream that you are a redhead, suggests that you need more spontaneity and vitality in your life. Make some dramatic changes.”

Shockingly, the internet A-Z dream dictionary did not have an entry for “toucan” or “baby toucan.” So here’s mine.

Toucan: “To see a toucan in your dream signifies that you are self-conscious about the size of your nose. It may also mean that you are seeking guidance, something or someone to follow. It may mean that you will start spelling “fruit” like this - “froot” – so that there is a visual connection as well as assonance with “loops.”

Baby Toucan: “To see a baby toucan symbolizes that you long for something new and exotic in your life – like a tropical vacation.”