Quirks arrive, save world.

Tim and Sally come to Davis to see the new addition, cook endless amounts of gourmet food and generally make everything amazing.

A photo album is here:

Quirks arrive, Save World.

And here are some recent videos:

The Queue-Double-Ewes visit Martinez

We take our newly completed family to the beautiful rolling hills of Martinez, where the first young member was added.

He enjoys the outing thoroughly, exploring the streams, mud, grass, frogs, stick, thistles, and miner's lettuce as one should.

And attempting to hop up the hill.

Reid, meanwhile, mostly slept through the adventure.  That's more his style.  That and eating.  And burping.  And pooping with vigor.

Those hills are pretty, though.

Liam got to see that same old tractor that we took a photo of him on once upon a time.  This time, however, not only could he identify the tractor and it's major components, but he also came to the conclusion that it no longer functions.  He's a very different being than he was last time he sat on one of those two tractors:

Here's Reid on his first tractor.

Here's the little fellow being adored by his daddy.

Reid Amani Quirk - The Name

For those of you not in the market for baby names, you'd be surprised by the literature, websites, blogs, opinions, 'experts', data, graphs, and charts available on the subject. There are books with 60,000 baby names from cultures all over the world (we've got that one), books that survey people's first impressions of different names (got that one, too), and even web-charts that update in real time as you type a name, displaying its fluctuations in popularity since the 1890's with data from the social security administration (oh, yes).
After much indecision, a decent amount of research, and most importantly a polling of friends, we had a few names in mind: Clare for a girl, and Reid or Alec for a boy. It was only after our little fellow was born into the water, alert, but very calm, that we looked at each other and agreed, he would be Reid. At the moment, Reid is making our job look easy, sleeping a lot, and demanding little. Life with Reid looks mostly like this:

Liam's middle name, Kiran, went over very well in India, because it's Indian, and we chose it to signify our time and connection to that part of the world.  We wanted to give our second child an equally meaningful middle name, one that reflects some of our family's interests and values, and we settled on a Swahili name, one that we've loved and thought of for years now: Amani.  Amani means "peace" in Swahili.  The source of this name comes ultimately from the two years that Katie spent in Tanzania, from our close friend Modesta, and our adventures and life with her.  In 2002 we returned to Tanzania to bring Modesta to India with us. We served as her quasi-parents for four and a half years while she completed her high school studies in Kodaikanal, where we taught. On the left: Modesta just before Katie met her in Tanzania.  On the right: Katie and Modesta after her high school graduation.

So, Amani is a recognition of our beloved friend Modesta and a celebration of  Tanzanian/Swahili culture. We are excited to watch how this name will grow into who Reid becomes. We hope that someday, perhaps Reid will get a chance meet his Aunt Modesta, and to spend meaningful time in Tanzania. Below, the beautiful and surreal landscape where Modesta grew up, where rolling hills strewed with random piles of massive Kopje rocks overlook the shining shore of Lake Victoria.  (If you squint, you can see Tim on top one of those kopjes.  Climbing up on that rock was much harder than it looks.)

When we got married, we decided not to change our last names.  We both loved the names we were given, and the symbolic connection to the families that we came from, and couldn't imagine asking our partner to change his/hers.  When we became pregnant with Liam we thought, "Now what?"  Katie suggested that since she got to experience the pregnancy and the birth, that Liam should be a Waring. Then when we were pregnant the second time, we asked ourselves again, "Now what?"  We revisited other options - using one of our last names as a shared family name, inventing a new family name, hyphenating - all wonderful choices, for which friends of ours had opted in the past. In the end, however, we decided to keep the last names the three of us already had and to name our second kid "Quirk." This felt balanced. Ultimately, both of our children are half Quirk, half Waring, and mostly themselves.

Of course, people will always wonder about our choice, but we will always be happy to talk about it. We've had Swedish friends who all took the mom's last name; Indian and Tanzanian friends who used the father's first name as their family name; and American friends who invented an entirely new family name for themselves.  We like our names in part because it is a unique solution. We like the feeling of nudging the equilibrium, and it feels deeply correct to honor both of our families, the male and female lines, the multiplicity of who we are as a family.

 .

So, now we're 

Katie Quirk, Tim Waring,

Liam Waring and Reid Quirk,

one family with two surnames, 

both of which 

we love.

Family Weights

Here's what our families weights have looked like, since October.  Note that the last recorded pregnant weight for Katie just nudges above my weight at the time, around 161 lbs.  Liam has climbed, and Reid had dropped.  But Katie lost 20 pounds.  What a diet.

Reeder Beeder

The first week has has been awesome.  Reid is making having two children look easy.  He's a champion sleeper.

Here's the little friend this morning, doing his hiccups.

He slept through a late celebratory breakfast, through our morning walk, and though lunch, waking up only for feedings, and returning to sleep for Liam and Katie's nap time.  Ah. Maze. Ing.

Family Adventure

We're enjoying hints of a California spring and family time with Tim  home on paternity leave.

 

We went to the Raptor Center on campus, where Liam pretended to be a Barn Owl and a Red Shouldered Hawk.  The big hit at the Raptor Center was the hose:

Needless to say, things got a little wet.  So, Liam changed into my fleece and we wandered down to the creek...

 

 

... for some "fishing."

Reid slept for almost the whole outing.  Something like this:

Life is good.

Activities with Parents

Yoga with mommy.


Painting with Daddy on the new easel that Daddy made.

Reid - live and unplugged

Our little friend is now decidedly less cyborg than before, having had the IV, heart monitor, blood oxygen monitor, breathing monitor, heat sensor, and oxygen tubes all removed.  He's more like what you might call a "baby."

In the bassinet at the hospital.

He IS small!

And he has furry arms, ears, and back:

Thankfully he has proven to be an expert feeder and sleeper - thus far.  We are informed that after the hormones from the womb environment wear off (2 weeks) then we'll really know how well he sleeps, and it's not likely going to be very well, since babies don't make much serotonin.
Here he is demonstrating a proper Monker position.

Compare with Liam, in 2007:

We've got a video of the Reid Monker, too.


And of the sorts of things that Liam has been up to recently:

Reid Amani Quirk arrives!!!

 As the hospital tag states, we have a new baby boy!

Reid Amani Quirk seems to be as handsome as his brother, and we can't wait to watch as he turns into his own little person.  Here is a short photo essay on how he came into the world.

Contractions had begun by 10am on the 17th of February, 2010.  Liam joined in the "magic breaths" while his mother paused from reading a book to deal with a contraction.

We had two wonderful friends with us at the birth - Mo(nique) Kolster and Erin Hardie.  They were terrific supporters and made the process as easy as could be. They took lots of photos, and video, for which we are already infinitely grateful.  Their very presence made everything feel more possible.

We monitored contractions for 20 minutes before being let in to the birthing room with the birthing tub.   This was around midnight.

Over the next couple of hours we dealt with the contractions through breathing exercises and coaching.  Katie did a lot of walking to speed up the processes.  We're not sure that it worked.  So Katie ground her way through all the pain, head-on.  She's a marvel.  Reid was born at 6:24 on the 18th.  He's 8lbs 9.8oz, which is bigger than his big brother was at the same age (8lbs, 1oz). 

I brought Liam in for a visit this evening.

Reid is pretty small, it turns out.

Since he was born, apparently, with some gunk in his lungs, possibly an infection, possibly just liquid, we'll be in the nursery for a couple of days to a week, with some special contraptions that help monitor his breathing, and make it easier. 

 Like an infant oxygen tube, and these two contraptions:

The block on the right is a "don't steal this baby" alarm, like what they have on books in the library, or expensive items in a store.  If you leave the hospital with this child, alarms will sound.  I think that's pretty dang cool.  Reid is an important guy, at less than a day old.  And, yes, his left big toe is glowing, so he's super human too.  Actually it's a really cool, non-invasive way to measure blood oxygen in newborns using light.  His blood oxygen is doing well now.

But we keep monitoring that little guy, day and night.  (Green: heart rate, Blue: breath)  But the measurements aside, I am so very impressed with the quality of the scientific medical establishment at Sutter Health in Davis, CA.  This is the sort of place that is both nurturing and scientific, comfortable and efficient, a good place for your toddler to make friends with nurses, and to learn about the science of how to keep people alive.  We are indebted, and in awe.  The people at Sutter are doing a marvelous job.

Although all this means that the family will not be united until Reid's breathing is sorted out, it has a silver lining - mommy and daddy both get full nights of sleep.

New Photo Links (BELOW)

Check out our news links, at the bottom of the page!  They no longer link to a series of old albums but to our photos on Flickr, Picassa, and Ali and Cedar's pages.  Yay!

Happy Two-Naught-Ten!

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy Two Naught Ten (2010)! We hope it’s been a wonderful year for you, as it has been for our family. Perhaps our biggest news is that we’ll soon be joined by another member. Our due date is February 22nd, though if Liam’s initial arrival ten days early is any indication of how these things work, we may have a baby even sooner! We’ve decided not to find out the gender, so that element of surprise remains. Strangers seem to suggest that the orientation of Katie’s belly means it’s a boy, but in this house where peer-reviewed scientific literature is our measuring stick for such things, we figure there’s no way to know until the actual birth day. One thing is certain: this little person is definitely a wiggler.



It’s interesting to watch ourselves experience pregnancy and anticipation of a child a second (and, we suspect, final) time. The initial morning sickness is something Katie is happy to check off as finished for this lifetime, though feeling another human grow inside one of us remains amazing, even fantastical. This time around, we have perhaps a more tempered, yet deep sense of awe for what’s to come. As Tim said, when we were trying to figure out when would be the best time to aim for the arrival of a second kid, “That’s like asking me when I’d like to have a bomb dropped on my calendar” (Translation: we now get that parenthood is a huge amount of work). At the same time, we also have a much clearer and profound sense of the ever-expanding love we’ll inevitably feel for this little person.


Aside from our imminent growth in numbers, this has been a big year as we’ve made the move from India to California. In Kodaikanal, our friends, home, and beautiful surroundings were very good to us, so we left with great sadness. We often find ourselves wishing we had a little portal to make even quick visits back for walks around the lake and hills, evening bonfire dinners with friends, visits with Rani and John and the many other Tamilians who helped to raise Liam, and, yes, also some good South Indian idly, dhosa, sambar and coconut chutney. On one of our morning walks here in Davis, Katie pointed out a Datura bush to Liam and reminded him that the same conical flowers had lined the road leading to our house in Kodai. His head noticeably popped up in the stroller, and he said, “Shall we walk to Shelton Cottage (our Kodai house) and visit Rani and John?” Would that we could, child. Would that we could.


Life in the U.S. has been very good to us, however. We’ve been able to see our siblings, Brian and Sarah, and our parents, Topher, Marie, Tim and Sally in a number of beautiful settings, including Waterton National Peace Park in Alberta, Vermont (at the peek of fall colors), and here in California. We look forward to more visits after the birth of the baby. We also love our new home here in U.C. Davis family housing. Our apartment is small, but the community very international (our upstairs neighbors are from South India and speak Tamil!) and the facilities for kids, including a community garden just across the road, and a playground just down the path, are wonderful. We’ve also really enjoyed living next to Liam’s friends Tadd and Elle and their parents, with whom we’ve done a lot of shared childcare.


It’s astonishing to review the year in terms of what Liam has learned. He’s gone from being a one-and-a-half-year old who, if memory serves us correctly, spoke not in full sentences, but in more simple Tamil and English words or combinations of words, to a fully fluent English speaker. Favorite activities include listening to his parents or any willing adult read out loud (any book by the author of Stellaluna is a hit right now), hoeing in the garden or using other adult tools (ie.the paint brush covered in red paint that Tim had told him not to touch), pretending he is some other creature or animal (“I’m Peter Pan”), and playing with friends. Most recently, we’ve been amazed to watch him develop problem-solving skils with other kids (“Hey, Hasham, I have an idea, we can share”). It’s so much fun to witness all of the learning that goes on at this age. Overall, Liam strikes us as a gentle, careful fellow, with a good sense of focus, and a love for books, words and language. Living with him, as we’re sure is the case with any little person, has brought us so much joy and contributed to our own developing repertoires of interpersonal skills (ie. when naptime is near and Liam needs to be persuaded to do something, try on a fictive persona, like Tinkerbell, and you’ll have greater bargaining power).


Tim is doing really well, both as a father and a scientist. He is kept very busy with analyzing and writing up his dissertation work from South India, applying for jobs, presenting his work at conferences and meetings, participating in a training program called Professors for the Future, and keeping non-dissertation research moving along. He also comes home early three days a week to play with Liam so that Katie can get some writing in. He continues to find funding for his graduate career, so his graduation date is flexible at this point—either this spring or the following one. We’re hopeful to make our next move a good one, especially with a new baby, and Tim always has additional research projects to pursue, so we’re not in a huge hurry.


Katie is really enjoying parenthood at this stage. She and another parent friend trade morning childcare, which means when she’s on, she’s accompanied by three little people and any other kids who may be wandering around the park. Watching and helping the kids to play has been an ongoing learning experience and a lot of fun. She also manages to write for three to four hours every day. She just completed the first draft of her second book, a memoir about parenthood and living in India. Her agent, based out of New York, is still working to find a publisher for Katie’s young adult novel. The publishing market is very slow right now, but this agent is accomplished at what she does and still willing to try, so we’re happy to accept her help. One bit of affirmation came this summer when that first book was a finalist in a writing competition judged by Katherine Patterson of Bridge to Terrabithia fame.


We fear that with all the flurry, we will be looking back on these early years of parenthood and wishing they hadn't already slipped away. We are absurdly out of touch with current events. Nevertheless, we spent a good deal of time, both writing and attending events to encourage the cause of universal, affordable health care, something we feel should be a right, not a privilege, for all people, particularly in a country as well off as ours. We also keep those in Haiti in our thoughts, and are following the case for gay marriage as it begins its legal climb here in California’s courts. And, finally, as we approach tax time, we’re doing a small amount of writing to representatives through an organization called NotMyPriorities.org to let them know that we would love for our nation’s fiscal priorities to switch from spending on war to spending on more humanitarian efforts.


In our extended family, our Tanzanian friend, Modesta, will be the first in her family to graduate from university this spring with a degree in Development Studies. We’re so impressed by her hard work and all that she has learned and accomplished over the years. Our siblings both have new jobs—Brian is a clerk for a federal judge in Spokane, and Sarah is in one of the top-level administrative positions for a popular Vermont summer camp, Farm and Wilderness. Both of our moms have been struggling with back and other pain—we’ve been struck by their stoicism and hopeful that their determination to get better will bring them both relief. Our dads, though continuing to work hard, remain well over all, and both lovely men. We’re very grateful for our families, and for you, our friends.



We would love to hear from you and to see pictures of you and yours when you get a chance.




Much love,
Katie, Tim, Liam and ?


For a recap of our year in photos, please visit this site:
http://aliandcedar.com/gallery/v/others/warings/2010/