first day

this post is cheesy. bring your own crackers.

In late spring we noticed a little barn swallow hanging around our old porch, and 

not long after that we also became acquainted with her mate. 

We never named them, just called them The Birds. 

The Birds got right to work.

They had chosen our gaudy old porch light to build their nest on. 

My instincts told me "NO". 

"Get The Birds out of here--they are going to be messy"......but I decided it would be so fun to watch. 

And we did. 

We watched and watched as they worked day after day building their nest. 

A twig here. A blade of grass there. 

Trip after trip after trip to make their home. 

A few weeks later, they finally moved in.

And then mama bird sat. 

She sat and sat, and one day when she left for a minute I snuck up there to see.....

EGGS!

and she sat and sat and sat some more.

Then one morning we heard it. 

Peep peep peeping on the porch light. 

We stood at the window and could see tiny little mouths opening wide, waiting for mama to feed them. 

Trip after trip after trip to collect food for her babies--and we watched it all. 

Working all day long for her ugly (sorry, but early on they were UGLY) little babes. 

They quickly grew and feathered and mama bird worked harder than ever to keep them happy and fed. 

Allllll six. 

SIX! 

A few more weeks passed, and one day I walked passed the window and noticed an empty nest.....

.....but where were the babies?!

They were perched out in our scraggly little apple tree.

Taking turns flying from nest to tree. 

Tree to nest. 

Nest to tree. 

A few days more of flying lessons, and they left the nest for good.

No more babies.

Occasionally I see mama bird come back to the porch.....

....she hangs out for a bit but never stays for long. 

I can't help but wonder what she's thinking about?

I mean, maybe she sees her babies all the time (wishful thinking).

Maybe they meet for lunch and go on great long flights together through the trees and haystacks.....who knows. 

But I DO know that I feel sorry for her when she looks at her empty nest that she worked so hard to build. 

her first day, his second

My OWN baby birds have left the nest. 

Well yes, they still LIVE here, so I can stop being so dramatic, I know. 

But this is the first time EVER that they have both been gone all day. 

I feel like I worked so hard the last eight years building our nest and feeding my babes, and with them gone all day, it's going to be an adjustment for me, I won't lie.

When your babies are little and there is The Crying and The Pooping the the Lonnnnnngest Nights Ever, you NEVER think this day will come. 

But it DOES.

And it's hard. 

But you see how excited your little birds are, and you put on your brave face, just for them. 

That's what mama birds do.

***

first mornings

so big. 

HIS:

kindergarten

first

second

HERS

first year of preschool (best photos ever)

kindergarten