Shainline Family, 2019

Owen, Katie, and Jeff

At the start of this year, Katie was pregnant. We went to Taos for a babymoon. She got to practice her amazing kiting skills.

Shortly thereafter, her water broke. We went for a walk to keep things moving. Here she is trying to wear a coat that drizzly, May evening.

Then our son, Owen Miles Shainline, was born on May 2nd at 12:33 am. He weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and he was 19.5 inches tall.

He fit easily in his car seat.

It felt good to get home from the hospital.

There was a learning curve.

At the beginning, he was just a little guy—no bigger than his friend, Bear.

His tiny head fit completely in the palm of Jeff's hand.

He was just a little guy squirming around.

Owen has been fascinated by physics since the beginning.

What a lucky boy to have the love and support of his grandparents.

It's hard to remember now, but there was a time when it was rare to see him smile.

Look at my sweet wife and son.

He has always been expressive with his tongue and lips.

We are finding that our son has a lot of energy, even when relaxing in his chair after racoon hunting.

I don't know if he loves the sunset, but at least he notices it.

Thanks to Grandpa Kim and Grandma Vickie, we were able to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

Our first trip to the mountains with him was outside Idaho springs.

I think this was his first hike in the front pack.

Our trip to Salida was another high point of the year for me.

This was the day he blasted ass all over the back of the CR-V on our way to a hike.

I took him for morning walks by the Arkansas river.

This is the moment I want to live on repeat for eternity.

He loves it when we read to him.

This was the first time we fed him "solid" food.

He has the voice of an angel.

Watching him learn to talk and crawl has been a joy.

He is so curious and ambitious.

We had to take him to the hospital to treat his croup at 8pm on a Saturday.

On Christmas Eve, he met his Great Grandma Helen. They were friends right away.

He met his Great Grandpa Gary, and we couldn't help but notice the resemblance.

Owen has also spent several afternoons with his Great Grandma Miles.

Look at his sweet face on one of those days.

He looks much bigger in his car seat these days.

Winter came.

We took fewer walks, but still some.

He helped us decorate the Christmas tree.

During his first year, our son has grown into a badass.

Our lives also had events unrelated to Owen. Katie eagerly returned to the classroom in August. This year she is teaching her usual language arts classes, as well as an additional social studies class, to eighth graders at Centennial Middle School, here in Boulder. She is finding the balance of teaching and motherhood with grace and a sense of humor. Jeff continued his work as a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Milestones this year included a paper developing the theoretical concepts of superconducting optoelectronic neurons that had been long in the works as well as a paper regarding possible relationships between cosmology and technology. Jeff hopes to spend more time in 2020 working toward experimental demonstrations of superconducting optoelectronic circuits.