Our daughter Fiona was born 11:15 p.m. January 24 weighing 2 pounds, 6 ounces.

She was crying with strong, healthy lungs immediately and has been feisty ever since. She is in the NICU, and she’ll be there for a long time. Kelli and I are expecting that we won’t be able to take her home until around her mid-April due date. She has a long, difficult road ahead of her, but she is in very good shape for being so premature. And she is in the care of some truly amazing people.

Kelli had a very rough night Wednesday. She was unbelievable, just as she has been since being admitted to the hospital Sunday evening. She went to hell and back this week. She is healing up quickly, and we are finally getting some time to breathe.

The two of us are living here at UW Medical Center while Kelli heals. And even after we can go home, we’ll spend much of our time in the NICU with our amazing new daughter. We are very lucky to be surrounded by so many loving people and to have access to such incredible health care.

Avid readers may have noticed the blog go silent this week. Things happened so quickly and unexpectedly, I didn’t have any plan in place to keep things going. I know it might seem silly to worry about a bike blog amid such huge family changes and challenges, but I take this work seriously and appreciate all of you who make it part of your day. I also appreciate all the site’s advertisers and all of you reader supporters who dedicate $5–$20 every month to keep this work going.

In the seven and a half years I’ve been writing Seattle Bike Blog, I’ve spoken with many parents who have lost children in traffic collisions. I always feel a deep gratitude that they are willing to share their most painful stories with me, and am amazed by their strength in the face of tragedy. They gave me strength this week as our family faced some traumatic scares. If they can persevere, we can, too.

I have also spoken to many survivors of terrible traffic trauma, and they taught me about how the physical injuries are only part of the challenge of coming back after such a major event. I am so grateful to them for sharing their stories with me, because I know my family will also need to be patient with each other and seek help if needed as we work through the emotional and mental trauma of this week.

Given how long Fiona will stay in the NICU and how unpredictable the next few months will be, I wanted you all to know why posting here will be sporadic. I am going to prioritize family over this blog.

But this blog is also fun for me to write. So while it is my work, it is also how I relax and process the world around me. It’s meditative for me, in a way, providing a rhythm for my days. So I will keep writing when it works into my days.

Perhaps the biggest change is that I will not be quick to post about breaking news. I will also be much slower to respond to reader emails and tweets, and I have closed comments on all posts older than 60 days.

But it’s not going on hiatus. I have some great guest reporting already lined up, and I may have plenty of time to sit in the NICU with my laptop, pondering the pure wonder of life and writing about bikes.

Thank you all for reading, and take care.