Sgt. Dean Wellman’s tan, desert-camo boots rest on a mat beside the door. The tall military boots stand out among the other sneakers and shoes.

“He uses them to shovel snow now,” said Becki Wellman, Dean’s wife.

Earlier this week, a lamppost with a yellow ribbon still attached protruded from the deep snow in the yard. Though it is now melting, several feet of snow fell after Dean’s return home from Iraq during the first week of March.

Dean is settling back into life in Scarborough with his wife Becki and 1-year-old son Hayden. Becki has taken a few days off from her job as a literary specialist at Canal Elementary School in Westbrook to spend some time with her family. Dean also works in the Westbrook school system and will soon return to his job as a fourth-grade teacher at Congin Elementary.

Though, Dean had been gone a full year, both he and Becki agree that it feels like he was gone only a few months.

“When he was gone it felt like it was taking forever, but now looking back on it, it seems like it went fast,” Becki said. “I think partially because we were in such good communication most of the time he was gone, we were able to e-mail and talk on the phone once or twice a week.”

Dean said the quick transition from soldier to husband and father has been surprising.

“When I got home, I just jumped back into the dad/husband suit … almost like a different me … I didn’t think it would quite be like that, because it didn’t feel like that when I came home on leave,” Dean said. His experience while home for his two-week leave, seven months ago, was different because he was never able to completely shed his soldier persona.

Before arriving home, the soldiers of the 133rd Engineer Battalion, along with all returning soldiers, are given reunion briefings to prepare them for the transition back to family and civilian life. Families are offered similar briefings.

“She’s been awesome about not overwhelming me with things around the house or with Hayden,” said Dean. “Just kind of one step at a time.”

“It’s just kind of been natural,” said Becki, “especially with Hayden…If he’s going to change a diaper, I was sitting right with him giving him pointers.”

One of Becki’s biggest worries was how Hayden would react to Dean’s return. For the first year of Hayden’s life “daddy” was a “cardboard cutout,” as Dean puts it, and now there would suddenly be a real, live “daddy.”

“I think he might have been a little confused, cause we’d say ‘da-da’ and he’d go over to the picture over there,” said Becki as she pointed across the living room to a photograph of Dean.

Becki’s worries have vanished, though; Hayden has warmed to Dean quickly.

“Maybe the third or fourth day we were at (Dean’s) parents’ house and we were all standing in the living room,” said Becki. “His mother was holding Hayden, and even I was standing there, but he put his hands out to Dean and said ‘da-da,’ and so he went to Dean and that’s what he wanted.” The watching family members let out the customary oohs and aahs.

The change from the threatening environment of Iraq to the safe environment of home has also been a transition for Dean, who tells himself often that he doesn’t have to worry about mortars and other dangers anymore. Sometimes the loud thump of snow falling from the roof still makes him stop for a second before he can tell himself he is safe at home.

The transition back to his full-time job as a fourth-grade teacher at Congin Elementary will also be a challenge. He plans to ease himself slowly into the classroom, beginning by observing and helping out with the substitute who has taught his class since the start of the school year.

“I spent a lot of time and a lot of hard work just to get a teaching job and that’s always been my passion, so it’s great to be on deck for that,” he said.

Two weeks after his return home Dean visited his school to meet with the principal and visit his class. The trip took much longer than he had expected because he kept stopping to speak with friends and coworkers he had not seen since leaving a year before. Students stopped Dean in the halls and peppered him with questions about Iraq, some appropriate, some not so appropriate. Did you shoot a gun? Did you shoot somebody?

Dean tried to answer the questions the best he could, but he said “you have to change it just a little bit and make sure it’s appropriate for the kids and make sure it’s in a way they understand what you’re saying.”

While he’s excited about returning to his chosen career of teaching, Dean has still not made a decision regarding his future with his part-time employer, the Maine National Guard.

“It’s going to obviously be a family decision when the contract runs out and we figure out what we want to do from there,” he said.

His contract actually expired while he was in Iraq, which means a decision will need to be made in the next ninety days, after which time the stop-loss period is over.

The benefits of staying the Guard include good pay, benefits and, since Dean is approaching twenty years in, a generous retirement package. But Becki doesn’t think it is worth it.

Becki still has nightmares that Dean is not home to stay. She will wake in the middle of the night and need to tell herself that he’s not returning to Iraq, that he’s home now.

“I don’t think we can handle another deployment as a family, and I think with the way the world is now and stuff that if he continues that’s pretty likely to happen…We need to weigh that against our plans for having a family and whatnot,” said Becki.

Because Becki is at a high-risk for complicated pregnancies, her doctor has told her that if they want another child they need to have one relatively soon.

“I just can’t imagine being in the same scenario again with a young infant and Hayden and not having him here,” Becki said.