A New Nephew & A Handsome Husband

We got the greatest baby present for our little boy last week... a best cousin! Just what he wanted. Abraham Craig Marshall joined the family on 24 June at a lovely 8 lbs. 15 oz. Happy parents pictured here:
Here are the proud uncle/aunt/unborn cousin/dad:
For cuter close-ups of little Abe, see the AAa Team's blog. We are so proud of Ariel, who weathered the entire long labor and birth without pain medication. This is what I'm hoping to do, and she has beautifully paved the way. And we are also proud of Andrew, who stuck with her through the whole incredible experience as her partner and needed support. I feel so lucky to have Keenan by my side. He has full confidence in me and shares my ideals about how a birth can be. He has prepared with me and in doing so has gained my complete trust as "labor coach." I bet he could smoothly deliver this baby in a car if necessary...and breech! :) With regard to the decision to birth "naturally," we of course realize that the unforeseen does arise, and we are prepared to have some decisions to make in the moment as necessary. But as to where we are right now, I feel we have prepared well together for this exciting event!

Keenan has also been a pregnant wife's Super Husband. He has supported me in all my endeavors, made me meal after meal, cleaned the apartment, made phone calls I haven't had time to make, stewed over upcoming decisions so I don't have to, routinely rubbed my feet and back, taken and enjoyed a fantastic childbirth class with me, and taken much better care of me and baby than I could by myself. See, here he is feeding me liver for my first time...
We are fast approaching our two-year anniversary, and I couldn't be happier. I hope my little boy turns out just like Keenan.

Baby Dalton

Could this not be my baby? (This is 6-week-old Dalton, our first cousin once removed on Keenan's side...) I don't know if my baby will have red hair, seeing as Andrew, Meredith, and I are the only red heads in our whole huge extended family. I think there's actually more red on Keenan's side, so we'll see what happens. In the end, I definitely don't want to have a family full of redheads (heaven forbid), but I could take a child or two as cute as this one!

Spectacular, Superlative, Sublime.

Keenan had never been to Yellowstone.
So we took a trip, anticipating flowers and sunshine.
And grizzlies.
The first night, we built a fire in the rain/snow, using a thousand matches.
The second night, we built a fire using no matches at all, nor lighter fluid of any sort.
The food was spectacular.
The company superlative. (Amanda not pictured here.)
The scenery sublime. Fortunately, the cold did not penetrate the entire landscape.


For a better narrative, see Adam's blog. Thanks to all those who braved the journey! This was a great memory.