Elie is 1 week old

We celebrated little Elie's one week birthday by playing the Beatles Birthday song & dancing & singing to her, all of which she soundly slept through! We took video of it though, so that we can show it to her on her 18th Birthday.
She pretty much has this "sleeping through the day" down pat, it's the sleeping during the night that she hasn't gotten the hang of yet. Neither has her momma.

It has been an unusually warm, sunny (no snow yet!) September here in the mountains, and we took advantage of it by taking pictures on the deck.

Eric and my folks have been steadily working on finishing the new kitchen in our house. Currently they have been putting together the backsplash. Here is a photo of how they are laying out the slate tile pieces after Eric cuts them.

We are thankful to all for your thoughts, gifts and help throughout this new period of our lives!

Baby Graves is here!!!!

Her water broke at 8am yesterday (9/18), as Laura was rolling over in bed. The contractions started 15 minutes later. By 12 they were only 3-5 minutes apart, and we were getting a little antsy since we live 45 minutes from the hospital, but we still had some guys coming over to correct the new kitchen counters that weren't installed entirely correctly. Laura wouldn't let me cancel them. They showed up, I told them to move quickly and they did. By 2:00 we were on our way to the hospital. At 3:00 the contractions started getting really strong, and four hard and fast drug-free hours later, little Elie arrived. Truly amazing. Laura did great.

Here's all the detailed statistics....

Eliea Kylyn Graves

(Elie for short)

Born 9/18/08 @ 7:18 pm

18.6 inches long

5 lbs 15 ozs

(long and skinny, just like her pa)

blond hair and dark brown eyes
with a birthmark on her head over her left ear (also like her pa who has one over his right ear)

And truly beautiful.

Thanks for all of your prayers and love.

Can't wait to introduce her to you.

E & L & el