More visitors

Dad and Dewey braved the winter conditions to meet Abel this weekend. And, they arrived just in time to help us cope with Abels' first bout of gas! Not the most exciting event ever but Ian and I were grateful for the help and advice! You wouldn't know it from these pictures but it was a long weekend!

Thanks Dad and Dewey for visiting and giving us a hand!

Sunshine and Vitamin D

We decided Abel was ready to venture outside for some fresh air and Vitamin D! He loved it. We think. The fall colors in the backyard are amazing right now and it felt so good to be out of the house, even though it was a pretty short (and slow) jaunt in the backyard. Ken and Mona were here so we got to take a few "family" photos as well.

Abel Frederick Rae

Abel made his way into the world on Halloween night, in the midst of stormy Bellingham weather. As many people know we had planned a home birth but Abel had other plans. After laboring overnight at home we transferred to St. Joe's, where eventually we delivered Abel via cesarean section at 5pm.

We stayed at the hospital until Tuesday night when we finally got to come home and Abel met all of the critters! Francis has been edged out of the bed and isn't impressed, Angus seems pretty oblivious and Maddie is very interested in Abel and seems to know he will be dropping food on the floor soon and that she should stay close!

We would like to thank all of our friends and family that have feed us, walked Maddie, cleaned the house and in general made us feel loved and supported. While we were well cared for and had amazing nurses at the hospital it was great to come home to delicious homemade dinners after too many hospital meals. We feel incredibly lucky to be surrounded by so many amazing people.

We can't wait for everyone to meet Abel! We're sure you'll adore him as much as we already do.

Our First Anniversary

When we got married we thought we should start an annual tradition of visiting a new wilderness area for every anniversary. Our honeymoon hike was in the Glacier Wilderness Area, were amazingly neither of us had ever hiked, however this year it didn't happen! Finding a new wilderness area that was easily accessible and a reasonable drive from Bellingham just fell off of our to do list and we both realized it wasn't going to happen.
So, we settled on a less ambitious vacation, deciding to stay in Mazama for a long weekend. We stayed in one of the Rendezvous Huts. It was great. It rained most of the weekend so we didn't feel like we had to be outside all weekend. We played board games, cards, read, hung out, stopped in Mazama for pastries, coffee and delicious local fruit, and meet Dad and DuAnn for dinner in Twisp (and a handoff that includes chainsaws, baby strollers, cloth diapers and lumber!).

I have to admit, we did squeeze in one short hike, to Cutthroat Lake. It was the perfect 8 month pregnant lady hike! The hike was easy, beautiful and it was cool out. And, Maddie got to run off some of her crazy puppy energy!

I do hope that next year, and every year after, we manage to find new wilderness areas to wander, but this year staying in a cabin in Mazama, watching the rain and taking a leisurely stroll to a beautiful lake was really the perfect thing.