Moments after birth

With Amanda, one of our midwives, who delivered Elliot

Happy happy mama

Tato and baby Elliot

All snuggled up.

Mama and new baby Elliot

Our best attempt to photograph ourselves (yeah, we should have asked the nurse but oh well...)

When Aaron came to see us at the birthing center, Ben and I put Elliot to greet Aaron. The pediatrician was with Elliot, and when Aaron saw the doctor and the baby he ran straight to them. He was fascinated right away with his little bro. Here you can see his first gentle touches.

Uncle Ben holding Elliot at the birthing center. Ben stayed with Aaron the night of the birth, then brought Aaron down in the morning so they could both meet Elliot.

Aaron getting ready to hold his "lil baby" for the first time

With a kiss for his little bro

More kisses

Family Pictures

Hugs for Elliot

Peters family, plus midwife Laura (on left) and nurse Laurie

In front of the window in our room


Needless to say, this is the beginning (or end, depending on how you look at it) of the pictures of our newest arrival, Elliot James Lambert Peters. Elliot was born on October 21, 2006 at the birthing center. He was nine pounds one ounce, measured to be 20.5 inches long (although we think that may have been a mistake because about two weeks later he was definitely at least 23.25 inches long. Either he grew a lot or his first measurement was wrong). The labor and delivery were wonderful, meeting and exceeding all our hopes and dreams. Aaron stayed home and partied with Uncle Ben while Kourtney and Ben were at the hospital. Uncle Ben and Aaron came to the hospital about twelve hours after Elliot was born and took us home soon after. For the long period of at-home labor, Aaron was extremely accommodating and understanding and only jumped on mom during a contraction once. He very quickly learned that when mommy's eyes were closed, she was working hard to help the baby and needed to be left alone. Although we decided not to have him there for the actual birth, it was nice for him to be a part of the birthing process in other ways. Aaron has been a real hero through all of this, welcoming and loving his little brother (at all stages) without hesitation.

Elliot is a great baby. Besides being incredibly cute, he is generally happy and not fussy. He falls asleep easily and on his own, sleeps well, and is already a veteran nurser. We are so happy to have him in our family.

Aaron and Grandma Marsha (On our way from Utah to New York at the end of August, we stopped in Iowa to be with the Peterses there. Here are a bunch of shots taken (mostly) by Marsha during that trip.)

Attacking Grandpa John with socks

Returning the attack

Uncle Daniel tackle! (He got to be good tackling buddies with Daniel this trip.)

One more time, okay?

Hiding in the big bin-o-balls at the store

Tackling mama and tato on the grass

Playing on a giant bouncy ball in the backyard

Bonk

Pretending to be a baby (with an outfit for our little baby on)

Just a little bit too small

We made cookies for a bunch of guests coming over that night. Aaron, as always, was a very willing helper. Here he is cracking the eggs (which he did perfectly, with no shells!)

Scooping out the soda

Mixing with Grandma Marsha

Pretending ("tootemding") to take the cookies out of the oven

Transferring the cookies to cool off

Tasting. Aaron is very good at sticking to the number of tastes I tell him he can have, and takes great joy in each taste.

When the guests came over, Aaron had a blast. He danced all around, covering as much ground as possible and making lots of noise. He loved it. The next night he asked, "friends come over again?"

Aaron playing the stand-up-with-your-hands-behind-your-back game with grandpa and tato. John said he didn't want to do it because of his back and Aaron looked at him ever so sweetly and said, "How 'bout try?" John, as you can see, couldn't resist.

Aaron joining in a mama-tato attempt

And crash

Sharing a popsicle, as is typical between these two

Mine!

John, Ben, and Daniel forming a nap party

Aaron attempting to join the nap club (which lasted about two seconds)

Marsha, Aaron and I went to watch John, Ben, and Daniel play frisbee. Here are some good shots of Aaron (and Marsha's left foot) on the sidelines.