Family,

First, I'm sorry it's taken a few days to get some news/pictures out of Baby Marshall's arrival. It's been a whirlwind for the past 48 hours and I feel bad that I haven't gotten to everybody (Lauren and Cara I thought I had your numbers on my cell phone but I didn't, sorry).

Marshall James Walker was born at 12:50 AM on Sept, 18th at Carilion Hospital in Christiansburg, VA. He was 7lbs/11 oz and 21 inches long. I went into labor at about 6:15 pm on Wed, Sept, 17th. My contractions started off much stronger than when I had Grace so by about 6:45 I knew we needed to head to the hospital. We dropped Grace off at some friends (she was excited about sleeping over) and arrived at the hospital at about 7:15. Carl was with me from start to finish and was a great support during labor.

Marshall is so tiny. We've forgotten how small newborn's are. Of course he has been sleeping a lot which is fine with us. Carl and I are getting back into the 24 hour world of newborns. We are exhauseted but happy.

I'm doing well and trying to take things slow while I recover. Grace is excited about a new baby but also adapting to her new role as big sister. She has mixed feelings about this new change as well as starting her new pre-school program. This month has been difficult for our nearly four year old daughter but I know she will be doing fine in no time.

On top of all the excitement we've adopted another dog, Smokey. He's a shep/lab mix. As you may remember we had to take Cooper back to the pound after he bit Grace. Smokey has a lot of energy and is a bit goofy but he's been very good with both Grace and Ginger.

We miss you all. I was telling Carl it feels weird that no one from our family has met Marshall yet. I hope it won't be too long. FYI Carl and I are planning on coming to NY for Thanksgiving so hopefully we'll see some of you then.

Amber