Birthday flashback

Some photos from Mary Lawton's big party on February 20 . . . only 2.5 months late.
It was a perfect day. (Thanks, Andrew and Gail, for the wonderful pictures!)

Shower!

My aunt and uncle, Jan and Bruce, hosted a fabulous family brunch for Val on January 17, and she was really showered with gifts! This is one very lucky girl already. She received her infant and older girl carseats, plush hooded towels, gorgeous clothes, a monitor which we'll probably use until she moves out of the house, a Boppy, a fully-stocked diaper bag, and so much more amazing stuff that I wondered whether we'd find space for it all. We did.

Our hosts were so gracious that they went ahead with the party even though a pipe froze and burst in their breakfast room ceiling and the ceiling drywall collapsed the night before the shower. I was impressed.

Thank you so much to our fab family! Thanks for traveling to see us and celebrating with us. Someone took a few photos. If I track them down, I'll post them.

Parties!

Over the weekend Val was feted with 2 parties. The first was hosted by my lovely friend Julia and was attended by a bunch of library folk. We had a great time, the food was divine, Julia did not make us play any games, and Val received many wonderful gifts (but very few books, which was surprising). Here are a few photos I took, and I think Sara might be giving me some more.

Caption for all: Ladies pretending they are not getting their photos taken.

On Sunday our friends Carol and Frazier hosted an intimate gathering. Again, we had a great time, received overly generous gifts, and Carol, as usual, provided enough food to feed the city--but there were only 7 of us. Carol did make us play a game, Baby Shower, which involves shooting tiny babies at a target. In the end, the real competition consisted of finding the tiny babies after shooting them. Cal won the grand prize: a beautiful lava lamp night light. I think she was the only person to actually hit the target.

Sweet LJ readies his weapon.

The ladies

Tucker invited Coqui to the party.

Carol leans in for the shot.

Cal has to load the baby shooter for Carol.

Carol's shot is high.

The glowing parents-to-be

Happy birthday, Lilly!

We had a wonderful time at your party and look forward to many more celebrations with you!

Pink and Blue Party!

We've been sitting on Val's sex information for 2 weeks (!!!), because we decided to host a pink and blue party to make the big announcement. Guests were asked to wear pink if they thought we were having a girl, and blue if they thought we were having a boy. Here's the breakdown:

Grandpa: pink shirt and blue jeans. He couldn't decide.

Biffy: pink, but also non-committal

Nell: blue

Gail: pink

Coqui: pink and blue

No photos of--
Jan: blue
Bruce: blue
Andrew: blue
Sweet LJ: pink and blue stripes, but only because he didn't have a pink shirt
Me: ivory. I didn't feel like buying pink or blue.

Coqui finally took off one of his bandanas, and Sweet LJ made the big announcement.

It's a girl!

So, readers and friends out there, only Sweet LJ, Anne Wimberly, and Robert guessed correctly.

Jan and Bruce brought Val a sock monkey, which she will love, and guests were treated to bags of pink candy (not easy to find this time of year).

We feel so blessed to have a sweet girl on the way (but we would have felt blessed either way, of course!) This baby is already so loved that I cry just thinking about her sometimes.