It's a Baby Shower!

The second big party that we've thrown in our house is now done, and I will say that it was quite a success. There were (miraculously) no kitchen disasters, there was plenty of food and it tasted great (and the desserts, as you will see, were unbelievably amazing, thanks to Mrs. Hart and Vicki, who are my new idols), the children stayed amused, everyone got along and mingled well, and Chris and Chris got some wonderful gifts for their little bun in the oven. Doug and I throw a good party, if I do say so myself. Maybe we'll be the Massachusetts version of my sister and brother-in-law, throwing great parties for all occasions. Because really, it's a lot of fun to have everyone together, having a good time, and while it does take work to make sure that the house is in order, everyone has what they need and want, and that the food is all ready and edible, the payoff is definitely worth it. I'll have to tell Doug that we should throw parties more often.

We weren't able to take too many pictures of the event, as I spent a lot of the first part in the kitchen, and Doug was busy making sure there were enough beverages, making sure the parking situation on our little tiny street was working out (apparently our old neighbors across the street, the very ones that busted down our fence, had an issue with us parking a car in front of their house. Didn't want us to get too close to their walkway lest the car possibly touch it. Yes, these are the folks that drove into our fence. Yes, it took a lot of effort not to get very snippy at them.), and making sure the cats were accounted for and not getting themselves into trouble. We do have some of the fun on film, though.

Here are Emily, Alastair (who is such an adorable little boy!), and Marieke enjoying cookbooks and Monet. Alastair is a culture-fiend for sure.

This one's a snapshot of the food table with much of the food eaten, which is a good thing. What is a bad thing is that nothing was totally finished, and that no one took leftovers. Now our fridge is filled to the brim with all the leftovers and Doug and I just don't have the room in our stomachs to eat all of this good stuff before it goes bad.

Now here are a couple of good ones - the look on girl Chris's face as she sees the sneaker-socks is, in the words of MasterCard, priceless. The socks really were very cute. And now baby girl chris has a set of more formal socks with her mary-jane socks, but can go totally casual in her sneaker-socks. She's set. She's also set, or almost set, with bibs. The second photo is one of Chris opening the bibs that I made for the baby. Yes, this is the craft project I've been trying to covertly blog about for the past month or so. I have photos of the process of making these bibs, so I'll do a blog on that in the future, but the great thing is that the bibs went over well. They liked them! I am very pleased.

This next photo is of the parents-to-be cutting their baby cake.Now, do you see this cake? I mean, look at it. It's a work of art! Mrs. Hart really out-does herself with these cakes. She also made the cookies from scratch. And Vicki made these delicious cupcakes with a slightly citrus-y frosting (homemade, of course) that are on the right in the photo. I had three. They were that good. Seriously, these women are my new baking heroes. I want to be them and know their secrets.

And now here's my favorite photo - a belly shot of the mom-to-be. Isn't she lovely? There is a little baby girl in there, getting very ready to be born. Chris said about seven to eight weeks left. Wow! That's exciting indeed.

What was also exciting, for Doug at least, was having an audience for his new toy, his ukulele.Everyone has a "thing" they do at parties to make it more comfortable. Some people drink wine. Some people hold something, like a drink glass, so that they don't have to seem like they're standing around with their hands in their pockets. Some people get really talkative and animated. And some people play ukuleles. It was nice to have a musical element to the day, and the uke was fitting, seeing how it's a tiny instrument with a tiny sound on a day that we're celebrating a tiny new life.

The cats survived the shower/party. They survived the people, the noise, the disruption. They're back to their old selves, just like me and Doug. Once the dishes were put away and the floors vacuumed and cleaned, life was back to normal. That's a bit of a downer, though - it was fun having company, and it was great to see everyone. I'll just have to take a lesson from Wyatt - find a sun spot and relax.

Hopefully there won't be a kitchen disaster.

I took this quiz on Facebook the other day - the "What type of person are you?" quiz. My result: #5, The Observer. Not sure what the first four are, or now many types of people there are, or even how the types are ranked, but that was my result. This description follows the result:

Observers want knowledge and they're introverted, inquisitive, understandable and analytical. It's hard for them to handle their feelings, they rather use their head than... their heart. Other people can find them cool, distant, bussinesslike and non-emotional. Actually they are very sensitive, but it's just difficult to express it. They like to be alone to process their emotions. Observers don't like it when others dominate them. RELATIONSHIPS: You know you cover yourself from the world and you long for contact. You're afraid to open up. You feel attracted to people who give you space, then you can give and take. You choose friends with the same interests. FIXATION: stinginess VICE: greed VIRTUE: detachment PROFESSIONS: scientist, investigator, inspector, librarian, monk, ...

I like some elements of this description, since I think they're spot-on. The parts about wanting knowledge, being analytical, preferring to use my head rather than my heart, and the part about being quite sensitive. Not sure I get the part about the fixation - is that my fixation? In what way am I fixated on stinginess? On my own stinginess? That of other people?? I'm confused. As usual, these Facebook quizes seem so intriguing, so worthwhile, but in the end I'm left scratching my head and wondering how I could have better spent the two minutes it took for me to take the quiz. But at least I know now that I'm The Observer. I feel so enlightened.

And, because I don't really have that much else to say (I haven't really been reading much, haven't been doing any more sewing, haven't been watching much TV, and haven't been in communication with much of the outside world in a while), I'll give a run-down of the menu I've planned for the Chris' baby party/shower this Saturday. I'm quite excited about the food. A bit bummed I'm not handling the desserts, since I love to bake more than I like to cook, but I'm pleased (but slightly intimidated by the responsibility) that I can control what we eat. I've tried to be considerate of what other people might want, but for the most part I think I've stuck to my favorite food ingredient - carbohydrates. You really can't go wrong with carbs!

* Good old chips & salsa
* Three Bean Salad with Red Pepper and Onion
* Fruit salad
* Pear, Pecan & Baby Greens Salad
* Homemade pizza squares
* Cheese tortellini with roasted cauliflower, spinach, and vodka sauce

And, of course, plenty of desserts, and I can only imagine how tasty those are going to be. The Hart women really know how to bake.

So, that's the menu so far. Don't worry, though - we live close enough to a Comella's that if a disaster happens in the kitchen (and I am totally prepared for that to happen) we will have wonderful back-up.

Weddings and babies.

I've entered the age, and I suppose have been in it for a while now, where just about everyone I know is either getting married or having babies. Last weekend I went to the lovely bridal shower for my cousin's fiancée, Katie. Nate and Katie are getting married in a few weekends from now. I really couldn't be happier for them, as I think they are a great match. She's a lover of the outdoors, which is important for a man whose favorite season is winter (and he actually likes to be outside in the winter, not wrapped in a few layers of wool under a down comforter in front of a roaring fire, like me), she's athletic, and she's caring and kind. All things that one would want in one's spouse. I wish Nate and Katie nothing but the best, and I greatly look forward to their wedding, which is on the Cape, where I haven't been in years and years. Here's a photo of the bride-to-be at her shower:

Katie didn't break any ribbons when opening her gifts, which I guess means she's not having any kids. Right! My cousin Nate and his brothers and sister are made for having children because they'd all be great parents. And those who have children so far are great parents, and have wonderful children. It's unfortunate that I don't get to see those kids as much as I would like. But soon there will be a new addition, making Nate an uncle again. I mentioned this before, but my cousin Amy and her husband Mike are expecting a baby in March. Apparently around March 21, which means that there's a chance it could be born very near - or even on - my birthday. March is a good month to be born. Both my mother and I have March birthdays. We're a strong bunch, we March babies. It's a windy and generally chilly month, so we build up tolerance at a young age to adversity. Anyway, we saw Amy at the shower for the first time since she announced her pregnancy, and this allowed everyone the chance to give her all the advice on pregnancy, births, babies, childhood that she should possibly want, but in person. I'm sure she was overwhelmed by it all. My sister, though, having had three children not too long ago, certainly wanted to impart some of her learned wisdom to her cousin. I snapped a photo of the moment of sharing:

For me and Doug, though, our wedding is over and so I guess we're looking at babies now, but neither of us can bring ourself to say without hesitation that we want a child. I mean, how can one really know that a) one wants one, and b) one is ready for one? I can't wrap my head around the fact that a baby is not just a baby. Because certainly I like babies as much as the next girl, but for me my concern is the part about the baby growing up. Turning into an adolescent, a teen, and then an adult. There's so much that could go wrong with raising a child. I can barely handle my cats - how can I handle a human life? Definitely I'm not quite ready yet to tell Doug without reservation that I'm ready for kids, and he's fine with that. Allows him to focus more of his time on his goals and his hobbies. We like goals and hobbies a bit too much at this point to add a child into the mix, but we certainly salute and are excited for those who are ready for it (and look forward to babysitting, playing with the babies, and then giving them back to the parents when done).

Speaking of those who are ready for it, we are hosting a party/shower for our friends Chris and Chris in just three weekends. I'm really excited about it - Doug and I love having people over to the house (the more the merrier), and at this party we'll be bringing together people we haven't seen in a long time. And people we've never even met, like our friends Mike and Emily's baby boy. Doug and I do have to sit down and create a menu for this party (thankfully I won't be cooking the desserts, so they'll actually be presentable, but I am wondering if I should give up on cooking the food, too, and just leave it in the hands of prepared foods from the grocery store, or maybe take-out. We do have a wonderfully large - and I'm talking big and fancy - Whole Foods right near us now. Doug and I went there the night after it opened this past Thursday and had a blast looking at all the products that aren't in the smaller stores. Plus, the place was so neat (literally)! Each aisle was wide and long and all the goods were faced so neatly. Check out the juices behind Doug in this photo:Talk about everything being in its right place - this was a dream come true for me.), but we also have to decide if we are going to lock the kitties away in one of the rooms so that they don't bother the guests. Hard to believe that something so cute and fuzzy could be a nuisance, but some people don't like cats, or are allergic. Then again, the guests of honor have two cats of their own and adore cats (and also like our cats and don't get to see them often), so we're on the fence on this one.

But we don't have to make a decision just yet. In this particular moment, all we really have to do is finish packing up our stuff, get in the car, and make the trek up to my uncle's house in New Hampshire for the long weekend. A little kayaking, a little loon sighting, perhaps even a climb up Mt. Cardigan... this is what needs to occupy our minds right now. Relaxing awaits!