Maggie arrived today!

It has been a very happy day today for our family! Andrea and Craig welcomed a new baby girl into the family. She is absolutely adorable. Her name is Marguerite, or Maggie for short. (My middle name is Marguerite, and I am quite proud and pleased to have such a special connection to my new niece. )

I was very lucky to have been in the hospital when she was born, and so I got to meet her when she was less than a half an hour old. She weighs only 5 pounds, 13 ounces, which is really quite small. Very very small. She is perfect and completely adorable. Big blue eyes.

Andrea is doing very well. I spoke to her again this evening over the phone and she sounded in great spirits. She's floating on cloud nine.

I am also very proud to report that I was the first to change little Maggie's diaper, which was a messy, sticky treat. (Actually it wasn't technically a diaper change, since she wasn't even wearing a diaper, she was that new. So I cleaned her up and put on her very first diaper. The first diaper of a nearly continuous string for 3 or so years...!) Those tiny little arms and legs were flailing about, and she didn't like it one bit. Those newborn diapers are sure tiny. And believe it or not, it seemed big on little Maggie. How quickly we know she will grow.

I feel very privileged to be part of this special day for Maggie, Andrea and Craig. Congratulations to them, and a very warm welcome to Maggie!

Those goofs!

It must be a sign of a good marriage when you can pick each other's teeth!

Dinner party for Andrea and Craig

Once again I find myself a bit behind in my blogging. Two weeks ago, on Sunday May 4th, we threw a dinner party for Andrea and Craig, in honor of the upcoming arrival of baby #3, Maggie. If I do say so myself, it was a huge success! I know I had fun, at least!

Here are Andrea and Craig, our honorees:

I cleared out the living room so that I could fit two big round rented tables for dinner. I had the party catered, my first experiment with catering (it was heavenly!) Here we are at dinner:

Our special project during the evening was to compile a special Book of Wishes for Maggie. Each guest selected something they wanted to give Maggie (mine was Common Sense, as an example), and wrote up a little card with an explanation. Jeff took portraits of each of the guests which I will include next to their wish in a special book. In a future post I'll put a few of the portraits of our illustrious guests.