This afternoon we took Josie to a funky small-child event called Baby Loves Disco. It’s basically a party for small kids and babies in a real night club on a Sunday afternoon with DJs and real drinks for the parents. It was pretty overwhelming for small children but it seems like everyone had a good time. We went with a real big group of CMU alumni and their kids, and Craig and Alyssa who came to watch the rest of us make fools of ourselves so far as I can tell. Josie wanted to chase the lights around the dance floor but they moved much too fast for her. She also loves her new egg maraca that we picked up there. I also got my eyebrows waxed and Jordi got a massage (they have people peddling free samples of their wares at the party). It was pretty dark on the dance floor so we don’t have many good pictures. It really wore Josie out though which was great.

Last weekend we also went into town to the feast of Saint Anthony in the north end. It is a big street fair with music and tons of vendors and is an excuse for the normal restaurants to jack up their prices even higher. Our friends Craig and Alyssa live down there and they graciously hosted us for the afternoon as we popped in and out of the heat and crowds. We walked around and found probably the only non-Italian food (although I don’t suppose fried dough is Italian either) and ate cachapas and plantains. Later we had yummy aronchini (rice balls with spinach and cheese) and canollis.

It was also out first attempt at a stroller-less outing. We had one baby carrier, and one diaper bag, and we did it all on the subway and bus by handing her and the bag back and forth and using the carrier. It was very successful actually and I did not envy those people trying to push strollers through the mobbed streets of the north end. It almost felt like before we had Josie because we weren’t lugging huge amounts of paraphernalia with us!

Our friends Wing and Jen came to visit in early July when Josie was just over 3 months old. He’s got one major camera and took these gorgeous photos!

This 4th of July we went to a lovely BBQ at our friends Lee and Lynn’s house. We had a great time although somehow we didn’t take too many pictures, maybe some others did and will send them to us (hint, hint). Our friend Jen enjoyed spending a lot of time holding the babies over the day though.

This past Saturday we had our first post-baby party with a bunch of CMU friends. This group has reproduced at planet-repopulating rates in the last year and so we had quite a few babies in attendance. It was crazy hot this weekend and so we bought a little kiddie pool for the babies and they had their first swim! Fun was not had by all, Ryan was the only one who seemed to really enjoy it so far. The water was chilly compared to a nice warm bath, so maybe next year it will be a bigger hit!

In February, our friend Susan was kind enough to throw me a baby shower and friends and family were gracious enough to show up! We are exceedingly well stocked now for this babies arrival from furniture to clothes to diapers to books. Jordi’s Mom and Jen’s Aunt even made the long distance trips to attend. Thank you everyone for the thoughtful gifts! Here are some pictures that I am long delinquent in posting.

Jordi’s Mom Tere, Jen’s Aunt Sheila and Carolyn

Jen, Jen’s Mom Karen, Cousin Janet, Bonnie

Susan, Rhonda and Jen

Rhonda, Alyssa, Stef with Xander, Cate, Saru with Ryan

Yesterday I had an enjoyable afternoon at our friend Rachel’s baby shower. A huge percentage of our married friends have had children this year which means there were a bunch of new babies to meet! We ate, played a few games, and opened gifts. Here are some cute photos from the day:

Sharona and Lilia

Ryan (Saru and Justin’s Son)

Deb holding Jace (who unfortunately was feeling a little under the weather)