Friends like family

Our really close friends, soon-to-be Julia's Godparents (!), came to visit last weekend. In all the craziness of having Julia, taking her out places, and introducing her to family, I'd forgotten how wonderful it was to see really close friends: friends who have been through everything with us, friends who love us (and who we love) unequivocally. We were so excited to see them, and I even kept Julia up until 11 p.m. so that they could see her in her sweet little swaddle. Lucky for me and my fashion preferences (remember I'm really into matching), her godmother and her were wearing similar shades of green, so I got to take this sweet picture:

One of the most pleasant parts of the weekend was seeing my little Goddaughter, who is now 3 years old (I can't believe it!). I love watching her and her mother interact; there is so much warmth, so much love there. I only hope I can have this type of relationship with Julia when she grows a little older. So apologies to all who didn't want their pajama pictures on the interweb, but I just love this shot:

I always wondered how a 3-year-old would relate to a baby, and now I have my answer: with intense curiosity! She asked me so many questions: "Why is baby Julia crying?" "Why is she holding her head like that?" "What is she eating?" And far and away my favorite: "where is she eating the milk from?" Now how exactly do I answer that?? Luckily, the answer seemed to appropriately confound her and stopped this uncomfortable line of questioning. She decided that she is Julia's big sister, which, in some ways, she is. We only plan to have one child, and it comforts us that Julia will have so many friends and relatives she can call family. Here's a some sweet shot of the two of them:



















We also had another first this weekend. We had taken Julia to a restaurant and for walks in a stroller, but this was our first time at the local playground. At first, the adults played on the swings:

...and Julia was very sad not to join in the festivities.

What, we wondered, could we do with a 7-week-old? Thankfully, there was a little slide, and Ben, much more brave in such matters than I, suggested taking Julia down. Of course, I had all sorts of premonitions of her wobbly head and the wobbly slide, but I finally caved in, and she loved it!

 By the time I went down with her, she was sticking out her tongue to get the full effect, which reminded me of a doggie in the car, which of course prompted our thought that Puck should not miss out on all of this fun.

See that look? That is the look of sheer and utter fear. But we like to think that he enjoyed being included, and that the slide was somewhat fun for him. Unfortunately, our good friends had to leave, but we will see them soon when we go up to Chapel Hill for Julia's big party! It's just really great to know that, no matter how far apart we are, no matter how busy we get, our good friends have our backs.  Truly, they are the family we choose for ourselves.