Baby blue

It's already old news to most of you, but baby No. 2 is a boy! The ultrasound appointment was Monday at 9 a.m. and we had to keep it a secret -- except from immediate family and two very persuasive "relatives" who shall remain nameless -- until that night's Pink or Blue Party.

I'd like to offer a blanket apology to everyone whose calls and texts I screened before the party. Not only did I not want the news to get out, but we had a late-afternoon house showing, so I spent the last hour or so before the party scrambling to decorate, cut up fruit, etc. At least the showing meant the house was already clean!

This was our second consecutive year throwing a party the night of the gender revelation, but I ran the numbers and it's very unlikely we'll have another such event until at least 2012.

The party was a lot of fun. We kept it simple with dozens of hot dogs, dozens of blue cupcakes -- courtesy of Carrie, whose hands still show traces of blue food coloring -- a dozen bags of chips and one big fruit salad. And, most importantly, dozens of people we love. We mixed groups of friends (locals only), which can be treacherous but I love to do. A lot of people wore either pink or blue, depending on their guess, and it was fun to see everyone's reaction as they walked in and saw blue balloons everywhere.

The only thing that threatened to put a damper on the night was when the neighbors called the police to complain about the parking situation. There is very limited parking on our tiny culdesac, that's just how it is, but people squeezed into our yard and the center of the culdesac circle and didn't encroach on anyone else's property. The police basically rolled their eyes and apologized for bothering us and said they told the neighbors no one was parked where they couldn't be parked. They were really nice about it. Lame, neighbors!

Two other funny things from the party: The other neighbors' sprinklers came on and drenched a convertible whose top had been left down (thank you for being such a good sport, Bill!), and Josh found a handwritten note decrying the evils of alcohol inside his six-pack. We probably were not the audience the author had in mind, since at least half of the people at the party belong to our Bible study.

Anyway, it was a great night with so many of our favorite people around. Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate!