Matthew and Genna, friends of ours from church, invited us over for dinner.  I was a little wary that Anna would make the evening very difficult, but our hosts live so close that we may have walked if it didn’t involve crossing a major road, plus they have two young children and therefore remember what having a newborn is like.  Besides, people don’t live in Princeton for long on average, so if a screaming child harms your relationship, odds are good they’ll move away soon, right?

We had a delightful time.  Our hosts agreed to a flexible arrival time so Anna was awake but not nursing. Anna recovered quickly from the trauma that is riding in a car that has the nerve to stop at stop signs and red lights. She was content when Abby, 8, presented Anna with a beautiful painting she had made just for her that day.  Abby became the youngest person to hold Anna yet.  Genna, Abby, and I chatted in the kitchen (and I do mean to include Abby, who kept up with the grown-ups conversations the entire evening with a maturity beyond her years) while Matthew and John toured the backyard and tended the grill.  Classic.

We got to be a part of the inaugural meal on their gorgeous new table.  Like us, their taste is for fine, solid wood furniture, and like us, they would rather watch used listings for weeks (or months) than pay full price. Matthew had picked it up that day along with chairs and a beautiful sideboard. This was one of several commonalities that fueled the evening’s conversation.

And so Anna nursed or slept contentedly in my lap while we enjoyed good food and good company. Abby taught us how to recognize mint plants (they have square stems), and told us about her painting and violin. Noah, 3, regaled us with the story of Jesus calming the storm. Later, Anna began to cry, so Noah rushed off to his room to retrieve his blankie to comfort her. When his mom explained that Anna was hungry, he offered to get her some food from the kitchen. What I had feared would be stressful was laid back and comfortable. Just another step towards rejoining the outside world as a family of three.

P.S. In some ways, text posts are harder than photo posts, as the majority of this was hunt-and-pecked with one hand while nursing. Just keep that in mind when you get e-mails from me that are rather short these days; it’s nothing personal.