Tessie's Baptism

On July 3rd, at five days old, Mary-Therese Philomena was baptized at our parish. 

And because of a certain sibling the event was not without a mermaid incident.

I should have known as I navigated the center aisle, that something was amiss.  And knowing Maggie and the fact that she'd had two little mermaid dolls clasped in her hand as she approached the baptismal font... I should have known what the problem would be:

Thankfully the deacon was incredibly good natured about the whole situation as he fished out the mermaids.

Meanwhile I rushed over and changed Tessie out of her church clothes...

And into her baptismal gown.  I hadn't had time to quite finish sewing the last buttons on during the move, but with the help of a safety pin it worked.

Her Godparents were represented by proxies (and say a prayer for a special intention if you have a moment!):

Welcome to the Church, Mary-Therese Philomena! 

Sadie's First Communion

The day Sadie had been waiting for for so very long finally arrived.  

After years of dressing up and pretending and hoping a priest would mistake her three year old self for a seven year old:

It was finally time:

The siblings were somewhat less excited.  Especially Patch who informed Sadie, when she told him that today was her first communion, that it wasn't, that they were going to see her in a ballet instead.  Then he tried to convince me that he was "ready for Jesus!" by telling me that he was a half dozen times.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was Maggie.  She walked into the church and slide into our pew.  For the hour before the Mass started, while pictures were being taken, she sat almost still and was totally silent, and looked at her book.  I had a bit more wrangling to do once Mass started, because she became much more excited, but she still only made a few small happy sounds over the course of the Mass and didn't have to be taken out once.

Patch and James on the other hand were in fine form before Mass even started.  James was the first one to have to go out in the vestibule, because he was back-arching-screaming-furious that I would not let him attempt to lay siege to the altar.  Patch followed Sadie around for a while and then decided that he need to touch one of the candles that was lit around the perimeter of the church and he joined his brother and dad in watching through the glass doors.  

The Mass was beautiful!  Sadie was glowing when she came back to her seat!

After Mass we went over to the parish hall for the reception and I snapped this photo of James destroying a cupcake.  

After Mass we gave Sadie the option of doing whatever she wanted to do.  Her choice?  Steak tacos at Chipotle.

After that she asked if we could drive down and look at the house that's about half an hour from where we now live, that we'll be closing on next month (I know!  I know!  This deserves it's own post!).

As we were driving though things got a little dramatic and I ended up being rushed back to labor and delivery per doctor's orders after I suddenly started having contractions that were exactly two minutes apart, for more than an hour. And they hurt (this also deserves its own post!)!  

I'm home now, although things seem to be starting back up every time I sit or stand, or don't lay perfectly still on my back... so I'm not sure how this is going to work out.  I was really hoping that it was from overdoing and that after a night of laying down and drinking a ton of water I'd be okay to go back to every day life.  But at this point I'm a little nervous.

I even missed decorating the cupcakes and cake that I spent Friday baking!  Paul took over while I was at the hospital though, and the kids had more cupcakes after dropping me off.  

And that was our big first communion day! I'm so happy for Sadie!  She's waited so long for this!

Hurry, hurry, faster, faster.

For the last two Sundays as I've walked forward to receive communion I've heard a small voice just behind my right ear.

"Hurry, hurry, faster, faster, hurry, hurry.  No. Don't stop.  No, no, no.  Don't.  Faster.  I get Jesus.  I ready Jesus.  I get Jesus.  Hurry.  No stopping. Faster.  NO STOPPING!!!!  I ready for Jesus!!!  I ready.  Go, go, go."

I make gentle hushing sounds, and give thanks that his voice isn't too loud.  His Dad who was directly behind us couldn't hear him (I checked!).

This guy seems to following in the footsteps of his oldest sister, who at the age of three was also convinced that she was ready for her first communion:

Except his excitement might be even higher because he's heard all the talk about how a certain someone went in and had her first communion interview last week, and on Saturday is planning on making her first communion:

At least from his place in the carrier on my back he wasn't even close to swiping a Eucharist when he made his move the moment after I received.

When it's time to go, the next words I hear, without fail are "Bye, bye Jesus!!!  We go playground now?"

And I am silently thankful that he's not quite at stealthy at attempting to grab the edge of the chalice as Maggie was... because we had some close calls with her!

James Ignatius' Baptism

Today, at eight days old, James Ignatius was baptized.  I always feel so relieved once a baby has been baptized and today was no exception.  Actually to be honest I get more anxious to have each baby we've added to our family baptized as soon as possible... which means that while I was still in the hospital I was asking Paul to call our priest's secretary and make an appointment.  

We were also blessed to have amazing Godparents for this little guy.  Some of you may know Jacqueline from Journey Narrative (one of my favorite blogs!).  We first met Jacqueline and her husband Matt when we lived in Florida and while the hectic schedule of law school has meant that we haven't seen as much of them as we've wanted to since both of our families moved to the same area.  

They were the first people we thought of when we began talking about Godparents.  And it made my entire week when they accepted the responsibility of being James' Godparents (she's even more of a rock star because she had surgery this past week, got out of the hospital yesterday and was still here tonight with her beautiful family!)!

James was not the easiest going baby during his baptism.  In fact, he cried through almost the entire thing.  He paused twice in his wails, once when the water was poured over his head and then again when the chrism oil was applied to his head. Then he went back to letting everyone know that he had a healthy set of lungs and that he wanted to exercise them.

Patch was Patch.  Have I mentioned that he has a serious case of the "no, no, nos..." these days?  He does.  Which meant when the priest went through the baptismal vows he enthusiastically shouted his favorite word to every, single question.  As in "Do you promise to reject Satan..."

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!"

Mae. on the other hand, was so over the moon to actually be inside the main part of the church that she giggled through most of the baptism.  It definitely wasn't the quietest event ever held within those four walls.  Thankfully our priest is really great and started off by saying that they don't expect baptisms to be quiet!

And James' most definitely was not.

Now to share some of my favorite pictures from his big day!

Now to cuddle with my no-longer-pagan Snuggle Bunny!