Baptism of Margaret Anne

For days, John has been excited about Margaret's upcoming baptism . . . except that he kept confusing "being baptized" with "being born," so he'd say, "Margaret is going to be born in a few days!" Of course, there is some theological truth to his error, which made it all the sweeter. On the morning of the baptism, we showed the kids photos from John's and Mary's baptisms. The children's godmother helped me dress Margaret.

The baptism begins in the narthex

We process into the church

Father had a talk with our young man about praying for his littlest sister.

Father consecrated Margaret to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Like the baptism, the Churching of Women also begins in the narthex and proceeds into the church.

My mama's heart felt so good and light knowing that my newest blessing is now baptized!

Our family with the grandparents and the godparents

This hand-decorated onesie was one of Margaret's many precious gifts. Really, I was overwhelmed at the thoughtfulness put into the gifts she received.

It took three baptisms for me to figure out how to have a lovely baptismal reception: ask somebody else to do it for me! When John was baptized, I was so stressed out with new motherhood that it never even occurred to me to plan any kind of reception. A thoughtful and understanding lady at our parish showed up with a cake and set up a little reception for us. Then when Mary was baptized, I knew to organize a reception and did it myself--which was stressful for a mama three weeks postpartum trying to manage a little baby who needed to nurse frequently. This time Chris had the (I admit it now) brilliant idea to ask a particular young lady at our parish who has a real knack for this kind of hostessing to do it for us. She was gracious, she did a fabulous job, I was completely relaxed, and I'll be giving her some sewing lessons in return for her work.

I took this photo principally to show Mary's shoes beneath the table (although it is also nice to see the lovely table). Mary takes off her shoes everywhere all day long!

Hugs and kisses back at the house

At the end of our long day, we went out to dinner with Grandmom and Pop-Pops.