Blessings

Usually, with the exception of acknowleding someone's sneeze, I do not use words like "blessed", or "blessings". It's hard to avoid in the context of your child's baptism, though.

So, Miss Mia was baptized this past weekend. My familiy's been in town for a while, but B's family (only the good ones) arrived on Friday, so the weekend and a few days following have been quite a whirlwind. B's two girl cousins came (one is the Godmother), and they wanted to go out Vegas-style. B was feeling protective since they're only 21 and 23, so we had ourselves a pseudo Vegas-style night. Pseudo because we waited at a casual bar in the Wynn while they went to a club at the Wynn called Tryst. It was another classic babysitter-high, and I indulged in quite a few beverages. We still managed to stay out until 4, which was late enough for the girls to come out of Tryst and meet us for a couple more drinks.

My Mom and I spent the last few days of last week putting our finishing touches on the decorations. In France, it's traditional to give out candy-covered almonds as a favor, so we made boxes for those. I also decided to make cupcake toppers and a big banner to liven the room up. My boss (and old family friend) graciously let us have the luncheon at his house after the Mass.

Boxes full of goodies.

Cupcakes - from a box. No time to make delicious cupcakes when I spent all my time making the toppers!

Sorry for the bad lighting, I didn't end up taking ANY pictures during the party, so these are all stolen from someone else's camera.

We didn't have a Church before we decided to get Mia Baptized, and we specifically chose this one because it is "liberal" (or as liberal as a Catholic church can get) with its practices. The first time we attended Mass there, it was a Baptismal Mass. They completely submerged the baby in the Baptismal font buck-naked, and it's a really moving ceremony. For those unfamiliar with Christian/Catholic Baptism, generally, they just drip a bit of water over the baby's head. As soon as I saw that happen, I told B that this was our Church and we could stop shopping around. We had figured out all sorts of logistics on what Mia would be wrapped in before the submerging, so that she'd stay warm and diapered while waiting, etc. When we got to the Church the required 30 minutes early, we stuck our hands in the font and the water was totally freezing. They were all "Oops! We forgot to turn the heater on. I guess we'll have to do it the regular way." I was really disappointed. But, I sucked it up and we did it the "regular way" and it was still nice, I guess.

At least Mia got to wear her pretty dress the whole time!

We had a very traditionally Filipino meal at the luncheon. Despite my nerves about B's grandparents disliking the food, it turned out just fine. Everyone likes fried things! We had over forty people attend, and I got to see my baby for approximately thirty minutes of the luncheon, which lasted at least four hours. Mia loved all the attention, and went happily from person to person. She got tons of gifts, and now we're officially set with her winter and France wardrobe.

Of course, Mia had an "after" dress.

So, on the long list of things happening in these few weeks, we've got a second thing checked off the list. Lastly: France in 2 weeks and 1 day!