Baptism Day

Today was Caroline's baptism. It was very challenging to schedule because we wanted to have our favorite Notre Dame priest do the ceremony--Father Bill, who baptized me at Notre Dame--and there were many conflicts. We couldn't work it out to do it up in South Bend, so we decided to do it today at our local alumni club's annual Notre Dame Communion Breakfast since Father Bill comes down to preside over the mass each year. After we booked it we found out that Uncle Buddy had a work conflict, so sadly he could not be here, but we know he was with us in spirit and we sent him some cake, so he really got to participate in the best part of the festivities! We also missed having our Canadian family with us, but I am sure they were all thinking of Caroline today, too.

Due to the timing of things we decided to have Caroline's little celebration last night, with a dinner out and a delicious cake. You can see that Caroline looked very interested in trying Grandma's cake!
It was a lot to get us all ready and out the door by 8:45 this morning. And there was a period of time between 4 and 5 when Mom, Dad, Grandma, Caroline, Jen and Lily were all up, but we made it. And thankfully, they had a reserved table for us because there were a lot of people there (250+) and it was quite busy.

Caroline wore the very special baptism gown that Jamma had made for me out of her mother's wedding dress. She had the blanket that Great Aunt Sharon gave Aunt Jen and Mom when they were baptized. And she also had something new (and blue, which would count if this were her wedding!) the baby bracelet that was a gift from our great aunt and uncle (Robbie and Charlotte) in Nova Scotia.
Caroline was very well behaved during the baptism. Father Bill walked around with her during his homily and she just peacefully sat in his arms. I suspect his arm was tired afterward though (she is now up to 18 lbs. 5 oz.) Another baby was also baptized today and neither one of them cried when the water was poured on their heads. Many people commented that they were very well behaved.

And speaking of well behaved, I was very good too. After the mass there is a breakfast, where I did my part to eat as much sausage as possible. After that I reunited with my friend Caitlyn and the two of us had a ball playing together. It started off in the corner of the ballroom, but as our giggles escalated, Caitlyn's mom was nice enough to take us out in the hall to run around. I had a blast playing with her and we've planned some playdates in the near future.