Event 1 of Dutiful Catholic Parenting: CHECK!

Molly's not a pagan baby anymore or a holy innocent or whatever you call those unbaptized babies WHAT A RELIEF THANK GOODNESS.

We got quite a few pictures of the baptism. Really good ones. Of course, none of them are on OUR camera.

Most importantly, I figured out what my kids were going to wear without too much strife.

The Preppy and the No Pants Look, respectively.

At the last minute I decided to call the church and tell them I'd changed my mind, we'd dunk Molly, but no one answered. So then I had to find something for her to wear. When I was whining about this to my mother, she dashed into a closet and whipped out a little dress. Since my mother was buying baby clothes in sizes up to 2T at the base exchange before Jack was born and before she even moved back to the United States, I figured she had a stash of baby girl clothes too. But no, that is the dress I wore home from the hospital when I was born. My mom just happens to have it tucked away in the closet for easy access. And hey, it worked!

(Tangent! I wore dresses like that until I was seventeen. My grandmother made them for me (although she didn't make that one.) They had tight elastic sleeves edged with lace, smocking over the bodice and they all ended about mid to upper thigh. Sometimes she made little bloomers to go with them, which meant that the circulation in my arms AND legs was being strangled by lace and elastic. Extra Tangent! My grandmother made the exact dress I describe for Molly. She hasn't made a dress in God knows how many years and she's not likely to make another. It was a Very Big Deal and I will probably keep it Forever and Ever.)

But! I had nothing for Jack. You'd think he owns church clothes, but his mother consents to having him show up in his one pair of khaki pants and whatever shirt isn't caked with food that day.

So my mom and my sister and I left the babies and the dads at home and headed out to the closest source of baby clothes, which in my parents' neighborhood means Toys 'R Us. I wouldn't think to shop for clothes there, but they actually have a fairly decent (and decently priced) selection. I'm the kind of person who is loathe to spend $20 on a shirt that he's going to outgrow in 2 weeks (although I've been known to do it for certain occasions) but when you have your mother and sister in tow, you get talked into things. Which is how I ended up with a shirt and sweater vest and pants AND SHOES, when all I really needed was a shirt. And oh yeah, we bought Molly some shoes too.

Molly and her godmother. You think the godmother is just reflecting her happiness through all those teeth, but I know better. She is PLOTTING SOMETHING.

The ceremony was very nice, except for the parts where Jack was bawling (three times, people, THREE TIMES) and when the family in front of us decided not to do anything the faith formation lady told us to do, which made me look stupid when I was trying to do what she told us to do.

(Another! Tangent! What is it with Tall Men? They have Tall Man Syndrome and it drives me NUTS. Tall Man Syndrome is when the Tall Man doesn't appear to realize that there are other people smaller than he is. He exists in his world six foot something up in the air and forgets that other people are trying to squeeze in next to him or get in front of him or racing to catch up with him. I'm not sure it's even his fault, so much as a symptom of being Tall. But it is FREAKING ANNOYING and could he ONCE just LOOK DOWN and BE AWARE OF OTHER PEOPLE? GAH!)

Anyway. I think I mentioned that I'm quite picture-less when it comes to pictures of the main event. Also: pictures of the baptism dim sum feast because I was too busy gaining back all the weight I've lost. (BUT IT WAS SOOOO GOOOOOOOD.)

But I do have pictures of Molly in her baptism gown (which my grandmother also made, and which I (and my brothers and sisters) also wore):

The Princess.

Unfortunately not a fan of the bonnet.

Comments

[Carrie]

Congrats to Molly on a good baptism. Love the pictures!

[ashley.]

Nice.

Way to be a Good Catholic Parent. :)

Dressing child adorably? Totally optional - but you rocked.

[Tracy]

Molly is lovely in her outfits, and the baptismal gown is adorable.

But Jackson? In his little man clothes and just so cute face? Melting here. What is it about little guys all dressed up? TOO cute!

[Jess]

How can she not be a fan of the bonnet? IT'S SO CUTE.

[Jen]

My husband is tall (6'10") and he has the opposite of Tall Man Syndrome. We have to sit in the back row of church and he won't let me go first anywhere because no one will be able to see!

[Wickedly Scarlett]

Haaaaa! At that last picture!! She is so hilariously adorable! Congratulations on the baptism! (Is that something that is appropriate to congratulate someone on? Or is that weird?)

[Lisa]

I have no idea why they make bonnets for infants. I've not found a child yet who was indifferent to it. They universally HATE the bonnet!

[Sarah in Ottawa]

Oh my gosh -- so freaking cute! Thanks for sharing.

ITA with the "adorable little man" assessment. Dave is very excited about dressing a boy because he gets such a kick out of the "little boys dressed like big boys" phenomenon.

Now -- what did you think of Mad Men?!?

[Christina]

awwwww - she's adorable!!! And how neat she was wearing your dress. Congrats to Molly on her big day!

[Shelly Haggerty]

What’s everyone doing for safety precautions for Halloween? My husband came across an article (http://i-newswire.com/pr220892.html) with some info about background checking neighbors. I thought that may be a little overboard but it had some other good suggestions for some precautions I haven’t thought about. Last year my youngest son came down with a massive fever after Halloween. I almost thought about just taking the kids to our church’s fall festival this year instead of door-to-door to prevent that from happening again. I don’t know yet. What’s your advice? Am I over-reacted or just being a concerned mom?