Beautiful Day – Valeria’s Baptism

Yesterday was Valeria’s big day! It had been a bit to prepare for everything; coordinating everything with the church, sending invites, ordering catering, finding and creating decorations, cleaning and decorating my Nonna’s basement and than the big day finally has come!

We knew that the day was going to be nice and long, however her nap schedule was a little all over the place. Though I have to say, she was only cranky near the end of church and later in the afternoon. Though she had A LOT of stimulation in the afternoon/evening.

The day started pretty early, I got ready for the day, doing my hair and make-up and to just get it out of the way. Valeria woke up early as well, not ideal, I was hoping she would sleep more. My husband also quickly got ready as well, we were taking turns keeping Valeria entertained.

Family started arriving by about 10 AM, slowly trickling as the morning turned into early afternoon. By 1 pm, everyone from out of town was here (there was about 20 people in total from in town and out of town) and we needed to get Valeria ready for her big day.

Her God Mother helped to dress her, which was a beautiful experience and I wish I had got photos of it. It was myself, my husband, my cousin and her husband and my other cousin who were there as Valeria was being dressed. Unfortunately, my cousin’s husband couldn’t officially stand up there with Valeria, but we consider him her God Father anyway. My cousin and her husband will be a wonderful support system and guiding hand in her life in all aspects.

We got to the church a bit early and met with the Sacramental Coordinator, she informed us of how the Mass will go, showed us our seating and our reserved seating for our families. We all sat down fairly early and Valeria was just looking in every direction she could. She was so curious and as soon as the music started, she went completely quiet and bounced in my husband’s arms excited. The Mass was beautiful to be honest and there was another family also Baptizing their little girl. It was a very joyous occasion for both our families.

Valeria even made the whole congregation laugh, as my husband tipped her back so the Priest could Baptize her, she reached for the pitcher (she loves water) and tried to grab it from him. He made some funny commentary and proceeded. Than when we were waiting for the candle to be lit, she was biting on the towel and making sounds, attempting to get the “last word” in every time the Priest spoke. Than the applause came and she was over the moon! The biggest smile on her face. It was too cute!

I have to say though, she was so well behaved the entire Mass, up until the end when she started to get really tired. When Mass was finished, she instantly fell asleep in my husband’s arms. We weren’t able to do photos at the church, but that’s okay, I wasn’t going to try to force her to stay awake. We went out in the parking lot, spoke to family briefly and than in the car. That was a bit of a task with Valeria already asleep. She did not like being put in the car seat and having her sleep disrupted (I don’t blame her, I don’t like my sleep disrupted either), but with some quick moves and a little bit of her bottle, she fell back asleep pretty fast.

We arrived at my Nonna’s house within 20 minutes of leaving the church and thankfully the catering was already there, nice and piping hot. Chit chat and food, everyone was extremely happy enjoying a dinner together. I did one long table so that we all felt together and connected. My husband’s mom was very kind and held her while we ate dinner and than my cousin held her as I fed Valeria and than she started to get cranky, so my husband and I brought her upstairs for a bit of quiet. Much needed since her nap was fairly short from the church and the car. She was VERY stimulated from all the people (it was her first really large family gathering) and it was very loud. Eventually my husband and I were able to finish dinner and than again, put her for a nap. Sadly, the nap was cut short.

We attempted taking pictures, but she just wasn’t having it and had to settle for a big group photo. We attempted again to do photos with individual families before people had to leave for the night, but she was too cranky. All in all, people were taking so many photos and my brother was kind enough to take some with my camera, which I still need to go through, so we have an abundance to look through from everyone. I’m grateful our families did that, but I really wanted photos of each individual family. Can’t be helped though!

The day was wonderful and joyous nonetheless and I’m so happy for our daughter. She will have beautiful memories of this day to look back on when she is older and all these wonderful people who came to support her will always be in her life. There were be endless memories to come for sure.

So just a few photos to share, but it’s a little something!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend wherever you are in the world!

Ciao!!