Tag: baptism

Posted in Religion

Beautiful Day – Valeria’s Baptism

Posted on by Mama

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!!

Posted in Daily Life as a Parent

Exhausted…

Posted on by Mama

It seems that I missed posting yesterday, which is a first for me, but I fell asleep cuddling my husband.

Today was a busy day for us since it was actually hot out and not just sunny and cold. My husband cleaned out Valeria’s pool and set it up with fresh new water. We got her little swimmer diapers for when she starts her swimming lessons (did I mention that yet?) And they went in the pool as I pulled weeds in the garden. I’ll need to pick more of my chamomile flowers tomorrow, hopefully it’s nice out.

Than Valeria had some lunch, organs and rice, and than it was bath time. After bath time she played around on her mats until it was time for her second nap. She has been extra sleepy lately, her second top tooth is coming in and the corner has finally poked through the gum. She had a decent afternoon nap, but her morning naps is when she sleeps the longest.

After nap time we got her ready and headed to Nonna’s to work on more of the basement for her party. It is coming along nicely, just small tedious things to do now. We’re Italian,  we like to go all out, especially my mom and I. I promise photos!

We stayed there for a few hours before we called it quits. Valeria was getting cranky, but my husband and my brother kept her as busy as they could. Zio (uncle in Italian) loves to play with her, especially now that she is crawling around. She tends to chase after the ball he rolls to her.

We got home and she just rolled around and played for 20 minutes before getting her dressed and off to bed. No fuss tonight, I think the sun, pool and tooth tired her out tonight.

My week has been hectic and my husband has seriously be so incredible as I decorate and finalizing things for Valeria’s Baptism. I hope everything goes well, the day is beautiful and everyone has a wonderful time.

Bit I’ve been nonstop all week and I’m just crashing in exhaustion by the end of the day. I’m even forgetting my phone at home half the time, my mind is everywhere and thinking of all the things needing to be done. I don’t mind the “chaos”, I thrive on it honestly. I just forget that I crash a little easier and harder now that I’m a mom.

But I’ll catch up on sleep tonight, and speaking of I am going to call it here ladies and gents. My daughter is in bed and I am going to relax with my husband.

Have a wonderful night or day wherever you are in the world!

Ciao!!

Posted in Religion

Baptism Update

Posted on by Mama

Yesterday I finally received an email back in regards to the baptism and…

We have a green light!

The Sacramental Preparation Coordinator was very direct in her response and informed me that if my husband and I ever want to discuss marriage that the priests would be happy to do so.

I’m just happy that we can baptize Valeria in June. I’ve already got the ball rolling and invites sent out. Getting responses back already and slowly getting a number count so I can order the food and cake for the small party we will have afterwards. It will be simple, but beautiful.

She will be surrounded by a lot of support and love on her very special day. I can’t wait for her to be declared a follower of Jesus Christ and to become closer to God.

I’m very excited to be planning her big day. I’ll take lots of pictures and share when the day comes.

Hope you had some great news or just something good happened to you recently.

Ciao!

Posted in Religion

Baptism Preparations

Posted on by Mama

My husband and I have wanted to get our daughter baptized since before she was born. It was a never a question for us, it was going to be done eventually, we just weren’t sure when. Well this week I had finally gotten around to registering us with our local church and contacting them regarding the process for having Valeria baptized.

The woman was very kind and informative; walking me through the whole process and later that day, sending me everything I needed in an email.

Well, today I was going over it again and downloaded the form to complete so that I could get the ball rolling. June 16th is not that far away and I wanted to get this completely as soon as I could. However, I noticed a bit of a….”problem” on the form.

My husband and I are not technically married, we are only common law and on the form it was requesting out marriage information: date, if it was a catholic church wedding or other, etc. No where on this form was there a place to put common law.

I completed the form, minus the section for marriage and before sending it back had a conversation with my mother. I needed some advice. I informed her of the issue and being the funny woman she is said, “Well I don’t believe God would turn her away from being baptized just because you aren’t married. But if the church does, it’s a bit hypocritical since it doesn’t really follow what the Bible teaches us. God loves us all. And if they won’t allow you to baptize Valeria in a church….*she pauses and chuckles lightly* we will baptize her in the backyard!” I laughed. She told me to mention it in the email back to them and to see what they say and we can go from there.

So I did.

I wrote a very kind email to the Sacramental Preparation Coordinator; I informed her of the date/service time we would like in June, that we would be attending the baptism preparation class on June 3rd and than I informed her of the form. Here is what I had wrote:

“Please find attached the completed form, however I noticed that you are inquiring of a marriage date. My partner and I are not currently married, but common law and there was no section for me to indicate that on the form. I strongly hope that this doesn’t affect the process to get our daughter baptized.”

I thought it sounded okay, I really hope there isn’t a complication, but I guess I will find out. Needless to say, I’ve started the process and I’m hoping the rest of it goes smoothly.

I will let you know!

Ciao!!