Emilie's Baptismal Day!

Last Sunday was Emilie's first celebratory day dedicated only to her! It was her baptismal day; and it was gorgeous from start to finish.

Emilie was baptized at 4pm at Old St. Patrick's Church in Chicago, where Marin was baptized, wearing the same gown. Old St. Pat's is a very special church to our family, and I was overjoyed that Emilie was able to be welcomed into our faith at this beautiful church, the oldest public building in Chicago. It was a lovely ceremony, where four other children (all boys) were also baptized. Emilie did very well, and didn't cry a peep when the water was poured over her head. And, when the priest anointed her with the oils, she beamed up at him with wide eyes.

Since the ceremony was later in the day, and downtown, we celebrated with an 11am brunch at our house preceding the ceremony. We put a large canopy in the backyard and decorated tables to sit underneath it in the shade. But, at over 90 degrees in the shade, many people chose to be indoors as well. I made cheddar-dill scones, carrot muffins with an orange zest frosting, banana crunch muffins and zucchini bread, as well as ham and asparagus strata, yogurt and granola parfaits, asparagus spears, and a fruit platter. I also made a watermelon, lime and mint drink to beat the heat, and no brunch would be complete without mimosas. Along with cake, we had my moms famous lemon squares for dessert, and, just as she did for Marin's baptism, my sweet, sweet grandmother, at 93, brought an array of her famous sugar cookie cutouts, frosted and decorated to perfection.

It was a special day, attended by so many special people in our lives; a wonderful way for Emilie to begin her faith journey. We asked our dear friend Mike, to be Emilie's godfather, and Jason's sister, Lindsay to be her godmother. We know that they will be wonderful examples to Emilie, in both faith and character. She is a very lucky little girl to be loved so much by so many people!

It was a special day I know I'll never forget!

Odds and Ends

It seems like a lot has been happening around here lately. Here a few odds and ends:

We've come a long way:
Last weekend we were in the car on the way to our friends' engagement party when I said to Jason, "You know, we've really come a long way since we met." When he asked how, I pointed out that the first time we really hung out was on a Wednesday night, (in the middle of a work week!), at the Cubby Bear, where we stayed out until 2am yet each stumbled to work the next day. Now, a Saturday night, we were driving to an engagement party, drinking decaf tea with our baby in the back seat.

It's good to have someone to love in both situations.


Have Grandma will travel:
My mom and Marin and I spent the week together last week. Marin and I spent the night at my parent's house on Monday night, and my mom spent the night at our house on Tuesday and Wednesday. We had a fabulous time! We went shopping and to lunch and had cupcakes at a little shop in my parent's hometown; and Grandma and Marin had a lot of cuddle time. Marin did very well during her first ladies lunch! So naturally, we decided to do it the next day... and the next!

We wish we could spend this kind of time with you every day, Mom.


Present for Great Aunt Vee and Great Uncle Bob:
A few weekends ago Jason's Aunt Laveda and Uncle Bob came to visit us. We had such a nice time, and they just loved spending time with Marin. Marin gave Aunt Vee a lot of great big smiles, and Sunday right before they left, Marin gave Uncle Bob a much different kind of present. The kind that necessitated a bath for Marin and a wardrobe change for Uncle Bob.

I'm sure Marin will kill me for posting this some day, but we all got a good laugh!


Moving Out:
Since Marin is sleeping through the night these days (occasionally), she has moved from her bassinet in our room to her crib in her room. I have mixed feelings about it, but I know that she can't sleep next to me forever. Mark it down as the first time I've had to learn to let go. :)

Here are some pictures from her last time in the bassinet:


She really is an angel:
Yesterday was Marin's first Mass. It was Palm Sunday and Jason and I had our escape route all mapped out should she start to cry (read: scream so loudly that everyone turns to stare). But right at home at church, perhaps Marin really is an angel; she didn't make a peep the entire time.

Work out with a freak out:
So I worked out yesterday afternoon for the first time since Marin was born. Who am I kidding; it was the first time since two months before Marin was born. It's amazing what can change at the gym in four months. They had all these great new weight machines, and fancy new ellipticals. So, I grabbed one of the ellipticals and got going. (I am ridiculously weak, btw. I won't even tell you what happened on the ab cruncher. It was down right embarrassing.) So the elliptical has one of those tvs built right in, and although I prefer my ipod to the tv while I am on the machine, the tv was on- presumably from the person who worked out on the machine before I did. About ten minutes into my workout, I start to kinda watch the show on the screen and although I didn't hear a word, I could not look away. It was a show called Lost Tapes on Animal Planet-- have you heard of this show?! It was terribly wonderful! This episode featured a girl out at sea, and it was her gorgeous boat that first caught my eye. It was her inability to contact that coast guard after she saw blood all over a neighboring boat that made me watch, and after she decided to get out of there and fell overboard, I couldn't turn away. So here I am watching this show to the tune of "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me" and the boat gets farther and farther away from her, despite her swimming faster and struggling all the way. By the time "I like the way you move it, move it" came on, I fully expected the closed captioning guy to have told me that she was rescued. But instead it just said, "[crying]" and "[screaming]". I found out during the "Thong song" that although the coast guard was eventually reached, and search and rescue scanned the area for days, she was never found! Although her camera was found. And these are her Lost Tapes! I warned you that it was terribly wonderful. What a mystery!!

I will be back for this show.

Lucky Lindsay:
If you are a parent, I don't have to tell you how much easier it is to run errands without an infant in tow. There is the whole stroller factor, and the feeding factor, and the possible baby break down factor, and then there is the extra time I spend in the aisles saying, "Well Hello!!!" as Marin looks back at me with her bright eyes.

Saturday afternoon Jason and I had a bunch of errands to run, so we asked Lindsay to babysit. Marin was happy to have a little alone time with her Aunt Lindsay, and loved her first visit to her apartment. I don't think Lindsay minded either.


Kitchen river:
Have you ever heard of Kitchen River? Oh me either- until I flooded my kitchen this morning. Woops. I was filling the kitchen sink with water to wash Marin's bottles when the phone rang.... you can see where this is going. I plead sleep deprivation. Not to worry, it's all cleaned up now. No harm no foul. Ahh.... it's good to laugh at ourselves.

.... and that's about it. What can you take away from this post? Well, you have a new tv show to try out; if you hadn't suspected before, you've learned that your abs are totally shot after childbirth; you now know that Jason and I are officially boring, and that I've officially lost my mind. But that Marin is still a little Angel.