Baby M's Full Immersion Baptism

Clearly, Baby M was not as excited about this full immersion baptism thing as we all were! This picture was taken right at the moment when Fr. Warwick said "In the name of the Son." How do I know that? Because as he started with "In the name of the Father" - baby M was all smiles. By the time he got to "and of the Holy Spirit" baby M was howling. 

All the big sibs thought this was hysterical. On the right side of the picture are Baby M's new Madrina and god-sisters. Everyone looked beautiful and behaved so well. It was truly a grace-filled day.

Here we all are with Father Warwick after the Mass. Baby M is dressed in the beautiful baptismal gown that was a gift from his godparents. *Note - if you decide to choose full immersion for your baby's baptism, make sure you choose a gown with just a few big, easy to do buttons, or maybe convert it to Velcro! It took an exorbitantly long time to button up all those teensy-weansy buttons after we dried him off with the big white towel and were ready to re-dress him. Luckily, our parish is a pretty laid back group and they were patient while they waited for the regularly scheduled Mass to continue.

Afterwards, we came back to the house for a Sandwich Buffet Luncheon, a brilliant entertaining concept suggested to me by Baby M's Madrina. Basically, you put out a variety of rolls, spreads, luncheon meats, cheese, and a few salads, and people help themselves. It worked out really nicely to set the food up on our long counter in the kitchen and have people sit outside to eat. I was really worried about being able to afford and have the energy to cook for 30 to 40 people. The Sandwich Buffet may just change my entertaining life during this season of my life with little ones. 

The weather was absolutely perfect and the guests had all remembered to bring creek clothes and shoes to change into after Mass for playtime. The kids were up and down into Adobe Creek all afternoon. People stayed for hours, dropped in here and there, we even had a few "crashers" - though they hadn't really crashed since they had been invited but just had not RSVPd. But given the flexibility of the Sandwich Buffet Luncheon, more could easily be accommodated.

None of our family came to the baptism for a myriad of reasons, and after being initially disappointed and feeling somewhat orphaned, I was grateful that so many of our newish, homeschooling family friends came for the day. Baby M was welcomed into the Catholic Church this day, so it was only fitting that he was welcomed into the Catholic Homeschooling Group he'll be a part of some day too.