Lily's Baptism (5/2/09)

Saturday was Lily's baptism. She was baptized at St. John Catholic Church in Davison, my hometown. This is the church that I was baptized in and received all of my sacraments in including being married to Paul. To carry on the tradition, Lily's baptismal gown was the same one that I wore so many years ago. We had a lot of family and friends present for the blessed event. It was a wonderful day.
Here are some pictures.

The baptismal gown cannot be worn until after the baptism is performed but I wanted Lily to wear something special so she wore a dress that my cousin Ashlee's husband's grandmother handmade for her. Here we are at the church before the ceremony:

Grant and Carol Lumsden are Lily's godparents. Here they are in the front row with us and their daughter, Ally:

The rest of our reserved section including my parents, Alice Stockman, Bill Stockman, Uncle Lee LaVictoire (my Godfather), Aunt Robin LaVictoire, Aunt Gloria DeLay (my Godmother), Uncle Jim DeLay, Aunt Margaret Christensen, Uncle Dale Christensen, Tom Deitsch (Paul's Godfather), Carole Deitsch (Paul's Godmother), Paul's parents, and Rachel:

Father Andrew Czajkowski blessing the water:

Little naked Lily getting ready to be immersed:

Lily loved the water. She was so good the whole time. I love the looks on Rachel's face. She was really amused by the whole thing:

After immersion, Lily was anointed with oil. She smiled at Father Andy through this entire process:

Carol and Grant were given her baptismal candle:

Lily being presented to the congregation:

Paul, Lily, and I:

Us with Carol, Grayson, Ally, and Grant Lumsden. Carol, Lily's Godmother, is my parents' Godchild:

Us with Tom and Carole Deitsch, Paul's Godparents, and his parents Maureen and Ron Rysso:

My Uncle Lee and Aunt Robin LaVictoire, Uncle Dale and Aunt Margaret Christensen, us, and my parents Chris and Tim Hernandez:

After the baptism, we all crowded into my parents house for a lovely dinner and get-together. Here is Lily's cake:

Paul and I enjoying the meal with my grandmother, Marion:

Lily finally got to meet my Aunt Margaret and Uncle Dale as they spent the winter in Florida. Lily was fascinated by Dale:

Lily with my Uncle Jim and Aunt Gloria:

Lily loves to sleep on my Aunt Robin:

We wanted to take pictures comparing me in the baptism gown versus Lily. Here I am at six weeks old on my baptism day versus Lily at nine weeks. I totally didn't realize until posting this that we even held our arms the same way in the pictures. How funny:

We wanted to duplicate the below pose at well but apparently babies who slept on their tummies gained head control a lot faster than modern babies who spend most of their time on their backs. Poor Lily just looks awkward:

Adorable smiles:

It was such a wonderful day. Lily stayed awake for almost the entire day with just a couple of brief naps which amazed me. She wasn't even fussy, just smiley and happy. I posted our video of the baptism on YouTube as it would take up too much memory on this site. Here is a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R20Yj2H8VE