Lyla's Baptism

What a handful!

Lyla's baptism weekend started with a visit from Uncle Scott, Aunt Lori, Cousins Zack and Eleanor. Lori and Scott are both Steven and Lyla's godparents and we are so happy that they both could come for her special day. Cousin Matt had to stay behind in Minnesota, we missed him; but we understand the importance of keeping committments!

Saturday morning Tommy had to work at the Education Fair held by the KSI 9th graders and their parents. Since they were almost desperate for people to come we all headed over to see Tommy and participate in the fair. Well, we didn't get to see Tommy at all but Eleanor got to play some fun games and we all watched a puppet show. Steven is definitely going to be a sideline kid - at least for awhile. He didn't want to participate in any of the games he just stood near us and watched. He really takes his time warming up to new situations and places. He did talk to me about the puppet show after the day was over so I at least know he liked that part!

After the fair, I drove everyone over to the skate park at Swope Park and dropped them off. It was nearing nap time and I wanted the kids to go down and be fresh for the baptism. Zack enjoyed the skateboard ramp - I think he said that it was the tallest one that he'd ever been on.

Tommy had to work until 3pm and the baptism was a 4pm mass. He was supposed to change at the Fair but I got a call from him while on his way that he hadn't changed yet. Great. I told him to just meet us at the church and I'd get the kids ready. Steven doddled a little but he and Lyla were generally compliant with my requests.

We got to the church with plenty of time to spare and Fr. Glenn gave us a quick run down.

The baptism starts at the back of the church with an introduction of our family and Lyla. Fr. Glenn said a prayer and then marked the sign of the cross on her forehead and invited us to do the same. Boy did she wiggle and squirm! She even let out a little cry; Fr. Glenn was quite the comedian throughout the whole mass with his first joke of "sometimes a cross is a hard thing to bear" when she started crying.

For Easter, our church has a little pond set up at the front with flowers and rocks surrounding it. They use this pond for baptisms instead of the traditional font. As we moved over to the pond, Lyla was wiggling and squirming like any good 1-year old would do! As I leaned her over the pond she clutched my hair and had quite a stunned look on her face. My scalp has since recovered.

After the water, she was blessed with crism oil and introduced to the church. By this time she was crying and I was struggling to hold her. Once I lifted her up and everyone started clapping she was beaming! I wish everyone had clapped throughout the entire mass!