Ava's Baptism

Ava was baptized this weekend in the church where Mike grew up. It was a beautiful, private, ceremony. The priest took his time and said lovely things. Ava was quite the ham. At one point in the ceremony we stood in front of our little crowd and each guest came and traced the cross on her forehead. After about the fourth person she thought it was hilarious and started laughing after each person passed. It was so cute. After the water on the head she fell asleep in my arms. The final portion of the ceremony involved placing Ava on the alter where we all stood around her and said a few prayers. Our group had ever seen this done and I have to admit it crossed my mind that she was going to be sacrificed. It was a little odd but she loved it. She just looked around at us all and smiled. Mike's mom thought that was hilarious and carried on the trend by placing her on the dining room table back at the house while everyone ate their meal around her. That ended pretty quickly when she started "taking care of some business" to pass the time.

Ava did great on the road trip, even when we got stuck in traffic and the normally 20 minute drive from Kingdom City to 63 took 1 hour and 15 minutes. The highlight of the trip for her was meeting her cousins. They are 8, 6, and 3. She got a huge kick out of them and I was sad to bring her home where all she has to look at are boring ol' mom and dad. Her cousins were great, they held her, helped me change even the dirtiest of diapers, and read to her. I wish they lived closer!

Mike's mom made this adorable dress just for Ava. The bonnet is an Irish scarf that I carried around my wedding bouquet. It turns into a baptism bonnet. My mom bought that for me when we were in Europe for our wedding. It is wonderful to have such thoughtful things to pass down.