Wyatt's Baptism

Last Sunday we celebrated Wyatt's baptism - what a wonderful, joyful day it was! We were surrounded my our very best friends and family (some in spirit, many from far and near in person).

Wyatt's beautiful gown was sewn by my grandmother in Austria for Sophia's baptism, and now all four of my children were baptized in it. I am going to have their names and baptism dates embroidered on the hem in white thread.

The following three pictures are two of some of favorites from the day (my friend Paula took all of these great pictures) - they so much show my children's true personalities!

It was a beautiful ceremony. We love our new church and felt so surrounded by the love of everyone in that building!

We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water. Over it the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of creation. Through it you led the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt into the land of promise. In it your Son Jesus received the baptism of John and was anointed by the Holy Spirit as the Messiah, the Christ, to lead us, through his death and resurrection, from the bondage of sin into everlasting life.

We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism. In it we are buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit. Therefore in joyful obedience to your Son, we bring into his fellowship those who come to him in faith, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Davis's oldest brother, Zane, is Wyatt's Godfather. He lives in Texas, and we don't see him very often, but he is a GREAT uncle to my children!

Another great in-the-moment picture

My sweet boys

After the ceremony, there was a reception in the parish hall at church with this special cake

And the church gave Wyatt a treasure chest filled with amazing presents - a little Bible, baptism book, handmade blanket, cross and a little pillow, a beautiful shell with Wyatt's name on it, a little handkerchief with a cross, and a beautiful calligraphy prayer

Talk about making a mama happy - feeling so much love bestowed on her baby!

We then had a lunch reception at Dogtown Cafe. Sounds bad from the name ha! But it was SO yummy!! And such a special afternoon - they closed down the restaurant for us, and there was a playground right outside with a big window that let us watch out children (who played in the perfect weather!)

This sight did my heart good - seeing Uncle Zane and Amelia having lunch together. I said he is a great uncle - he gives these kiddos his undivided attention when he is with them!

Sweet Henry, he was so so sleepy! He normally naps at 10:30 a.m. and he made it through the whole day without a nap.

It was a very special day to celebrate a very special little boy.

Wyatt, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked
as Christ's own for ever!

Christmas Gratitudes

You know, I think I had been feeling pretty happy and thankful for all the blessings in my life lately. But the past few weeks, I had also been feeling sad for things that were missing this Christmas - loved ones who have died this past year who I wasn't sending Christmas cards to (there were more this year than ever before in my life), my children's sweet school that closed last year and their Christmas pageant (in its place, a very cute but completely un-Christmas-ed production at their new school), our old church and their magnificent ringing bells... Well, I guess God decided to wake me up and turn up that gratitude a notch, because I landed myself in the hospital this week.

I have battled a UTI/kidney infection on and off since Wyatt's birth. Every time I was put on antibiotics, it got better. Every time I finished the antibiotics, it came back. I have kidney stones (11, if you want to know) that according to my urologist might have helped hang onto the infection. Well, last week the infection came back, and by Sunday I was feeling really, really bad. I made it through Monday thanks to the miracle powers of a LOT of coffee, and dragged myself to the doctor on Tuesday. My lab results didn't look pretty. I was pleading with him to make this go away forever. I felt and looked awful. So, here I am, in room 3057, getting IV antibiotics and fluids. He told me he also wanted me to get some rest - it took some effort not to laugh. He's obviously never spent the night in a hospital. I got 1 hour and 35 minutes of sleep my first 24 hours here. But I also got some medicine that has helped me feel so, so much better!

My first night, when I felt physically horrible and exhausted and couldn't sleep because of all the people coming into my room, my friend who lives in Armenia right now kept me company all night long. We laughed about my awful nurse. We laughed about my awesome patient care tech named Orlando, who danced around my room, "We've got a full house! We're rockin' it on 3 North tonight!" And she listened to me whine and whine and whine.

Another friend volunteered to be my breastmilk courier. Three times a day, she's come by to pick up milk and deliver it home to Wyatt. She also brought me snacks and bought toilet paper for my family so Davis wouldn't have to drag all the kids to the store. They even called me to make sure they got the right brand.

On Facebook, my friends sent me well wishes and prayers and cheered me up with funny posts and sweet private messages. Yesterday afternoon I felt really sad, because I missed my baby. I've never spent the night away from one of my little babies, and it was making me anxious and a little queasy and a LOT sad. At around 2pm, I looked at a picture of him and sobbed for an hour. I literally didn't know how I was going to make it through another 24 hours without holding him. It's the middle of winter, and I'm on a general medicine floor, so there was just no way I was going to drag a new baby up here into the germosphere. But I wanted him sooo badly. Four friends called me and many more sent me texts, and I was lifted up and carried through that sadness, until my lovely day nurse came in and took pity on me. She suggested that Davis bring the kids up in the car, and they would unhook me and let me go downstairs. I literally jumped up, called Davis, and ran downstairs. Nursing my little baby in the car while my other kids jibber-jabbered at me was the best thing EVER! I came back upstairs and my nurse looked at me and said I looked like a new person. I felt like it too!

And at home, my sweet husband has been keeping the four kids and calling to tell me things like "oh I'm actually bored, things are going so well!" And friends are coming by with meals and homemade baked goodies. Friends are offering to help during a time that I know is crazy and busy for everyone. And my sweet Sophia, she slept next to baby Wyatt because she knew he would miss mama and, "Daddy, I know you're really tired, so if he wakes up and you don't hear him, I'll wake you up." She's SIX, my sweet oldest baby, and she always rises to the occasion.

And as I've sat here in room 3057, I have been overcome with the realization that I am so blessed. So, so blessed. To have these beautiful children that I love so much I can't stand to be away from them, to have a husband who can be home taking care of everything without batting an eye, to have THE best friends in the whole world, and to know that after a couple of days, I get to walk out of this hospital cured, and never looking back, and home in time for Christmas.

I have prayed a lot the last couple of days. I've prayed for all the people in this building who aren't getting to go home for Christmas. I've prayed for those who won't walk out of here healed. I've prayed for those who are alone and don't have friends and family to lift them up and carry them through. I've prayed for the old woman in the room next to me, who is here from a nursing home and doesn't know where she is, so she cries and screams in confusion all night long. I've prayed for those who have lost children and don't get to go back and hold them again after a couple of days of separation. Yes, these days before Christmas, my eyes have been opened and I've been reminded powerfully of how blessed I am.

A friend brought me a beautiful collection of Celtic prayers last night. This one is from Celtic Prayers from Iona by Phillip Newell

Watch now O Christ
With those who are weary
Or wandering
Or weeping this night.
Guide them to a house
Of your peace
And lead us to be caring
For their tears.

Thanksgiving

I am so far behind with blogging... I have five days left before I go back to work, and I have been trying so hard to soak up every darn minute with my kiddos before I do! That means my nights are spend Christmas shopping (thanks, Amazon Prime!), and catching up on laundry and email and Parenthood. I have also been battling eleven kidney stones ("eleven" said in my best Spinal Tap voice) and a kidney infection that just keeps coming back.

But we had a PERFECT Thanksgiving this year! I was a little stressed out in anticipation of the holiday, since last Thanksgiving weekend was when we lost baby Violet. But there is no better medicine than spending time with loved ones... and food.

The girls each had a Thanksgiving feast on the Friday before their Thanksgiving break. It was also pajama day - so I came up there to see Sophia the pajama-clad Native American ha!

It was funny, after the kids got done eating, the grown-ups made their way through the line to eat up all the vegetables that were left.

Sophia and her best friend Claire - it's pretty much impossible to get a non-silly picture of these two.

Sophia wanted to come with me to visit Amelia's class. It was the sweetest thing in the world, to see how proud of Sophia Amelia was - she ran up and hugged her and then told everyone "this is my sister!"

Sophia holding court with the four year olds ha ha! She was pretty proud of herself too.

Thanksgiving Wednesday I spent the whole day at Davis's brother's house cooking and baking while our kids ran around and relatives trickled in from out of town. At the end of the day everyone came over to our house for beef stew, which I'd thrown in the crock pot that morning. Davis and his siblings stayed up by the fire in the backyard long after I went to bed.

Thursday is was so, so cold and cloudy outside, which made for a perfect day to stay by a big fire and eat and eat and eat and visit with family!

My main contribution to the meal was this healthier green bean casserole that I saw in Southern Living magazine - YES healthy and Southern Living. It was yummy and sooo much better than anything involving soggy canned green beans!

Baby Wyatt was never put down from Wednesday morning until Friday night. Not once. That child was passed from one set of arms to another. Then Saturday I tried to lay him down to do come laundry and he would have NONE of that! Just the way the baby baby of the whole family is supposed to be :)

And then Sunday baby Wyatt went to church for the first time and was welcomed by the congregation. This picture - "hey Davis, take a picture of me with the baby before we leave." Ugh.

"Wait! I'll take another one!"
"No! We're late!"
Ha ha!

The girls are good for picture-taking

but add two little boys and this is what you get

Being at our new church with our new baby, it was a perfect and fitting end to the weekend. So much has changed in the past year, it is overwhelming. But it is also a reminder of we have to be thankful for!

A Happy Birthday

I am so far behind with posting things I want to post on the blog, I keep putting it off... but now I am not going to care about the fact that things will be out of order, because I have to share about my happy day :)

Today is my birthday. I can't even wrap my head around this past year and all it means. It was definitely a year that lots of things turned out completely differently than I had planned, which in the course of my life has always meant a lot of struggle for me (control freak that I am) followed by the realization that all along God had great things in store for me and my family. Like I said, I'm not really done figuring it all out, but I do know that I have a lot to be thankful for right now!

Sophia and Amelia LOVE throwing parties - they will often find things around the house to decorate with, and throw pretend birthday parties and other celebrations. So I knew exactly what we should do for my birthday, especially since baby Wyatt is so little that I have no desire to be anywhere but home right now... Davis took the girls to the Dollar Store after school, and they got whatever decorations and gifts they wanted. I left the house for a little while, and when I came back, they threw me a surprise birthday party!

It was an awesome party and made me VERY happy!!

The boys were there too, but Davis was trying to chase Henry, who was trying to love on Wyatt.

I love my family :)