Baptism Weekend - Part I

Well, we successfully disrupted Erin's routine for her Baptism weekend. Most of the time she was not a happy camper.

Looking back, it would have been less stressful getting Erin baptized outside of Mass with just the family. I know my child, and she did exactly what I thought she would do: scream the whole time. But, it's all good, and now we have something to tease her about later on.

We processed in with the priest at the start of Mass. She was already on the verge of fussing and by the time we got to the front she was wailing away. After the "What name have you given your child?" etc, I took Erin outside to calm her down. I was able to get her asleep and sneak back in after the homily, just in time to go up front for the baptism.

As soon as we got started, she woke up and started crying again. I was trying hard to focus more on the sacrament and what it was we were doing up there, rather than how she was behaving. It soon was over, and S was kind enough to take her outside and let me stay in my seat for the remainder of Mass. Apparently she quieted down pretty quickly, and he was able to stand with her at the back.

I think part of it was that she didn't get enough sleep during the day with all the family around, and by 5pm, she was way too tired. Lesson learned: all future children will either be baptized at least 3 months old or outside of Mass.

But regardless of all that, our baby is now a Catholic!

More on the weekend: to be continued...