selma gets baptized

we had selma's baptism at st. monica st. george on sunday. it was a great day. selma's grandma joan (my mom) and her great aunt boo are her godparents, and we are thrilled that they agreed to fufill such an important role in selma's life. selma did great for the whole thing. she was calm for the actual baptism and even smiled at father when he poured the holy water on her head. greta and otto enjoyed the day so much that "getting baptized" has become a part of their bathtime.

you might remember that all 7 grandchildren in the hansbauer family have worn this baptismal gown, and all their names are stitched on the slip...what a great tradition.

Baptism Party

So, I don't think our house is made for parties with 30+ people there... especially in the winter, when people can't go out on the deck and hang our in our yard. It worked out but it was definitely crowded.

It was great having everyone over to the house to celebrate with Greta... a nice warm up for the next couple weeks of holiday activities.

Greta's first cake... too bad she didn't get to try it... Creative Cake Design - Yum!

Greta with Great-Grandma

Shamus, Robbie and Greta...

Robbie and Greta, i'm sure they'll enjoy future christmas/family gatherings together.

Greta getting fed by Great-Aunt Mary

Shamus gets to meet the Ford kids (Greta's cousins) that Greta warned him about... THis is right after they 'found' Shamus in his car seat, and decided he wanted to play peek-a-boo with them.

Baptism

Today was Greta's first big Catholic day... the whole day was great... it's just great to have her go through her first ceremony, great to have so many people from our families there, and great to welcome her into her religious life.

I'll put a seperate post for the party at our house after, but here are some pictures from the actual Baptism.

She was a trooper, and slept most of the mass, so there was no fussing. however, the church gives you an option of 'pouring water over their head', or 'submersion'. In submersion you place your baby naked in the baptismal font. Well, Greta has an issue with sometimes viewing baths as a toilet, so we opted for the pouring... it's a good thing as while we were standing up there, she did her business :)

Greta in her gown.. this is the same gown used by all her cousins. The slip that is under it has all the names/birthdays of each child embroidered... it's a pretty cool thing to continue to pass down. My cousin Mary made the dress, and adds the names in.

Greta getting baptized...

Father Al providing the blessing

My sister Tina and brother-in-law Sean are the godparents, and great godparents they will be!

Baptism

So our baptism is all set... we went to our 'orientation' on Wednesday, and i wouldn't call it a complete waste of time, but pretty close... It just wasn't a lot of information for an hour and a half.

But the good news is that we're all set for Sun. Dec. 16th for Greta's baptism. The only real question left to confirm is immersion or pouring on the head. Our church gives you the option and actually prefers the immersion method where the baby is dunked into the water. Not sure what we'll do yet, as Greta hasn't mastered 'taking a bath' without going poop, so that could be trouble if we go that route...