Baptism

One of the things we were hoping for was to have Amelia baptized at the church where John and I both grew up. John and I were married at the church and William was baptized here as well. We considered having Amelia baptized at our new church here in Missouri, but then most of our family wouldn't have been able to be there. So, Rochester it was!

One of the reasons we needed to schedule a baptism is this dress (the lines on the window were making me so mad! I just wanted the dress! Argh!). This dress was purchased by my Great Grandma Myrtle for my mom's (Kim) baptism. We'll go ahead and say that was a few years ago. She wore the dress and I also wore the dress when I was baptized roughly 30 years ago. My sister and girl cousins all wore this dress as well. It was very special for Amelia to wear this dress on her baptism day for my family - which means we needed to hurry up and do it before she grew!

William has three godparents (Aunt Kaye, Jessica&Chris Gaedke, so we selected three godparents for Amelia as well: Joe & Cathy Moore (John's sister and husband) and Jeff Conderman (our very good friend and my former coworker). I don't think we could have come up with better godparents - words can't fully express how much we admire and respect Joe, Cathy and Jeff. We were so thrilled that all three of them were able to make the trip to Rochester with just a few weeks notice (Jeff from St Louis, Cathy & Joe from Chicago). It made Amelia's day so special to have all three of them there with her.

In addition to her godparents, all four of Amelia's Great Grandparents from North Dakota were able to attend as well as Great Aunt Kaye, Great Uncle Kevin, Kelly's siblings and parents. We were lucky enough to have high school friends Jessica(with baby Cana) and Jesse there as well as one of our mentors from high school youth group, Randy in attendance. A lot of people drove a lot of miles to be with our family and Amelia. For such a busy holiday weekend without much notice, we had quite the crowd! It really was a very special day for our family to be surrounded by our family and friends.

Amelia's name on the bapitismal wall hanging (left side)
It was a little chaotic because there were 2 other baptisms during the service
It's dark, but it's the best one we have of everyone during the baptism
Handing her over to the pastor...she had been sleeping very peacefully
The baptism itself was pretty quick...
Which was good because Amelia was NOT happy about being woken up with the water. She was SCREAMING. And if you've heard her cry, you know that Amelia has a very big voice.
Lighting the baptismal candle. Amelia is still unhappy...

Mama and Mia

Daddy, Mama and Mia

Us with our daughter

Amelia and her sponsors (L-R): Jeff Conderman, Daddy, Mama, Amelia, Joe Moore, Cathy Moore.

The godparents: Jeff Conderman, Cathy Moore, Joe Moore

Same picture, Cathy holding Amelia
The same picture, a little clearer and a little darker

Cathy and Joe with Amelia. Amelia LOVED Cathy. She was all smiles in Cathy's arms and even laughed out loud! It was just smile after smile after smile! Very cute! I am pretty sure in this picture she is charming the pants off both of these two.
Jeff and Amelia

Our family! William would NOT put down the snack trap
It is fun to try and get a picture with a wiggly two year old!
Our family! William, John, Kelly, Amelia. Finally let go of the orange cup for the big red Bible
Jeff admiring his goddaughter

John and his sister, Cathy

After the baptism, my parents generously put together a lunch for everyone. It was WONDERFUL and I didn't have to do anything! I got to enjoy our family and friends without worrying about the food, kitchen or anything work related. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Amelia's cake (just turn your head, sorry!)
Grandma Kim (aka Baby Hog) does what she does best
The McGarry Kids (L-R): Mike, Kelly, Megan
William coloring with GranGerry

It also got to be Daddy's birthday for a few mintues on Sunday! Thank you Grangerry and Grandpa Tom
A nice picture of Amelia and Grandma Kim. Note Amelia's pretty pink outfit. This outfit was a gift from the Gravdahl's when I was born. According to my mom, I wore this outfit when I was 6 months old. It just barely fits Amelia right now (8 weeks) because she is SO TALL. Crazy! Now, watch, she will be 5'1''.

Friends!

We had a lot of family anxious to meet Amelia, but the friends were lining up also! We were so excited to bring out baby girl to meet some new friends! Again, in no particular order...

First up is my best friend from high school, Jessica. In the background is her wonderful husband Chris and her adorable daughter Cana.
Better picture of Jessica, although it doesn't have the cutie in the background (that would be Cana, not Chris for the record)
Our girls! I still get a little teary with disbelief when I look at these pictures. I STILL can't believe we have a baby girl! We couldn't get over how tall Amelia is next to Cana. Cana is almost 6m months old and Amelia is almost 2 months old. We grow 'em tall 'round here!

These two are going to be friends for sure! At one point, the girls were almost holding hands. Of course, I did not get a picture of it! I love the fact that both girls have the crazy hair going on.
We also got to meet another awesome friend from high school with her new baby at the park. Here is Robyn and Mariella. Mariella is 27 days older than Amelia.
The girls (same blanket, different baby on the right)! As you can see, Mariella has discovered her feet recently. I don't think I have any pictures of her with her feet down!
We met Robyn and her family at a local park so our big kids could play while the mamas and babies visited. I was so happy to have some helpers with us at the park: Aunt Megan, Uncle Mike, and Daddy. I really got to enjoy my time visiting with the babies while the big kids could play.

The big kids! Jacob on the left and William on the right. Jacob is 5 months older than William. And, yes, William put his own hat on and wouldn't let anyone fix it so it was straight. He really is 2!

Jacob and William do a high five. The boys were not at all interested in meeting each other or having their picture taken together. They just wanted to play. It took a lot of work to get these few pictures of them together!

Uncle Mike shows William how it is done. It sure was nice of him to come with to keep an eye on William...seeing as he didn't enjoy himself!

Uncle Mike decided it was time to instruct William in the blowing of dandelion seeds
The lesson begins...
First attempt...

Second attempt. If you look carefully, you will see the dandelion seeds stuck to William's mouth. I think more went in than blew away!

We also were able to meet up with another high school friend, Jesse. We haven't seen Jesse in over a year and he drove in to see Amelia be baptized at our old church. What a special day for us!

A Long Trip + Meeting the Great Grandparents

We made our first trip home to Minnesota to visit over Memorial Day weekend. This trip was a big deal for a few reasons. First of all, this would be our first long trip with Amelia in the car. Second, this would be our first long trip in the car with two kids to entertain. Third, this was our first trip after our car accident after Christmas. So, a lot to contend with. But, we were ready. Or as ready as we were going to be.

Amelia is dressed and ready to go...until she spit up all over her outfit. Note the color differences between the left and right side of the overalls. Yes, we have a spitter.
How are you supposed to entertain a 7 week old baby for 6 hours? Carseat toys worked for awhile.
Amelia studies her toys hard
Amelia is so tired
William had the whole backseat to himself. He did a GREAT job! I was so proud of him! He did a wonderful job keeping himself entertained for most of the trip which was good because he was just about out of reach from mama.
William is tired too
So handsome
And here is what John was doing.

With this being our first trip north, we had a lot of people excited to meet Amelia. They were practically lining up and down the street. I think we could have made a bundle by charging admission. So, here are the new family members Amelia met, in no particular order (can't be playing favorites)

Great Grandpa Budd is always a favorite with the M&M's in his shirt pocket
Great Grandpa Budd snuggles in with Amelia. A special note about Amelia's outfit. This is an outfit given to me when I was a baby by my grandparent's friends, the Gravdahls.
These two look mighty comfy together here!

Great Grandpa with his Great Grandchildren

Amelia charms Great Grandma Nona
Such a precious moment. Great Grandpa takes pictures.
Great Grandma Nona works to get a smile
Our first attempt with Great Grandpa Tom didn't work out so well. For the record, this was bad timing on my part. Amelia was tired AND hungry...not the best time to get a great picture.
Now that is better! Amelia works her charms on Great Grandpa Tom
She loved looking at Great Grandpa. I could have gone away for a long time and I don't think either one of them would have noticed.

Great Grandma Gerry finally gets her hands on that baby!
The Great Grandparents McGarry admire Amelia while she works her charm on them. I think it is working!
So sweet! Remind me to tell you a not so sweet story about these two later. Hint: It involves poop.
Look at how happy they are!

All smiles for the Great Grangerry

And Auntie Kaye...
What attitude from the peanut!

And a few other pictures with family:

Snoozing with Daddy

Snoozing with Uncle Mike

So tired!

But, it isn't always easy to get your hands on her with our resident baby hog around: Grandma!

Being cute with Grandma! Amelia the Lamb!

And finally, William was so in love with this truck, he took it to bed. He didn't want it out of his sight for even a moment! Thanks for sharing your trucks Uncle Mike!