Baptism

We welcomed Shannon into the Catholic Church over the weekend. We were so blessed to have family and friends from near and far come to be part of her baptism. Aunt Kathy and Uncle Mike are her godparents. (Lucky girl!)

It turned out to be a l-o-n-g ceremony, but Shannon was a trooper. (And a cat-napper.)




She made very funny faces when the water was poured over her head and thought the oil used to annoint her tasted pretty good (she wanted to suck on Deacon Ray's finger!).

Afterwards, we came back to our house for lunch...

... and cake!

Thank you to everyone for sharing this special day with us, especially those who did a lot of traveling in a weekend!

PS. I owe you all another post soon with some close-ups of our holy little girl in her beautiful baptism gown made for her by her Great-Grandma Rose.

Three Months Old

Here's our cheery girl at three months old. She has really gotten fun recently. She is a smiley baby, especially in the morning when she has just woken up and especially when you coo and tell her just how adorable she is. She is absolutely smitten with Daddy and gives him the biggest grins.

She's started "talking" and is a pretty convincing conversationalist. (I would love to meet this En-gee seems to be quite fond of.) Sometimes she'll muster up a great 2 or 3 syllable streak and then start to laugh. Clearly, she has inherited Mom's trait of thinking that she is hilarious.

She's able to hold onto things now for short periods of time. Her links, pink ball (Thanks, Brette!), pieces of fabric (Thanks, Grammy!), Mommy's hair and measuring spoons are favorites to grab these days.

I had some fun playing around with some recent shots. I love that she's got different "moods" to capture now. Enjoy the black and whites!

Encantada

What could delight a little girl this much?

Her super-amazing, magical mobile.

One day last week I set her in her crib and turned it on for her. I expected it would entertain her for a few minutes while I got something from downstairs. I came back up to find her laughing and staring and just plain old being amazed by it.

(This one is blurry because she was dancing when I snapped it.)

Down the Shore

We're on vacation!

Deciding to take advantage of warm fall weather, great off-season rates and only one work schedule to take time off from, we whisked ourselves away to the beach. Or in true east coast jargon, "down the shore."

The weather has been beautiful and we've just been hanging out. Lots of stroller treks on the boardwalk and Baby Bjorn walks on the beach.

Best part so far...Shannon got to dip her toes in the ocean!

Since it's the off-season, dogs are allowed on the beach. Believe it or not, Spike has been the brave one who has happily ventured out into the waves with Chris.

Sadie needed a bit more, umm, "encouragement" to get out there with the boys.

Good thing we practically have this place to ourselves! :)