We have been home from our trip to the Bluegrass for over two weeks and I am just now getting around to posting some of the photos. As I look at these pictures I realize that Eleanora has already grown since then. The trip was a journey of firsts. First airplane ride…

First time meeting Best Friend Jenny…

First time wearing sunglasses with MamaSissy…

First time hanging out with her dad’s whole family, who so graciously traveled from Philadelphia and Los Angeles to be with us…

First time getting tossed around by Uncle Brian…

She got some hang-time with her great-grandparents and her grandparents…

And of course there was the main event – Eleanora Babe’s baptism.

In a pre-baptism meeting a couple of days before, the priest gave Mike & me a pamphlet for parents and godparents and encouraged us all to read it. We said we would, and we took it home and set it on the coffee table where it was accessible to all of us. The next morning, I came into the kitchen to discover that someone, who shall remain nameless…

… had decorated the baptism pamphlet with salad dressing and a leftover croissant from last night’s dinner that he found in the garbage.

Seester attempted to save it by taking off the front and back cover, but… yuck. We felt a little guilty, but nobody read it. It was sticky and it smelled like vinaigrette.

On the big baptism day, Eleanora wore a new christening gown because she was too big to wear her mama’s or her daddy’s. There is a very special christening gown in her dad’s family that is 110 years old and has been worn by every baby on that side of the family for several generations. It is exquisite, and it is TINY. Not wanting Eleanora to miss out on the tradition, we draped it over her for her water sprinkles.

Photo courtesy of Hans Flueck

Then the priest accidentally spilled chrism (the christening oil) right in her eyes. Like, a lot of it. I almost had a heart attack, and for a brief moment I thought the headline on the evening news would be: “Mother punches priest.” But… I kept my composure and was so glad that Eleanora’s Nana (Mike’s mom) is a nurse and would keep a watchful, medically-trained eye on those precious peepers. So if Eleanora’s eyes look red and puffy in these photos, it’s because they were doused with balsam-scented olive oil. Not feeling so guilty about that baptism pamphlet anymore.

Here is the newest member of the flock with her parents and godparents…

… and with my godparents, Alyson and David.

She wore a gold bracelet that was my mother’s when she was a baby…

… and a gold ring that was mine when I was a baby…

… and she got squeezed and kissed by her Uncle Tim and Aunt Lolly, which was super fun…

… until it wasn’t. 🙂

Overall we had a fabulous trip — too short, as always — but filled with special time with loved ones. Eleanora was really good on the plane both coming and going. I had such anxiety about how she would do, knowing that stepping onto a plane with a baby is like being Forrest Gump on the school bus… no one wants you to sit with them, and they’re not shy about it. The next time you see a baby on an airplane, I hope you keep in mind that the mother has probably been awake all the night before with anxiety. When I woke up the morning of our flight to Kentucky, I could literally SEE my heart beating in my chest, that’s how nervous I was. What if she screams the whole time? What if she wants to be carried up and down the aisle but there’s turbulence and they won’t let us? What if she throws up? What if people are unkind (says the mother who wanted to punch a priest)? What if she takes a giant poop and I have to change it in that tiny, dirty airplane bathroom? (For the record, the only in-flight diaper change occurred on the flight home, and Hubba Bubba bravely did it. There was no diaper changing pull-down in the plane bathroom, so he put the lid down on the toilet, sat there, and somehow changed her on his lap. Is he a saint or what?)

There was so much more, but this is all I have time to write about for now. A certain someone is stirring from her nap, so I will wrap it up here. Special thanks to Seester, Brother-in-Law Dan, and Cooper (aka “Big Baby”) for letting us invade their home for five days. Ellie Babe can’t wait to come back. 😉

xoxo,

P.S. Happy Birthday to Eleanora Babe’s namesake, Eleanora Onorato Duffy. I believe she would have been 99 today.