Baptism

Ada was baptized yesterday. It was a beautiful ceremony. The party afterward was really great! Moira and Ben prepared all the food and took care of all the related details - an excellent baptism gift! Tim's mom and grandmother (who made the baptismal gown) came in to town. The icing for me is that Ada's godmother, my cousin Colrain, was able to manage a short trip out and her son David was able to come too. In all, the entire weekend exceeded my expectations. I'll see if I can get pics of the invitations I made. They came out pretty well but I didn't bother to keep one for ourselves.

 

  

  

  

 

  

  

  

Florida Trip #3

We had a great trip! Ada did pretty well on the plane. It's a different ball game now than it was 4 months ago. In the Houston airport on the way to Tampa Ada took an interest in my banana so I let her try it out. Here is the result:

If you can't tell, that is baby puke in my shoe. Good shot, kid!

We got together with Mrs. White and Chase, who is about the cutest baby ever! He was wearing a panda T-shirt, by the way. Well, this whole time I've been lamenting about how Ada isn't interested in food and solids aren't going well (see above picture), blah, blah, blah. Well, we have a seat at the restaurant and Ada is watching Chase and decides that solids might be kind of fun after all. Luckily, Callie came fully prepared: she introduced Ada to Mum-mums and even had a spare bib. Here are the kids having at it at the table followed by a self-portrait.

 

 

It took off from there. Essesntially, we arrived in FL with one baby and left with a different one. She tried and loved peas. She now is into the sippy cup. She outgrew her car seat - when we got home on Saturday we went out and bought her a new car seat. And a new umbrella stroller since we can't use the snap-n-go thing without the car seat. Besides, she would much rather face forward and look around than stare at the same people she's been staring at for months now!

 

  

 

On our way from Jacksonville to Gainesville we went through St. Augustine for a little trip down memory lane. We went by the bed and breakfast the whole family stayed at the weekend of our wedding. We visited the gazebo where we were married. Then we had dinner at the restaurant where our reception was held. Such fun memories but, gosh nothing stays the same, does it?

 

 

The whole purpose of this trip was my attendance at NAVC. The meeting was a good one for me and I got all my CE so I can keep my FL and CA veterinary licenses. I got to see some old friends, teachers, and hang out with my besties for a while. I don't have any pictures of this, strangely. I am a terrible documentarian but also this is a sign that I was way too preoccupied to remember that I had a camera with me! Love you girls! This really is too bad as we got some REALLY great pictures of Laura and Ada making out! If anyone sends them to me I'll be sure to post. That whole series might demand a post of it's own.

Home Sweet Home

I'll write more later but Iust wanted to get this down before I forgot about it:

This Sunday morning brought one of those beautiful moments that you wish you could capture in a picture to provide a lasting memory. Ada awoke early - we're all still on FL time I guess. Tim got up and changed her, made a bottle, and brought her back to the bed. Tim and I curled toward each other with Ada between us. There we three lay all nestled together under the covers just snuggling against the cold of our old Victorian apartment. Tim held a bottle for Ada and she provided the soundtrack of gently humming "Om". One-by-one, three of the four cats joined us. They are so happy we are finally home. It was one of the sweetest moments of my life.

A trip update complete with pictures will be forthcoming. We had a great time, loved seeing our friends, it was a great meeting for me, and the kicker - we left with one baby and returned with someone different. Seriously, if we blink we might miss Ada's entire childhood!