The Baptism

A number of months ago, while I was still on maternity leave, my husband and I decided to christen our daughter. Normally people wait many months do this but I knew I’d have the time to plan only while I was home. I couldn’t guarantee what my life would be like once I was back at work.


I went to my parish church to find out what it would take and luckily they are very liberal and cool. So that reduced my anxiety substantially. Then the question became who should be the godparents and that wasn’t too difficult when it came to godmothers, it was ‘who will be the godfather?’ I knew who I wanted to be the godfather but he was in Mexico with very little chance of making it NY anytime soon. So I asked at the church if a godfather was absolutely necessary and they said that it’s just ceremonial, not necessary. Phew! Issue solved.

As we began to plan the details of the after ceremony, I had to get out invitations and find a place. The godmothers were off looking for a christening dress and they were slim pickings. I nailed down a place but needed to get a number on the people. The dress was yet to be found. Then my husband’s sister’s trip was cancelled which was earlier in the month and I asked if she could change her ticket to come for the baptism. And she jumped all over that request. And luckily she found a dress too. Everything was falling into place which made me happy.

The day of the baptism had finally arrived. It was up the godmothers to dress the baby. I ran off to get dressed and papa took pictures. Munchkin cooperated until the actual moment the dress was placed on her. I heard her belting a wail from the bathroom. I went to look in and I couldn’t help but laugh. Thankfully she wasn’t into frilly dresses at this stage of the game. The godmothers did their best to get her dolled up nonetheless. And we were off to church.

8 other babies were getting christened that day so it was quite a packed house. Munchkin took a nap on the way to the church and sadly we had to wake her up for the ceremony. She was in a daze and yawned a couple of times. Then it was our turn to go up and my husband and I went to the baptismal well with the baby. The priest said ‘what a well behaved baby’ after he poured the holy water on her head. She did seem just perfect until he said that. Then she cried and cried and howled. My husband and I couldn’t help but laugh. Of course the one kid who would cry would be ours. We tried to calm her down; friends came to offer assistance. I barely heard the rest of the mass but I didn’t care. She was asserting her personality and sounding a little bit like her grandpa – boisterous and aggravated in church.

After the ceremony, we went to have dinner. She was a tad bit perturbed because it was turning into such a long day for her. But soon after everyone had the cake, my husband brought her home to sleep in her bassinet. She fell right to sleep.

In the grand scheme of things now in the afterthought, it wasn’t too bad. But while I was doing everything, it seemed overwhelming and I was still only getting a few hours of sleep a day. Not sure how I pulled it all together especially when my mom was bugging me about all the little details that just didn’t matter. I look at those pictures now and I chuckle because I am sure I was stressed beyond belief. But looking at her crying at her dress and at the ceremony just makes me see what a personality I have on my hands. I am very thankful for that and for her.