Clare after 1 month

Our little Clare is already a month old. I don't know where the time went! Out the window with our sleep I guess!! She's had a busy first month what with snowstorms, Christmas at the Ramseyers', New Years at the Ledesma's in Canada, a wedding in Bellingham and her Baptism last week!

Her Baptism was really special. Our little Clare Scholastica was Baptised in a truck driving school on the eve of the Baptism of the Lord. Well....okay so it's a Church inside a truck driving school, but it's still fun to say. All parishes have to start somewhere! Fr. Frank made the private baptism feel extra special. It was wonderful having a priest we've known for so long be able to bring our baby into life with Christ. I wasn't sure how it would feel as a parent to have our baby Baptised, but I think for Jon and I the most prominent feeling was of relief. For me it felt like our first duty of being a parent was fulfilled. Task #1 get her baptised has been completed. I almost had a feeling that someone up there kept telling me, "The clock is ticking! Get it done!!"

So when it finally happened I was a lot more relaxed. Ah, who knows it might have been the great smell of the Chrism working some aromatherapy magic. ;) ha ha! j/k

Woohoo! Now she's without original sin! It's crazy to think that she'll basically be in a state of grace until she's 7 at the age of reason. That's so cool.

God does marvellous things with our lives. Baptising our baby was step one in acknowledging that. We had the chance to sign the sacramental child rental papers. I think it was St. Therese of Lisieux's mother who instilled the idea in her that God had only let her mother borrow her for a time before she was to be returned to God. That's a lot of what I thought about as the water was pouring over her head. I just kept thinking, "We'll take good care of her for you God."

Choice Fr. Frank quotes from the baptism:

"Yay no more pagan baby!" - after baptising Clare with the Holy Water
"This will be the most well documented baptism in a truck driving school ever!" - after all the camera flashes

Here are some of my other favorite shots of her in the past week. She feels like she's grown so much! My arms tire quickly now when I hold her and Jon found out last night that he can't secure her diaper as tightly as before. It seems that when you're a parent time just feels like it's constantly slipping away, so you really have to make a point to enjoy every second of their development. People aren't kidding when they say, "They'll be all grown up before you know it!"