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Saturday was hot – to say the least. So Daddy, Justin and I all went to sit in the grass in some shade to cool off in the evening. You can’t tell me that my little boy’s adorable baby-chub rolls aren’t the least bit “munch-able”. 
And this picture had to be added simply because the poor little guy was just tuckered out after a long, hot day – and it happened to be adorable:
Today, since it was even hotter, I decided to take Justin for his first trip to the swimming pool (the moment there weren’t a bunch of kids splashing around in there, we had our suits on and were there!):
Justin liked kicking and watching his feet move in the water. Better than the biggest bathtub ever!
Very refreshing, yes? A good time was had by all, and we all felt MUCH better afterward – though Justin was pretty tuckered out!
Hi everyone! I wanted to share a few of my favorite pictures from Sunday…
Justin with Auntie Kate!
Justin with his new Nouno Niko and Nouna Stella!
Crashed out like 30 seconds after starting the car to head home from Church…
Looking cute with Nanna and Poppa:
Left to right: Manda, Niko, Stella, Justin, Matt, me, Poppa, and Nanna
Left to right: Stella, Niko, Matt, me, Justin (obviously), Sean, Chris and Kate!
If anyone reading this has pictures I don’t… pass them along via email! I’d love to see them!
UPDATE: I have compiled ALL of our pictures from Justin’s Baptism (including the ones graciously taken by Kh. Carol) here.
Hello everyone! As promised, here is my blog chronicling our baby boy’s Baptism!
In the Orthodox Church, the Sacrament of Holy Baptism really starts Saturday night with the blessing of the Priest on Justin – these are the same prayers of blessing used to induct adults as catechumens. As part of this blessing, the Priest blows his breath on the faithful’s head in the sign of a cross three times. I wish we’d had our camera handy, because Justin leaned out toward Fr. Mel and LOVED it when he blew on his head. His eyes got really big and was making gestures as if to say, “Do it again!!”. It was ADORABLE!
I have TONS of pictures, even video of the whole Baptism (it’s about 20 minutes long and will soon be in two parts on YouTube – yes, I’ll link it here when I’ve got it up there).
All in all, Justin did awesome. After Saturday night, I think he knew something was up (why do we have company staying over night, Momma?) and so didn’t sleep well. Sunday morning he woke up a fair bit earlier than usual, but enjoyed playing with his soon-to-be Nouna, Stella; and Niko’s mom, Manda. I worried that he’d be too tired at church, and I was right… he fussed until after his dunking when I just took him and rocked him to sleep (I held him while he was sleeping for a good 25 minutes between his Baptism and Communion). He was much better after his little cat-nap.
If you don’t know much about how an Orthodox Baptism goes, check this out. It’s the full text and outline of the entire Baptismal Service that happens within a normal Sunday Liturgy. In short, there are several parts:
1. The Catechism – Saturday night.
2. The prayers of Exorcism – It sounds scary, but is really neat. It makes so much sense that you would openly renounce Satan and all his works before being washed clean in Baptism. Here, Justin is clothed in just his diaper and the beautiful white blanket his godparents got him:
3. The Blessing of the Waters – Obviously, this is where the Priest blesses the water that Justin would be Baptized in.
4. The Blessing of the Oil – This special oil is poured into the water in the shape of the cross, then wiped in the shape of a cross on various significant parts of the baby’s body (forehead, eyelids, ears, mouth, chest, back, hands, and feet), and then poured into the Godparents’ cupped hands:
The Godparents then rub the oil all over the baby’s body. This symbolizes so many things, not the least of which is the Godparents role in the child’s spiritual development. Niko seemed to look forward especially to this part, as he recently studied the history and significance of this part of the sacrament at Seminary.
Justin enjoyed this part more than it appears in the picture, I assure you.
5. Then comes the dunking- Three times, of course!
No, I’ll admit, he didn’t like the actual dunking part. Mostly I think because he was tired and was like, “What?! You know I’m tired and you’re doing what to me now?! Can’t we just cuddle?!” He was happy to be wrapped up in fluffy white towels on Stella:
As soon as Fr. Mel blessed Justin’s little Baptismal outfit, Stella and I took Justin to get him dressed and then brought him back in for the next thing:
6. Holy Chrismation – this Sacrament is both Confirmation and the bestowing of the gift of the Holy Spirit by the anointing of an oil called “Chrism”. After this, Fr. Mel puts Justin’s cross on him for the first time.
7. The Procession around the Baptismal font – your first steps as a Christian, the start of your journey in Christ, there are many meanings for it, and we sing, “As many as have been Baptized into Christ have put on Christ! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!”
8. Communion – unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of Justin taking his first Communion, but I can tell you this: at the time he had been asleep in my arms for a good 20 minutes and when Niko and Stella presented him for Communion he barely woke up. Fr. Mel had to sort of stuff the Host into his sleeping mouth afterwhich Justin made a face and went back to sleep. He might have been tired.
9. Ablution – Here, Fr. Mel takes a sponge soaked with clean water and goes over Justin in the places he was crossed with the Chrism. This removes the Chrism, symbolizing that now, Justin has become the sacrament.
10. The Tonsure – For whatever reason, this is just about my favorite part of a Baptism, and I’m proud of Justin’s first haircut. After this, Justin is presented to the Church as a new, full member of the Orthodox Church.
So there it is. The only thing missing from this blog are a few HUGE thank you’s:
To Justin’s new Godparents: Niko and Stella. We’re so glad to have chosen them, and they did such a wonderful job in helping put Justin’s Baptism together. Thank you for taking the time and care to pick out an outfit for our little boy to wear, a blanket, his Icon of St. Justin, and spending every available minute with Justin!
To our family: Mom, Dad – thank you first for coming up from Edmonds to be here with Justin at this big event, and also for taking all those pictures and the video too. We love you!
To our friends:
Kate and Chris - you guys are awesome. It means so much to us that you would drive from southern Idaho just to be with us for Justin’s Baptism. I only wish you could have stayed longer!
Erin, Phil, and Eddie – you are such wonderful friends. Thank you for everything it took for you to be there and share in our joy!
Sean – we were so happy to have you there. Thank you, always.
Manda – Justin couldn’t have a better Grand-Nouna!
Patty – We’re so grateful to have you in our lives. We’re so glad you came!
Those who wanted to come but couldn’t – Thank you for encouraging us and keeping us three in your prayers!
Hi everyone! Well, it’s been an exciting first week back to work for all of us. An adjustment for sure, but much smoother than I anticipated.
I’m finding that I really am enjoying being back at work – huge surprise for me. Part of that I think is that the last time I was at work I was VERY pregnant and uncomfortable, and now I have A LOT more energy and get a lot of energy from the people around me. I like the exercise of running around all day too. (Speaking of exercise, I’m excited to announce that I’m now 17lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight!!) Another reason I’m feeling good back at work is knowing that Justin is doing AWESOME with his nanny. Helen is terrific with Justin and they genuinely seem like they have a good time together:
Also in the news: Justin is 3 months old!! He’s a big boy too – last time he was weighed he was upwards of 15lbs and I measured his length today at 25.5 inches. He’s wearing almost exclusively 6-months size clothes even!
Here’s what Justin is up to as of his 3 month “birthiversary”:
1. Chatting it up with anyone with two eyes and a mouth.
2. Spitting and blowing bubbles are HILARIOUS to him.
3. Propping himself up on his elbows as he looks around the room.
4. Almost rolling over – if he has something to pull on with his hand, he can do it pretty easily.
5. Sit-ups. If you lay him on his back, it’s not too long before he’s tightening up his tummy muscles and trying to pull himself up.
6. Given the option, he will generally prefer to stand (with help) at all times, this is a part of him NEEDING to be facing out where he can see everything as much as possible. This has also made for some pretty fun contortions in Church.
7. Sucking on his hands. Sometimes I think it’d take a whole roll of duct tape to keep his hands out of his mouth…
8. Drooling incessantly. If the pediatrician didn’t say that this kind of volume was normal in a baby who isn’t teething, I’d think he was gonna be competing with a shark for number of teeth sometime in the next week.
9. Giving Daddy lots of trouble. And by “trouble” I mean being a whole lot of fun. Daddy’s beard is now the play ground of Justin’s chubby little fingers.
10. Attempting to remove various facial features (like say, my lips) with his hands and trying to examine them further by putting them in his (very wet) mouth – he’s frequently dissappointed when he discovers that somehow my lips didn’t make the trip from my face to his hands to his mouth.
And here is an “official” picture of my little boy at 3 months old:
Oh, and here’s one of my new favorites for pictures with Daddy (this was appropriately taken on Father’s Day):
Coming up: Justin’s Baptism!
Hi everyone!
Well, we survived my first day back at work.
I had our nanny come early today and made sure she held Justin while I finished making sure everything was in order for her – that way Justin got to know that she was okay with me. He was all smiles when I left. From what I hear, he had a few little meltdowns, but overall did beautifully. His one big fit happened when I called to check in at 5:30pm (I was scheduled from 2-7:30) – of course. But, she got Justin to take two little naps (20-30 minutes each), and he played and laughed and enjoyed going for a walk outside with Helen.
As for me, things went very well. It was a lot easier than I expected. I think after our trial run with the nanny I felt a lot more confident and relaxed. All in all, the workday was pretty easy. At BioLife, we have perpetual revisions in our operating procedures that we have to read and review and sign off on before we can work. Most of the time you get to read the changes and sign off before the actual change happens, but in my case, I’ve been gone for 3 months so I had 3 months worth of reading to do – ack! So, I spent the first 4 hours getting those taken care of, polishing my annual recertification, relearning and being tested on how to run the Auto-C (the machine that actually separates the blood cells and plasma during a plasmapheresis procedure), and getting my NCE’s signed off. Anyway, I pretty much sat on my bum just reading and going through paperwork. Then I got to go home early since the person who needed to sign off on the work (so I could, in turn, do my job) won’t be back in until the morning.
Going home early was a good thing, it turns out, because I apparently can’t go 5 hours without pumping. I had hoped that my shift (2-7:30 - only 5.5 hours and we’re generally sent home before that last half hour is up) would be short enough for me to just pump before and after my shift. Unfortunately, to be able to not have my boobs hanging out when the nanny arrived I had to pump at 1pm, so by 4:30pm I felt like I was gonna blow. I have a problem though: a scheduled 5 hour shift isn’t long enough to warrant a lunch break for me to pump during. This may take a little fenagling. I’m gonna bring my pump and whatnot to work tomorrow and see if I can’t take closer to a 15-20 minute break and get it done – at least enough to make me not so uncomfortable.
Tonight was interesting. Justin definitely had an interesting day. He was tired, but wound up too. It seemed to take forever to get him to bed. He’s been hittin’ the hay at about 9:30 lately, but tonight it was closer to 10:45 – and we had to earn it (lots of bouncing on the ball… for like, eternity…). That’s gonna be an adjustment if it’s a schedule change that sticks around. I know it’s only an hour difference, but when you’re tired and hungry and dying to defrag a little from your own change in schedule, it sure feels like a lot.
Thanks for your support everyone! Still, if you have any tips on making the adjustment to being a working mom, let me know!
Hi everyone. Well, the day has finally (though far too quickly) arrived: I return to work today. I know Justin will be fine (long-term), but I also know that today will likely be a tough one for both of us. My poor little Drool-Monkey!
We’re all ready though – there’s enough momma-milk in the freezer to feed not just one baby, but an army of babies. The joys of being an over-producer… Note the change in method of freezing in oerder to make more room…
Almost inconceivably too, my scrubs fit better than they ever have (though, admittedly, I fill out the chest a little more). The last time I wore my scrubs I had to wear my very modified pants (with an added elastic panel), and I couldn’t get the top past my chest. I might have been a huge pregnant lady at the time. ;) As far as my weight loss goes, I’m still about 10lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight – though I’m hoping the added exercise from work helps me continue to lose what I’m already getting helped with by breastfeeding. I’d love to be an overall healthier weight by next March – the trick is eating little enough to lose weight but still eating enough to lactate enough nutritious milk for Justin. We’ll work it out.
In the meantime I have to survive my first few shifts away from my sweet baby boy. If anyone has any tips for making this transition easier – please comment! Wish us luck!
Matt met Patty at our Target’s pharmacy about a year and a half ago. Besides the usual signing for sudafed, Matt noticed that she was wearing an Orthodox cross and somehow found a polite way to ask her about it. Turns out she’s an awesome Serbian Orthodox woman with a husband who’s an Iconographer and an adorable (and entertaining) little boy. Over the last year we’ve really gotten to be good friends and we’re looking forward to having them come to Justin’s Baptism later this month!
P.s. aren’t the little flip-flops I found for Justin cute?!
Hello, everyone!
I wanted to share something about our little family: Matt loves to introduce Justin to new things and objects and tell him about them. Frequently the items are toys of various kinds, but sometimes it’s other things, like bright book covers or various kitchen utensils. Check out the following:
A note about Justin and Icons: He really likes them. We have a very large Icon of St. Hermon of Alaska at Church that he loves to gaze at, at home he likes Matt’s Ethiopic Icon of St. Luke and the Icon of the Nativity (as seen above). Sorta cool. One thing Justin really enjoys looking at/watching I discovered this morning when I got up to find Justin on Matt’s knee watching various “laughing babies” on YouTube. Seriously. Justin was smiling and cooing at the babies on the screen; it was hilarious!
In short, there’s nothing that Justin misses. If I put a toy away in his toy basket, he will stare and pull himself toward the toy basket until I pull that toy out again. The other thing he’s really into now is laying on the floor and hanging on to my thumbs and pulling himself to a sit, and then to a stand. Over, and over, and over again.
A funny thing about Matt: he thinks it’s hilarious to tease Justin when he’s hungry (he’ll get his bottle ready, and the whole time be telling Justin that he fed his milk to a cat named Mittens who looked hungry). Justin generally is not that amused, but I am. Also, we were talking about how funny it is that babies are the only demographic for whom it’s not only acceptable but encouraged to drink oneself to sleep. Matt ran with this and said something like this about the topic (confronting Justin about his “drinking problem”):
Matt: “Can’t you see what you’re doing to yourself? You’re a mess! You’ve gotta lay off the sauce.”
Justin: “Coo…gaa”
Matt: “Look, you drink yourself to sleep every night. It’s gotten so bad that you just lie there in your own waste, depending on others to clean you up! Face it, man, you’ve got a problem.”
Justin: “geee… ehh, goo!”
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