Thursday, February 18, 2010

Baptism



Happy Fatherhood Friday everyone! And Happy Birthday to Fatherhood Friday! Congratulations to dad-blogs.com on one year of this fun-filled event. I know I've enjoyed participating for the vast majority of that year. Be sure to check out all of the great dad bloggers over there.

Over the last year, I've chronicled the fun of getting ready for church, attending church, and even trying to sit in the front row at church.

If all of the above wasn't enough to make you tired, last week we added Bab-E Brother's baptism on top of it (HELP! My sucker tattoo is burning like fire on my forehead a la Harry Potter's scar.)

And just to make things even more complicated to spice things up a bit, I decided to pick up a case of gastroenteritis from Little Brother just 24 hours before the baptism, and drop about 6 pounds, thereby making it a challenge for me just to shower, get dressed, and show up.

Of course, we ended up feeding the boys during the service, knowing that they wouldn't make it through church plus the baptism without getting really hungry (and tired and irritable and fussy). This was a great idea, because I can think of no better way to spend church than bending over at my seat, vacuuming up crumbs with my fingers, and apologizing to the lady behind us who had goldfish thrown at her.

Having survived the church service, we started the baptism.

I kept Little Brother occupied by carrying him, while Mom-E held Bab-E Brother.

Big Brother was given the special responsibility of holding the baptismal candle.

While this was originally a great idea for about 30 seconds, to a 5 year-old, a candle becomes a combination Thundercats Sword of Omens/Harry Potter wand, with which to:
a. Swing at your Little Brother
b. Swing at the Baptismal Font
c. All of the above

Correct answer: (c)

Fortunately we made it through the "pour water on his head" part without any small children running away screaming madly.

And then 30 seconds later, small children started running away screaming madly.

It started with Big Brother, who no longer holding a candle, suddenly became unable to stand still. In the blink of an eye, he had eloped.

Now running around the church and through the seats, Mom-E and I were left with the dilemma of wanting to both:
a. Pay close attention to the remainder of the baptismal ceremony.
b. Scream for Big Brother to "Hey, get your @$$ back over here." (Wait a minute, we're at church.)

Monkey-see, monkey-do. Next thing you know, Little Brother is pleading for me "put me down, put me down" while turning his body into a worm, with the unique ability to make his skeleton disappear.

I feel myself heating up due to fever in frustration (hey, can you splash some of that baptismal water over this way to help cool me off). In a moment of futility, my weakness and fatigue starting to get the best of me, I let him go.

And he's off to the races with Big Brother!

Our saving grace is that outside of the officiant, everyone in the church is either family or close friends. Still, my blood is now a gentle, rolling boil of embarassment.

Or is that the virus coursing through my veins?

Either way, after what seems like an eternity, the baptism is over.

Big Brother and Litlle Brother, meanwhile, are at the halfway point of their little Sanctuary 500 race.

During the intermission, we "attempt" (very loosely) to take a family photo. It was a family photo in the sense of all 5 of us were in the picture, even if everyone's eyes and bodies were pointing in different directions.

At this point, I'm pretty much exhausted, and decided to sit down and just chat it up with the godfather, Kid-Nee, while the ladies talk and open presents. Meanwhile, the brothers Big and Little have resumed their race.

And such is life, sometimes, with 3 young boys. You've got to pick your battles.

(In the words of Cousin Eddie, "sometimes you've just gotta let 'em finish, Clark.")

It was a nice baptism. We were thankful for the attendance of our friends and family. We're thankful for Big Brother and Little Brother, who I must remind myself are 5 and 2, and are still pretty good boys and good big brothers.

Congrats, Bab-E Brother, we love you.

Have a good weekend,
Busy-Dad-E

13 comments:

  1. Blessings to bab-e and your family.

    Too bad you were at church, otherwise you could have put money on the "sanctuary 500" to help cover the flu medicine expenses. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. We got our daughte baptized she was 3 and her cousin of the same age was there. It was near impossible to get them both to sit still long enough to get the water poured on her head

    ReplyDelete
  3. I concur..."congrats" for getting through it LOL

    Happy FF Friday!

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  4. i still the boys seem to remarkably well at church. man, i wish you could see my girls when they were younger. they were always all over the place at stores, and sometimes they'd disappear somehow causing us to look all over the store for them (and this is with me watching as closely as i can ALL the time). they were totally handfuls. oh, and the temper tantrum my oldest would throw causing her hip to make popping noises was not limited to home lol

    ReplyDelete
  5. At the same time I laugh, I also cringe in fear ... we're going to have our foster son baptised on Easter Sunday in front of the whole church ... what havoc are my little ones going to cause?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Our church practices full submersion baptism. The only way the kids could get away is by swimming.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congrats!!! We had to find a chapel that does Catholic Mass in 30 minutes or less because our Demon Spawn 5 year old cannot sit still for more than about 25 minutes...it was a challenge; but we found the mass. It's at 7:00am on Sundays....God help us.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Welcome to the church Baby-E Brother! May God always protect and embrace you with love and hapinness. Rosi

    ReplyDelete
  9. Congrats to Bab-E brother on his baptism! Congrats to all of you as well. "Sanctuary 500" sounds like a new game I know some of my younger nieces and nephews would love to play in church. I think their moms and dads would have the same reaction you did.

    I hope you are feeling better. I hope no one else in your house gets sick. Just think, you have extra six pounds you can enjoy putting back on . . .

    ReplyDelete
  10. @Seashore Subjects: Thanks. In this case, water was the best medicine.

    @Buck Rogers: More than 1 small child at baptism = mob mentality

    @BellaDaddy: Yes, we made "I survived Bab-E's Baptism" t-shirts

    @Ciara: I wish we could show the boys videos of how they acted at church, when they get older.

    @Goofdad: Best wishes and congrats!

    @MochaDad: My boys would find a way to escape.

    @Moby: We'd have to stay up all night in order to be on time for a 7am mass.

    @Rosi: Thanks for your kind words.

    @Surprised Mom: Thanks. I'm sure your nieces/nephews would instinctively know how to play. Unfortunately, I think the weight is already back.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Glad you all managed to survive the day.I hope the virus has completely cleared out and that things are running a little smoother for you.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It was a beautiful baptism...congrats Bab-E Brother! Hope you all stay healthy! love, aunt-e

    ReplyDelete
  13. @WM: Oh that virus cleared me out, yes indeedy. I love my brand-new GI tract, after the old one exited my body. :)

    @Aunt-E: Thanks. Any event where no one bleeds IS beautiful.

    ReplyDelete