Ben’s Baptism Extravaganza!
It’s been a couple weeks since Ben’s baptism, but I’ve been swamped with work so I haven’t had a chance to do my review…
The day started out well. We got to the church 5 minutes before we were supposed to be there, which in itself was a miraculous feat. We’re never early for anything. Since the weather was really hot that day, I decided to bring Benling’s outfit with us and change him at the church. I was changing his shirt and everyone was saying how much they loved his hair. For some reason, it’s super-long and stands straight up…you can’t see it in the pictures here, but trust me, it’s pretty crazy/cool looking.
Different people wanted to hold him so he was being passed around a bit. As I was handing him off to someone, I smelled something funky. Was it poop? I shoved B’s crotch into my father-in-law’s face: “Does he smell like poo?” My f-i-l replied no, he smelled fine. I smelled myself all over, in case I got poop on myself during his change earlier. No poop. Ben was starting to get fussy so I decided to go into the church and feed him. I was feeding him, and there was about 2 minutes before the ceremony was to begin. He started fussing when he was eating, which he rarely does. I still smelled poop. I held him up and took another whiff. I had my sister smell him. Yes, she agreed, my baby was indeed poopy.
I knew that I didn’t have a lot of time to change him. I dragged Fata and Marilyn with me to the bathroom to do an quick emergency change. Fata handed me wipes while Marilyn held the new diaper. It turned out that Ben made a mongo-poop - there was a lot! We ran back and the doors to the church were already closed. I opened the door and the priest was already talking, and he gave me a piercing look with his searing eye of death. Any of you who were at my wedding rehearsal remember him - he was the strict priest - the one who reprimanded Dave’s grandmother when she was giggling as she was practicing the reading and yelled at me when I was on my cell phone calling Dave: “If that isn’t God you’re calling, you shouldn’t be on the phone.”
I went quickly to whatever seat I could find, with my head down, trying to avoid eye contact. He called up the parents, babies and godparents to stand in the back of the church next to the baptismal font (there were several families). I didn’t know we’d be standing the whole time and away from the seats, so I forgot to bring along Ben’s pacifier - I like to use it to keep him quiet. He doesn’t like it much, but it does seem to keep him busy for a couple minutes.
He proceeded to do the baptism and at one point looked into the congregation and said, “Do you have a question? I can answer any questions you have, you don’t have to ask the person next to you. But if you’re just talking to have conversation, remember that this is a mass, you should take your conversation in to the foyer instead of disrupting the mass.” I was tempted to look at Dave with a “Oh no he didn’t!” look but I was scared that he would target me, too.
Ben started getting a little antsy halfway through the mass. I had never finished feeding him, so I knew he wanted something to eat. I tried holding him different ways but it would only quiet him for a bit. Luckily, my aunt ran up and gave me Ben’s pacifier, which kept him busy for a while.
Then came the moment where he was to get the water poured onto his head. I knew that Ben loves taking baths, but I didn’t know how he’d feel getting water poured on his head when he still had clothes on. The priest slowly poured water onto Ben’s head and Ben’s eyes widened with curiousity, as if to say, “Hey, is it bathtime again? If so, why are my clothes still on?” After the second pour, he was smiling and content. I tried not to laugh because I had gotten scolded for laughing once by Fr. Meanie when Dave and I were meeting him before our wedding - “This is not a joke, there’s nothing to laugh about.”
Afterwards, we headed to the reception hall - the same place where Claudine had it a couple weeks before.
I don’t know if I said this before, but I hate planning things and I hate being a hostess. I get stressed out, trying to make sure that everything is scheduled ok, that everyone is having fun, and that nothing goes wrong. Because of that, I end up in a frenzy the whole time, unable to enjoy myself, and looking back at the whole event as a blur.
By the time the Baptism rolled around, there were 152 people who had said they were coming. I gave 144 as my minimum number to the caterers, though it ended up that a lot of people bailed, for various reasons. There were some people with legitimate excuses, but there were some that just didn’t show. If this was a party at my house or at a fieldhouse, that would be cool. But this was a reception where I was paying per person, so when more than 12 people don’t appear, it really adds up.
I had also gotten chicken finger meals for the kids under 12. I was running around telling the kids to wait for their chicken finger meals (the adults had a buffet). I told one of Dave’s cousins that I had ordered her chicken fingers, and she said to me in the most serious voice: “Chicken fingers? Well, if it’s at all possible, can I arrange to have my chicken fingers exchanged for an adult meal?” What kind of kid talks like that? She’s 11! But it gave me a good laugh (I tried not to laugh while I was talking to her).
Ben was passed around from person to person at the reception and he behaved like a trouper. I made sure to stop by every table and thank everyone for coming, and so they could see Ben up close. Everyone loves his crazy hair!
The chocolate fountain was a hit. I was thinking that one of the little kids was going to end up in there, but it didn’t happen. I got to have some food from the chocolate fountain this time around, though not as much as I would have liked since I was running around.
All in all, for as stressed as I was, it was a great time. I got to see my family, got to introduce Ben to a lot of his relatives, ate some delicious food, saw all the little toddlers running around with their balloons, and finally had my little boy join the Catholic church. Because even though it’s not true anymore, I still got a little freaked that my baby’s soul would get stuck in purgatory should something happen to him. But now I know it’s all good - he’s got his little ticket into heaven.
…and I’m so glad I don’t have to do anything like this for a LONG time…that is, until the next kid rolls around…
For more pictures from the baptism: http://flickr.com/groups/benburrito/pool/. Some of the pics here were taken by Claudine/Dan…
