Thinking about Christening dresses

 Just what is a "Christening" dress...vs. baptism dress...and why do we use two different terms? 
I learned something about that recently because I've been low-key obsessed with Charlotte's baptism coming up on October 1st.  We've had to move the date several times to accommodate family, which is understandable. I had a moment of desperation back soon after she was born, thinking I wasn't going to have a dress to baptize her in.  I'd been told there was a family one that Hunter wore at his baptism, but all the sudden no one knew who had it, and I panicked.  I bought a really beautiful Victorian gown on Etsy for about $30.  It is unique but not quite what I had in mind, plus I'm not sure if it will fit her anymore. 

 

So that's an option, but the problem there is that with the age/style of the lace, I don't have 1. a slip and 2. a bonnet to match it, which might be difficult to do. Either way, I'm going to have to make something.

Which started me thinking that if I'm going to have to make someone, I might as well make her dress and ensemble.  It would at least be handmade and special in that regard, even if not a family heirloom (yet?).  I don't want to have to share her dress with distant cousins and maybe never see it again.  I thought about cutting up my wedding veil for part of the lace, but now I'm not sure.  

I was going to go to our garment district here in Dallas to see what kind of satin/silk they have, in view of making a dress.  I discovered the biggest and most famous fabric store is closed!!  I am so shocked.  The place got hit by a tornado back before Covid, and I am sure all these little warehouse stores struggled to survive.  I'm scared to go there with a baby because it's kind of a sketchy part of town.  I had my mom here yesterday to watch her, but I got sick and crashed hard and slept most of the afternoon.  I'm feeling slightly better today, but I'm staying home anyway.  

Sometimes I feel trapped by my own willpower and having a baby to take with me...it's hard to leave the house because of the massive effort it takes to go places.  I guess that's okay, but there are things I want to do.  I'm so glad that I have help! 

Back to the original question and title of the post: 

Baptism is the sacrament that takes place in the dress...the main point of the ceremony.  As Catholics, we believe that it resolves and wipes away Original Sin.

Christening is an Anglican-ish thing...which is the actual naming of the child.  The priest ask the father to "Name this child", and the child is officially named.  That is why you might hear someone refer to their "Christian name" which is their first name, as opposed to their surname.  Pretty cool and very English. 

Feelin' good on a Sunday Morning

 There is a magical window of time when the coffee kicks in...if the baby is sleeping at just the right window, and I get a little bit of time to just sit and vibe out with the caffeine high.  It is amazing.

Hunter is back to work now, after having had all summer with him to just play and enjoy the baby.  She is 12 weeks old now, and just perfect.  Seriously...she is a perfect baby.  I know most people think that, but my girl really is.  She slept for 6 hours in a row last night and I only woke her up because I heard evidence that she needed a diaper change and didn't want her to sit in poop all night.  She eats and goes right back to sleep in her bassinet.  Perfection.  

I have her birth story halfway typed up but I haven't posted it yet.  I still have this weird thing with posting pregnancy stuff...I'm sure it's from so many losses.  I hesitate to write it down.  But this is a GOOD birth story and needs to be heard!  I will finish it soon, I hope.  Now that I'm going to be a stay at home Mom, I will have more free time (in theory!).  I just need to use my time wisely.  There is a lot of clutter in my house that needs to go away, but I'd rather relax and just stare at the baby.  She's currently asleep next to me on a pillow.  

Here are some current pics of my marshmallow baby:

The Texas Church performs Hamilton saga

I posted this to my Facebook account with fear and trepidation for negative feedback I might receive.  I tried to be as non-controversial as possible:

I've been watching the "Texas church illegally performs Hamilton with an anti-LGBTQ message" thing unfold over the last few days, biting my nails the whole time. I have a few things to say and I'll probably wish I hadn't.

 
1. If your church is going to perform a musical, make it The Music Man, Oklahoma, My Fair Lady...or some other vanilla, non-confrontational thing that everyone loves and all the little old ladies would love to come to. This is actually a cool thing for churches to do.

2. If your church is going to branch out and try to get attention with a piece of hot theatre, take the time to use Google and see if it is available from any of the publishing houses that own the rights.

3. If said piece is not available, maybe stick with one that is. It will save you tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees in the long run.

4. If you still want to do the show illegally, do NOT livestream it to Youtube.

5. Remember why you chose the show. If you need to change dialog to make it fit the message you want to send, then it isn't the right show. Maybe you could write your own show or parody, which is totally legal. Having a character "get saved" as part of the show is really cringey, in my opinion.

 
6. If you are going to touch on hot button topics...don't do a show illegally and stream it to Youtube to do so.

 
And if you STILL insist on doing all this illegal stuff but don't want court and legal fees, and a fine, and the wrath of the ENTIRE theatre community on you:

 
7. Don't pick Hamilton.

 Baby :) 

30 Week Update

 Hey blog! Long time, no update!

One weird thing about losing babies in the past is that it's taken away all of my desire to document my pregnancy and milestones.  Sorry about that!  I wish it wasn't so, but alas!

I am now 30 weeks pregnant!  I am huge.  Seriously, being this big is kind of *triggering*, if I dare to use such an annoyingly overused term.  I've fought my weight my whole life and now here it is, loud and proud.  I get that it's for a reason and that I can lose it later, but still.  It's very odd.  I bump into things and my back pretty much constantly hurts.  I find it frustrating to not be able to do things.  I realize how proud I am of my athletic ability because I now can't keep up.  So weird.

Because of my "geriatric" status, I'm going to have to start going in twice a week for Non-Stress Tests and an ultrasound every week (starting at 32 weeks).  And the doctor yesterday suggested that we might want to induce at 39 weeks just because of statistics and health of the baby.  Now, I've heard inductions take a long time, and that labor contractions are much more painful with inductions because of the Pitocin.  But I am not opposed to having all the good drugs with my labor.  

My momma was in labor for 3 hours with me, total.  She was a Lamaze instructor and totally believes that it's intensity, not pain, and that it's manageable without meds.  My whole life she's told me this.  But just the little slice of that type of pain that I've experienced through fertility treatments - I'm looking at you, HSG and hysteroscopy...shoving things into a tightly closed organ that does not want to be messed with - that kind of pain is incredibly intense.  I am fine with ALL the good drugs.  My hospital offers nitrous oxide for labor as well as the normal epidurals and things, and I think it's a good strategy to plan at this point.  

I just get so scared with the "risk of stillbirth" thrown around.  Please pray for my precious baby Charlotte and that her entrance into the world is grand and positive.  We've waited for her such a long time. 

2nd Trimester Update

 That 2nd Trimester ahhhh...

I barely remember the first trimester, apart from being sick and worried and eating a ton.  I felt sick if I didn't eat, so I ...just ate.  And kept eating.  And gained weight, but now my weight gain has slowed way down.  Pretty cool, huh?

Anyway, I am 21 weeks pregnant and loving it.  I feel so much better now, besides being tired and needing lots of naps.  I'm still teaching at the gym 3 times per week (BODYPUMP and Pilates/Barre fusion).  I can't do as much with core but I'm still trying to keep in great shape and keep the workouts going!  

Clomid is my friend

 Hey again -

Update from last time.  Clomid worked (again...at the higher dosage with the neurological side effects).  I'm 17 weeks and 5 days pregnant.  Crazy miraculous stuff.

Emotionally, blogging or telling people has been like walking in quicksand.  It's the drag of all the previous losses pulling me down, sucking away my potential joy.  It's tough to be happy when you are just waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Terrible attitude to have for a momma!  But here we are.  

I'm thinking about all the New Years resolutions I should make.  Really I should stop looking at Facebook completely, except I use it for Mary Kay now.  I just find myself flooded with anger so constantly.  

There is a family thing which has gone completely and utterly beyond the pail of causing anger.  It causes rage.  It's basically like...relationship ending stuff.  Have you ever had that...sorta of..."how do I move on from this" thing happen based on someone else's choices that affect you and will continue to affect you forever?  I wish blogging was anonymous like it used to be in the good old days of Xanga, so I could totally write out the facts of what happened.  Heh.  Then I know I'd get lots of "you should feel this way: XYZ".  

Please don't ever tell someone how they should feel.  It's so tone deaf.

As we drag into the 3rd year of this "pandemic", I hope everyone learning to question the government and think for yourselves.  It will serve you well in the future.