Ethan's Baptism

A few weeks ago (on his two month birthday!) Ethan was baptized at our church here in Charlotte. We asked my sister Carolyn and her husband Brian to serve as Ethan's official godparents and since we aren't permitted to have two "official" godmothers my friend Jennifer agreed to be Ethan's honorary godmother (which is a Christian witness per my conversation with the priest.) We are so lucky to have people like this in our lives to serve as an example of how to live our faith with Ethan. Since our church is so big (it is the second largest Catholic church in the United States!) baptisms are held separately each Sunday and aren't part of the regular mass. There were four other babies baptized with Ethan, and the priest kept the ceremony pretty conversational. Each baby had their own moment of crying and I was relieved that Ethan behaved for the most part. (We did break out the pacifier midway through to prevent crying, and it seemed to work pretty well.) We had a bunch of family members come to town to help us celebrate Ethan as he received his first sacrament in the Catholic church, and here are a few pictures of this very special moment in our son's life:

Aunt Carolyn, Uncle Brian, Me, Ethan & Patrick

The priest giving Ethan a blessing

Ethan getting officially baptized

There are finally some guys in this crazy family of women!

Having a conversation with Nana

All the family members that came for the baptism - my dad's wife Jena, my father, Patrick, my father-in-law Bill, Ethan, me, my mother-in-law Chris, my sister-in-law Jeannie, my mom, my sister Carolyn, my cousin Anna, my brother-in-law Brian, my Aunt Susie

The girls - it was so funny watching Carolyn get comfortable holding Ethan (I can't wait until she and Brian have a baby!)

Ethan's first "God Bless Ethan" cake...every good Catholic child has a few of these during their lifetime!