Chloe is baptized!

Well, first a picture of Isaac's awful rug burn that he got at preschool. It was actually not as bad at this point. Apart from the rug burn, do you think he still looks like Uncle Mikey? I found this picture in a box- Uncle Mikey is about 7 or 8. We'll have to pull it out again in 4 years.

 Isaac's rug burn is now completely gone. He apparently was running in his classroom (which of course they are not supposed to do) and tried to leap for the couch and missed. I suspect he had something in his hands too, otherwise it doesn't make sense that his face caught his fall. He had a bloody nose too. I guess it was bad for 5 minutes but then stopped. I don't know, to me that is not too bad, especially given that Isaac bonked his face on the rug. I got nosebleeds spontaneously all the time when I was a kid. Nana tried to have my nose cauterized twice, with no resulting decrease in nosebleed frequency. So far Isaac hasn't had a ton of nosebleeds, but he has had a few, so I bet he has a little bit of that same issue. The rug burn, though, really caught me off guard when I picked Isaac up that day. The teachers had called and told me about it, so I knew, but I wasn't prepared for how it would look.

On to the next story. We finally got to meet our adorable baby cousin Chloe at her baptism last Sunday!    

All the kids were watching her get ready.

 Beautiful girl cousins! And Ryan, who is definitely not a girl but is handsome.

 Some of Chloe's family

 I like this part in the Eastern rite. Of course my pictures are not great because I was trying to make sure Sonia didn't grab the camera. 

 There is that darling little baby!

I didn't mean to be bad and post my pictures before Erin did, but mine are definitely not as good as hers will be anyway! Plus, the boys have gone on a day trip with Adama and his family to the African store in Portland to stock up on attieke and other fun things, and Sonia is falling asleep, AND I have a little story to go along with it.

Isaac was in the bath Monday night by himself and I was nursing Sonia to sleep. I heard singing from the bathroom: "The baptism of Baby Chloeeeee!" then some more pouring. "Baby Chloe is....A-men!" then "Baby Chloe is baptized. Baby Chloe is baptized." It was really cute. I thought it was cool that he remembered because I didn't think he was paying attention. He is such a good boy. I hope he becomes a priest some day.

If you seek perfection

Isaac got baptised! Father John was the presider that day and that was extra exciting.

We also had our BabyFest, and it was very fun. I won't brag about it more because it's kind of an exclusive party, and you can't go unless you have very young kids, and I don't want anyone to feel jealous. But, well, alright, I'll tell you anyways and you will just have to deal with any jealousy on your own. We had a nice walk to the OSU campus, lots of fun with the babies, and lots of great conversations. Henri made a great dinner. Henri and I didn't do so well at Scattergories, and we proved to be an awesome team when we played Sequence, even though Henri claimed not to understand how the game worked at the beginning. Hopefully we all slept well because the next day was quite fun-filled too, but also busy.

What follows is the largest collection of photos of Isaac in one post to date. This is fitting, because his baptism is probably the most important event he has yet had in his life. So, I will use that as an excuse. If a picture is worth a thousand words, there are 16,000 right here. So, I will try to keep it to captions for the remainder of this post.

Our little Catholic family

Isaac and his parents and godparents, and adorable cousin

Isaac's personal idea of an afterparty.

Some of the guests. We missed Uncle Doug, so hopefully we can go up to see him soon!

The Godfather.

The lovely godparents and a curious Louisa

Touching the baby

And a sweet little smile

Perfecting the stand, while fans look on

Louisa was just so cute. Really, even pictures don't quite do her justice. Also, Mike & Kayleen, if there are any pictures you don't want up, let me know and I can just send them to you and take them down from here. Henri requests post edits all the time, so don't worry about it. I like all the pictures but evidently I don't always have very discerning tastes.

Louisa grabbing Isaac's hair, as predicted.

I thought it was hilarious, but I guess no one else did. Isaac seemed to be unharmed though, and didn't seem to care much.

Isaac was very interested in Louisa. I think he is interested in things that are about his size right now, and Louisa is the first person that is just about his size that he has really had time to get to know. Although, his head still has some growing to do in the next few months. Growing the brain is a lot of work.

Just a random cute photo of Louisa. Notice where Isaac is looking. He was just loving to look at Louisa.

Yes, Isaac has big ol' feet. When he gets into high school, I'm sure this will be a huge financial commitment if he keeps it up.

I don't know if Isaac is kind of anti-social, but the less people were around, the more awake he seemed to get. Or maybe that baptism just wore him out! It's a lot of work being a Catholic!

Candy, ice cream, lollipops... and all free, today!

Here's the video I was hoping to put up yesterday, but never got around to.

I finally finished my second final! One more to go and I am officially free until September 21.. from grad school stuff, that is. I actually got this one $1000 award to do research, and I have to revise my budget and probably find a different conference to go to with the award, since it's a little less than expected, but I am confident that it will work out.

I am so excited for Isaac's baptism this Sunday!

He might need it. In case you forgot, it is August 9th at 11 am at St. Mary's in Corvallis (the 11 am Mass). If you read this blog, you are invited. Mike and Kayleen and Louisa are coming down on Saturday, so I am looking forward to our little BabyFest. We will also probably try to set up some food thing for afterwards, but that is not finalized yet.

Look at Isaac's neck extension during his bath last night! Not surprisingly, he is starting to smell a lot less cheesy these days.

Uncle Mikey came over today and Isaac slept on him for quite some time.

And now, on to the last final, which is actually a large final project. Oh boy. At least Isaac is cute and provides rewarding study breaks.

Cheese Boy

Little Mister keeps smelling like cheese... even when I wash his neck several times a day... so his new nickname is Cheese Boy (or Mr. Curds n' Turds if he is being sassy). He is snuggling with me right now in his new favorite way - burying his face in my arm and falling asleep. It's a little strange... I think he can breathe.

Anyways, we tried to walk to Fred Meyer this morning, but little Cheese Boy got hungry on the way, and then I noticed his diaper was too dirty to continue, so we went home. It is going to be hot today for sure, because it's already warm and the breeze is not very strong. Luckily we are going to Newport so I can get my permanent retainer fixed.

The important news of the morning is that Isaac is going to be baptised August 9 at the 11:00 am Mass at St. Mary's in Corvallis. So, you are all invited. If you are a particularly important party (i.e. Mike & Kayleen) I'll try to call you to make sure this works before confirming it, but I know you are on vacation and I don't want to forget! I hope everyone can come!

We had a little conversation this morning on our walk. It went like this:
Gina: It's going to be warm today.
Isaac: Wha?
Gina: Warm, as in hot.
Isaac: Oh.