The Dayton Houghs: Aiden's Baptism

Sweet sleeping angel

I have been itching to write this post about Aiden's Baptism, but I had to postpone it for a little while. We planned little Aiden's Baptism for June 7. We booked the basement of our church for the party after mass. It worked out well because we had about 100 people there to celebrate with us. I was thrilled that we were surrounded by so many friends and family. The poor baby's birth was so sad because of my Pappy's passing away on the day that he was born. Once we got him home and we were settling into the new normal that was to be our life, I came down with a case of appendicitis that required emergency surgery. (Yes, after all of that work to push the little squirt out and avoid a c-section, I ended up having an emergency appendectomy 2 1/2 weeks after Aiden was born. Seriously!?So unnecessary! Thankfully it was laproscopic, so I had a quick recovery and was ready to go for the Baptism.) Finally we would have the happy celebration to welcome our precious baby into the world! I planned and made lists and cooked and planned some more. I felt confident that I was ready for this party. Let's face it, it wasn't exactly my first Baptism party, right? Well, the one thing that I hadn't prepared for and never expected happened. The morning of the Baptism, I was sitting on the floor in our bathroom doing Gianna's hair when the phone rang. It was my sister-in-law Denee. Her and Chad, Brian's brother, were going to be Aiden's godparents. We were excited to ask them and had been been thrilled by their enthusiastic acceptance of fulfilling this role, especially Denee. She had mentioned to me on several occasions how happy she was to be his godmother, a role that she took very seriously. Well...as soon as I got on the phone I knew that something was not right. Her voice sounded funny and the first thing that she said was, " I am being totally serious, " Ummmm, whatever it was, I knew right then that it wasn't going to be good. She went on to tell me that she wasn't going to be at the Baptism. Kaylee, her little girl had come down with a terrible stomach flu and had been violently throwing up for hours and while she felt terrible about it, she couldn't leave her. All that I could think was, you have got to be kidding me! As disappointed as I was that Denee wasn't going to be there, I completely understood. As a kid, you want your mom there when you are sick and as a mom, you can't leave your sick baby. I think that I felt the most for Denee. She had been so excited about Aiden's Baptism and now she was going to miss it! Thankfully, Raeleen (the kids' aunt from Michigan) was more than willing to stand in for Denee at the Baptism. That is why I had to postpone writing this post until I had pictures of Denne holding Aiden in his Baptismal outfit. She wanted everyone to know that while she was thankful to Raeleen for standing in for her, SHE was the godmother!

Aunt Denee with her godson, Aiden Joseph

He's not too sure about the hat, but I think that it's cute!

Is he adorable or what!?!

Cuteness in a baby!

While this was a pretty big glitch, it was the only one of the day. The Baptism, which took place during Mass, was beautiful. We were surrounded by our family, friends and church. There was one point when I looked around the church and got a little bit teary. There were so many people there that had been praying for us, for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby and God had heard our prayers, all of them. I looked down at Aiden and I whispered to him that he was loved, very, very loved.

Father Dan performing Aiden's first sacrament, Baptism! Welcome to the Catholic faith my beautiful baby boy!

Our first official family picture of 10!

The proud parents! Brian and I with our truly perfect baby boy

Brian, Chad, Raeleen and I with Aiden

Joan (aka Babee), Brian, me and Grandma Hughan with Aiden

Grandma Gaggini with her newest great grandchild

Mema and Poppy with Aiden, their 19th (?) great grandchild!

Mom and Dad (aka Mama and Pap-pap) with Aiden

Marge and Bill (aka Nanny and Poppa Hough) with Aiden

After mass, everyone headed downstairs for the party. Raeleen and Sarah and Coley and I had come in the evening before to get everything set up and prepped. My godmother, my Aunt Sherrie came a little bit early to make sure that everything was ready to go when mass was over. Thanks to my phenomenal family and friends, we had a ton of food and a beautiful cake . It was exactly what I had wanted, a happy celebration to truly welcome our little one into this world.