Orthodox Christening

I was raised (baptized & confirmed) Roman Catholic but despite this we chose to baptize the girls Russian Orthodox which is the religion Dave was brought up in. It is quite the ceremony to see, even if you're not into the whole God/religion thing. Not sure if my pictures will do it much justice but they may help better understand what went on during the ceremony since my family left not understanding much. I talk pretty fast and even I have a hard time keeping up with Father David!

The baptism begins in the back of the church where, surprisingly - since I'm not a member of the church, I was "churched":

Once this is done the Godparents take over and we sit back and watch the baptism of our babies.

Colin & Mary (Harper's Godparents), Jen & Marcus (Vera's Godparents)

Being prayed over and blessed with oil:

In the Baptism each baby is immersed 3x into the water:

(the most exciting part - the only part I really wanted to see and as you can see in the background of both V & H's dunkings I completely missed! Harper's diaper was dirty so we had to change it and while we were doing that Father David was dunking Vera. Then when we finished cleaning up Harper I turned around and Jen and Marcus were there with Vera ready to be taken back to be changed into her gown. So as we were taking her back to be changed I looked back in time to quickly see a soaking wet Harper! I'm still really bummed I completely missed this entire part.)

Chrismation:
H & V being anointed with myrrh:


Taking their religious walk:
Tradition states this is when guardian angels are assigned to them.


Tonsure (cutting of hair):
[4 locks of hair are cut from their heads in the form of a cross. This is an expression of gratitude from the child, having nothing to give to God in return for the blessings of their sacraments they offer their hair.]


Being formally presented to God in the church:
[much like the Lion King!]





Our baptized babies:


Godparents:


Grandparents:


Cousins:


Cake:


3 Generations:


Uncle Joey stilllll won't hold a baby!


Sisters:


Family:

Beautiful Gowns for Our Beautiful Girls

When I found out I was having twins I knew it wouldn't be fair to pick one of them to wear Dave's dad's Christening gown (which Dave and everyone on his side of the family has been Christened in) and my Christening gown, which my Grandma crocheted, unfortunately was misplaced in one of our moves when I was younger. And even though I no longer have my gown it really meant a lot to me that my Grandma crocheted it. And since I LOVE all things handmade, I knew I wanted them to have hand crocheted gowns.

So I found a pattern I loved and talked with my mom (not only an awesome crocheter but knitter as well) and we had planned to each crochet one together and when I got put on bed rest it seemed like a fantastic idea! But my mom was working on finishing a Christening gown for my cousins baby and before we knew it my girls were born! And one thing I found out REALLY quickly was I barely had time to fit in a shower, so there was no way I was going to be able to crochet a Christening gown now! So my mom took the task upon herself to crochet BOTH gowns using crochet thread and the tiniest crochet hook you can imagine (and probably even tinier than you're imagining) in a month and a half. I'm pretty sure she lost a couple years off her life due to lack of sleep and will end up with carpel tunnel but my gosh did they come out AMAZING!! I'm glad I didn't get to crochet one because I'm sure it wouldn't have come out nearly as beautiful!

I'm so grateful she was able to do that for me/them. V & H are so lucky their Noni is so talented and now they have these beautiful gowns to cherish and pass down to their children!

2 Months!!

What a very busy weekend we had! Yesterday was V & H's christening (still working on the pictures from that, hopefully will get them posted in the next couple days) and today our precious baby girls turned 2 months old! And what better way to celebrate than with a photo shoot?! Because yesterday wasn't torture enough for them I decided to dress them up and take pictures again today! I think they are even beginning to enjoy these photo sessions (or at least put up with them because they have realized they have no choice); there were a lot less tears and I even caught a few smiles!

They are both smiling a lot now.





They both still have their blue eyes but Vera's left eye is starting to change color. Although we can't tell what color they may be yet!