Baptism

So Tabitha is baptised!  I have a certificate right here to verify the fact.  Tabitha was baptised with water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit on 12th December 2010 at St Michael's Uniting Church 120 Collins Street Melbourne by Dr Francis Macnab.

It was a really, really lovely service.  The Daddy remarked to me quite a few times through the day how nice it was, how impressed he was by the way Dr Macnab conducted the ceremony, and the significance placed by him on the event.  Actually I just remembered that I think we receive a DVD of the ceremony over the coming weeks - if so, I might upload it.

Tabitha was a perfect angel, especially considering how ill she had been the day prior!  We didn't think that she would be too impressed about wearing a bonnet but incredibly, she didn't care at all!  She remained her happy smiling self throughout the bonnet-ing process, ceremony, and even for the water-splashing part of the ceremony.  We may be biased, but we thought she looked BEAUTIFUL!  At any rate, the (mostly older) congregation were ooh-ing and ahh-ing at her afterwards.

It was so enjoyable to be back in the church we were married in (see below), just over two years ago (24th October 2008).  It truly is a spectacular church!

And I always like hearing Dr Macnab talk, because he reminds me a great deal of Albus Dumbledore (shhhhh!  Don't tell him!).  He is incredibly clever and funny and self-deprecating and visionary.  I think I told him something along those lines after the service.  I am quite a fan!

Dr Macnab told the 16 September 2008 edition of the Age, "The old faith is in large sections unbelievable. We want to make the new faith more believable, realistic and helpful in terms of the way people live". The new faith was launched with a $120,000 advertising campaign including posters reading, "The Ten Commandments, one of the most negative documents ever written." Dr Macnab described Moses as a mass murderer, Abraham as concocted and Jesus as a Jewish peasant and certainly not God.

Anyway!  Enough with the controversial religious discussion!  Back to the cute bonnet pictures!  Note also my lovely dress - I am very proud of this find, as it was near impossible trying to source a dress that I could easily breastfeed in, yet wasn't really, really ugly.  This is from Scanlan & Theodore, sort of shades of purple / grey / tan / cream.  I even found wooden wedges with blue suede straps to match!  The Daddy wore a tie that I bought him around 6 years ago, dark purple from Ralph Lauren with SKULLS on it!  Awesome!

Above, on the far left you can see Sophie, Tabitha's godmother.  I have known Sophie since we were in creche, she is the eldest of four incredible children / adults.  I had been thinking that Sophie would make a great godmother, however it was actually The Daddy who suggested her, which is very nice since he's only known her less than 1/4 of the time I have, yet could see she is an incredible woman to be part of Tabitha's life.  Sophie's hypothetical online dating profile might read, "Sophie enjoys kicking shins at Roller Derby, eating cake, and is returning to study as a nurse, hoping to become a midwife".  Sophie gave Tabitha a beautiful Pandora bracelet, with a pretty little pearl charm (her birthstone) on it.  

In between The Daddy and myself, above, you can see Noah, Tabitha's godfather, peeking through.  Noah is an exceptionally talented and kind young man - who is also my own godson!  Noah excels as a musician, dancer and intellect, and will be sure to be a strong and positive influence on Tabitha.  Noah and his family (including his father, my godfather - confused yet?!) are all moving to Melbourne in the coming months so that Noah can begin his studies in Dance at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School.  Noah and his family gave Tabitha an incredibly pretty and girlish butterfly trinket box, covered in colourful stones, which I can imagine Tabby with really love playing with (once she develops some fine motor coordination!)

Here you can see Tabitha being held by Dr Macnab, ready for the water-splashing part.  Hmm here she doesn't look so thrilled - reaching out for mummy!  Still, no tears!

After the baptism part of the service, the children all troop off to the 'kids club' in the main office buildings, which is actually a really brilliant space with slides and craft activities and books and qualified childcarers.  Still, Tabitha is not old enough to be left without an adult she knows, so my dad, her Grandpa Gra, went out with her, and took her for a walk around the city in her Ergo carrier - he got her to sleep and she had a nice long nap, nearly an hour.

Following the church, we all went to the Fairy Tree at Fitzroy Gardens for some light refreshments.  We had mini bagels (from Aviv of course!) with smoked salmon, cream cheese and chives made by Amy and Shalini; pillow chicken sandwiches made by my godfather Tim with coriander in them which was delicious; Vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting and pink icing roses made by mum; honeyjoys made by me; egg salad finger sandwiches made by me; and of course the christening cake, which was the top tier of our wedding cake, re-covered with marzipan and white fondant icing, and wreathed with a circlet of pink spray roses.

When it came time to cut the cake, I didn't want the pretty roses to be stepped on, so I chucked them onto my head for temporary safe-keeping.  As it turned out, they were a perfect fit, so I wore them for the rest of the day haha!  See below - I am cutting the cake into VERY THIN pieces (my mother kept saying 'they are not thin enough' as she feared there wasn't enough to go around because the top layer of a wedding cake is quite small).  As it turns out, there was enough for everyone to have a slice, plus about 6 slices left over.  So I am taking a slice around to mum's house this afternoon for a cup of tea!

Unfortunately it did rain on and off while we were in the gardens.  Fortunately there are plenty of dense large covering trees, so we collected ourselves under one and continued on.  Actually the children (my sister, cousins, family friends) had an absolute ball, running around in the rain in their party frocks and bare feet!  I hate to imagine the state of my sister's beautiful jewel-toned purple silk shift dress with silk chiffon petals on the neckline.  I can't imagine that was designed for a soaking!

After the celebrations, we raced home and then straight to a Christmas party!  My mothers' group had a Christmas BBQ / dinner at one of the family's homes just nearby, so we went there from around 3pm - 7:30pm, when poor Tabitha was thoroughly ready for bed.  The gorgeous host packed us up a take-home dessert plate, so I got to eat some pavlova, thank goodness.  The Christmas dinner was actually really lovely, with lots of Champagne and wonderful food and great company.  So nice to meet all of the dads of these babies I have come to know quite well over the past 6 months!  Tabitha enjoyed eating a couple of BBQ items - some marinated chicken ribs with quite a spicy kick (loved them!) and a marinated garlicky lamb chop (loved it!).

Then ahhhhhhhh home!  What a big day, going non-stop since 6am, in 10cm heels the entire time.  Bed felt mighty good...