Baptized on Mother's Day

What a very, very special Mother's Day I had this year. I got the most awesome gift...my boys were baptized.

One year ago on Mother's Day I was exactly 12 weeks pregnant and Thomas and I called our family members to break the exciting triplet news to them. It was hard to keep it a secret for so many weeks, but we wanted to wait for the typical 12 week mark before spreading the news. It seems like yesterday and I can still remember the two of us being on the phone for the majority of the day talking to everyone!

This year is a whole new world. We have three 8 and half month old babies at home. That fact is still sinking in for me. A few months ago we started to think about the boys' baptism. We needed to wait until after cold and flu season to take them to church but didn't want to wait too long because we wanted them to still be little babies for the baptism. April/May/June was our ideal timeframe. We talked to the church and had to eliminate several Sundays due to their schedule and ours and it just so happened that the very best day to choose for the baptism was Mother's Day. I was thrilled! My only concern was for the out of town family members that we were going to invite - I hated to take them away from their homes on this special day.

We did a church "trial run" to test the boys' manners during the service a few weeks ago. I didn't want to show up for the baptism and be totally surprised with 3 all out meltdowns during church and I wanted to know how they would do. Once again they were sweet angels! Everybody was complimenting the boys about how good and quiet they were. I held Ryan, MaSha held Stokes and Thomas held William. MaSha was so excited when we asked her if she would hold someone and come up front with us for the actual baptism. We decided on the drive to the church who would hold who. During the service, Ryan was making a little bit of noise but I took the bulletin and used it as a fan on both of us and he quieted right down. He also fussed a little when he was being baptized but Stokes and William did awesome and all 3 were big crowd pleasers. Pastor Michael did a great job and got each name correct (quite a feat!) and made mention of the fact that these are the first triplets he has ever baptized. Pastor Laura-Allen gave us a Beginners Bible for each baby and had us light a candle for each one. We got to take the candles home and are supposed to light them each year on May 11th and remember the baptism with joyful thanks.

The church had a gorgeous banner displayed and it had each of the boys' names on it.

The service was just perfect. Our family made it there on time, we all got to sit together at the front of the church and we even had a few surprise visitors that came to witness this joyful occasion. It meant so much to us and Thomas and I were both so very proud of the boys and thankful for so many special people in our lives that were able to be there with us.

After the service we stuck around for a few minutes and took a few thousand some pictures. :)

Ryan and me, Thomas and William and MaSha and Stokes

Our family

Pastor Michael, Thomas and William, Ryan and me, my Dad (Stokes aka Granddaddy Stokes) and Laura-Allen

Family picture with Pastors Michael and Laura-Allen

Then we invited everyone back to our house for a luncheon in honor of the babies. We had to keep Ryan away from the crowd and a few people took turns holding, feeding and watching him upstairs, away from the party. William and Stokes were passed around and everyone got to snuggle and love on them. Thomas and I had a great time visiting with everyone. Luckily the weather cooperated so that we were able to utilize the deck, but it was a little touch and go for a while and even rained on Saturday. We were so happy to see the sun shining!

Appetizers - pimiento cheese and cream cheese and pepper jelly with celery and crackers

Beverage Station - Sweet Tea and Water

The food table - Chicken salad croissants, chicken fingers with honey mustard, tomato sandwiches, ham biscuits, fruit salad and pasta salad

Dessert Table - cupcakes and assorted cakes

The deck

The Dining Room

Enjoying the guests at the luncheon!

Thomas, William and Abby (Thomas' dad, Ab)

William and Abby

MaSha, Ryan, Uncle Matt and Leece

Dom and Beth

Aunt Anne (my sister) and Stokes

Bob and Granddad (Thomas' grandfather)

Me and Beth

Lisa, Wanda, Stokes and Terry

Aunt Tara and Uncle Matt (Thomas' sister & our BIL)

GranO (Peggy) and Leece

My half sister, Shanghai

Nana Wanda (my Aunt Wanda) and Stokes

Nana (my Aunt Mary Nell) and Stokes 

The Brothers - my Uncle Wells, my Uncle Duncan and my Dad

Granddad and my Dad

Thomas' Aunt Mag and my Uncle Wells

Anne, Dad and me

Shanghai and my niece, Kaitlyn

Aunt Alison, William and Mary Margaret

Dom and Ryan

Mary Nell, Anne and Terry

Mary Margaret, Alison, William and Elizabeth

Aunt Tara and Leece

Me and Carole

Bonnie and William

Shanghai and Kaitlyn playing with the dogs

Jerry, Bonnie, William and Thomas

Bob and William

William and Aunt Anne

MaSha and Ryan

Anne, me, Fifi, Stokes, Mary Nell, MaSha and Ryan

Wanda and William

Me, Ryan, Anne, Wanda, William, Mary Nell and Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn and William

 And....later on in the day

Thomas and William

 Early evening we had a quick visit with my twin cousins, Abigail and Virginia. They went to their cousin's graduation from Duke and couldn't make it to the baptism so they made a point to stop by on their way back to Atlanta. This was the first time they got to hold the boys!

 

Abigail and Stokes

Virginia and William and Uncle Duncan

A special thank you is in order for MaSha, Tara and Carole for all their help! This shindig could not have happened without these fabulous ladies! xoxo

I absolutely loved Mother's Day 2014, however, the sad part about the day was missing my Mom. I miss her all day, everyday, but Mother's Day brings those feelings and emotions to the forefront of my mind. She would have loved Thomas and my boys to pieces and it pains me that they never met her and got to know that incredible lady. Several people told me throughout the day how proud she would be and how much she would have loved the babies and I absolutely agree! I suppose this holiday will always be a little bittersweet for me. I hope that I can be half the Mother to my boys that my Mom was to me!!! And if they love me half as much as I love her, I will be a very, very blessed woman!