Find Barlow: Colin's Baptism

Ahh, how nice it is to be home sweet home again! I had almost forgotten how wonderful my own bed feels. The Sunday following my return, my nephew/Godson, Colin James, was baptised.

This, as most of you know, is my main reason for returning home. 'It was a beautiful ceremony' was the retort of many church goers as they exited the church after the ceremony and congratulated the parents, Colin, and us Godparents. We were all just relieved that no one thought it was a zoo. Well with 5 Barlow little ones, all under the ages of 3 and a couple of months, it could have been much worse we all decided. All in all, the kids were excellently behaved! And I have to say, my favorite part, other than receiving the honor of being

Colin's Godmother and pledging to always be there for him (which of course was my obvious favorite part), was when during a moment of silence at the end (we thought we had almost made it through), Julia (2 years old), sitting at the baptismal font in front of the whole church, jumped up and yelled 'Shea Shea', doing her impression of a Chinese person. Haha, probably no one else in the church knew what she said, but we all did. As respectable adults, we were all trying to hide our undeniable laughter at how cute she was and how awful, or perfect, her timing was.

The main part of the baptism was absolutely gorgeous though! Colin is a few months shy of being 2 himself and as such he can walk and even talk a little bit. When the priest asked him if he was ready to be baptised, he replied in his ever so quiet voice, "yes". Then when the priest picked him up and put him in the baptismal pool there was a moment you were sure he was going to cry, but he must have decided he was okay with standing in inches of water and getting his white trousers wet. That, was of course, before the priest

started pouring water over his head. After the first bowl of water Colin was SOAKED! He let out a little muffle, almost ready to cry, but again, in his ever so

happy nature, must have decided it was okay because the big guy just turned and seeing the comfort of Daddy right next to him he smiled at the priest, letting out a little chuckle. We were

all so proud of him. The kids were a bit obsessed with the baptismal pool the rest of the ceremony. Us in the front row thought we would for sure have to pull one out before the end came. Thankfully, we never had to.

After the ceremony, we reconvened at Kate and Jim's house for an after party barbecue. It went swimmingly, literally. The kids swam in Erin's new blow up pool

all aft

ernoon. And we couldn't have asked for better weather. The sun was shining, but it wasn't deathly hot out. There was hardly any wind, and the bugs were at a minimum. The kids played and played all afternoon. Some refusing to nap (Will, I'm talking about you little guy). But they were all well behaved and happy as clams. I am sad to say that that was the only time that wonderful pool will ever be used. The next day Murphy, Kate and Jim's boxer puppy, who is much more of puppy in

mentality an

d not size, got to the pool and had his own day of fun with

it :(

For me, the baptism was a special experience that bonds me to my nephew forever, in more than one way. Seeing the kids play with each other all day was also very exhilarating for me as it is something I have missed out on this last year and a half, and I only get to hear about playtime. I also very much enjoyed seeing other family members, aunts, uncles, cousins, and of course my Grandma Barlow. I really enjoyed the day, which I think it is fair to say most did. Thanks to everyone for being there. Hope to see you all again soon, with maybe a little more one on one time; because as fun as they are, we all know big family gatherings are not always conducive to catching up. But I am thankful for what time I did have with each of you, as large or as small as it was :) Cheers!!

At the end of the night, it wasn't only the Moms and Dads who were exhuasted. These two little