Kiera's Baptism/Welcome Home Celebration...

Sorry about the sideways pic. I'll try to rotate it later.

Everything went so well yesterday. The weather was perfect, sunny, window opening weather (even while today it snowed and was windy). I've been waiting for this day for so long. The only hitch was having her wonderful godmother get sick so she couldn't come, but she was there in our hearts the whole time.

It felt like finalization to the 18 month delay in getting Kiera home. It felt so good to actually celebrate her birth and homecoming and actually have her well and interactive. She got to play with her cousins who have previously only seen her when she was sick or asleep. There has at least been an underlying feeling of unrest ever since her birth for the last 18 months, especially every time I had to attend a family function without Kiera. I felt like I was in limbo waiting for closure. She was always missing. Anyway, it is much more peaceful now, even with all the meds and alarms and bagging emergencies and a straight month of getting up every 3 1/2 hours to run nebulizers. I still don't have to plan every day around a hospital visit.

She outgrew her baptismal gown in October, so we made due with what she had. I felt good about getting her to the church on time. We had to bath her and do trach care the night before, and run 8 am nebs, 9 am nebs, and deliver all her meds before leaving. Getting ourselves ready and all her equipment loaded and unloaded to be at the church by 11am was tricky, but we managed quite well. During Kiera's ceremony Monsignor Olona held out his hand to bless Kiera, and Kiera mirrored his movement and reached back toward his hand. It was so cute. She was so tuned in to everything going on. She looked at Monsignor every time her said her name. It was kind of neat since most infants are oblivious to the proceedings of a baptism since they're so little, but I guess a plus to having been forced to wait so long is that Kiera is old enough to participate.

Enjoy the pictures. Thank you to everyone who could come. I know so many more would have liked to have come if we hadn't been keeping it small to reduce germ exposure. Believe me, I was thinking of everyone who helped get her here and what it took to do so during the whole ceremony.

Love,

Therese