Born into the Kingdom

Michael and Malcolm got a new Brother Francis DVD after Joseph was born called "Born Into the Kingdom," about the sacrament of baptism.  We thought it would be topical since the baby was going to be baptized soon!  The baptism happened last month on the Feast of Pentecost.  It was the first baptism for us since we joined our new parish of St. Thomas Aquinas a year ago, and things went a little differently.  Instead of four babies, there were nine (!) at this one, and while the deacon's explanation of how things would go was somewhat helpful, with the number of people there it really prolonged things.  Still, every family and group of friends got their own chance to come up for the main baptismal rite.  Joseph Benedict did great.  His godparents, Uncle Dan and my best friend Rachel, were both unable to make it due to travel restrictions for health reasons, so they stayed safely in the upper Midwest and our great friends Paul and Katie stepped in as proxies.  Then we had a nice reception at our house with family and some friends.  It was a wonderful, joy-filled day and we were happy to officially welcome our son into the faith!  Thanks to our families for being part of the celebration :)

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

Grandparents and Great-Grandma!

Aunts and uncles :)

With Paul and Katie

With Elizabeth

Three months old

Joseph has recently started drooling, so he gets bibs now.  He only minds when they get in the way of getting his hands up to his face, but otherwise they're all good and look pretty cute besides.  This month, he has started to roll from his tummy to his back, but tummy time is no good in the evenings because by then he's just ready to wind down.  Joseph has been pretty chill about going to Michael and Malcolm's school in the mornings, which is a huge comfort to me.  The women in his infant classroom are all very sweet and the babies seem pretty happy to be there.  When I come for pickup, I either find him sleeping or out for a walk in their giant four-baby stroller, or sometimes hanging out in the bouncy seat (same model, different design as ours!).  He's very patient with his brothers being in his face all the time - maybe he understands it's all out of love.

Kick kick

I put Joseph down last night after nursing when he seemed to have dozed off, but when I came back I found him kicking away in the pack-and-play very animatedly.  The blanket was tossed off to the side and he seemed to be trying to get the little lamb.  Funny boy.

Holiday

Saturday morning...

Grandma made pancakes, and Joseph slept in.

Checkup time

I haven't done one of these auto-collages from Google yet, but I liked this one enough to post it :)

At his two month checkup, Joseph measured 24.5 inches (93rd percentile) and weighed 12 pounds 9 ounces (75th percentile) . Looks like he is going.to be just as tall as his brothers and closer to Malcolm on weight. He also has an umbilical hernia, which I hadn't heard of before. Apparently it should go away on its own within a year, but for now his belly button sticks way out. He doesn't seem bothered by it. Everything else checked out great. Happy boy!

Two month series

We love this little guy

Morning at the park

Smooch

Big brother, little brother

Cutie pie

Silly boys

For some reason Michael has wanted me to take pictures of him a lot recently - he's a lot better at smiling on cue now than in the past, even if it's sometimes in that silly little boy way :).  Malcolm is not usually on board - he either gives me an exaggerated "cheese" face or his famous Malcolm face with very skeptical eyebrows.  In any event, here are a few of the older boys this past week :)

He wore his backpack for a trip to Florida (aka, the kitchen)

Cheese!

 

 

Running down the hill

I have no caption...

Excuse me, I'm trying to eat my apples here

Snuggle bug