Antonio's Baptism

February 5 was supposed to be the day that the feast of the Presentation of the Lord was moved to.  In our minds, that is the occasion on which Antonio was baptized. We are presenting him to God in thanksgiving for having blessed us with the responsibility of raising him as our son. :)

But first, a few pix from Antonio's photo shoot in preparation for the big day!

Antonio in becik (baptismal pillow) made by his great-great grandmother.  Baptised before him in the same becik: his big sister Natalka, mom, his maternal grandmother and aunt, and his maternal great-grandmother!

Antonio was baptized at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic church in Ellicott City, MD at 1pm, in a private ceremony (not our choice).

Requesting baptism for Antonio Fernando.

Deacon blessing Antonio.

Anointing crown of head.

Anointing chest.

Receiving his baptismal candle.

Antonio being baptized with holy water. Hardest moment was handing Antonio over to his godmother for the pouring of water.  Symbolic in how he does not belong to me, but to the Lord, and hence my job includes surrounding him with positive role models.

Daddy loving on Antonio.

Mommy loving on Antonio.

Receiving baptismal certificate.  Note our faces, lol.

Family of 4!

By the Black Madonna tapestry, with Babcia & Dziadek.

Antonio's baptism cake.

With godfather Mike and his wife Liz and son Nick.

With godmother Yessenia and her husband Tyler.

Thank you all for sharing my special day!


To see big sister Natalia's baptism, go here.

Antonio's First January

Getting Antonio's Placenta prints done :)

 

 

Happy New Year!

 

Taking a proper nap.

Literally chilling on the hammock

Awesome head control at pediatrician's

visit to the Aquarium

home-made mobile/Natalka's parallel bars

First snow :)

Meeting Ms Courtney & Kaitlyn

Natalka's Preschool November - January

Just days before baby brother is born, doing a pelvic exam :)

Learning about falling leaves.

Practice on her parallel bars.

decorating her mini choinka

cracked open a whole walnut 

working on continents puzzle she helped me make

drawing Antonio's birth

face-off with a chameleon

helped daddy pick and cut Christmas tree

went fishing at the Science Museum

water play at the Science Museum

Sandbox experience

working on her jigsaw dinosaur puzzle

helping daddy cook

holding the reigns on the carousel horse

a little foodie - trying Indian food

meeting Chichi Jr

first ice of the season, up close

decorating live Christmas Tree (it was prickly!)

a favorite pretend game - calling Suzie Sheep on the hotel phone

Putting baby Jesus into the Manger on Christmas

working with her Nativity sticker scene

Changing Antonio's diaper

scissor practice with cutting strips

found a worm on a walk

work with snow

saw sea turtle at the Aquarium

working on new, small pieces dinosaur puzzle

we both learned not to draw with lipstic in the tub

serenading me on the guitar

vertical play - chalk and magnets

bird watching

cutting playdough

first face paint at the Dinosaur Exhibit

Discovering her own track in the snow

These are just the highlights of Natalka's "unschooled preschool", the moments that were captured.  So many more experiences have had to do with the care of her newborn baby brother, which can be seen in other posts under Antonio's updates.  As it turns out, we do not need a curriculum to learn, and we love it! :)