Connor's Baptism

On Saturday, we officially welcomed little Connor into the Catholic Church! We've been looking forward to his baptism day for so long, and it was really just an amazing feeling to celebrate our first child's first sacrament!

 

Happy boy!

We would've loved for Connor to wear a passed-down family outfit, but my baptism gown was really feminine, and Jeff's was way too big for our little boy, so I ended up buying this baptism outfit and these baptism shoes for Connor. I think he looked really cute!

Connor was baptized at our church, with three whole pews full of family there to celebrate! 

He loved the baptism candle!

The ceremony was a little too long for a baby who eats every two hours, so Connor got hungry and cried very loudly through the end of the ceremony. The deacon ended the ceremony by looking directly at Connor and saying "go in peace!" Haha!

My sister flew in from New York to be there and be his godmother!

Here's our little family of three!

We hosted a lunch at our house afterward and served sandwiches, fruit salad, and Caesar salad. Oh, and this cake:

It was an Italian cream cake with cream cheese icing, and I think it might be my favorite cake I've ever made. It was also my first attempt at a two-tier cake, and the stacking/decorating/etc. went really smoothly! These 6-inch cake pans are phenomenal! I made a little "God Bless Connor" banner to go on top of it.

Before we blessed the food, we passed out cards with a blessing printed on them and had everyone read this prayer together for Connor:

I decorated the tables with blue hydrageas and baby's breath, as well as some family heirlooms (doilies made by my great-grandma, napkins made by Jeff's great-grandma, and candlesticks passed down from Jeff's grandma). 

In our entryway, I set up a little display with Jeff's and my baptism gowns and a couple frames with brief bios of St. Thomas Becket and Bl. Conor O'Devany. We wanted everyone to be able to read a bit about Connor's namesakes! 

Connor had all four grandparents and all six living great-grandparents at his baptism. We feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family that loves our son so much! 

One set of great-grandparents...


Another set of great-grandparents...


And yet another set of great-grandparents!

Jeff's Parents

My Parents

God bless you, Connor Beckett! We love you!

Connor at One Month

Y'all. Where did the last month go? I know everyone complains about how January goes by so slowly and drags on and on, but not when you have a newborn!! I love that Connor's growing... I find it so fascinating to just watch him develop and figure out his little personality. But I can already tell that my snuggly, teeny tiny newborn is long gone, which makes me a little sad!

Connor's Stats:

Birth Weight: 6 pounds, 6.5 ounces. Current Weight: 9 pounds, 8 ounces.

Birth Length: 19.5 inches. Current length: 20.5 inches

Clothing: Fitting perfectly into the Newborn-sized things finally! Still in Newborn diapers.

Likes:

Bathtime, especially the warm hooded towel at the end.

Riding in the car.

Eating. The more often the better!

Cuddling with Mommy and Daddy.

Staring at our ceiling fans or the wall of square mirrors in our living room.

Music.

Dislikes:

Diaper changes.

Having his arms stuck in a swaddle blanket.

Getting dressed.

New Tricks:

Following objects with his eyes.

Lifting and turning his head.

Connor's First Week

Connor's first few days outside of my cozy, warm uterus were full of lots of love and excitement. Since he was conveniently born at 4:53 pm, most of his grandparents, aunts, and uncles were able to come to the hospital after work on his birthday (December 17th) and meet him as soon as possible!

The hospital's policy is to give the parents an hour with the new baby, then take the baby to the nursery for a check-up, then bring the baby to the mom's post-partum room (at which point any visitors can come meet the baby). But our family was anxiously waiting, so when the nurses wheeled Connor to the nursery in his bassinet, he had an entourage of family members following him through the halls to get a quick peek!

We were so happy when they wheeled him back into our room, all wrapped up in a blanket!

Our first family photo!

We played "pass the baby" for a bit with all of our family members who were at the hospital.

Connor meets his Grandmama (my mom)! My dad was out of town on a business trip and very disappointed that he missed the big day!

Connor meets his Aunt Karoline (my littlest sister)!

Connor meets his Uncle Matt (Jeff's little brother)!

Connor meets his Aunt Emily (Jeff's brother's wife)!

We spent December 18th in the hospital. My dad came home from his business trip as fast as he could, so he was able to come meet Connor when he was less than one day old!

Connor with his Papa and Grandmama!

We spent the day just getting to know our little boy, working on breastfeeding, and oohing and ahhing at how cute Connor is. :)

The hospital has a newborn photographer that comes around to take photos. Connor was a bit fussy when she came so we only got a couple photos, but we went ahead and bought the images, since we weren't planning on doing professional newborn photos.

Since Connor was technically a preemie, he had to pass a "car seat challenge" before we could leave the hospital. He looked so tiny in his car seat, but he passed with flying colors!

The postpartum floor of the hospital was really busy while we were there, and (without getting into too many details/complaints) we were pretty unsatisfied with the postpartum care Connor and I were getting and we just wanted to go home as soon as possible. My doctor and the pediatrician cleared us for discharge around 6:00pm on the 18th, so we decided we'd leave that night. But with the lack of help from nurses, etc., it ended up being almost 2:00am on the 19th before they actually wrapped up our discharge paperwork! By that point, we were so ready to just get out of there that we went ahead and left at 2:00am! We drove home in a big rainstorm, listening to Christmas music ("Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" was the first song Connor ever heard!).

Jeff's mom made it to Houston late on the 18th, so she came over to meet Connor on the 19th!

Connor meets his Grandma!

On December 20th, some of my extended family surprised us by driving eight hours round-trip from Dallas to come meet Connor! We felt so loved that they made the trip during the busy holiday season!

Connor meets his great-grandparents! 

Connor meets my Aunt Tracie and Uncle Chris (my godfather)!

December 20th is also my mom's birthday, and she was thrilled to celebrate with her first grandbaby!

On the 21st, we took Connor out of the house for the first time to go to Mass! He slept through the whole thing, and everyone at church was commenting on how cute he was and asking how old he was. People were shocked when we told them he was only four days old!

Connor at his first Mass!

Bow tie for church!

After church, we gave Connor his first bath, and he loved it! He particularly loved being wrapped in his zebra towel.

Connor's Uncle Tim (Jeff's littlest brother) was finishing up taking final exams when Connor was born, so he finally got to meet Connor on the 21st after he got home from college!

Connor meets Uncle Tim!

Aunt Kristen (my little sister) came home from New York for Christmas on December 22nd, and she came straight from the airport to meet Connor!

Connor meets Aunt Kristen!

Jeff's grandparents arrived in Houston for Christmas on the 23rd, so Connor got to meet another set of his great-grandparents!

I took some photos of Connor under our Christmas tree. He'll always be my favorite Christmas gift! 

If you've made it all the way to the end of this novel of a blog post, I'm amazed. :) Here are a few more photos from our first week as a family of three! We're so, so in love with our little Christmas baby!

When I do laundry, Connor likes to hang out under the pile of warm clothes from the dryer. :)