Month: April 2024

bea’s churching & baptism

/ Rachel Fenton / 4 Comments

Over the past two weeks, I rejoined my church community after my period of postpartum rest (a ceremony called churching that happens approximately 40 days after birth) and Beatrice was baptized!

Churching is such a beautiful thing. On the surface it can be somewhat controversial: some people think it means the woman is barred from the church because she is “unclean” from birth or something. In actuality, it’s a blessing to rest from the rigors of church attendance (standing for 2 hour services is hard even when you haven’t just given birth) and to tend to your baby while your body recovers. Many parishes let the mother decide when to return, with the guidance also of her spiritual father.

Our priest prayed over me and Beatrice, thanking God for the blessing of a baby and praying I may be fully healed from all parts of the birthing process. Then he took Beatrice and presented her to the Lord, bringing her into the church and back to the altar, and in front of the icons of Christ and the Theotokos.

The Saturday following, April 20th, our sweet Bea was baptized! My siblings flew in for the weekend to attend: my sister Becca is her godmother, and her godfather is a dear family friend of ours. My in-laws drove up too (of course), and Father performed the baptism, along with our parish priest. Michael was so excited to see Oma and Opa, and had a blast playing with them. He was very sad when they left.

It was a small baptismal service without a party afterwards, given that we’re still in the middle of Lent and things have been quite busy. However, Pascha falls on the exact day she turns two months old: we will be sure to celebrate her heartily along with our risen Christ. Michael was fascinated by all of it. We had explained the baptism to him and two-year-old terms before hand , and so half way through the service he loudly proclaimed that Opa needed to “put her in the water”!

baptism
first communion

My brother Jon took some amazing photos of the ceremony, and they’re still being edited/transferred from the SD card to the computer. I’ll be sure to do a post with some of those photos too, when I receive them.

Beatrice’s baptismal gown was made from my wedding dress by a lovely woman I found on Etsy. It’s a keepsake I’ll be preserving for any future children we may have as well. There was something so tender and sweet seeing her wrapped in it after her baptism.

Now, we Orthodox enter into Holy Week: we will have church services every day leading up to the glory of Pascha. Pray for us, especially our priests, deacons, subdeacons, readers, and choir directors (and their families)! Lent is a long and beautiful marathon, and we all need good strength to finish well.

As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Alleluia!

april showers

/ Rachel Fenton / 6 Comments

It’s been one whole month of our little Beatrice.

She’s a quiet but intense baby: she makes her needs known but is easily soothed. She has the best faces, especially when she’s working out air bubbles or reacting to noises around her.

For the first few weeks we were a little concerned about her hearing: Michael is rambunctious and loud, and she wouldn’t even flinch at the crashing of toy trucks or other loud noises. Our midwife said she may have gotten used to his noise in the womb — that must have been the case, as we just got back the results of her hearing test and she passed without issue.

Her eyes have lightened, but are still quite a dark blue to match her darker hair. She’s a champion eater, sleeper, and squeaker (her little noises are adorable and happen quite often).

One of the best parts of all of this is watching Michael love on his baby sister. He loves talking about “Baby Bea, his baby sister, who was in mama’s belly but then came out”.

He loves helping pat her back, fetching her burp cloths, and helping bounce her in the bouncer. He’s still not quite happy about the amount of time I have to spend holding her instead of him, though.

I absolutely love being their mother. What a blessing.

It’s been a beautiful period of rest and healing, and now I’m starting to get antsy about resuming as many of our daily life habits as possible. I love wearing Bea in my wrap or sling around the house while doing laundry or dishes — baby wearing truly is lifesaving.

One of the difficult things about the postpartum and breastfeeding stages of life is the wardrobe shift. Much of my clothing doesn’t fit quite right, or isn’t really easy for breastfeeding. I find myself recycling the same few outfits that work with my changed body and priorities, feeling a little discouraged while some of my favorite pieces sit in the back of my closet. So, since baby wearing is a big part of my wardrobe now, I got myself a little treat: baby wraps from Oscha Wraps. They’re absolute works of art. I’ll post a photo of them eventually. If I can’t quite wear the clothing I want to in this season, I can accessorize!

My blue eyed boy “hiding”

We had an eventful start to April: some of my cousins from the Midwest were in the area and stopped by to meet the newest member of the family.

Just as everyone arrived, our rainy skies opened and began pelting us with hail. I bemoaned my garden many times while looking out the window at my poor tomatoes and beans. Hopefully they’ll bounce back.

Sleep deprivation is starting to catch up to me a little, so I’m slowing down in my handicrafts (as I knew I would). I’m still knitting away at simple projects that don’t take much brain power (like vanilla socks) and hand quilting my queen sized Irish Chain quilt (which Michael loves to help me do).

So much has happened in a month: I can’t imagine life without Beatrice, but I also find it hard to believe I gave birth only a month ago. We’re soaking in this liminal time period, floating between late night breastfeeding sessions, early morning toddler snuggles, and all the quiet moments in between.