Baptism

We had Dean baptized on July 5 at Blacknall Presbyterian Church in Durham. The same church that I was baptized in 28 years ago. We had 3 pews full of family that came in to bear witness to the occasion. We had 2 sets of great grandparents, ALL 4 grandparents, a great aunt, and every aunt and uncle that Dean has. What a great feeling to look out and see all of those people there for our son, to know how loved he is at such a young age. You could feel God in the room encircling our family.
Dean, being the water-lover that he is, thought it was so funny that someone was putting water on his head. While the pastor was giving a prayer after the baptism, Dean was trying to leap out of his arms and into the water basin to get some more. Always the entertainer.


The weekend itself was a celebration. Being July 4th, there was lots going on. Josh rode his motorcycle up to Sparta, NC where our sister-in-law's family lives. Every year for the 4th they have a huge celebration on this beautiful plot of land that they have down by a river. Josh rode up to celebrate and get some much needed mountain relaxation. Dean and I stayed here in Raleigh and hung out with my brothers (who flew in for the baptism). We went to a Durham Bulls game, barbequed with extended family, and lounged around by the pool. We closed out the weekend with a big cookout and celebration of the event. As the adults ate and drank, Dean crawled around our legs picking up any stray bit of food to fall off our plates. My son, the human garbage disposal.

The game of sweeping

Babies are a lot like puppies. Dean is entering into the stage (I think it's a good 15 years) of endless energy and noise. He is all over the place, into everything, grabbing everything he can get his hands on, flailing all appendages in 4 different directions, chasing the dogs all over the house, all while babbling or screaming at the top of his lungs. He follows me from room to room as I do various household chores. His favorite is sweeping. Like a puppy, he loves to chase the broom around the room and thinks the pile at the end is a treasure chest of goodies for him to eat. You would think that I would just do the sweeping when he is sleeping, but that would be far too logical and way less fun. Granted, my floor doesn't ever get all that clean when we play the game of sweeping, but it does poop both Dean and I out. It's been too hot to run with a baby jogger, so I'm improvising.