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May. 14th, 2002 02:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckThe baby was quite well behaved through the service (so were the other two infants being baptized). She started fussing afterward, however, so the planned photos were scrapped. I then rode with Wendy to her parents' place where the lunch was to be held while Jeff rode with his sister. The baby napped through the end of the actual meal which worked nicely. The other children (four of them including our nephew) were all between about three and five and so could interact reasonably well with each other. The hosts had set aside a room for them to play in that had a tv with a VCR. We didn't see all that much of them during the afternoon.
I was so very tired that I succumbed to the temptation to have dessert and to munch a bit here and there. I regretted it because I'd managed the actual lunch without breaking my diet. Ah, well. I just keep getting back on track again. My bean salad proved popular; a couple of women asked what I'd done "special." I suspect that most people aren't willing to let their bean salads age. I got the recipe from my mother, and it's extremely simple-- beans, onion, vinegar, oil, sugar, salt and pepper. The key seems to be always to make it the day before so that the flavors mix a bit.
I didn't really have any conversations with anyone during the afternoon. Some of the non-family people there weren't even sure who I was. Since I don't belong to their church, have children, share a history, there's very little common ground. Everybody was friendly enough, of course.
I did get to hold the baby for quite a while. She was in a good mood and just watching everything with wide eyes. There was a large Tweety Bird balloon floating around, and her eyes got really, really wide when it was within her line of sight. She kept tilting her head back for a better look. She got a couple of stuff animals, a beanie baby jellyfish that all of the other kids thought looked best on top of her head (tentacles artfully arranged of course) and the softest duck I've ever encountered (I covet that duck!). She doesn't have any teeth yet but was chewing on everything that came into range. (Including fingers which surprised Jeff. He'd never thought that people'd let a baby chew on them and commented that it must only be because she has no teeth yet that we allow it. His mother laughed at him and told him he'd be surprised.)
Around 3pm, the baby began to fuss, and it occurred to her mother that she hadn't been changed since well before the service started at 10am. Not too surprisingly, she was extremely wet. Very surprisingly, none of it had leaked out (A good thing too. She was wearing a white dress with yellow ribbons that had been crocheted by her great-aunt. It's quasi-washable because not all of the ribbons can be removed. They plan to have professional photos taken of her in the dress in a few days). The baby became much more cheerful after she was changed.
Not long after that, the gathering broke up. Scott called from work to find out what was going on, and our part of the family decided to go to his parents' place for a while. Jeff and I rode with his parents since Suzanne needed to stop off at home on the way. Once we got there, I kind of curled up on their couch and proceeded to droop. Scott arrived not too long thereafter and headed for the shower. He was very glad we'd grabbed his clothes (He had at least remembered the hanging plants he and Jeff had purchased the day before. Jeff and I had forgotten to check before we left and had comforted ourselves with the knowledge that there wouldn't have been room for them in Wendy's car anyway); although why he packed shorts I can't imagine.
After he'd showered, Scott persuaded me to lie down for a while, and I kind of napped. It was one of those states in which I was still more or less aware of what was going on around me but wasn't about to open my eyes or move any more than I had to. Scott got me up when his mother was putting food on the table. I had some chicken while everybody else had turkey brauts (sausage of all types gives me problems). The rest of the food was lunch leftovers. The nephew ate a lot (for a three year old); apparently he'd ignored all the food earlier in favor of a Blues Clues video or three.
I was so very tired that I succumbed to the temptation to have dessert and to munch a bit here and there. I regretted it because I'd managed the actual lunch without breaking my diet. Ah, well. I just keep getting back on track again. My bean salad proved popular; a couple of women asked what I'd done "special." I suspect that most people aren't willing to let their bean salads age. I got the recipe from my mother, and it's extremely simple-- beans, onion, vinegar, oil, sugar, salt and pepper. The key seems to be always to make it the day before so that the flavors mix a bit.
I didn't really have any conversations with anyone during the afternoon. Some of the non-family people there weren't even sure who I was. Since I don't belong to their church, have children, share a history, there's very little common ground. Everybody was friendly enough, of course.
I did get to hold the baby for quite a while. She was in a good mood and just watching everything with wide eyes. There was a large Tweety Bird balloon floating around, and her eyes got really, really wide when it was within her line of sight. She kept tilting her head back for a better look. She got a couple of stuff animals, a beanie baby jellyfish that all of the other kids thought looked best on top of her head (tentacles artfully arranged of course) and the softest duck I've ever encountered (I covet that duck!). She doesn't have any teeth yet but was chewing on everything that came into range. (Including fingers which surprised Jeff. He'd never thought that people'd let a baby chew on them and commented that it must only be because she has no teeth yet that we allow it. His mother laughed at him and told him he'd be surprised.)
Around 3pm, the baby began to fuss, and it occurred to her mother that she hadn't been changed since well before the service started at 10am. Not too surprisingly, she was extremely wet. Very surprisingly, none of it had leaked out (A good thing too. She was wearing a white dress with yellow ribbons that had been crocheted by her great-aunt. It's quasi-washable because not all of the ribbons can be removed. They plan to have professional photos taken of her in the dress in a few days). The baby became much more cheerful after she was changed.
Not long after that, the gathering broke up. Scott called from work to find out what was going on, and our part of the family decided to go to his parents' place for a while. Jeff and I rode with his parents since Suzanne needed to stop off at home on the way. Once we got there, I kind of curled up on their couch and proceeded to droop. Scott arrived not too long thereafter and headed for the shower. He was very glad we'd grabbed his clothes (He had at least remembered the hanging plants he and Jeff had purchased the day before. Jeff and I had forgotten to check before we left and had comforted ourselves with the knowledge that there wouldn't have been room for them in Wendy's car anyway); although why he packed shorts I can't imagine.
After he'd showered, Scott persuaded me to lie down for a while, and I kind of napped. It was one of those states in which I was still more or less aware of what was going on around me but wasn't about to open my eyes or move any more than I had to. Scott got me up when his mother was putting food on the table. I had some chicken while everybody else had turkey brauts (sausage of all types gives me problems). The rest of the food was lunch leftovers. The nephew ate a lot (for a three year old); apparently he'd ignored all the food earlier in favor of a Blues Clues video or three.
