Baptism Sunday

Sunday morning came very early.  Christian had told me the night before that if Tate and I were just too tired and discombobulated that we didn't have to get up for Baby Phillip's baptism.  I sooooo wanted to take him up on this.  But, Katha had planned the baby's baptism to occur while Tate and I were visiting, so there was no way I was going to miss this.


So exhausted as I was and as I know Tate was, we were up by 7, mostly because Tate was up moving by 6:30...sigh.  We blearily ate breakfast, yet again prepared by Regina.  Christian was walking around like the walking wounded (this was probably the beginning of our disconnect...exhaustion and sleep deprivation do a number on people).


But it was a gorgeous morning, and we rallied.  Tate was in good spirits despite his difficult evening, full of smiles and playing with his trains and doing his new Mickey Mouse puzzles with aplomb.  We got dressed and made it to the lovely, lovely church with time to spare.  No pictures were allowed in the church, so there are none of sweet Phillip during the service and baptismal ceremony.

Walking to the church.

Tate did quite well in church;  he was pretty quiet in my opinion.  I mean he's 2.  He's going to giggle and talk and wiggle around.  Christian handled it pretty well, but seemed more worried about Tate's behavior than me.  Understandable though, as I'm very used to it and have a different sense of expectation from a toddler's behavior in an adult situation.

Isn't this church just gorgeous?

Church and trains!

A more beautiful day could not have been asked for.  The service was lovely and Phillip did just great.  Everyone clustered about after the service enjoying the beautiful morning.  A few minutes later we all dispersed, and as we were walking back to our car we came upon the church playground.  Tate was enamored immediately, and I opted to let him go for it...in his white pants!  Christian was more than willing to join Tate in some childlike fun!  I just sat back and watched my two favorite boys enjoy each other.

OOOHHH!!!

So. Much. Fun.

Doing a little jig!

Daddy shows him how to stomp the sand off!

 

 We finally made it home, changed our clothes and headed over to Katha and Sebastian's for the afternoon.  They opened up their home to their friends and family and grilled again.  The food was delicious, the weather was awesome, the people were open and inviting and I was happy to sit back and let the day pass me by.  

 

That's Katha standing up!

  

Around 12:30 Christian and I decided to put Tate in the stroller and take him for a walk with the hopes that he would fall asleep.  All 3 of us were exhausted and I could tell it was taking a real toll on Christian.  And being with a toddler 24 hours a day is alot of work.  And I also know that it has to be extremely disconcerting for Christian to see Tate after being away from him for 10 months.  The last time he saw Tate was the week Tate turned 2.  Soooooo much has changed!  Tate is no longer a baby or even a young toddler.  He's a little boy.  He is a completely different person than the one he was last July.  It takes Christian some time to 'catch up'.  Tate was barely talking the last time he was here, and now he has full conversations, has definite opinions and can charm his way into and out of anything. :) I just wonder how much that weighs on Christian's heart.    Though this is what we expected...him to miss out on great parts of Tate's life; it's completely different when you're actually living it.  And I also truly believe that this Tate, this toddler, almost 3 year old Tate is someone who Christian really wants to be with, be around, play with and talk to.  While I dreamed of mothering a baby, Christian imagined fathering a young boy.  Now I LOVE mothering this sweet little boy of mine, don't get me wrong, but I do miss those baby cuddles and kisses.

Anyway, we took Tate out for a walk.  It was warm, probably in the mid 80s, but Tate was content to be in his stroller.  But I felt out of sync with Christian; possibly because I had thought I would take Tate out on my own because I didn't want to take Christian away from his family/friends, but who knows?  He didn't want us to go alone...have I mentioned what a great man he is?  We strolled through the neighborhood, and I honestly cannot remember what we talked about.  I couldn't convince Tate to let me lay the stroller seat back and he was fighting going to sleep tooth and nail.  Christian and I took turn pushing the stroller; and I know that the one not pushing the stroller needs to walk behind the one with the stroller because if Tate sees someone he knows in front of him, he will not fall asleep (this I should have shared with Christian...this lack of information led to a contentious visit at the zoo a couple of days later)  Finally, Tate fell asleep while Christian was pushing him.  I know this because I asked him to stop so I could look in...he was out.  So in my infinite wisdom I decided to put the stroller seat down to make him more comfortable.

He immediately woke up.

He never went back to sleep.

I have not been so frustrated with myself and a situation in I don't know how long.

We continued walking another 15 or 20 minutes to no avail.  I asked Christian to drive us around in his dad's car.  He didn't really want to, but he did it for me.

No dice.  He never went to sleep....this boy needed a nap.  He desperately needed to catch up on his sleep.  I knew this would not bode well for my evening.  We went back to Katha's to hang out with everyone.   In desperation, I called my BFF Susan back here in Houston almost in tears worried about Tate's sleep or lack thereof.  Christian was insistent it was jet lag;  I was insistent it was simply over-tiredness.  What the hell?  What did it matter what the issue was called?  The bottom line is...he wasn't sleeping.  He needed to catch up on his sleep.  Susan just reassured me that Tate would figure it out, that he did need to catch up on his sleep and that I needed to get him naps ASAP.

Christian went back to hanging with the menfolk on the balcony, and I hung out with the womenfolk in the house with the wee ones.  Tate and his Oma spent some quality time doing puzzles.  She is simply wonderful...

 Later on, Tate and Christian ventured back to Oma and Opa's in search of popsicles and were gone about 45 minutes.  They returned and Tate had had an absolute fabulous time counting cars, motorcycles and airplanes with his daddy.


The 3 of us headed home early to try to get Tate to bed as early as possible as well as so I could start packing us up for our trip to Berlin in the morning.  The boys bathed together, and I heard sweet peals of laughter from my son and awesome chuckles from Christian.  And water was everywhere.


Tate was asleep by 7:30 or so.  I climbed into bed around 10 (and I have no recollection of what I did that evening;  I believe Christian went back to his sister's and I packed up and showered).  Tate woke again screaming.  I dealt with him again on my own, rocking, singing, soothing, cuddling.  He was only awake about 90 minutes this time, and he finally went back to sleep in the PNP without fussing.


6:30 came very early Monday morning.