Vivienne's Name & Blessing Ceremony

 On Sunday February 23, 2104 we had a special Blessing Ceremony for our sweet baby girl.  Our sweet friends Bonnie and Patrick allowed us to graciously use their home for this sweet occasion. We had about 50 people (including kids) to support us on this special day.  We had a lovely ceremony and then a beautiful brunch.

 I made this beautiful coconut cake that I saw being made on The Chew. If you know me, baking is not something I do often, but I rose to the occasion and the cake turned out deliciously!

 Proud Daddy

 We used rose pedals as part of the blessing ceremony.

As the petals of the white rose symbolize innocence, make Vivienne’s ideals and heart remain untarnished and ever pure, with the wonders of childhood innocence forever hers.

 May the petals of the yellow rose foreshadow the friends and friendships, steadfast and unwavering that will bless her in the years ahead.

 The pink rose and her petals speak of the tender love and compassion her spirit will know; the love that knows no bounds.

 And as always, may the passion of the red rose forever kindle the fire in her heart for both life itself and for all the passions she will find there.

 Here is the letter of promise I wrote to my little sparrow:

My darling baby girl,

         This is such a special day for you, even though you are too small to remember this event, please know that you are surrounded by people who love and support you, and who support your mom and dad.  You have been lucky to come into a world being loved by so many, so instantly.

         I feel so honored to be your mother and lucky to hold this title for such a special, sweet and adorable gal. It’s a lot of pressure to be a mom and one day you will learn that I am far less than perfect, but please know that no matter what happens during this life I will always love you and am doing the very best I can to give you all that you need, want and desire. The bond between us started before you were even born and it is a bond so strong that it can never be broken.  My love for you and your brother is so deep and so rich; I hope you will experience and feel this love as you grow into a beautiful young woman.

         My precious daughter, there are so many things I want for you in this life; I make promises to you today in hopes that you will be able to achieve all your hopes and desires.

I promise you that I will help you see the good in all people. There are many people in this world who are very different than you, but that will have so much to offer you if you open your heart to them.  No matter what peoples race, age, skin color, sexual preference, gender, belief system is, it is important to know that everyone you meet has good in them and you can take away something beautiful by letting them into your life. Your life will be deeply enriched if you take in the good that others teach you.

I promise to support you through the hard times in life. Life is pretty fantastic right now, you are loved on all day and your biggest worry is how fast you will get picked up when you whimper.  Life will not always be so easy little one.  There are always unexpected bumps, turns and sometimes-even rocks that get thrown in your direction.  When this happens please know that your heart will not be the only one breaking, as a mother’s heart aches every time her child’s does.  I will be there to hug, support and do my best to lift you in any way I possibly can. I will also be there to rejoice during those joyful and exciting times.  Life will offer you so much, and if you take it all in and find the good in it, you will find yourself having an abundant and fulfilling experience.

I promise to teach you about true beauty and remind you how beautiful you are often. There are so many pressures in the world teaching women what beauty is.  My hope for you is that I can teach you how to love yourself for all your perfections and imperfections.  You will never feel like you have the perfect body type, are smart enough, good enough, or talented enough, but you do and you are!  I promise to tell you often about all the wonderful things I see in you, all the gifts that you have that you may not realize and point out all the real beauty that you possess, so that you will hopefully believe me, and will be able to love yourself no matter what flaws you think you have. Love yourself sweetheart; you are so special and beautiful!

I promise to embarrass you in front of your friends,

I promise to never give you bangs that are as big as your face.

I promise to teach you about self-care, tampons and birth control.

I promise to teach you about laughter and how to laugh at yourself.

I promise your daddy will always be the funniest parent, but I promise to do silly things to get a laugh too.

I promise to attend your soccer/dance/ice skating/acting/golf/debate/art/piano games/recitals/lessons/competitions (or whatever it is that you want to do).

I promise that I may not be the craftiest or most creative mom, but that I love to celebrate holidays and special events, and will make them memorable for you.

I promise to show you life through a glass that is half full, so that you can find the good in all things.

I promise that having a positive attitude through the good and the bad times will teach you about gratitude and humility.

I promise you there will be regrets in your life, but that you can learn from those experiences to strengthen your character.

I promise to take you on many adventures so you can explore all that this beautiful world has to offer.

I Promise to always be a Mama Bear, and protect you even when you don’t want to be protected.

I promise to spend quality time with you so that our relationship can be close, and we can talk to each other openly and with love and understanding.

Finally, I promise to always love, adore and support you on your journey, wherever it may take you.

I love you sweet Vivienne with my whole being, and today I make these promises to you.

With a grateful and full heart,

Mom

 My dear friend Reverend Diana Donahue conducted the ceremony and did a beautiful job.  She was the first chaplain I worked with at Hospice; she is an amazing woman and I'm so glad she was there to help with this special day.. 

 Love all these adorable little kids!

 Vivienne wore my mother's blessing dress, which as you can see is absolutely breathtaking.  She wore shoes from her great grandmother Dianne whom she is named after.  I bought her the sweet headband and my dear friend Lori made her that sweet pink blanket.  So much love just in what she wore for her special day.

 I'm just incredibly blessed to be the mother of these two beauties!

A warm thank you to all who made this day so special.  Wonderful friends who showed up and supported this beautiful girl, as well as family who sent letters to Vivienne for her blessing day book that she will have to cherish for the rest of her life.  

Thanks to everyone who loves and supports us!

Little Miss at 8 weeks

I cannot believe this little lady is 8 weeks old!  Time sure goes by a lot faster with a baby than when you are pregnant.  I have two weeks left on maternity leave and am just soaking in the moments I have left full time with this sweet angel.  Little Viv is a very sweet baby just like her big brother.  She is very happy, is a great eater and a wonderful sleeper.  She does love to be held more than be set down, but who wouldn't want that as a baby?  She also loves to eat a lot more than her brother did.  She is so much bigger than he was at this stage.  Berke would fit into his clothes for a long time because he was such a little guy; this will not be the case with our little lady.  

 She is such a cutie and we just love her.  She is full of smiles these days and started cooing this week as well, which I absolutely adore.  Have a girl to dress up is so much fun, I cannot get enough of playing dress up with her!

 While it has been a hard transition with a new baby after having only a 5 year old, things are getting better.  I'm slowly learning how to share my attention with two kids and make them both happy.

I think we will all do better when it is not snowing and freezing outside.  We cannot wait to get outside and go on family walks and get rid of these winter blues.

 It is pretty great having this little lady joining our family, she is quite easy to love.

Diversity

It turns out that Berke and I have been having some much deeper conversations about more complex societal issues now that he is 5 years old.  So many things have been coming up for my sweet boy and it has been great to have some of these good and sometimes tough conversations with him.

Berkeley goes to a very diverse preschool, he has 21 kids in his classroom and most of them come from countries all over the world.  He has children in his class with the name Oksana, Nyasiah, Fekendy, Ousman, Metkel, Amrit, Sha'nelize, Abhisri, Harsh and Darshley.  These are not names that any children I went to school with had in predominately white Utah.  I love the preschool he attends because there is so much diversity; Berkeley can clearly see that his skin is a different color than his friends, but he also has learned that he can laugh, play, learn and be friends with people who are different that he is.

Recently Berke came home talking about how at school they are in different groups and how Issacson and Nyasiah were in his group.  "Mom, they are different than me.  They have brown skin and I have peach, but its okay." His teachers have done a unit about countries and their flags to touch on where all the kids in the class are from.  Berkeley has loved learning about the different countries and their differences.

Berkeley saw the Lego Movie this weekend with his dad and friend Travis.  Berkeley told me that Abraham Lincoln was in the movie and I asked him if he knew who that was, which he replied that he was a president.  I told Berkeley that he was famous because he ended slavery, to which, in true Berkeley form, asked, "What's slavery mom?"  I couldn't believe how hard it was to explain this to my sweet and innocent 5 year old who has many dear friends with brown skin.  I was so ashamed of our countries past; I didn't think he could understand.  I didn't do a great job of explaining, mostly due to feeling so uncomfortable, but told him that we used to make people with brown skin work for us for free, but President Lincoln made it so that they had to get paid for what they did.  

I really am interested in how you might handle this situation, how do you explain slavery to a 5 year old.

Besides race being a hot topic at our house, so is gay marriage.  Most of you know that Christian and I are in support of gay marriage and have many gay friends.  Berkeley has his Auntie G and Aunt Steffy who he loves and adores.  It is just hitting him now that they are two women and are married.  When we talked about his Papa getting married, I explained that it was just like when Auntie G and Aunt Steffy got married.  I was surprised that his response was, "No mom! Girls can't marry each other, only a boy and a girl can get married."  This was certainly not what we had taught him but what he has observed, as all of his friends have a mom and a dad.  I took this opportunity to teach him that marriage is between two people who love each other; sometimes it is a man and a woman like mommy and daddy, and other times it is two women or two men.   

We recently got an Save the Date for our friends Jeremy and Jeff and then had them over for dinner.  We told Berke that we were going to their wedding in October and had the conversation about gay marriage yet again.  A few weeks later Berke was playing with his lego guys and he said, "Mom, these two guys are married.  It's okay for two guys to get married you know, just not three guys."  It was a proud parenting moment for me that he had accepted this at age 5 and was incorporating it into his play.  

I love that my little boy is exposed to so much diversity, with race, socioeconomic status, age (with our neighbors and my job) and gender.  One of the things we most want to teach him is to love, be nice and respect all those that are different than him. I feel that we are giving him these opportunities and that because he is exposed to these issues at such an early age it is natural for him to love all those around him.