A Family Milestone - Celebrating Livia's Christening Day

Livia in the family Christening Robe

Last Saturday saw the Christening of our beloved granddaughter Livia, just over a year after her big sis Sofia was baptised. The ceremony took place in the same church, St. Carthage's in Lismore, with the same priest Fr. Cullinan conducting the rites. He is the local Parish Priest and as Livia lives in Cork with her sis and parents he was happy to do it once they had a letter from the PP in Cork - some kind of territorial hierarchy, perhaps!

The day got off to a very bad weather start, with more of the lashing rainfall which had marked the entire week, which had seen flash floods in Dublin that resulted in the deaths of two people, an off-duty Garda trying to divert cars from a bridge from which he was them swept away, and a Philipina nurse who died when her basement flat was inundated after a wall collapsed, creating a damburst effect. We were very lucky to escape with no floods in Waterford.

Livia with her parents, sister and Godparents

We were very glad to see the sun come out and the rain stop for the afternoon, as the ceremony was at 5pm, and the church is only across the road from our house. Hubby Jan had gone to Cork in the morning to collect the family and Livia's Dutch Godmother Machteld came too, along with Anne their au pair also from Holland. It's great that the girls will have exposure to Dutch from these friends as they won't lose touch with more than half their heritage, in fact three-quarters as their dad's half Dutch! Martin, the girls' uncle, was the Godfather and he'd  been here for a few days already as he'd holidays from his job in Dublin.

After the Christening in our garden

With Fr. Cullinan at the Font

We all got glammed up and headed to the church in time - after dressing Livia in the family heirloom Christening robe which has been in my family for over 100 years, and which has done duty for my mother, me, our kids, and now our second grandchild! I think my granny may have also been Christened in it which would make it well over 130 years old, but I can't verify that. She looked so sweet, and never mind that she was much bigger than the babies of long ago at Christening age - the tape ties at the back meant it fitted just fine.



I'd been busy baking for the days leading up to the big day - even though we were only having a simple celebration back at our house after the ceremony - and I was delighted with how well the cake turned out, as it was a rectangle compared to the round cake Sofia had for her big day. I made a Victoria Sponge, with whipped cream and homemade strawberry jam filling, topped with Fondant Icing and piped Butter Icing in pink for the lettering and borders. I made an apple tart and some fairy cakes, which went beautifully on my new cake stand - a two-tier floral  pink porcelain job, from Shaws in Dungarvan - totally irresisstable. They have them in blue so they're obviously designed for just such events as births or baptisms! We were having a barbecue in the dark -well, by patio light actually - as hubby was cooking, and I made a savoury Nasi-style fried rice to accompany the BBQ, while Jany and Machteld and Anne made the salads.

The Cake (proud me!)

Fairy cakes on my new Cakestand!

The ceremony took about 40-50 mins, as the priest chatted a lot and there was another baby being Christened at the same time - a kind of conveyor belt Christening, as first Livia and then the other baby were brought to the Font for the actual pouring of the water. It's a lovely symbolic ceremony with the candle lit from the Paschal or Easter Candle, and the anointing with oil and chrysm, and the covering of the head with the white blanket while the family all gather round to welcome the baby into the Christian community. Even though I'm not as regular a churchgoer as I should be I feel happy that the traditions like Baptism continue through the generations.

The gathering on the patio

Livia with Godparents - Martin and Machteld

I hope you like the photos of the day and get a sense of our shared family celebration, and as we did with Sofia we gave Livia silverware engraved with her name and the date. She got a mug from us, the Godfather Martin gave her a photo album, scroll certificate holder and stand, and Maeve her aunt gave her an expanding bracelet, while William gave her silver boxes for first tooth and curl!

Altogether we had a lovely day and goodness knows when the Christening robe will get another family outing!

Livia, Sofia, Shayne and Jany

L-R: William, Kyle, Shayne & Sofia, Jany & Livia, Maeve and Martin

A Wonderful Event - Livia, our new Granddaughter is born!

Livia's first car journey

There's been a lot happening in the past fortnight and I am only now catching up on sharing the good news. Before I start to sound like a tent revivalist preaching to the converted - this isn't a polemic or a sermon! On March 26th our beautiful second granddaughter, Livia Lena Martina, was born to Jany and Shayne in Cork University Maternity Hospital, where Sofia, her big sister, was born over a year ago. I had planned a week's leave from work to be on hand to babysit Sofia, so the timing was perfect as Jany went into labour on first day of my holidays - broken waters, and off to the hospital in the middle of the night. I headed of to Cork where Jany was already admitted to CUMH.

The first photo of Livia in CUMH

The next day was the waiting game, as Jany started regular contractions that evening and little Livia was born at 11:19p.m., weighing in at 8lbs 10ozs. or for the metric among you 3.9kg. I was delighted and relived when the call from Shayne came through and I spent half the night on the phone with the family, and went to see Jany the next afternoon. Unfortunately Livia had some fluid on her lungs and rapid breathing at delivery so she went to the Neonatal Unit for observation, and was given antibiotics. She was kept there for longer than expected at first, as she had a raised blood test that could have indicated infection, even though she was fine in every way. The end result was none of the family except Shayne and Jany saw her until she was six days old, as only parents were allowed into the neonatal unit. It was really weird watching the popular TV series From Here to Maternity which looks at birth stories from CUMH, from the human interest perspective, when your own grandchild is in there.

Livia home at last

She is a real beauty with a head of hair exceeding Sofia's and she is settling into life in Cork with her big sister and her doting parents! I came home after 5 days in Cork once Jany got home on Wednesday, and then I went back to bring her home on Friday.

On Saturday her granddad Jan and me went to Tralee for the funeral of a cousin, Tom, who lived to the ripe old age of 97, and on the way home we called to see the family in Cork.

Sunday was Shayne's birthday so we spent the afternoon and evening in Cork celebrating, and I baked a nice fruity cake. Graphic Design son Martin designed the birth cards which are like a film flyer - I love it! What do you think? It's a very Dutch institution, personalised birth announcement cards, and it is catching on here more and more.

Livia in Neonatal Unit CUMH

Coffee on the terrace in CUMH - waiting day!

Meeting Granddad/Opa

Proud Granny with Livia

Proud dad feeding Livia!

The other big event is that Shayne got a new job, and will start on Monday, in a customer services centre in Cork, and our youngest son William also starts there next week. It is great that they have jobs after intermittent work, and Shayne's been doing a back-to-education course for the past six months. It's very timely now as he finishes the course just as he starts the new job

Jany with her little beauty!

With middle son Martin in Dublin working in the Westbury Hotel for the past month or so, they are all gainfully employed, albeit not in their field. They're pretty well over-qualified for the work they're doing now but in this recession it's great to have a job, and selfishly I am glad they'll be in the country and not have to emigrate just yet. As you need savings to go to Australia or Canada or N. Zealand, this will be a stepping stone to that end if they so decide. When I was their ages I had been and gone and come back from Bangladesh, so I can't really come over all Irish Mammy on them and guilt-trip them into staying here just to keep me happy!

Sofia the Jaffa Cake Kid!

Sofia playing Incy Wincy Spider!

Birth Announcement Card!

I am back at work this week, and enjoying the lovely spring weather - tomorrow the forecast is for 21C - high summer temps - so if this is global warming it's hard to complain! I love that we had a BBQ this evening and could sit out till nearly 9p.m. with the stretch in the evenings since the clocks went forward last Saturday week - just after Livia's birth. There was a great piece in the Irish Times  recently which I'll link - Ireland in 100 Euphemisms - and certainly you could add "There's a great stretch in the evenings" to that list if it's not in there already!

Fruity Birthday Cake

I'll post a few photos of Livia and Sofia - and random stuff - and more posts will keep you updated on Livia's progress through the first year, as with Sofia. We are so happy that she is well and healthy and good luck to them all in their new journey!