September 5

In one of the blogs that I often read, I was touched by something she wrote.  She said, "If your first name is common and your last name defines you, then what lies in the middle is the mystery of who you are, the secret of what lies within."  And it sort of stopped me in my tracks, and I read it over a few times, and couldn't help but smile, and pat myself on the back for choosing "Katherine" as Riley's middle name.   A beautiful name, a name with meaning.  A name that belonged to someone amazing. 

Today would have been Katherine's 21st birthday.  A day she was SO looking forward to.  Today, she would have gotten to meet her little baby niece.  There are a lot of "would haves" that I could list.  But those "would haves" didn't get to be.  And we've spent our time being sad, and asking why, and then being mad.  And some days, I still feel like that.  But today, on Katherine's birthday, we baptized our baby girl, and it was a happy, happy day.  We chose a middle name for her that is so very special, and we baptized her on a day that is so very special.  And it was perfect.  And you know what?  Today I couldn't help but think about our little baby girl, and her middle name, and how I can already see some little bits of my sister in her.  And how I can't wait to tell her all about her Aunt Katherine, her namesake.

Oh what a day it was. 

And Baby Bug's amazing godparents, Jennie and Philip (the Duffys... hehe.)

And maybe the best part of the day... YUM!

And somehow, we didn't manage to get a single picture of her in her baptism gown.  So we're going to have to put her back in it just for the sake of taking pictures.  We'll save that for another post.  And she got to meet all her relatives (some of my cousins).   Riley is camera shy, apparently.