Daphne's Blessing

*editor's note:  I'm typing this one-handed while nursing Daphne, which means it will take a while. 
Who knows when this will get posted....?

On Sunday, May 6th, 2012, Daphne Genevieve was blessed by her father, David Benjamin Nutter, at our Church building in Garden Grove, CA during Sacrament Meeting.  It was a beautiful experience.

Here's what sucks about anxiety: the entire week building up to this special event, I didn't want it to come.  The first 1/2 of last week was really tough.  And without going into too much detail, I held on to the possibility of moving Daphne's blessing to some later date until last Friday afternoon, when 1/2 of the people planning to attend ended up with conflicts and I was able to breathe a little.

David's grandparents arrived on Saturday and went to Costco to purchase food for the next day.  My family met us at the Church the next morning. Then we stayed through 2nd hour (I did not want to wake a sleeping baby by putting her into her carseat and tick her off).  We headed to our house for some lunch where we ate, talked, and even did some singing (inevitable with my family).


Highlights of the day:

*Putting poor Daphne in a cumbersome, ridiculous dress with a huge bow on her head.  Seriously.  It's such torture for these babies.  But I still loved seeing her in it.  It's the first of some very important white dresses in her life.  Each of my girls have been blessed in their own dresses, which I've saved to give to them for their daughters someday.

*Walking into the chapel after a particularly stressful morning and seeing my oldest brother's family sitting there.  I'm not particularly close to him (he's 8 years older than me), but it took a lot for me to choke back the tears.  And then 5 minutes later, my Mom, Dad, & other brother walked in.  This newborn time is so hard for me, my emotions are always at the surface.  Seeing my family brought such gratitude and joy into my heart.

*Dave being embarrassed that the circle ended up being larger than we'd anticipated.  He feels like it looks presumptuous... I saw it as us being loved.  David, my dad, my 2 brothers, David's maternal grandpa, David's EQ Presidency, our ex-bishop (the chiropractor who treated both CC & Daphne), and our current bishop.

*Me showing David's grandmother my intentions to record the blessing (in order to transcribe later) using the voice memo on my iPhone and the conversation going as follows:

Gma: I don't think you're allowed to do that...
Me: Oh! (turns it off)
Gma: No, no.  Turn it back on.  You didn't know. *wink*

*David remembering to throw in something about talents into the blessing per my request.  :)

*Having my Mom point out to me that, at some point in my hectic morning, I had ripped my skirt... all the way up to the waistband (thank HEAVENS it had a layer underneath)!

*Being able to sing with my family, even if it was only for 15 minutes in between Daphne's naps. 

*Daphne napping fairly well, even with all of that stimulation.

*Watching my nephew eat about 9 cupcakes and get in trouble for it.

*My mom getting teary-eyed after I sang a song and expressing that Daphne watched and smiled the whole time in my arms, and my mother reassuring me that, despite my expressing feeling otherwise, that God is, in fact, aware of me.

There was a big bow.  These things get lost like socks in the laundry.  No clue where the darn thing ended up.

Look at her looking at her Daddy!

Beautiful, blessed baby.

The company leaves & Daddy crashes.