When the Relatives Came

Claira was given a name and blessing in church on May 5th (Cinco de Mayo in honor of her 1/8th Hispanic heritage). She was blessed by her dad, and standing in the circle of Priesthood brethren were my dad, Tyler's dad, my Grandpa Billington, my brother Paul, Tyler's brother Sage, our good friend Matt Bezzant, and our Bishop.

My beautiful sister Lacey Jean came to meet her niece Claira Jane the Wednesday before. Lacey was a baby charmer, even able to get Claira to take a pacifier (I can't get her to take it, no sir). Lacey convinced me that I didn't need to make banners and floral hair pieces for all the girls coming to the blessing, so we were just able to focus on cleaning the house and making 4 desserts (thank you, mom, for desserts 5 and 6). Tyler was sure we'd have too many sweets, but when he was hankering for some chocolate, everything was gone.

Claira at birth, 6 lbs 14 oz and 19 inches

A baby blessing is a joyful event. I'm grateful that Claira finally got the message by the time she was acutally blessed at church. Previous to the date, I decided that she needed to go to her 2 month doctor's appointment. I was super excited to go to the appointment, only thinking about the fact that I'd get to ask the good doc a bunch of questions and find out how much our little darling has grown (11 lbs, 14 oz, and 23 inches long, about 65 percentile):

Claira at her current weight, in the blessing dress that I myself was blessed in,

Of course I forgot the little detail that she would be getting her first round of IMMUNIZATIONS. The poor child had not ever experienced true pain, apparently. She started wailing just in time for the Andersons to arrive. She wailed and wailed. But fortunately, Grandma Anderson had the magic touch to calm her down.

 
Grandma Anderson also had the magic touch of knowing which rolls would go best with the delicious bbq pork hauled all the way from Springville Meats in the 5th wheel. The Anderson crew really pulled through, with BreAnn holding Claira for the rest of church and Sage, Collin, and Marissa keeping her entertained with funny faces and baby talk. I think they got more smiles out of her that day than all my days combined.

The family resemblance is clear.

We were definitely spoiled to have all our family (minus Seth on his mission and Happiness in DC), including the Billingtons.

4 generations of Billington women. Claira looks thrilled.

My heart soared with gratitude for a family that will love Claira her whole life through. She will know that her family knows that she is a miracle.