Blessing Baby

We are blessing baby Zoe on Sunday, March 2. (At 2:30pm, come if you can!)

Monday was Family Home Evening and I gave a lesson about the importance of names. We read the accounts of how John the Baptist and Jesus received their names (Luke 1:5-14, 26-33). Names are important to Heavenly Father. I asked who should bless the baby and why is it like Jesus blessing the children in Mark 10:16. Zack said that Daddy was going to bless Zoe. Sarah said it was because he has the Melchizedek Priesthood. So I pointed out that this was the same authority that Jesus used when he blessed the children. Priesthood holders still need to keep their lives clean and pure to be able to use this authority... they have to be worthy, and I said how grateful I was that their Daddy blessed each one of them. I told how I cried at each of their blessings because it was such a sacred and important event. I told them to pay attention to the feelings they have when Zoe is blessed next week.

We talked about their names and how they received them and why, and then we let them look at some baby pictures of themselves. They really liked seeing themselves as the baby--totally different perspective with Zoe in our lives now. Seth especially was carrying the pictures around with him until it was time to eat dinner. Zack's pictures were of him just weeks old on the day he was blessed. He was blessed the youngest since we had so much family and friends in town, we decided to do it while everyone was there. What a great day that was.

Then, I let them help decide what Zoe should wear. I showed them Sarah's blessing dress that Grandma Niki bought 11 years ago which looks like a traditional Catholic christening dress, a cute pink dress with tiny black polka dots that the Bowens gave us because it was so cute Brooke couldn't resist it, and later (after I dug it out of a box in the attic) I showed them a white cotton dress of Sarah's that I bought for her blessing day.

Even though babies don't have to wear white for their blessing day, a lot of people still do it. There's like a cultural pressure to do it. The rebel in me wants to put Zoe in the pink dress, and as cute as it is, Josh thinks the dots might make the dress irreverent/too casual for this big event. I could go the sentimental route and use the same dress Sarah was blessed in, but it's a big fancy white dress and not rebellious at all. Then there's the simple white cotton dress with emboidered flowers. It's kind of a mix because there are colored flowers and a pink scalloped edge on the collar, but it's still white to appease the cultural demand. It happens to be everybody's favorite, but this is not a democracy... Josh says I get final say no matter what everybody wants... so what do you think I should do? Let's hear your words of advice and opinions on the matter.