How I wore it: baby baptism

Hi, all! Oh, it's nice to be doing this again...

Anyway, although it's just past midnight for me, it's still Monday in my brain. So when I say "yesterday" I mean Sunday. So, yes, "yesterday," we had Baby Boots baptized into the Greek Orthodox church, just like her father (and mother!) before. The only Orthodox baptism I've ever seen has been my own, which doesn't really count, because it wasn't the classic "kid gets baptized" ceremony, but rather "unwilling adult gets dunked." I'm told it's different with babies.

Anyway, the ceremony took place in a convent a few hours north of Athens (road trip!). The convent is dedicated to Saint Nicholas the Younger (I...don't know who he is) and it consists of three nuns. The abbess is pretty much a spiritual advisor to my mother-in-law and she was the first person that my husband and his mother turned to at the very difficult time of Baby Boots' dramatic birth. Some members of the family firmly believe that the baby's continuing good health are all due to the abbess' prayers and the saint's intervention. We thought it only fitting to have her baptism there.

Anyway, I don't want to get too much into the ceremony because I won't do it justice, but the baby behaved like a champ, enjoyed the attention from her relatives, and looked adorable in her baptism outfit. Here she is with her proud father:

Now, THAT is an outfit. It involved: a dress, a cap, socks, shoes, an under-cap (because the baby was smeared with oil), underwear, and a slip (again, the undergarments protected the fancy dress from the oil). As soon as we got photographs and went to a local taverna for lunch, we stripped her down to her underwear layer. It's still Greece in July, after all. Oh, and I'm forgetting the fancy diamond-and-white-gold cross she got, too. FANCY!

I didn't dress up nearly as fancily as my daughter, but I liked my own look, too. My husband was kind enough to snap some pictures of me several hours after the ceremony, when I already looked more than a little disheveled:

That green maxi is one of my Old Navy purchases. It's empire waisted and has a deep V neckline, which is perfect for a nursing mother. The straps are actually braided and knotted in the back, so I bet I could adjust the neckline enough to make the modesty tank top underneath unnecessary. Then again, I don't take chances in church. I even had a little scarf over the whole shebang in order to cover my chestal arena. 

I was very comfortable for the whole day, especially considering that it involved multiple nursing sessions and two long car rides, not to mention standing around in church for about an hour. However, I can't wait to wear this dress again and dress it down for a nice, normal, "hanging out in Greece" look...

He was making me laugh with funny faces. I'm as easily amused as my almost-7-month-old daughter.

Blue nursing tank: Glamourmom, ordered via LactationCare.com

Green maxi dress: Old Navy (online)

Orange sandals: Nine West, remixed