Baby Sophie Goes to Church

Today was Sophie's first big outing, after a morning of very light snowfall.  She went to church (although only for sacrament meeting).  And she even made it to the pulpit -- twice!  It was our Primary presentation today, and Nathali (as 2nd counselor in the Primary presidency) opened up the presentation with Sophie in her arms.  And then I happened to be holding Sophie when it came time for me to say a few words at the end of the presentation, so I brought her up with me, too.

 

She was pretty calm and alert for most of the meeting, which meant I could listen to the Primary kids while I stared dotingly at my little Sophie.  The Primary kids did really well.  Nobody got too nervous.  Even the funny moments weren't all that unusual, like "this is the end of my talk" and "Doctor & Covenants" (apparently the Primary president told the kids to say it this way because some of them couldn't say "doctrine").

Mawidge Is What Bwings Us Togewer Today

I performed a marriage today.  There were about 100 guests, mostly from the bride's side.  They probably wondered why the bride chose an American guy in a suit with a big zit on his nose to perform the ceremony.

 

(As a side note, a couple of years ago I was teaching a Primary -- Sunday school -- class to a group of kids aged 8-12.  An 11 year old girl asked how old I was.  I told her I was 29.  She said, "I'm surprised -- you look a lot younger!"  I replied, "Thank you!"  She then added, "You know why?  Because you have so many spots [zits] on your face.")

 

It was a nice ceremony.  One of the people on the program didn't show up, but we worked around that.  Mostly it was nice to see two young people make a commitment to each other.

Sophie Sucking on Her Sleeper

(See -- I say almost exactly the same thing!)

Sophie at 10 Minutes Old

(I noticed I say almost exactly the same thing in every video of Sophie so far -- I've promised to stop!)

More Sophie

I can't remember being more contented than I was earlier today, feeling and hearing the quick breath of my slightly flushed sleeping newborn girl lying on my chest while the bright, lukewarm autumn sunlight shone in from our garden and an occasional yellow or orange leaf followed its meandering, wind-blown path to the ground.

I am utterly smitten with my little Sophie.

Sophie Nathali Vincent

Welcome to the world, little girl!

Sophie was born at 5:30 a.m. She weighed 2.39 kg (7 lb 4 oz). They don't measure length in the UK, but they measure head circumference: she came in at 34 cm.

Here's Sophie sharing her first bonding experience with her mommy:






Here's daddy with his little princess:



And here's a view of Sophie: