Bearing the Bible

Yes, my friends, Gabby had his first stint as a Bible Bearer yesterday. 🙂

It was for the wedding of my husband’s friends, Gelo and Nancy. When Anzen told me months ago that they were getting Gabby to be part of their wedding entourage, I got so excited! I immediately started thinking of his outfit, to tell you the truth, and more importantly, where to get them.

Around two months before the wedding date, I scoured stores for baby barong tagalogs; I even went to Exclusively His (tailors) to ask how much a made-to-order barong tagalog and pants for a baby costs (a bit pricey if you’re going to have them make it). I was not able to find ready-made ones in Gabby’s size in Kultura, Sta. Lucia and Trinoma, so we eventually decided to have ones made especially for him. Exclusively His’ prices being kinda steep, we went to that haven of barongs and suits, Kamuning. 🙂

Getting Gabby measured for his outfit was a bit difficult; as you may have guessed by now, given his recent streak of stubbornness, he refused to be measured and squirmed and wriggled his way through the entire process. So it was actually quite a feat for the tailor to have been able to produce a handsomely-made, well-fitting barong tagalog and slacks for Gabby. Getting Gabby to fit the barong was an even more daunting undertaking, and it took all my pang-uuto powers to get him to wear those. I feared that I won’t be able to get him to wear it on the day itself, to be honest! At least not without much tears… 😛

The week before the wedding, he contracted colds and cough. No biggie, we can handle colds and cough. Then a bigger scare hit six days before the wedding: Gabby got sick. On Tuesday, I brought him to the doctor, who suspected tigdas hangin (baby measles or roseola infantum). By that time, I was relieved that it was not the dreaded dengue; at the same time I was wondering how long he’ll have rashes, as they haven’t even appeared yet. The good thing was that the doctor told me it wasn’t contagious, but she said the fever will last for three days, after which the rashes will appear. Tuesday is only the second day of fever, which means at the earliest the rashes will appear on Thursday. The wedding is Sunday!

On Thursday, he still had fever in the early morning. It being the fourth day of fever, I brought him back to the doctor. A few rashes have appeared on his chest and neck by then. The doctor requested CBC and PC (complete blood count and platelet count) to be sure. The results showed high platelets (not dengue, thank God!) and indications of a viral infection.

The rashes continued to appear, such that by Friday the rashes on his tummy and back looked not like mere rashes but more like a giant red welt. On Saturday morning there seemed to be not much improvement, such that we were by then getting worried that the rashes won’t disappear by Sunday. I put on a brave face for my husband, who was really getting worried, but inside I was praying all the while for God to make the rashes, on Gabby’s face at least, fade by 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. Saturday night, we noticed that the rashes on his face have started to disappear, and that they were not as red and prominent as before. Yeees!

The night before the wedding

By Sunday morning, Gabby’s face barely showed a trace of the rashes. I was so happy and so thankful! My prayers were answered. 🙂

And so it was that after lunch yesterday, we started our preparations for the wedding.

Preparing for the wedding

I got Gabby to wear his slacks and the undershirt, put hair wax on his hair to make it japorms, prepared the things we need to bring (diapers, baby wipes, changing pad, milk, water, sippy cup, food, hand sanitizer–yes, we still have to bring those! That’s why my beautiful Fino bag had diapers inside 🙂 ). Then Anzen and I got dressed, and we were ready to go! Except that we encountered traffic when we were near the church, and to save time I had to get Gabby to wear the barong inside the car, while we were stuck along Edsa corner Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard. He cooperated beautifully, and I was able to do it single-handedly. With no crying, ha (on his part or mine, hehe!)!

While he refused to walk down the aisle (Anzen had to carry him), he behaved beautifully during the ceremony. I was even laughing because once, he sat on the kneeler and scooted backwards so much he fell to the floor. Another time he was inspecting (and trying to touch, icky!) bubble gum stuck to the underside of the pew. Then there was also an instance when he kept on putting Bread Stix on Anzen’s mouth. Whenever Anzen refused, Gabby would take a bite, and offer the ever-shrinking stick to him again. This went on until he eventually ate the proffered piece by himself :).

I found out that the secret, aside from Gabby’s happy disposition and good mood that day was: sippy cup plus Bread Stix plus Egg Nog equals one happy, smiling, well-behaved, dapper baby 🙂

Bible-bearing duty

 

Eating...

 

Water!

 

Playing

 

So pogi!!!