Month five

Eliza is such a delight. We just love her and month 5 was a pretty fun month with her. We got to spend a ton of time with family and hang out with aunts, uncles, and cousins. Not only did we go to Denver but my mom, sister, and brother-in-law came into town and the Albany Sheehan's were in El Paso for two weeks!

It was kind of a bitter sweet time with my family, but we were blessed to be together and love on each other. Eliza loved having her Gigi around to give her lots of kisses and I loved it when Gigi offered to let me take a nap while she played with the baby. It's astounding how wonderful a nap is when you have an infant. Thanks, Mom!

We were able to spend time with the Albany Sheehan's in Denver, but we got a few really good days of quality time with them while they were in El Paso. Megan's mom, dad, and sisters live in El Paso, so we also got some good time with the Smiths. :) Maggy, Megan's mom, has a swimming pool in her back yard which happens to be the kids favorite thing and we spent a lot of time swimming. Eliza had her first experience in a pool and she seemed a little unimpressed. Maybe she is like her mommy, not all that into underwater submersion. The Cousins did a great job playing and interacting with Eliza while she was in the pool, they also gave her some fun entertainment. :)

"I'm just a happy girl."

"I love Uncle Javan!"

Not all that into the pool.

In the water with Dad.

The cousins sure did know what to do in the water.

Eliza was so exhausted after all the water sports that she conked out in Auntie Megan's arms.

Hangin' out with Anna Kate.

Grandma Sheehan made this cute romper for Ellie.

Gigi bought this little number for Ellie. She has no lack of cute clothes, that's for sure!

Sheehan Family Reunion

July was another busy month! We were blessed to be able to go to Denver for an unplanned Sheehan Family Reunion (unplanned because we all just decided to visit Denver around the same time. If we were trying for it, we probably couldn't have orchestrated it better). Eliza was able to meet ALL of her cousins and aunts and uncles.

We braved our first airplane flight with an infant and she did a great job! She literally slept the whole time and we got some great cuddle in.

Sleeping *sigh of relief*

Meeting Grandpa Sheehan for the first time, they love each other.

Meeting Auntie Hannah!

Cousin Anna Kate loving on Eliza.

Meeting Uncle Rodger

and Aunt Kelly!

Hanging with Cousin Samantha.

Potting flowers with Grandma Sheehan. I love these pictures. :)

Hanging with Uncle Dave.

Loving on Auntie Sarah!

Meal planning and cooking with Grandma.

Daddy kisses


At the Denver Botanical Gardens.

The original Sheehan fam.

Grandparents and their grand-babies.

Cute picture that I had to share. ;)

Daddy letting Eliza test out the Cherry Creek Reservoir.

Peek-a-boo!

Month four

As mentioned in my previous post, we moved to a new apartment during Eliza's fourth month here on earth. Yes, it was super stressful, but we survived and we had the help of a lot of wonderful people. Erica was so wonderful that she even flipped my mattress over (all by herself) and made sure that my living room and kitchen were put together before she left. What a good friend!

Eliza transitioned like a champ. If there is one thing I have noticed about her its that she is just an okay kid. She's okay with things, she doesn't protest too terribly much and she is pretty much happy if daddy or I are around. So she was pretty much unfazed by the move. If I remember correctly, she even slept all the way through the night during our first night in the new place.

Here are a few pictures!

Eliza did a lot of hanging out in different baby carriers during this time. Here she is sitting with Sofie the Giraffe while mom packed up something.

Eliza, doing a little tummy time on mommy's lap. Our house was a total mess!

Both mommy and Eliza were pretty exhausted during this time. On this particular day, I was was taking a break and dancing with Eliza, which in turn lulled her to sleep. I'm pretty sure we were listening to Motown music, one of Eliza's favorites!

Daddy came home from work every day with LOTS of kisses for baby girl!

Eliza's new room at the new place, it has since changed drastically. I didn't take any pictures the day of the move, I guess I was a little preoccupied. ;)

I managed to remember a four month photo shoot. Look at those legs!

The tongue; Eliza's constant companion. She licks everything. This was about the time she learned to do raspberries. She would do rapid fire raspberries at the most hilarious times - i.e. as a way to wake us up in the morning and during diaper changes, but her favorite time to let them fly was at the grocery store!

I just had to share this one.

This was also about the time that Eliza started "going" for things, not very successfully, but she had drive!

Month three

I just put our almost 11 month old down for a nap. Currently, she is crying in protest. I thought I would try to fit in a blog while I wait for the blessed silence and a chance to either sew or take a shower. I'm not sure which I would prefer.

Eliza's third month was a little busy. Why? Well, we were preparing to move to a new place and had a lot of packing to do. Yes, it was a little crazy to set up a room for our daughter and then have to tare it down but we needed to pay for an adoption and less expensive rent would really help us get that accomplished. So we (really I) were brave and started packing.

During that time Eliza smiled and smiled. She showed us more of her personality which proved to be very contented and happy. She giggled for the first time on Mother's day, that was pretty precious.

Here are a few pictures of our happy girl during her 3rd month on earth:


The nightly feeding.
Chris is such a hands on dad, he doesn't shy away from anything and he always has encouragement for me. I loved him before, but now I love him in a totally different way. He is more than what I could have hoped for as the father of my children.

Holding her head up! What a strong little girl.

There's that elusive smile! I love it!

As in the previous post, here is Eliza again with her favorite thing, the musical mobile.

And here is the giggle!

This was the three month photo shoot. It wasn't as successful as I had hoped, but she is cute nonetheless. Thanks for reading!

Month Two!

There is so much to be thankful for. First, we made it through the first month of our daughters life! It was a glorious month! Second, we had so much more to look forward to! During Eliza's second month on the earth I got organized. The amount of the clutter and stuff that comes along with a VERY tiny human being is ASTOUNDING! I had no idea.

So, we got to work making our home "ready" for baby, even though we already had baby. :) Thankfully, our friends, Denise and Trevor, offered to hold a yard sale to help raise funds for our adoption, so I had the perfect excuse to purge unneeded things! I love to purge junk. I think I probably do it a little too much for Chris's liking, but I really value a clutter free home especially now that we have a little one.

My wonderful friend, Bryn, is a professional organizer (I know, right?! Friend JACKPOT!!). She came over and helped me get things in their proper place and gave me a brain (I was still a little brain dead from lack of sleep). I also put together Eliza's room! Nesting is an interesting urge that I like very much. I can't tell you how many pieces of extremely heavy furniture I moved while Chris was way at work. He came home to a completely rearrange house pretty regularly during the first few months. I loved nesting with my baby in my arms. It was really neat getting to set up a room for her while I was getting to know her. I must say, it is a very rewarding feeling setting up a nursery and not having to wait to put a baby it in! Perks of super fast adoptions! :)

Other than rearranging our life, the second month was full of cuddling, loving, kissing, snuggling, spit up, poop diapers, laundry, and JOY! Eliza was so much fun, so curious, so wonderful. Here is a pictorial synopsis of month two with our sweet gift.

Bryn made a vinyl cut out of Ellie's Name. Cute, right?

Rocking station.

This piece of furniture was given to us by a friend at church. It's amazing how much storage you need when you have a baby!

Suzi made Eliza her crib set. I LOVE IT!

Two month photo shoot. :)

Eliza loved her music making mobile. She would stare and stare at in as it sang her classical music, giving mommy a chance to shower. Thank you, Musical mobile.

Eliza had some kind of thrush type thing. The medicine the doctor gave her made her stomach unhappy, this was the only way I could get her to sleep....that, or sleep on us.

This was the first sleep in her crib. It was a good day for mommy and daddy, because we started sleeping again! Eliza slept through the night at 8 weeks. We are blessed.

Eliza smiled for the first time on April 26th. It was good day! It was almost impossible getting it on camera, but here is the post smile glow. LOVE those little lips.