Elaenia's One Week Birthday!

I thought that since we had Elaenia a week ago, I'd post some more photos so you can get to know our newest family member...Her official name is Elaenia Marie Shirley. We thought about not having a middle name, but I thought she needed a family name in there (especially since Tori has a family name (Delene). Marie seemed to fit, although it made her whole name so long - Marie - kind of after me, and then I remembered that my Grandma's middle name was Marie. After we decided on Marie, Grandma Shirley and Aunt Cami mentioned that Marie would make a cute middle name - even before they knew we had selected it...it was meant to be :)

Cute one of Laney (or Laeni...not sure how we'll abbreviate her name) but not such a great shot of mom...luckily, this isn't about my 1st week :)

Dad has been through a lot...not as traumatic as last year watching the birth of Tori, but this birth still took a lot out of him :) Look how tired he is.

Getting right down to the dad stuff: playing and tickling!

My cute girls. This was right after Tori met Laney for the first time - Tori was napping when we arrived home...once she woke up, we introduced her to her lil sister and Tori has been in love ever since (I think). She comes running into our room yelling "daydee, daydee" (looking for the baby). When they first saw eachother, they were reaching for the other, almost as if to say, "Hey there, I've been waiting to see you again old buddy!"

Tori LOVES to "hold" daydee on her lap...

Eyes open...checking us all out!

Dad has been trying to make things fun for Tori, so he painted her toe nails...not bad for his first time - in fact, he did a LOT better than I have done...but maybe it's because Tori knows how to sit still now...

Bath time for lil Nakey-nakey.

Good Morning Bright Eyes!

Good Night Sweet little girl. She definately is not Tori...Tori had to be wrapped up tight like a burrito, but Laney likes to be lightly wrapped and able to wiggle.

One other little shot of Tori D. She LOVES frozen blueberries and so we thought we'd take a shot of the aftermath...if her finger is any indication of the blue/purple mess, just imagine her purple tongue (she wouldn't stick it out for this photo).

What a fast week in the Shirley house. What a blessing to have another sweet little spirit in our home! Happy Thanksgiving to you ALL.

After a couple weeks of thinking she was coming any day now Elaenia finally was born this morning. It was pretty crazy how fast it all happened. At first things were progressing pretty slow and we thought we were in for an all day ordeal, then about 3 minutes later we had nurses running all over trying to find a Dr (he was so close to being there, but not quite). She weighed 6 lbs 5 oz and looks a lot like her older sister did about a year and a half ago.

Ann-Marie is doing well and getting some well deserved rest. Now that it is over I think she is looking forward to being able to brag about having done it old school since we had no time for any drugs. I don't think I have ever heard anyone yell "OH CRUDDY!!" with such vigor...