"Firsts" for Elisa

Well, it has been a while. For all you faithful Elisa followers - sorry! We were in the states for 3 weeks during November and have been back home in Brazil for a week. It has taken a while to get ourselves back on track, but here we are.

This trip to the states was a huge compilation of "firsts" for Elisa. It was a pretty eventful journey for her. Below, you can check out pictures of most of the "firsts" she experienced while in the states. The ones I don't really have pictures for still deserve quite a bit of recognition. They are: Elisa's first international trip/plane ride (the actual flying part), Elisa's first experience eating rice cereal (don't worry, I have it on video), Elisa's first Thanksgiving (she slept through it!) and Elisa's first roll-over (it happened so fast we weren't prepared to take a picture!).

Now on to the "firsts" that were documented!

Elisa's first snow (it wasn't much, but it worked!)

Elisa's first Bible class!

She was a wonderful student!

Elisa's first bite of sweet potato pie!
She wasn't too sure about it!

This is the first meeting between Elisa and her younger cousin Dayton.
It took a couple of days, but they became quite fond of each other.

Elisa's first story time with her Grandmommie!

Elisa's first story time with her Granddaddy!
She loves story time!

Elisa's first Boppy experience!

Elisa's first group prayer time.

Elisa's first horsey ride!

Elisa's first gift opening! She's a natural at this one!

and Elisa's first family picture!

Halloween

I realize that it has been over a week since Halloween, but we just got these pictures. Elisa was dressed as a bunny on her first Halloween outing and Jennifer and I were her bunny farmers. Good times!

Happy Bunny Elisa!

Daddy and Mommy Farmer with Elisa the Bunny sucking on a carrot.

Mommy and the baby bunny.

Halloween was a lot of fun for Elisa. She really enjoyed hanging out with her friends and dressing up so cute. Actually, that is a pretty regular occurance for this sweet girl.

Stay tuned as we will be updating the "little missy's" adventures in the United States! She had her first international traveling experience without a hitch this week. Needless to say, her Papa and Grandmommie are pretty happy to have her in Colorado!

Upcoming Trip (and some pictures for you!)

In two short days we are planning on boarding a plane for the United States of America! This will be Elisa's first airplane trip and her first time to enter the US. We are very excited for her (and us)! We have literally been planning this trip since she was born. We will spend almost all of our 3 weeks in the states in Colorado Springs with Jennifer's parents, eating well and watching football. Elisa will be spending most all of her time being juggled between grandparents! I'm sure she is up to the task, it is all she has been talking about for the last 2 weeks!

Her are a few new pictures, including an enlarged "family picture" from the left side of the screen.

Photo Album

Here is a link to a photo album that Jennifer has created. I think you will all enjoy this!

All Smiles

Small Changes

Elisa is growing so much! Her grabbing skills have really taken off. More and more she is grabbing and bringing objects up to her mouth. This doesn't work with everything, but we are well on our way. She loves to hold her own hands. It is really cute; it looks like she is praying. I will try to "post" a picture of this in the near future. In the meantime, here are a couple of new pictures for you to enjoy!

Jennifer and Elisa are looking in the mirror after bathtime. I love this picture of my girls!

Caught in the act of sucking on the fingers. Elisa just got the hang of making a fist and sucking on her thumb this week. We will let it slide for now, because it is so cute!

Hugs!

Elisa is naturally very cuddly. I thought that you would all like this picture of her holding on to her little bear. What a cutey!

Pictures and our first parade

Here are some recent pictures of Elisa. She is long and thin. She isn't gaining a whole lot of weight, but her pediatrician isn't too concerned since she is growing about a centimeter a week in length (on average). It is getting much warmer with Spring present, so Elisa is able to wear some different clothes now. It is fun to see her wearing these cute outfits!

Elisa is on her way out the door in a stylish onesie and hot pink sandals! This is the first time for her to wear sandals! She's a fan!

This precious smile and that cute dimple are too good to pass up!

Here Elisa is wearing her Springtime hat that her friend Ana Luisa gave her.

Elisa was a bunny in the block party parade last Sunday.

Last Sunday was Criança na Avenida (Kid's Day block party). The street in front of our church closes down the Sunday before Kid's Day for a festive time of food and fun. There is a parade that our church participates in. We have built an Ark and we have Noah and all the little animals (the children from church) walking down the street. It is great! You can read more about Criança na Avenida on our "work" blog at: www.flyinginportoalegre.blogspot.com.

3 Months Old!

Elisa is 3 months old today! She is getting to be such a big girl! It is so much easier to make her smile and she is laughing a lot more these days. It is really precious when she lets out a giggle. Nothing can beat it!

Today we celebrated Elisa turning 3 months by taking her to get her second round of vaccines. I know exactly what you are thinking... we are the best parents in the world! It was torturous watching the nurse dude give her a big old shot in each leg. I almost cried as hard as she did. Actually she showed that she is a big girl by not crying nearly as hard as the round of vaccines she had a couple of weeks ago. Understandably, she did cry hard, but we are proud just the same.

We hope you enjoy these recent pictures. She really is photogenic (when you catch her in the right mood!)

Elisa likes Mommy to tickle her!

All Smiles!

It is funny, but one of the most difficult things for us to do is capture Elisa's beautiful smile. She always knows when we have the camera out and she shuts the smiles down immediately! Lately, we have gotten a few good pictures.

She has the cutest little dimples and just lights up the room when she grins. You can tell she is especially happy when she sticks her tongue out as she smiles. It is really cute. Here are a few pictures that we were lucky enough to get of Elisa smiling. We hope you enjoy them!

Elisa is in her carseat; all ready to go!

Silly Elisa playing with her piggy, Penelope!

Penelope can really bring out that cute dimple!

Vaccines... fun stuff!

Yesterday we took Elisa to get her 2 month vaccines (we were a couple of weeks late). We decided that it would be a good idea for Jennifer to feed Elisa during the administration of the shot. I am sure that there were several reasons for this (all of which could be found in "Baby Wise") but for me, it was to distract her. She only received one shot that contained 6 vaccines. It is not fun watching my sweet baby girl get a shot. The needle went in her left thigh with ease. She didn't even react... until the vaccines were pushed in. Then it was ScreamFest 2006, featuring Elisa Terry! It was heartbreaking. She screamed and screamed. After a few minutes she calmed down, but was pretty testy for the rest of the day. Jennifer and I felt so bad that we went to McDonald's for ice cream. We plan on sharing with Elisa when she is old enough.

She didn't have any bad reactions to the vaccines. She did, however, sleep about 9 hours last night! It was the first time that she slept past 6am that I can remember.

Unfortunately, she will have to get another shot next week to complete this round of needle therapy! At least we can ease our pain with ice cream!

More Cute Pictures...

I really don't feel the need to type a lot for this post. These pictures are so cute, I'm sure that you can find words for them all by yourselves. I am proud to share them with you!

Granny and Gramps Visit

My parents have been visiting us from Arlington, Texas for the last 10 days. It has been a really good visit. I know that they have enjoyed getting to know their granddaughter and she in turn has enjoyed them. Below are some pictures of Elisa with her Granny and Gramps. Enjoy!

10 weeks old and getting cuter

It is amazing to me that Elisa is already 10 weeks old! Watching her grow is so bitter-sweet. I love seeing her develop and learn new things, but watching the tiny baby in front of me slowly disappear is sad. She continues to light up the room wherever we go! Everyone in the mall, at church, in the store, out on the street, etc that sees her takes notice and makes a comment that always causes me to puff my chest out. I love my little girl!

She has begun to converse with us! It is pretty cute. She will not hesitate to let you know when she is mad or disagrees with something and has begun to make little baby noises of expression when she is watching her mobiles or playing with her other toys.

She is always a delight! We can't wait for more of our friends and family to get to know her.

More pictures of cousin/nephew Dayton

Dayton getting ready to go home from the hospital with Daddy!

Mommy and Dayton spending time together, relaxing.

Dayton sleeps while big brother Chester looks on (big brother Mauser is in the background).