Sweet Eliza

It's been almost a month, but Eliza turned oneyear old on May 8, Mothers Day! We had a fun birthday party for her and she was so cute about everything. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. I had lost my camera and so I was oh-so-thankful, that my friend Sha was willing to whip out her awesome camera and snap away. (She also, by the way, was the master planner behind all of the cute sweet shoppe theme for Eliza's party. Without Sha, Kristin and Emily, the party would have been lacking! Thanks girls.)

Eliza has brought her own sweet personality into our family. Her first year of life brought peace and joy into the midst of chaos and heartache. What would we do without our sweet baby Eliza? 

Just like each one of my boys, I had such a bitter/sweet feeling about her first birthday. Something about turning one makes them a toddler and not a baby anymore. Because of obvious circumstances, Eliza is our last baby. Having her first birthday is like closing a chapter in my life. I get all emotional when I see new babies, because the time is so fleeting. The newborn stage doesn't last long enough, the chubby baby stage doesn't last long enough, the roller, the crawler... none of it lasts long enough. I look at how big my boys are and how big she is getting and wonder where the time has gone. 

It makes me think of how our Heavenly Father looks at each of us (as his children) and sees that our time on earth is short and fleeting: How he asks us to patiently endure because it "shall be but a small moment," (D&C 121:1-8). Our perspective on life is so limited to the immediate. Well, mine is. If we could only see the ending-- but I guess that's what faith is for.