Six months with our little angel

(ILLINOIS) — Just two days before Christmas, our family got the greatest gift.

Mattie Marie entered the Sheehan household, making me a “girl dad” for the first time and letting Bennett become a big brother.

It was Rachel’s idea to name her “Mattie” after me. I wasn’t objecting to that!

Her baptism photos show the real angel that she is. Everyone says she should be a “Gerber baby,” and that she looks just like Bennett! Both are true statements.

Becoming a family of four has not been all butterflies and rainbows. Sure, there’s some road bumps along the way. But the good far outweighs the challenges, and the blessing of Mattie’s life is the greatest thing I could have imagined.

Bennett absolutely loves his little sister. He makes her giggle, truly wants to spend time with her, and tells her “Mattie, you’re so beautiful!” every day. Mattie is just in awe of him. Smiling at anything and everything he does. He makes her laugh so much!

Mattie is full of energy and spunk, just like her mama. She’s quite chatty, as well (also like her mom)!

We got our first real taste of family travel as a family of four to Indianapolis in April. We fit a lot in to our schedule for the weekend, but allowing periods of time that could allow flexibility really helped. We went in with our expectations at a reasonable place. I think that’d be my biggest piece of advice for families looking to travel together with young kids. Manage your expectations. Don’t overdo things and think ahead on periods of time that could work for your kids’ naps. One day it was in the stroller around the zoo! Talking these things through ahead of time really helped relieve stress for when we got to the moment. And just look at her with her flamingo stuffed animal!

Seeing her milestone moments has been a joy, just as it was with Bennett.

However, like I mentioned, not everything has been super easy. In late May, Mattie spiked a 104.3 fever at home. We rushed her to the emergency department, thinking we might be there for a few hours and then hopefully be sent home. Little did we know we were in for a really long journey.

Mattie was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. It’s not fully clear how the infection happened, or where everything started. The thought is that she got sick with a virus, likely from another person who had just a common cold, and that her body wasn’t fighting the body off because of her young age. That caused bacteria to grow, which grew into a serious illness, eventually being bacterial meningitis. The photo above is when she started to feel better, probably halfway through our 12-night hospital stay. The first few days were grueling. She wasn’t smiling, she wasn’t moving, and there were a lot of unknowns.

We were blessed with a great medical team at OSF Children’s Hospital of Illinois, and an amazing support system at home to watch over Bennett. We are so grateful to everyone who stepped in to help. We could not have done it without you!

It was a joyous moment to be able to welcome Mattie back into our home. Everything felt right again. The house felt empty without her smile and contagious laughs. I don’t think I will ever forget those 12 days. I was already a protective daddy, this definitely increased that!

We prayed for these moments long before Mattie was ever here. I always wanted to be a dad. I got the best of both worlds with Bennett and Mattie. Both similar in all the best ways, yet unique in their own ways as well.

We’ve started feeding Mattie real foods! Here Mattie was trying strawberries. I think she loved them! Strawberries are currently Bennett’s favorite fruit, as well!

She also got her first pool experience at Great Grandma Di’s this past weekend! Isn’t she the cutest swimmer you’ve ever seen? She was naturally kicking her legs in the water as we waded her around. She’s going to be a great swimmer (and soccer player!).

And just like we did for Bennett, we had to take Mattie to Chick-Fil-A on her six month half birthday. Rachel got Bennett and Mattie matching pajamas, which are so cute. She took a bite of chicken, but wasn’t quite sure yet. We’ll teach her!

Mattie has softened my heart. She’s a blessing from God. Rachel and I want to give her the world, because she deserves it! I pray she brings joy to those around her, and is loved well by her family and friends. We love her so much, and can’t wait to see how she grows these next six months.

With love, your dad