Holiday cheer!

We kept busy, the day after Thanksgiving. I dragged my mother-in-law out with me at 4am for some black Friday Christmas shopping. Later that day after Ryan came home from work we went and picked out a Christmas tree to decorate. This was Sean's first trip out of the house!! Alyssa had been counting down the days till we got to decorate for Christmas (she is definitely her mother's daughter) .





Alyssa showcasing the tree after we got the lights on. She was so excited to finally have the tree up and decorations around the house.


During the week we got to take Alyssa to the toy store for good behavior. She picked out this tent to sleep in. She was letting grandma sleep in her bed and thought this would be really fun to have.
The tent came with matching pink and purple blankets, matching flashlights and 2 sleeping masks. Everything you need to have a little sleepover. She loved sleeping in there and it was much easier talking her into going to bed!



The weekend before Grandma Gillan went home we drove out to the mall so Alyssa could sit on Santa's lap. This mall was especially fun because they make it snow inside the mall. Alyssa thought that was the coolest thing ever!

She loved meeting Santa but she loved the prize she got even more. We forgot the camera so this picture is done with our phone and isn't the best quality.


Sean also hit the 2 week mark last week, and we are just happy we are all still able to function.
We are feeling very sleep deprived still and Sean is getting pretty fussy. He cries a lot and seems very uncomfortable and gassy. Hopefully this will pass soon!

Here are his pictures and stats from his 2 week apt.
Height: 22.25" 90th%
Weight: 9lbs 9.5oz 75th%
Head: 14.25 90th%

We had a fun time with Grandma Gillan and are so grateful to her for coming out to help us after Sean was born. We were sad when it was time for her to go home, but we are glad she gets to come back to visit us on Christmas with the rest of her family.

Laker Circle of Trust

Sean followed in the footsteps of many great Gillans before him and sported his Laker colors in support of his team. We all joined together as a family to support him during his first Laker game (unfortunately it was only on T.V.).

Thanksgiving Feast

We had a great thanksgiving. We were glad because Karen flew out to help us with Sean so we got to have her there with us. We decided to stay home this year and just have a relaxing day. we invited our neighbors over and we all did our own cooking for the first time, and it all turned out really good! Our oven was really old and apparently didn't work right so we ended up eating a lot later than we had planned. But because of how slow cooked the turkey was it actually turned out to taste amazing. I was so proud of the apple pie I made without any help from my mom!!

Alyssa's celebrated Thanksgiving at school and they made these Indian costumes to wear. She loved wearing it around the house all day.


It was a very relaxing day for all of us. It was nice to have a low key holiday that ended with yummy food.

Grandma helping Alyssa put Pretties in her hair.

This is a picture of the first pie I ever attempted to make on my own.
I felt like I did a pretty good job, and it tasted really good too!

Finally ready to eat. We were glad that we got to have our friends Jeremy and Jessica come down to celebrate with us.

Sean was a good boy and slept through dinner, so we were able to enjoy it.

We have So much to be thankful for. Bringing home a new baby into your family makes you realize all the blessings you have and all of the amazing friends and family you have that are all there to support you.

Sean's 2 day Dr. Apt

It is hard to believe that he has been home with us for a couple of days now. With the lack of sleep it all just kind of seemed like a really long extension to the day we brought him home. We are just glad that he is healthy and growing and we know that the sleep will come eventually...

here are his stats for his first Dr. apt 2 days after leaving the hospital.

Height: 20.5 (which wasn't right...)
Weight: 8 lbs6 oz
Head: 15.5 "

Ryan could snuggle with him on his chest all day. Sean doesn't seem to mind too much either.

First Bath!!

It was time for Sean to get a bath for the first time after being brought home from the hospital. Our friends Jeremy and Jessica that lived upstairs were nice enough to come down and capture it all on film.

Sean was just hanging out while we got the water the right temperature.

He seemed to enjoy the water and had this relaxed look on his face for most of the bath.

Alyssa wanted to be part of it so she put a show on for us while we were washing him.

Sean enjoyed his first bath as long as we kept the warm water on him. Alyssa was such a good helper. She helped with the lotion, and insisted on brushing his hair "all pretty". Ryan fears this is a sign of him coming home to Sean being dressed up by his big sister.

All clean now. with a little bit of a fro on his head after Alyssa finished brushing it. I love the smell of a clean newborn. Best smell ever!!

Welcome baby Sean!

The day finally came!! On Monday the 12th my water broke around 10:30 PM. We were checked into the hospital just after 1Am and he was born on Wednesday the 13th at 5:30 AM. We decided to name him Sean Ryan. He weighed 8lbs 6oz, and he was 22.5 inches long. Everything went really well and besides the long night and feeling sleep deprived recovery went better then I ever could have hoped. We are so lucky we have such great family and friends who helped us out so much with Alyssa, so Ryan was able to stay at the hospital with us. It is so much fun to finally have Sean here with us he is such a good baby!!


I can't really complain about the labor. It was pretty short and once I get the epidural there isn't a lot going on. The only think I really have a hard time with is that I get really shaky and it keeps me from being able to get any rest.

The delivery was really fast this time. He came out with a scream that was seriously competing with Alyssa's. When she was born you could hear her at the end of the hall.


We are so happy to have him here with us. We love him so much already!

This is Ryan's favorite thing to do with the new babies.

The next morning when the Dr. came into get him to be circumcised, he asked if Ryan wanted to come watch. I am pretty sure Ryan came back more scarred from it than Sean did.

It was so funny, because the whole time we were in the hospital every nurse or anyone that would come into the room would comment how big his feet were. We had to get a picture of them.

The next day Nate and Catharine brought Alyssa to the hospital with them. It took her a little while to warm up to him. I think that even though we talked about him coming all of the time it didn't really make sense to her.
It didn't take her long to warm up to him and talking about what a cute baby he was.

Later, Alyssa didn't like that Sean was getting all of my attention so she decided to climb up there with us.



When it was time to check out of the hospital we started to get Sean all ready to go.
Ryan got him undressed and changed him. Then I got him dressed ready to leave.

Some quick pictures of us before we leave the hospital.

Sean hated his car seat and screamed for the first 10 minutes which felt like forever!
Alyssa had a few funny comments that she would make while we were in the hospital that I thought were cute.
She kept asking us why he had a stick growing out of his belly button.
Every time he would get his diaper changed she would comment that Baby Sean has a snail on his bum, that's why he's a boy. We would just start laughing every time she would say it. She has things all figured out. :)