Mom or Dad?

Who do you think Elle looks like? I would say that about 80% of people say Ryan. I think I agree.

What a Christmas!

Elle had an amazing Christmas. We are blessed with the most wonderful family. I guess it was inevitable for this first grandchild on both sides to be spoiled a bit. She got tons of toys and many cute outfits. Christmas morning at Grandma Sandy's house

Great Grandpa Max

Elle's first purse and cell phone

First pair of Stewart Weitzmans

Elle is smiling so much and cooing all the time. I can't believe how big she's gotten. At her last doctor's appt she was in the 75th percentile for height and weight. We're so excited for the new year!

Our Christmas Card

I wanted to share our Christmas Card. Our photographer did an amazing job. She recommended combining our Christmas card and birth announcement. It came out better than I could have ever imagined. The card is two sided and then folded accordion style with the Happy Holidays being on the front cover.

Merry Christmas and Happy Two Months

This holiday season has been the best yet. There is nothing like a new baby to make the holidays that much more exciting. Ryan and I are so thankful to have been blessed with a healthy and happy baby. Elle is the best Christmas present we could have ever ask for. A few days late but here are Elle's 2 month pictures. She's grown so much!

and a little outfit change...

Merry Christmas!

Baby's First Christmas

We've had a lot of people tell us that Elle looks a lot like Ryan. Ryan's mom tracked down this picture of Ryan from his first Christmas. He is about 3 months in this picture. Below is Elle at about 2 months. What do you think? I think nose and mouth for sure.

Ryan- 3 months

Elle- 2 months

Tis the Season

Ryan and I have said to each other many times that it is the perfect time of year to have a new baby around. Every thing just seems that much more fun. It's so exciting starting traditions. We've already taken her to see the lights on Thoroughbred (even though she slept the whole time). We've also already attended a few Christmas parties. It's a good thing that we have a lot of parties to go to because I think I went a little overboard on buying her Christmas outfits. How can you resist? They're so cute when they're that small. First set of pictures is at Ryan's work party:

Grandpa Kirk- aka Papa J

Santa hat courtesy of Grandma Debbie

Boots with the fur from Aunty Christina

Elle also met Santa at the Red Hill kids Brunch

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We have so much to be thankful for; most importantly is a beautiful and healthy baby. Elle has already brought so much joy to our lives and we could not imagine life without her.

Last week Elle took some newborn pictures. Enjoy a few of them at www.loridormanphotography.com/blog. They are currently on the front page but when new pictures are added just search Erin and they should pop up.

Visit from Aunty Megan

My sister was able to make it down last week. Megan took on her Aunty duties by helping me with her middle of the night feedings. The highlight of her visit was waking up in the morning to find that Elle's diaper had been put on backwards. In a 3am daze Megan happened to get things a little reversed. That definitely made my morning.. Here are a few videos from her visit.

Happy One Month to you...

Miss Elle was born one month ago today. She is doing great. We've been trying to get use to her routine (or more like lack there of). She is very strong and lifts her head up very well. Last week she weighted 9lb 6oz and has already grown out of her newborn clothes. A photographer came to our home last week and took many adorable photos of Elle. As soon as we get them we will pass them along to everyone.

Instructions on how to make the "1 month" onesie can be found here

Happy Halloween!

Happy Belated Halloween!
Elle 2 weeks old

Before and After

Here are 2 quick videos from our hospital stay. One before Elle was born and one shortly after.

She's Here!

Well yesterday was my official due date but we were fortunate enough to be blessed with Elle's arrival on 10/15/10. Here is a rundown of last week's events. I had started my maternity leave last week and by Wednesday all of the cupboards had been organized, the diapers stacked, little outfits washed and the car seat waiting by the front door. On Thursday, 10/15, Ryan and I went to my weekly doctor's appt then went out to breakfast. Ryan dropped me off at home and he went off to work. I wasn't feeling too well so I relaxed on the couch most of the day. When Ryan got home I looked at him and told him, "this baby better come soon because I am so board and I have nothing else to do." About an hour later my water breaks. We grab our hospital bag and head out the door. We arrive at the hospital at 6pm and get settled into our room. Our parents stop by and visit for a little while. They head home and we tell them that we would call them to come back when were closer to delivery. At about 6am we are ready to start pushing. Ryan calls our parents and they head right down to the hospital. So at this time I'm thinking by 7am we should have a little baby in our arms. Well, Elle had other plans and after 3 hours of pushing she finally decided to make her debut to the world at 9:20am. She was absolutely worth all the work. She is just perfect and Ryan and I couldn't be happier. Thank you everyone for all of your love and support. We couldn't have done it with you.

39 Weeks- Baby CPR and Doctor's Visit

Ryan and I contemplated taking some prenatal classes and decided all we wanted to take was an infant first aid class. We had a great American Heart Association instructor come to my work a few months ago. I gave her a call and she let me know that she does home classes where we could have as many people as we want attend and she would go over basic adult, child and infant CPR and choking. We had all of the grandparents and Ryan's sister Heather come over for dinner and the class. It was really relaxed and very informative. Even though I'm certified it's never a bad idea to review the basics. It was really nice to have everyone over. All of the grandmas brought Elle a few little presents (I don't think it's possible for these grandmas not to bring a present for Elle every time they stop by). We got some little outfits, diapers, and Halloween decorations.

Friday was my last day of work until the baby comes. I considered working up until the end because we pretty much have everything ready for Elle and the thought of possibly sitting at home for another 2 weeks drives me crazy. It's hard though to just keep booking patients and one day cancel on everyone on my schedule. Also, I've gotten pretty uncomfortable being on my feet all day. So, I'm going to take everyone's advice and try to sleep in and just enjoy these last few days of "freedom" before the baby arrives.

We had our weekly doctor's appt on Friday. I'm only 1cm dilated, but that really doesn't predict anything. You can be 1cm dilated and go into labor that night or be 3cm dilated for weeks. Everything continues to go just as planned and it's just now it's just a waiting game.

38 weeks and counting

We're down to the end here. Only about 2 more weeks to go until our due date, but now that we're full term she could come any day now. We're now on weekly doctor's visits until Elle's arrival. We had an ultrasound 2 weeks ago and Elle was measuring right under 7lbs and she's head down ready to go. I'll be working for one more week then will be off until the baby arrives.

This weekend we attended our friends Rosanna and Jason's wedding in Laguna. The wedding was amazing and it was so nice to see a lot of our friends. It's crazy to think the next time we see everyone it will be with a new baby. What made the wedding even better is that Auntie Megan, DJ Mamabear, was the DJ at the wedding. We had a great time dancing the night away. There were many jokes about my water breaking on the dance floor, but no such luck.

Shan and the baby bump

The beautiful bride Rosanna

We'll keep you posted when the little one makes her arrival :)

Growth Progress

Just getting bigger and bigger... (how many Chili dogs can you spot?)17 Weeks

22 Weeks

25 Weeks

28 Weeks

30 Weeks

35 Weeks

35 Weeks

We're getting pretty close here. Only a little more than a month to go. We went to the USC game this weekend and it will probably be the last one we make it to before Elle makes her debut. We hope to make it to the Notre Dame game Thanksgiving weekend but from here on out we're taking it one week at a time. While there I couldn't resist a trip to the bookstore. There were so many cute baby items but held back and just picked her up a little zip-up hoodie.

We've been close to finishing the nursery for quite some time. We are still waiting on the crib. We ordered it back in July but it's delivery date kept getting pushed back because it was on back order. It is suppose to be here next week but in the mean time here are some pictures of the rest of the room:

We picked up these cube organizers from home depot. The drawers store toys, blankets, ect... and the top row holds all of her books we received at the shower.

Cute closet dividers from Susan

Few of the books from the shower and personalized bookends

I'll post some more pictures when the crib comes in