New job, new house....

Hey all, I just thought I would update you on a few things that have been happening in our life lately!! First, the week before thanksgiving, I started a new job as a school nurse for the Santa Maria-Bonita School District. I am just completing my second week of work (we had the whole week of Thanksgiving off!) and I am thinking that I am really going to enjoy it...once I figure out what on earth I am doing of course! There is a lot to learn, but it is fun to be around the kids and be in a much more relaxed setting than the stressful hospital! And, as an added bonus, I am on the school schedule, so I am looking forward to Christmas vacation already!
Another note of exciting news, we are currently in escrow on a house out here in Orcutt! We are really excited. It is a 4 bedroom 2 bath house on a pretty good size lot. There will be a decent amount of work to do since it is a forclosure, but we are excited to make it our own! We should close sometime around either the end of December or beginning of February. If you live in the area we'd love to have you over once we move in! (And if you live out of the area, we'll have a room ready for you to come and visit!) So, our life is in a bit of transition, getting used to both Steve and I working full time again is a little bit of an adjustment, but we feel confident that the Lord has put us in these jobs for a divine purpose and we are getting used to it! That's all for now...we'll put some more pictures up of the munchkin soon =) Love you all.

a full house on Thanksgiving!

Steve and I hosted Thanksgiving for my side of the family this year. We packed 14 adults and 5 kiddos into our little condo and had a great time. We even squeezed a bbq in on Friday night (which is much more our style!) Lily loved playing with all her cousins and it was great to have everyone down in Santa Maria for a change. Thanks for coming!!

vans girl

our awesome friends Shawn and Jnet gave Lily these shoes when she was born. Unfortunately they don't fit anymore...but, they have become one of her favorite toys. Finally, a shoe she is allowed to chew on!

Standing!!

This afternoon Lily pulled herself up to standing on our ottoman! Crazy! So, after she did this, Steve and I decided that it really was time to move her mattress in her crib down (before she stood up and did something crazy...like catapult herself over the side of her crib!). So Steve went and moved it down to the 3rd lowest level (there are 4 options, but the last one seemed sooo low). After he did that, he put Lily in her crib, just to test it out, and right away she reached for the top railing and pulled herself up again! Needless to say, we went ahead and moved it all the way down to the last level :-)

First Halloween!

Our little ladybug....

7 months old!

Can you believe our little girl is already 7 months old?? It sounds so old :-) Wasn't she just this tiny little newborn? I know she still looks little to most people, but to us she is getting so big so fast! Happy 7 month birthday Lily!

The best Daddy in the whole world!

Sorry all you other fathers out there, but Steve really is the best daddy around :-)!! He is such a wonderful husband and is awesome with Lily. Her face just lights up when he comes into the room. It's a special treat when Steve is home at night because he has youth group and softball and tennis matches, etc. that take up a lot of nights. So last night Steve gave Lily a bath (in the big bath tub since she is sitting so good now!) and they were so cute. Lily was pretty hilarious, she was taking her rubber ducky and dunking it under the water over and over again! Steve called me in to see it in action, so, of course, I had to take a couple pictures!





Then this morning, after I got out of the shower I found Steve and Lily looking so cute and comfortable in our bed....I am so lucky!!

our friends the Elwells

The Elwells are some of our best friends. They have two beautiful girls, Sydney who is 4 and Rylee who is almost a year. Lily and Rylee are best buddies and we LOVE spending time with them. They came over for dinner on Monday night and I had to snap a couple of pictures of the two little ones in action :-)

friends from mexico...

Luis and Aide are great friends of ours. They run a home for boys down in Tijuana, Mexico and provide a huge ministry to about 20 boys. They are amazing people who we really look up to and feel honored to call our friends. Luis and Aide came to Santa Maria to speak at a church this past weekend and were able to carve out a little time for us! The last time we saw them was last December and Lily was still in my belly! We all had a blast checking Lily out and visiting with each other over lunch, we can't wait until our trip in December to see them again!

Grandma DuBransky

Steve's mom watches Lily on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays while we are at tennis practice/matches. It is such a blessing to have her watch Lily. The other day I came home from a match and this is what I found....so cute!

tennis star

On Mondays we take Lily out to tennis practice with us. She is so good, and the girls love her. I couldn't help but snap a few pictures when Steve put her in the basket of tennis balls!

she's trying so hard...

Lily wants to crawl! She just hasn't figured out how to make it happen yet :-) She is a busy little girl, scooting all over the floor (she recently discovered that our kitchen floor makes a different noise when you hit toys on it!). She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth, and often times she gets up on her hands and feet (sort of a "downward dog" position for all you yoga lovers out there!) it is so funny to watch!!







The other day I left the room for just a second and when I came back I couldn't figure out where Lily had gone! After looking around the room for a minute I realized that she had crawled underneath her exersaucer, she was pretty proud of herself!

Solid Foods!

We started Lily on solid foods when she turned 6 months. She loved the cereal right away, but wasn't too sure about any other flavors. She has recently decided that she LOVES sweet potatoes. She's definitely an eater, it's pretty funny to watch her open her mouth as wide as she possibly can in preparation for her next bite :-)

Waller Park

This past Saturday we had a great "family day" at the park. We walked Lily around in the stroller while she napped and then we hung out on the grass for a while (we even fit in a few trips down the slide!). It was such a fun day to just relax, hang out as a family and really enjoy each other. We are so blessed!

Denny Flanagan Band

Our brother, Denny, just came out with his very first cd and it is awesome! Check out his myspace page: www.myspace.com/dennyflanagan to listen to some of his songs and you can also visit his website: www.dennyflanaganband.com as well. If you decide you just have to have a cd after you hear his songs on myspace (trust me, you'll want one!) you can email me (kdubransky@gmail.com) and I can arrange to have one sent to you. The cost of the cd is $10 (plus shipping) and the money they make on the cd is helping to support Denny, Lauren and little Dennis while they are at YWAM in Montreal.

Updates

Life is busy!! The month of September has gone by so fast we can't believe it! Lots has happened since our last post, so we'll just give you a quick update...Steve and I are coaching the jv and varsity girl's tennis teams at the high school I went to, Righetti High School. This has been loads of fun, the girls are great and Steve really enjoys being back on campus where he can connect with students. This also, however, has led to the month of September being busy busy busy! We have practice for about 4 hours on Mondays and Wednesdays (and some Fridays) and then we have matches on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We have loved every minute, but I think we will also be happy when the season is over and we can get back to our normal (still busy, but not so crazy!) schedule!
Lily is growing up so fast, she turned 6 months old on September 21st! We had her 6 month check up and she weighed 17 lb 2 oz and was 27 1/2 inches long! Our little chunky monkey...She is sitting up completely on her own now and she scoots all over the place. She doesn't have the crawling down yet, but she sure is trying! She will get up on all fours and then rock back and forth like she wants to go somewhere but can't figure out how! So, then she will plop down on her stomach and use her arms to pull herself wherever she wants to go! It's pretty entertaining to watch :-) She also got two teeth! Both of her bottom front teeth have broken through. And just last week we started her on cereal. She took to the cereal right away and usually gives us a big open mouth to put the spoon in to! We can't believe she is so big already...she is growing and learning so much, we are just trying to soak up every minute of it!
Here are some pictures for you to enjoy, of Lily sitting up, eating and at her first trip to Disneyland! She even went on a ride: Buzz Lightyear :-) Too cute...we're such proud parents!!