DuBransky Family

not very good at this anymore...

2011-02-20T15:29:00.000-08:00

Apparently I forgot how to post on this blog, because I know it has been forever! I think it is because I always feel obligated to put some pictures on each post, but I am really bad ( about as bad as posting) at loading the pictures from my camera to the computer. I know it seems like a simple task, but somehow it becomes really hard to do consistently! Anyways, I have gotten past that for now and figured I would just share some things that are going on in our life...

--Nathan turned ONE!! We had a party for him on superbowl Sunday (which I felt was appropriate since I was in labor during the superbowl last year) and he turned one on February 8.
--Nathan spent his first birthday covered in a rash from head to toe. Apparently he is allergic to Amoxicillan. He is currently on his third antibiotic for an ear infection that won't go away. It's been a long month of sickness for poor Nate.
--Lily is officially potty trained!!!!!!!!! We embarked on that adventure at the beginning of my Christmas break and she did great. It took about 2 weeks to feel fairly confident in her being potty trained. but overall, it was a good experience for all of us. We are now happy to just be buying one set of diapers!
--We got to take a trip to Disneyland with my parents right before I went back to work after Christmas break. We had a blast and Lily, especially, really enjoyed herself. Her favorite rides were Dumbo (with Grandpa!) and It's a Small World.
--Nathan is walking! (and trying real hard to run!!) He started walking around 11 months and hasn't looked back. He is a man on the go and definitely helps us get our daily exercise in. He is always trying to keep up with his sister, which recently involves climbing things and dancing.
--Steve just got back from Jr High Winter Camp at Hume Lake and next weekend will take the High School-ers up there as well. He is taking his biggest group of students in a while and God is doing some really cool stuff through the youth ministry at Crosspoint.

That's all I can think of for now...and Nathan and I finished the muffin we were sharing (he stole most of it) and he isn't really into just sitting in his high chair watching me type =)

sweet lily

2010-12-24T09:24:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of videos to show our little Lily's artistic side:

Avila Valley Barn

2010-10-16T21:28:00.000-07:00

Today we got to spend some time all together as a family. We went up to Avila Valley Barn to feed animals, eat roasted corn, take some pictures and pick out a pumpkin! Our kids are awesome and we had a great time...

wow..2 months, really!?

2010-09-06T20:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it has almost been 2 months since my last post. And that wasn't even a real post, I just put pictures of my adorable kiddos up =) Being a mom of 2 is tiring, and busy, and wonderful...but busy!! I decided I won't even try to catch up from all the things that I have missed, but I'll just start fresh (to ease the pressure!). So here are a few things that we have been up to:

Our summer was great! I loved loved loved being home with the kids again and I enjoyed every single moment! We had high school and junior high camp for church. We went to "Family Camp" at Lake San Antonio and had Nathan's first camping experience.

Our wonderful friends, Sarah and Omar De La Torre, came to visit us for 2 weeks from Mexico. It was so great to see them and for them to get to know Lily & Nathan.

We went to Palm Desert for vacation with Steve's brother Marc, his wife Tanisha and their little man Travis. We had so much fun roasting in the 100 degree weather, swimming in the pool, visiting the zoo and feeding giraffes.

I started back to work about a month ago and Steve went down to part time so that he could stay home a little more with the kids! It has been a bit of a transition, and I definitely miss being home, but we are getting into the swing of things...and I know that Lily and Nate love being able to play with their daddy more!

Lily is going to be 2 1/2 this month and is a precious joy! She loves Dora & Diego, the park, her friends, drawing, dancing, being silly, talking about everything and just having fun in every way that she can.

Nathan is 7 months old in 2 days and is getting so big so quick! He is crawling and pulling himself up to stand. We can already tell that he is going to be much more daring that Lily--he has taken several nose-dives already! At his doctors appointment a few weeks ago he weighed in at 19 pounds!! He loves food, clapping and climbing on his sister =)

one lucky mama

2010-07-16T10:55:00.001-07:00

Man I have some cute kids!

my first project!

2010-04-15T20:29:00.000-07:00

Steve got me a sewing maching for my birthday.
I love it!
I've been wanting to channel my inner creativity and am usually most inspired to make cute little stuff for Lily. It's way more inspiring than making something for myself. That seems backwards =) Life as a mom, I suppose...Anyways, so I found this tutorial for a cute ruffley skirt made out of a tshirt at Sew Much Ado And it turned out adorable! It is a little rough around the edges, as it was my first project, but Lily loves it, and it fits her...so what more can I ask for!!

Oh, and Lily let me put her hair in a ponytail again! I love it...I just can't get enough!!

our cute little man

2010-04-15T20:24:00.000-07:00

I mean really, isn't this the cutest little boy you've ever seen?? I know I am a little biased...but he's so handsome!

Easter & Baby Shower

2010-04-15T20:02:00.000-07:00

On Easter weekend we headed down to Camarillo for our sister Tanisha's baby shower. Baby Travis is due the first week of May and we can't wait to meet him!!! Tanisha is a ridiculously beautiful pregnant mama and we had lots of fun showering her with love and diapers =) I got to make a cute name banner...an idea I stole from some much more creative friends...and it turned out super cute!

After the shower we got to spend some quality time at Chipotle with our beloved DuBransky family...I think we counted there were 18 of us! Nate was lovin' on his uncle Marc and Auntie Tanisha and sending good vibes to Baby Travis.

That Sunday was Easter and we kind of hung low and relaxed a bit. We went to church, made a couple of Easter "buckets" for Nate and Lil, had a little easter egg hunt in our front yard (she would have never found the eggs in our backyard!!!) for Lily, and had dinner that night with Steve's parents and Dave. It was a lovely day.

happy smiles

2010-03-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

Our little man is in full smiling swing now! His little smile is so cute and sweet. And, he was 7 weeks old yesterday!! So, we decided to snap a few pictures of ourselves:

We've been getting slightly adventurous lately. By adventurous I mean that we went on our first walk by ourselves in the awesome double stroller down to the farmers market last week, and today we took over the thrift store to find some cute clothes for the kiddos!

And, just so you don't feel deprived of Lily photos (after all, she is darn cute!!!), here's our little princess:

Lily turns 2!!

2010-03-22T12:30:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true...our little girl is two years old! I can hardly believe it, in fact, I keep saying that same statement over and over, "I can't believe Lily is already 2!" She is so much fun and brings such joy to our lives. She is a little chatterbox now and finds so much fun in just living life. Instead of having a birthday party, we decided to take Lily up to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for the weekend. Steve's brothers, Mike and Tom, along with their families (Auntie Bev, Auntie Barb and cousins Kiana, Corryn, Jadon and Gabriel) joined us. We were also met up there by my cousins Cindy and Steve who live close to the Aquarium and treated us to a wonderful tour, along with brownies for the birthday girl at their house afterwards! The weekend was tons of fun, Lily loved all of the "fishies" and penguins and had a great time getting to touch starfish and crabs and kelp. Here are some pictures from the weekend...I'll try not to overwhelm you, but there were a lot of cute moments!!

Lily and cousin Jadon playing "catch the fish" in the kids play area.

Lily and cousin Kiana jumping on a trampoline in the "splash zone"

Daddy and the birthday girl.

Nathan hanging out with Uncle Mike.

Jadon and Gabriel admiring the fish in the "Kelp Forest."

Me and Lily touching starfish.

Our family of four outside the Aquarium.

Our adorable 2 year old on her actual birthday (in her cute new shirt from Uncle Mike, Auntie Bev, Corryn, Jadon and Kiana!)

Lily on her new tricycle!!

5 weeks old already....

2010-03-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

I remember from when Lily was itty bitty that time with a newborn goes by fast, but wow! Nathan's first month of life has just flown by! Maybe because we are busier chasing two kiddos around now, but it really seems like we just came home from the hospital. Nathan is growing and growing and is getting cuter everyday (not that he wasn't already the cutest little boy we know!). He started smiling at us this week and there is nothing that melts my heart like those first baby smiles.
Lily is doing great. She is such a smart, funny and amazingly articulate little girl. She will be 2 on Sunday....wait, what??!! My little princess is going to be a 2 year old! So crazy! This weekend we are going up to Monterey to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for Lily's birthday in leu of a party. We are excited to get away, have some family time and enjoy Lily. A few of Steve's brothers and their family's will be joining us and we anticipate a great weekend.
Here are a few more pictures from the last couple of weeks of Lily and Nathan!! (Beware...there are a lot of pictures...bear with me!!)

Daddy and Nathan getting some much needed rest.

Lily showing us her "silly face."

Mommy and her little prince.

March 6, 2010...Steve & Tom celebrating the one year anniversary of a successful bone marrow transplant!! Tom's wife threw Tom a surprise 1st "re-birthday" party...with a pinata and everything!

This picture is not posed at all...Lily wanted to "feed" baby just like Mommy feeds Nathan and got all of the "supplies" herself. Too cute =)

Nathan posing on his 1 month birthday.

First smiles!!

Big news!! Lily let me put her hair in pigtails for the first time!! (I had to bribe her and they only lasted about an hour, but it was a start! and she looked amazingly cute...)

Like father like son...Nathan sitting in Daddy's favorite chair this morning.

First 2 weeks

2010-02-26T13:28:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of Nathan's first couple of weeks at home! He will be 3 weeks old on Monday...I forgot how fast this stage goes by. Lily is doing great, loving her baby brother, and Nathan is adjusting to this new life of his quite well. At his 2 week check-up he weighed in at 9 lb 12 oz and was 22 1/4 inches long. We have a big boy on our hands!

Nathan James

2010-02-14T09:47:00.000-08:00

He has finally arrived!!! At only 15 days late...he was defintely worth the wait =) Nathan arrived on Monday, Feb. 8 @ 12:13am. He weighed a solid 8 lbs 15oz (we couldn't believe it!!) and was 20 1/2 inches long. He is doing great and Lily is loving being a big sister. Here are a few pictures to get you started...

Steve, Lily and I before we left for the hospital on Saturday.

Nathan just after arriving.

Our newly expanded family...and Lily meeting her brother for the first time!

Nathan at 5 days old.

a long time coming...

2010-01-31T13:55:00.000-08:00

So, it has been a very very long time since my last blog. Sorry about that! Life is busy, but really, no posts since halloween?? That's pretty bad =) I have been putting off updating the blog because I was so behind and had so many posts to do, but I have since decided to skip all of those old posts and just start new (you didn't want to see Christmas pictures anyway, did you?!).
We are patiently waiting for our precious baby boy to be born....I was due a week ago today! Being late is nothing new to us, as I was induced at 10 days late with Lily...but we were secretly hoping that this little man would come out a little closer to "on time" than his big sister! All in all I am feeling fine, physically, but the anticipation gets to you after 41 weeks of waiting to see our little boy's face!!
Yesterday we took a little family trip to Nojoqui Falls, a little waterfall about 30 minutes south of us. It is only about a 10 minute walk from where you park to the waterfall...a perfect walk for a 9 month pregnant momma, daddy and an almost 2 year old! We had a lot of fun and it was nice to just have a day to celebrate and enjoy our little family. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband in Steve and such a beautiful, joyful little daughter in Lily. Aren't they precious???

Trick or Treat!

2009-11-01T15:30:00.001-08:00

Last night Lily had her first trick-or-treating experience =) She dressed up as a pretty adorable 49ers cheerleader and we headed over to our friends, the Glazewski's. We only took Lily up to a few houses, but she had fun, and looked pretty cute!

Avila Barn

2009-11-01T15:15:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went up to the Avila Valley Barn with our wonderful friends, the Elwells. We didn't buy any pumpkins, but we all had a great time checking out the petting zoo, the hay maze and playing on the big pile of pumpkins!!

random 18 month pictures

2009-11-01T15:05:00.000-08:00

These last few months have been incredibly busy for us DuBranskys here in Santa Maria. Between both of us working, coaching tennis, Steve doing worship at church and trying to keep up with little miss Lily, it has been a little difficult to find time to stop and enjoy our wonderful family!! Thankfully we have had an occasional day here and there that we can just hang out and enjoy each other. The weather has been incredibly beautiful this September and October, so we have be able to be outside, go to the park and have some fun.

beach fun

2009-11-01T14:59:00.000-08:00

Almost 2 months ago (wow, I am really behind on posting!!) we went to Avila beach to celebrate cousin Gabriel's 5th birthday. It was a beautiful day at the beach and Lily loved it! I didn't even bring her swimsuit because I figured the water would be too cold, it was kind of late, etc...but, none of these excuses entered her mind. She loved playing in the sand and getting in the water--past her knees! Lily also had a momentous occasion--her experienced her first smore! She ate the entire thing and loved every minute of it!

BABY BOY!!!!

2009-09-05T12:26:00.000-07:00

Last night we found out that Lily will be having a baby BROTHER!!! We are so excited and still trying to wrap our minds around what we are going to do with a boy (we have a lot of pink stuff!!)! Last night we had a bunch of our good friends over and cut the cake to find out the babies sex!! On Thursday we had our ultrasound and we had asked the doctor to write the sex of the baby in a card and seal it. That night we dropped the card off to our wonderful friends, Mama and Papa T, and Mama T baked us a cake. The instuctions were to make the inside pink for a girl and blue for a boy.
So, last night, after dinner at our house, we all went outside to cut the cake...and it was BLUE!! It was so fun to celebrate with all of our friends and it was truly a night we will never forget.

house projects

2009-08-30T12:19:00.001-07:00

A couple of months ago we formed a "co-op work group of sorts" with some of our friends. Each month we go to one person's house and spend a Saturday working on whatever project they have for us (painting has been a popular one thus far). The couple provides breakfast and lunch for all of us worker bees and then we get as much done as we can that day. The next month we rotate to the next person's house, etc. (It's a great idea and we highly suggest you form your own work co-op!!) August was our month (well, really, July was our month, but it just so happened that we weren't home for a single Saturday in July!! So, we postponed until August!) Our projects were:
1. Putting the recently stained and finished cabinet doors on in our kitchen, along with the hardware.
2. Changing out some light fixtures in the kitchen (this had to be delayed due to some problems that were found when the old light fixtures were taken down!!)
3. Painting our entry way, hallway and living room in "Classic Taupe" (from Behr).
4. Painting our master bedroom and bath in "Valley Mist" (from Behr).
5. If we had time we were going to move on to our current office, but what will be Lily's new room when baby #2 arrives...but we ran out of time, so that project (painting it purple) will have to wait until a later date!!
All in all, we got a ton of work done and we are really happy with the results!! We still haven't found time to start hanging up our picture frames and decor, but it will come, eventually! Here are our before and after pics from that day:

We love the Strands!

2009-08-30T12:10:00.000-07:00

For our last destination in Arizona, we stopped in Surprise for a visit with some of our favorite people, Scott, Beth, Kylie and Torie Strand. The Strands used to live in Santa Maria, in fact, Scott was our youth pastor when we were in high school. They moved out to Surprise about 3 1/2 years ago to start a church, now called Adventure Community Church. We have been able to visit them a few times in Surprise now and we usually spend a good portion of our drive home talking about how great they are. Lily loved hanging out with the girls (she wasn't so sure about Scott until the day we left, when he finally got a kiss!) and I am pretty sure they loved her!

next up: Gilbert, Arizona!

2009-08-30T11:50:00.000-07:00

So after our first stop in Tucson, we headed north to Gilbert, Arizona to visit our wonderful friends, Frankie & Diana Miguel. They have a beautiful new little daughter, Della, who we got to meet for the first time. (Consequently, Lily also started calling Della, "lella", I guess that's the sign if she really likes a baby!!) Our great friend Jeanette also flew into Phoenix with her son Haakon while we were there, so it was a big party at the Miguel house! Jeanette, Diana and I were all roomies in college and it had been a while since we all got together. We had a great week, full of babies and memories. It was crazy hot while we were there, so we didn't take the little ones out much further than the pool most days, but one morning we did venture out to the Phoenix zoo. We only stayed for a couple of hours (we were sweatin'...a lot!)but it was Lily's first trip to the zoo and she really enjoyed it. Her and Steve went into an exhibit where they could get up close and personal with the giraffes. Lily even started to say "ahh ahh ahh" when she saw the monkeys! Too cute...

vacation in tucson

2009-08-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

At the end of July/early part of August we headed out on our first "long" road trip with Lily. We first drove to Tucson to visit with my parents. Lauren, Denny and little Dennis also met us there and we had our very own Fitzgerald family reunion =) It was so fun to watch the little cousins play and interact. Lily even started calling Dennis "nenny"...it was awesome! We had a few days of ultimate relaxation, hanging out in a wonderfully air conditioned house, then out to the pool at our leisure. We loved every minute of it.

future photographer

2009-08-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

Lily LOVES to play with our camera. Thank goodness for digital cameras and the fact that we can let her take as many pictures as she wants and just erase all of the pictures that are pure white because she held the camera about a centimeter from her nose!!! Here is one of Lily's best self-portraits so far, I think it really displays the joy that she has when playing with the camera!!

A Quilt For Baby

2009-08-10T12:12:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let you guys know about a new place for you to go to find a cute quilt for your baby or baby shower gift! My mom has started up a website selling beautiful baby quilts that she designs and customizes especially for you...you may even see Lily and her quilt on there if you look hard enough! So check it out and give my mom some business:

http://aquiltforbaby.etsy.com

sweet Lily

2009-07-23T10:23:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist posting this picture. How cute is our baby girl??

Baby Jake

2009-07-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

Lily's new cousin Jake has been visiting Santa Maria (along with his parents,Jeff & Diane, of course!) for the past week or two while their house is being remodeled. Jake was born on June 1, but this was our first chance to meet him as we have been too busy!! (see previous post for more information on our busy-ness!) Jake is a cute little guy with a pretty mellow personality. Lily is quite enthralled with him, the other day she walked up to the swing he was in and just sat right down in front of him and watched. It was pretty cute. Lily really enjoys giving Jake kisses on the head...we have tried our best to protect Jake from the few punches and kicks Lily has "accidentally" thrown in his direction =)
We figure this will be good practice for when Lily is a big sister coming in January!! Yes, you read that right, as most of you already know, we are expecting baby #2 to arrive sometime around January 19, 2010!! I am 14 weeks pregnant and feeling great, all things considered! We are very excited at this addition to our family and can't wait to meet the little boy/girl.
Here are some pictures of Lily and baby Jake...

I know that looks like a head-butt, but I believe it was intended to be an inocent kiss!!

long time comin...

2009-07-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

Wow...it has been a really long time since I last posted anything!! I think this happened around this time last year as well. June and July seem to be very busy months for us. I finished work for the summer on June 18 and here's what our summer has looked like since then:
1. On June 22 we left to go up to Lake San Antonio with our high school student for Kickback, our summer camp. It was a wonderful week where the Lord was definitely present and ministering to our staff and students. It was a lot different have Lily up there running around all over the place, but it was so fun to watch her interact with God's creation, the students and her buddies, Sydney and Rylee Elwell who were up there with us as well.
2. The following week after Kickback we had our Jr High summer camp...Lily and I just helped with the food on this one and did go on one trip to Ravine WaterPark, but we missed Steve the whole time and were so happy to have him home!
3. The second weekend in July marked our 29th annual family reunion. It took place in Pismo Beach this year (nice and close to our house thankfully!!) and it was great to see all of our aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. My parents, along with Lauren, Denny and little Dennis, stayed at our house. We hadn't seen Dennis since Christmas time!! Here are some pictures of our time at the condo in Pismo, the beach and hanging out at our house watching Lily and Dennis play together:

4. The weekend after the reunion we had our annual Family Camp back up at Lake San Antonio with our church. It is always fun to go camping with Steve and Lily and hang out immersed in the Lord's creation....but WOW, it was really hot!! I think it stayed at least around 110 degrees the whole time we were up there. Thank goodness we have friends up there with trailors and RVs with air conditioning =)

What a long post...I guess that is what happens when you slack off for a couple of months! Lily is growing and growing and learning new things everyday. She is talking more and more and running all over the place. She just learned to climb up onto our ottoman and she really likes to "jump" (well, she doesn't really get any air, but she tries!)
Next up on our busy summer agenda is Arizona! We leave this Sunday to visit my parents in Tucson, and then travel up to the Phoenix area to visit with our friends, Frankie, Dianan, baby Della, Jeanette and little Haakon. Finally we will stop off in Surprise, AZ to visit with our wonderful friends, the Strands. We hope you are having a summer full of fun, relaxation and God's presence in your lives!!

4 years of us!

2009-07-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

4 years ago tomorrow (on the 4th of July) Steve proposed to me on my doorstep in Denver! Well, I excitedly said yes and there began our journey together. It truly has been a wonderful 4 years together and I can honestly (and cheesily!) say that it gets better everyday. So, thanks my love (even though you never read our blog =)!!!) for making me your wife. I am blessed.

My beautiful ring the day Steve gave it to me

Remember these pictures Sarah?? My roomie Sarah took some great engagement pics for us....I still remember having so much fun that day!!

messy eater

2009-05-19T21:56:00.000-07:00

Lily has had a few fun meals lately...first she had her first spaghetti dinner in which she spread all over her face! (I think it was even on her eyelashes!) Second, she really loved eating some yogurt. I recently learned how to make yogurt in my crockpot!! I was really excited about it, especially when it turned out great and Lily loved it!

Isn't she the cutest??

Montano de Oro

2009-05-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday we went on a hike with our church out to a state park, Montano de Oro. It was a great day for a hike. Lily had her first experience riding in the backpack...and she, unfortunately, had her first bloody owie. She took a little tumble on some asphalt and got a scrape on her nose! The hike was about 3 hours and we had a great time.

Easter

2009-05-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

Well, this was Lily's second Easter...but she was only 2 days old last year =) We had Steve's dad (better known as PopPop), Uncle Dave, and the Ilacs over on Easter. I made my first ham ever and it was a beautiful day. We even got to walk down and play at the new park near our house. And, of course, Lily was all dressed up!

lots of things new

2009-05-19T21:16:00.000-07:00

I know it has been quite a while since the last post...between work and holidays and playing with Lily, it's hard to find a free moment or two! Needless to say, Lily is growing up more and more each day. She is walking all over the place now, is becoming quite opinionated in her old age of "almost 14 months" and even knows 8 words!! (we counted: mama, dada, buhbye, hi, ball, bubba, wow, and her new favorite...no!) It's been so long, I thought I would give a little buffet of pictures to show all the things Lily has been up to:

She learned how to go down the slide all by herself!

She is a big walker now, even pushing her doll around in a stroller.

Lily learned that it is really fun to play in the sand.

She loves her ice cream!

GoodNight Moon is her favorite book.

She can show us her belly!

All in all, she is awesome and we think she's the greatest!

1 year old!

2009-04-05T09:47:00.003-07:00

We can't believe our little princess is one year old already! What a big girl she is.

Presents from Gma & Gpa!

2009-04-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

My parents came into town for Lily's birthday party and gave Lily some of her favorite birthday presents!

Lily even helped Grandpa put her new truck together...what a great helper!

Lily & Kiana's 1st Birthday Party!!

2009-04-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

Since Lily and her cousin, Kiana, are only 2 weeks apart, we decided to have a combined birthday party for the girls. We had the party at our house last Saturday and it was so much fun! We had a ton of people (of course!) and almost all of Lily's aunts, uncles and cousins were there (we were just missing Uncle Tom, Uncle Denny, Auntie Lauren and Cousin Dennis....we missed you guys!!) Papa T and Steve barbequed chicken and the girls had cupcakes for their first birthday cakes. It was fun to be able to have all of our friends and family over to our new house and to have the backyard for the kiddos to play in (thankfully it was a nice day). Auntie Lauren requested lots of pictures...so here you go!

Birthday Cupcakes!

2009-04-04T10:14:00.001-07:00

So, I have finally figured out..or it finally worked...how to post videos! SO, here is Lily and her cousin, Kiana, eating their cupcakes at their first birthday party. They were really cute and took their time with their cupcakes. Lily was determined though, she ended up eating the entire thing! More pictures of the birthday party to come soon!

first steps

2009-04-04T10:01:00.001-07:00

Here is a short little video of Lily taking some of her first steps...she's getting better and better everyday!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

2009-03-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

home safely

2009-03-08T11:41:00.001-07:00

We are back home now and Steve is resting comfortably on our couch. He says he is starting to feel a bit better today and is looking forward to finding a position, other than lying down, that is comfortable! Yesterday we were able to visit Tom in the hospital before we left to come home. It was encouraging to see him laughing and feeling pretty good. He's even figured out that he can have Pepsi, apple juice and crackers without throwing up. Seems like a step in the right direction to me! Steve's mom took a couple of pictures of Steve and Tom together, and then also of Tim, Steve and Tom - the three bone marrow matches =)

We were also able to hang out with Tim, Scotiska, Julian and Aliyah while we were staying down in Montclair. Here are a few pictures of the little cousins playing together! Aliyah liked to push Lily around on the little car, it was awesome =)

Bone Marrow Transplant

2009-03-06T16:32:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, Steve had surgery today to donate bone marrow to his brother Tom. The surgery was at City of Hope Hospital in Duarte, CA (the LA area)this morning at 7:30. Everything went great. Steve was in surgery for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours and will be discharged from the hospital within the hour most likely. He is feeling good, although the pain really started to set in when he stood up for the first time! I already picked up his pain medication from the pharmacy here in the hospital, so hopefully we should be good to go. Steve's brother, Tom, is currently receiving his bone marrow cells up on the 6th floor (Steve is on the 1st floor). The doctor said they really won't know until about 3 weeks out if the bone marrow is growing...but Steve is pretty sure his bone marrow is full of all kinds of good stuff and will mesh nicely with Tom =) Thank you for all of your prayers. After a visit to see Tom tonight once Steve is discharged, we will rest at Jeff & Diane's house (Steve's oldest brother & wife) at least for tomorrow and then head back up to Santa Maria on Sat. or Sunday. Here are a couple of pics of Steve in his hospital bed that Barb, Tom's wife, took on her phone...a little blurry, but I had to include them (especially the one with Steve's favorite new contraption...the stockings that inflate that they put on you so that you don't develop any blood clots...Steve is plotting ways to take them home!!)

holy guacamole...

2009-02-24T20:28:00.000-08:00

Lily discovered her love for guacamole at her cousin Kale's birthday party!!

11 months old!

2009-02-21T20:19:00.001-08:00

Fun with the Ventura DuBranskys

2009-02-21T20:14:00.000-08:00

Mike, Bev, Corryn, Jadon and Kiana came down for a visit on Valentine's Day. Mike, Bev, Steve and I all went out on a Valentine's date while grandma and pop pop watched all the kiddos for us. We made dinner at our house and then went to see "A MidSummer Night's Dream" at the Santa Maria PCPA. We had lots of fun hanging out with the kids...and it was nice to have some grown-up time too!

lovin' lily

2009-02-21T20:13:00.000-08:00

We love our precious little girl...she is so much fun!

10 months old...past due

2009-02-06T21:07:00.000-08:00

Lily is now 10 1/2 months old...where has the time gone? In a month and a half our little newborn baby is going to be 1 year old! I have decided that all parents must say statements like "they're growing up so fast!" about a thousand times over the course of their kids' lives...and I am no different. I find myself continually thinking, when did she get so big? Lily is growing into a little toddler right before our eyes. She continues to be hilarious with her loud voice and unique and bold hand gestures. Just a few days ago she really started crawling! She's been crawling since about six months or so, but she has always done a really fast "military" crawl, but just in the last few days, for whatever reason, she decided it was time to get up on her hands and knees and go for it! We had decided that she was probably content with the military crawl because she was so efficient at it, but she surprised us again. She loves to stand now and walk all around while holding onto the furniture...she's even been standing on her own for 20-30 seconds at a time! Lily has also decided that she loves to dance! Any time she hears music her little behind will start bouncing, it is so funny! She especially likes to dance to this music play table that her Auntie Barb & Uncle Tom got her for Christmas (thanks guys!).

Needless to say, we are so blessed to have this beautiful girl in our lives. Steve and I are continually amazed at the hand of God in our lives. We just started a Bible study and it goes along with the book, "Sheparding a Child's Heart" by Tedd Tripp. We have only read the first chapter, but in it he talks about a verse in Psalms that is the foundation for his book: "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (Psalm 4:23) He reminds us that the heart is the well from which all issues of life gush forth. Through this study we pray that we can become parents to Lily that focus on sheparding her heart and becoming a disciple of Christ.
On a separate note, we would just like to ask for prayers for Steve's brother Tom, his wife Barb and their son Gabriel. Tom will, most likely, be undergoing a bone marrow transplant in the next couple of months (once they, hopefully, find a match from one of his brothers...good thing he has 6 to choose from!). Tom has been through quite the ordeal over the past 6 months or so and could definitely use our prayers. For an update on his health, you can check out the link to their blog, The Highland Park DuBranskys, on the right hand side of the page. Thanks for your prayers for Tom, Barb and Gabriel, and thanks for the love you bring to our lives!

Disneyland!!

2009-02-06T20:23:00.001-08:00

Yes, Lily is only 10 months old and she has already been to Disneyland twice! She doesn't even know how spoiled she is =) Actually, we went to Disneyland a second time (we went back in September as well) because our brother, Dave, scored some reservations to the "exclusive" Club 33 inside of Disneyland. Club 33 is a fancy, membership-only, restaurant in New Orleans Square (you can look out from the restaurant and see Tom Sawyer Island) and Dave knows a lady...well, Dave knows everybody...and he was able to get us and our friends, the Elwells, reservations. So, Steve, Lily, me, Brian, Renee, Sydney, Rylee and Dave enjoyed a wonderful day at Disneyland just before the end of my Christmas vacation from work. Lily went on quite a few rides and loved all of them. All three of the girls were so good the whole day.

Lily on the Finding Nemo Submarine ride.

Steve and Sydney on Syd's favorite ride....Dumbo!

Me and Lily cruising on Dumbo

Brian, Renee, and Rylee - on her first Dumbo ride

The highlight of Sydney's day...meeting Cinderella!

Lily saying hi to Fro-Zone

Inside Club 33

New House!

2009-01-16T10:43:00.000-08:00

Just to let everyone know, we will be getting the keys to our new house on Tuesday! It has been a bit of a long process and we thought we'd have the keys a few weeks ago, but we are excited that the time is finally here. I'll post some pictures once we move in and make it look pretty =) Our new address will be:

1321 E. Rice Ranch Road
Santa Maria, CA 93455

Rock Band RockStar

2009-01-14T20:16:00.000-08:00

We were at our friends Brian and Shelley's house yesterday for our bi-weekly "friends dinner" and Lily was rocking out on the drums with Shelley:

our little girl

2009-01-14T15:26:00.000-08:00

She's growing up so fast! Yesterday I just sat around and played with Lily and watched her in amazment at the girl she is becoming. She learns so much everyday and is so fun to be around. She is all over the place now, cruising around the furniture and she is finally learning to crawl (she's been hanging on to that military crawl for a while now, but she is just starting to get that belly up off the ground) and is getting more daring by the minute. Lately she is really into playing with our phones. My phone is a flip phone and she learned how to open it up and has been really enjoying pushing all of the buttons (so, if you get a call from me and I'm not talking, it's probably Lily!). She also started getting very upset if we take something away from her that she really likes but isn't supposed to play with (like my phone)....it's pretty funny, and a little nerve-racking of possible things to come in the toddler years!!! I took some pictures of my lovely Lily and of her adventure with my phone.

Silly Lily

2009-01-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

Lily is getting funnier and funnier in her ripe old age of 9 months! She loves to laugh, be silly, wrestle with daddy and get into everything she's not supposed to =) A couple of days ago I put Lily in her crib with a few toys while I went to take a shower. When I got out of the shower I went to check on her and found her sleeping like this:

She was folded in half and was dead asleep! It was too funny not to take a picture of. We love our little goof ball!!

Cousin Dennis is the best!

2009-01-08T16:01:00.000-08:00

I know, it's been forever since I posted last...my computer hasn't been working all that well and I put all of our Christmas pictures on Steve's computer, so I will have to post those from his computer sometime soon. So, for now, I am just going to skip over Christmas (it was awesome!) and tell you about our visit down to Orange County to visit Lauren, Denny and little Dennis. We went on New Years Day and stayed for two days. Dennis is 5 months old now and is full of smiles. Lily loved seeing her cousin and Steve and I loved hanging out with Lauren, Denny, Dennis, Lois, Jimmy, Todd, Kristi and the girls. We had our own "Christmas," including a wonderful turkey dinner (thanks Lois!)

New job, new house....

2008-12-05T17:42:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-30T09:20:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-30T09:17:00.000-08:00

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!!

2008-11-05T20:59:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-04T11:41:00.001-08:00

Our little ladybug....

7 months old!

2008-10-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-22T10:52:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-22T10:48:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-10-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-22T10:41:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-10-15T08:55:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-29T21:02:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

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!!

Contest

2008-09-08T20:20:00.000-07:00

So I found this blog randomly and then are having a contest for this very cute diaper/tote bag! Check it out:

Marc & Tanisha's wedding

2008-08-13T22:15:00.000-07:00

Steve's younger brother, Marc, got married this past weekend on August 9th. Marc and Tanisha are an awesome couple and their wedding was beautiful. Steve was a groomsman and Lily was an "honorary flower girl!" Tanisha was beautiful and the day was just perfect!!

Dennis Michael Flanagan

2008-08-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

Lily has a new cousin! Dennis Michael Flanagan was born @ 3:50am on August 1st. He weighed 7 lb 9 oz and was 20 inches long. Lily and I were able to go down that morning and meet Dennis when he was only about 5 hours old. He is so adorable and has an amazing head of hair! We all fell in love right away! I'm just saying, there are some cute babies in this family...but you can judge for yourself!!

Beach Day!

2008-08-13T21:51:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we all went to Avila Beach with a few people from church for "Crosspoint Family Beach Day." It was Lily's first trip to the beach....I can't say she loved it, but then again, she didn't hate it either, so that is a good sign! Really, she wanted to eat the sand and her mean parents wouldn't let her :-) So, we did a little more walking than playing in the sand!

Family Reunion

2008-08-11T21:57:00.001-07:00

Every year my family has a family reunion in Tulare, CA in July. It is a great weekend where we catch up with each other, eat, swim, and eat a little bit more! This was Lily's first family reunion, it was so fun to see her with all of her little cousins.

Lily swimming with her Grandma and Grandpa Fitzgerald

Lily loves her Uncle Denny!!

The BBQ masters... :-)

Mr. Red Bird

2008-07-08T16:32:00.000-07:00

Lily has this red bird that hangs from her play mat that has always caught her eye. She loves it! Now that she has just started to grab at things, Mr. Red Bird is really interesting to her. I just had to take a few pictures of her playing with him!

This picture was just too cute not to include :-) This is Lily's mat where her red bird hangs from!

Kickback and Family Camp

2008-07-08T16:16:00.001-07:00

Lily is officially a camper! In June we had our week-long camping trip with our high school group and then the weekend after we got home, we went back up to the lake for another weekend of camping with some other families at our church's "Family Camp." Lily was such a trooper and she really did great. Thankfully it wasn't too hot, in the 90's most of the time, and we had a friend's nice, cool trailor to retreat to when we got a little warm!
These two weeks of camping proved to be very monumental in Lily's life! She had a few milestones: In the week in between Kickback and family camp Lily rolled over for the first time! She rolled from her stomack to her back, then, when we were back at the lake the 2nd time, she rolled from her back to her stomach! Also, the first night we were at Family Camp, she slept through the night for the first time (and she hasn't done it since, but that night was great!!!). That's right, she slept from 8:30pm to 7am (and I think it was mostly me waking her up at 7 to make me feel better!), it was incredible!
So, needless to say, we had a great time camping with our little super star. I think a few people thought we were crazy taking a 3 month old camping, but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat! Lily is so much fun and she really helps us to appreciate every moment.

Steve's 30th

2008-07-08T16:09:00.001-07:00

On June 7th, Steve turned 30! So, we had a little bbq (thanks Papa T!) at our house with a few friends. We had a lot of fun and Lily's Uncle Mike, Auntie Bev, and cousins Corryn, Jadon and Kiana even surprised us with a visit! And, as you can see, we had a ton of kids there, which always adds to the excitment!

Ages 16 to 2 weeks!

Lily and her best buddy, Rylee :-)

Baby Bjorn

2008-06-06T10:09:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to San Luis Obispo and just walked around downtown. It was a fun "family day" and Lily hung out in her Baby Bjorn and she loved it! She loves looking at everything going on all around her now and she was so cute checking everything out. Here are a couple of pictures of me and Lily down at "the creek" in San Luis. Lauren and I used to play at the creek when we were kids, so it was fun to take Lily down there!

Sleep...We love Sleep!

2008-06-03T12:36:00.000-07:00

I am a sleeper....so, naturally, having a newborn has been a little bit of an adjustment for me! Thankfully, Steve, being the wonderful husband and Daddy that he is, is very helpful in those midnight hours when I am struggling to wake up! Lately though, Lily has been sleeping great, usually just waking up one time to eat and then going right back to sleep. We are loving this new stage! (Hopefully she keeps it up :-)!!) Anyways, the other day Lily fell asleep in this little pink papisan chair that she has and her arm was up in the air the whole time...we're talking about 1 1/2 hours! She's so cute we can hardly stand it :-)

Baby Flanagan's Shower!

2008-06-02T16:14:00.000-07:00

Lily's Auntie Lauren & Uncle Denny are expecting a baby in late July of this year! We are so excited to have another little one around Lily's age for her to play with. Lauren & Denny had a baby shower last weekend and we drove down for the event. It was a lot of fun, Lily was very popular of course :-), and Lauren is looking pretty darn cute at 7 1/2 months pregnant!

Arizona Vacation!

2008-05-20T12:41:00.000-07:00

We just got back from our first family vacation with Lily! Lily had her first plane ride and we flew from Santa Maria into Mesa, AZ. First we rented a car and drove down to Tucson to stay with my parents for a few days. We had a great time! Lily had her first experience with a swimming pool, and Steve and I even got to go on a "date night" to see a movie and have dinner! After Tucson we drove up to Surprise, AZ to visit with the Strand family. The Strands are good friends of ours that moved out to Arizona to plant Adventure Community Church in Surprise, AZ (if you live in the area, check it out! Their church is awesome! www.surpriseadventure.com ) We had a great time and we spent our first Mother's Day there. Lily was wonderful (of course!) and we welcomed the relaxing break!

Dennis Flanagan

2008-05-20T12:37:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, my sister's father-in-law, Dennis, passed away after a battle with cancer. He was an awesome and inspiring man of the Lord. As sad as it was to see him go, his funeral was an amazing testimony to how incredible he was and how many lives he had touched. Steve, Lily and I went down to his funeral and were able to see Lauren and Denny, as well as Denny's family, who we love so much. Here are a couple of pictures from that day.

1 month old!

2008-04-24T14:57:00.000-07:00

Lily turned one month old on Monday! I can't believe it...time goes by so fast! So here are a few pictures we took on her "1 Month Birthday!"

New Cousins

2008-04-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Lily got to meet two of her cousins for the first time! They are great friends already! Here are a few pictures of the cousins and Uncle Dave, as well as Lily meeting her cousins in Ventura!

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Daddy's girl!

2008-04-17T13:57:00.001-07:00

When Steve and I found out that we were having a girl, I knew that I was going to be in trouble! Lily had her daddy wrapped around her little finger before she was even born :-) And once she arrived my theory proved to be correct, our little daughter is for sure going to be a daddy's girl. It is just precious to watch Steve and Lily interact, the way that she will focus in on him is amazing and I can't get enough of it! So, here are a few moments that I caught in action of Lily and her daddy.

Starting a Blog

2008-04-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I am new to this, but I am realizing that I am new to a lot of things in my life right now, so why not add one more thing to the mix? We are so fortunate to have friends and family all over the world and I figured that this blog might be a great way to keep you updated on our lives (or, most importantly, our new daughter's life!). So, I will do my best to keep this site updated with pictures of Lily and our beautiful growing family, so that you can all enjoy her as much as we do! Here are a few pictures that we took recently, it's amazing she can have so many facial expressions at only 2 1/2 weeks old! Enjoy :-)