Christmas!

Well it is ridiculous how long it has been since I last posted. Idella is so active and changes so much everyday it's hard to keep up with her, never mind try to find time to do anything else! Her first Christmas has already come and gone but we had a fantastic time. We started the holiday celebrating with our friends and their daughter at their house. We had a great time and Idella loves her new Leap Frog activity table that she got. Here we are admiring the new gift!


We then celebrated our Christmas at home on Christmas eve (Santa came to our house early this year) Idella loved ripping open the paper, but then immediately tried to eat the paper, or whatever was in the paper. She didn't really care much about the cute clothes...


We spent Christmas day at my parents. There were definitely plenty of gifts for Idella to open over there. She had a really bad cold though so we gave up the idea of her wearing her cute red Christmas dress and tights and opted for the red Santa pj's with reindeer on the feet. Idella ate dinner with us and had some of the sweet potatoes which I was able to sneak some green beans into; she doesn't need to know. Then we went home and ended the day playing with all of her new stuff.

At this point she is loving solid foods, I can hardly get her to drink any formula, loves to play with a sippy cup, can roll all over the place, and can sit on her own. The sitting up thing happened a few days before Christmas. She was sitting in front of me playing and when I went to answer the phone behind me on the table I realized she wasn't leaning on me at all. I then just stood up and there she was, sitting like a big girl all by herself. I can't believe how quickly the first six months and her first two major holidays have gone by!

First Thanksgiving!

This year we are definitely thankful for our beautiful healthy family. We had a great first Thanksgiving at my parents house with Idella. She has been eating solids for awhile now so she snuck a few tastes during the day from grammie. I believe I caught her trying chocolate cream pie, sweet potatoes, and at one point some of the pumpkin roll, of course she liked it all. When we were eating dinner she was watching me ever so carefully and every few bites I took I could see her opening her mouth like I should be giving her a bite to.


We also had a Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner with Jacob's family at our house. His two sisters and their families came (along with Idella's three cousins), his grandmother and great aunt and uncle. It was great to be able to see everyone. The kids all exchanged Christmas gifts early since we were all together and everyone is so busy. I think they all enjoyed the wrapping paper more than the presents! It was so much fun to see Idella trying to unwrap the presents; she would grab the paper and rip it off then either throw it on the floor, or stick it in her mouth. This is one of the first presents she opened (with assistance from daddy), as soon as it was open she was mesmerized. We had to take it out of the box right away so she could then look it over carefully and then immediately try to fit it in her mouth.

Of course the best part was getting to spend time with family that we don't see often enough. Idella's cousin is only 13 days younger than her and she loved getting to see her. This is a great picture of them, it looks like they are shaking hands.

There were more great things that happened near Thanksgiving including Idella rolling over. She has been rolling back and forth onto her side for awhile, but hadn't really conquered the complete roll over. However, one morning she was on the floor in the living room on her back while I was packing the car to go to work with her and when I came back in she had rolled over and was pushed up looking at me. Over course I flipped her back over and she immediately rolled back over. She has been non-stop since then.

Christmas will soon be here and I'm sure she'll be crawling or close to it. We have many more firsts to enjoy with her and Christmas will be one of them. It's amazing to watch her and how excited she is about the most simple of things. She is definitely teaching me to slow down and take a few minutes to enjoy something instead of just rushing to get it over with, and this is the perfect time of year to learn this lesson.

Construction site, Walker, Bumbo Adventures

So we started construction on the new store in Northport this past week. It is exciting to finally be starting this since we've been waiting a year and it's been a long haul since we tore down the old building. I am excited to have Idella around for all of this and think it's great that we're going to be able to take all kinds of pictures of her around the new store. It's ironic because my parents tore down their original business in Brooks and re-built the existing store shortly after I was born. There are tons of pictures of me in peoples arms during the construction process, and even more of me inside the building while everyone was stocking shelves and building counters.

We went down to visit Jacob at the site a few days ago and took Idellas first construction site pictures. I am sure there will be many more to come!

We also got Idella a walker and even though her feet don't quite reach the floor she loves sitting in it. She swings and kicks her feet like crazy and I know that the minute her feet hit the ground I'm in trouble. It's hilarious when she hits the rattle ball how excited she gets, she starts to kick her legs and her eyes get so big.

Idella also has another favorite thing to do; she has learned how to lean over and out of her bumbo like she is trying to escape. We can't leave her unattended for 2 seconds, crazy child. This is a picture of her trying to get out and help put away groceries at grammies house. She's so cute some days I can't even stand it!

First Solids & First Shopping Trip

Idella ate her first solids a few days after Halloween. At first she seemed to not really understand what the funny textured stuff in her mouth was but then she caught on. We tried feeding her before bed but she actually started getting up earlier and it threw her whole eating schedule off. We moved it back to lunch time, but that didn't really work either, so she is now eating the cereal after her first bottle in the morning. This seems to be working and she seems to like it more since she's a little more awake.

This picture is from the first time she had cereal. The look on her face was so cute I had to get my camera and interrupt the feeding.


Idella also participated in the long Dubay tradition of the annual Portland shopping trip. Only girls are allowed, and you have to be either under a year old or over 18. The participants are all the women on my mother's side, my sister, my mom, my Aunt Maureen, Aunt Cheryl, my cousins Amy and Charlene and usually my nana. This year nana wasn't able to go since she was just in the hospital and didn't want to push it; she is almost 80 but still teaches two classe at the YMCA every week. Anyway, Idella went this year and was fantastic! She loves shopping, all the bright lights, colors, and sounds really entertained her. It was great being able to bring her this year, and I know I'll miss her next year but I remember how exciting it was every year when mom left for the weekend. She always brought back a gift for when she got home to go along with all the Christmas gifts that were hidden until the big holiday came around. When I finally turned 18 and was able to go it was like being part of a secret club. At that point it knew it was about more than just shopping, it was about taking the time to be with family, eating good food, and catching up since we don't always take the time to see each other the rest of the year. I hope that someday Idella feels the same way about it that I did and still do.













This is a picture of Idella in her new hat that we got on the first day of shopping. She likes to sneak it off her head and suck on the pom-poms.

And this is her napping after a long day of shopping. Obviously it's been a hard day, she managed to lose the socks and shoes and cover her own face with her blanket giraffe. Good thing she was strapped into the seat or she would have probably been on the floor.

I'm sure there will be many more shopping trips, but she's going to have to wait a little while to go on the sacred shopping trip again!

First Halloween!

Well Idella's first Halloween has come and gone. We didn't really dress her up like anything this year, but she did have the cute pumpkin hat on all day. She was the talk of the town when we went to work this morning, especially since she was making eyes and flirting with everyone.

This first big holiday came and went so fast! I can only imagine how Thanksgiving and Christmas are going to be. Again I'm so glad we've decided to do this blog so we can look back and appreciate all the big and small moments.

In just one week...

It's crazy how much Idella has changed in just one week. She has become so talkative; she doesn't even want her pacifier anymore unless she is going to sleep. The rest of the time she is squeaking and squawking to whoever will listen. She even laughs out loud when she gets really excited. Her favorite thing is when I blow raspberries on her stomach and give her kisses on her cheeks, she starts to freak out and talk to me and then comes the belly laughing. I absolutely love it, makes me smile no matter what every time.... Another thing she has learned this week is where her hands are, and what her mouth is. Anything and everything goes into her mouth... for example: her ducky during bathtime. She had the ducky on her belly having a stare down for a few minutes. Then she suddenly grabbed it and mashed it into her mouth. That is where it remained until I took it away. She constantly has her hands in her mouth. She likes to suck on her fingers and then rub them all over me. I keep telling myself she doesn't know what she's doing, but she seems to really enjoy it. Another new development this week is learning to make her bouncy seat bounce on her own. Usually I tap my foot on it and it bounces; however, since Monday she has learned how to really get it going on her own. I have to make sure she is stapped into it at all times. She also has started bracing her feet on the bottom of the chair and pushing off so it looks like she is going to flip over the side.

Every year in November the girls in my family (18 and older) go on a Christmas shopping trip in Portland. It is really just an excuse to leave the guys and headaches at home and eat and shop for a weekend. This year Idella will be going along since she is under a year old, next year she will have to stay with daddy. We have been practicing shopping, eating at restaurants, and traveling to prep. She has been doing fantastic! She loves shopping since she is so nosy, there is just so much to look at. She usually stays up while we are out and then crashes afterward, like in this picture with her grampy... This was moments after grandpa stopped in this week on his way home from work, it only took seconds and she was out.

She has so many more changes to come, and they are going to come fast! I just ordered more pictures to scrapbook for her and can't wait to keep adding to it. We also just got her one month pictures that Chris Riley took for us, he did our wedding as well, and they came out fantastic. We are going to take her around Christmas time again since she'll be around six months old and most likely sitting on her own since she is so close to being able to do that right now. I don't know if I have enough wall space in the house for all the pictures I want to hang up, especially since there will be so many more to come!

When did this happen?

So yesterday as Idella was laying down for a 'nap' I thought she was being a great kid and actually sleeping.... Then over the sound of her lion mobile (that I thought had lulled her to sleep) all I can hear is her blowing raspberries. When I go in to investigate she has rolled over onto her stomach (first time this has happened on her own) and there is spit everywhere from her blowing raspberries (also a new thing). When I roll her back over she starts freaking out squawking and talking to me and then rolls herself back over. So much for thinking it was a fluke thing.

Lately she has also started reaching out when she sees me or her dad. It's worth going running every night (even as cold as it is lately) just so I can come home and see her get excited and start smiling at me. She also has started trying to pull herself up to sitting by grabbing her pant legs. One of her favorite things is grabbing our fingers and pulling herself up to sitting or standing. She gets the cutest proud look on her face; similar to this picture. This was the first time she was in her high chair at the office. We were testing it out, she loved it because she was sitting up so high and could be right next to me while I am doing cash-ups.


Since it's almost Halloween I can't help but post the picture of her with her pumpkin hat. Gram W. was holding her in the kitchen and she was peeking over her shoulder, this is one of my favorite pictures of her.

She is getting so big and changing so much everyday. She is going to be 4 months old this weekend. We go to the doctors for more vaccines and a check-up next week. I'm sure we'll start with cereal and/or other solids soon, what a fun mess that will be...

Ten Things

Idella came to work with me today, which she usually does, but today I noticed how big she is getting! She is growing so fast and is becoming more and more curious everyday. We walked around upstairs at the store and her head was on a swivel. We were busy business ladies today, working late in the afternoon and then coming home. I really needed to clean the house but traded that time instead for a mini-nap with her. It was just one of those days...

I can't wait for her to grow up to do so many things with her, but I also want her to stay my baby. So here is the list of my ten favorite things about her from today since I'm feeling kind of sentimental:

1. The way her hair is growing in on the top of her head and it seems to glow because it's so blonde
2. The way she smiles at me when she first wakes up from a nap
3. How much she likes her stuffed giraffe blanket and how excited she gets when he "kisses" her

Idella & Mr. Giraffe

4. How she squints when we walk around outside and hides her face in my shoulder
5. The look on her face when she pulls herself up and I hold her so she can "stand"
6. The way she has learned how to make her bouncy chair rock n' roll
7. How she wraps an arm around mine and holds on when I am holding her
8. The way she "talks" and coo's to her lion/zebra mobile
9. How she sticks out her little belly when she stretches
10. Her smile and everything about it, especially the drool

So those are my top ten from today, I'm sure there will be at least ten more new things tomorrow...

Who needs yoga??

So to catch up from missing the first 3 months I'm going to try and recap some of the things that have happened, including posting some of our favorite pictures...

First attempt at a family picture...

We took this picture when Idella was a little over a month old. It was our first "family" picture, and of course she was crying. She cried a lot during the first month, especially at night between 5 and 730. At first we thought we were defective parents, then we thought we had a defective child. We soon realized that she was normal, we were normal, and that we just needed to take a deep breath. One day we decided to turn on the music and turn it up. She loved it! As soon as the music came on (she prefers either Top 40 Hits or classic rock) she's instantly quiet. I soon found that the yoga class I was missing and wanted to go back to was not needed. After an hour of bouncing/dancing around with her every night I didn't need anything else. My quads, calves, and arms would all ache by the time I was done. At this point, I've had enough practice that I consider it warming up for when I go running at night.

We are fortunate enough to work in a family business where I can bring Idella to work with me. She comes in with me Monday - Thursday and hangs out with her Grammie on Friday since that's my busiest day. She has been nosy since the beginning, always trying to look around with her big blue eyes. We think this is why she hates falling asleep, just like her momma, afraid to miss something. Anyway, being at work with me I couldn't hold her everytime she took a nap so she started holding onto the stuffed Giraffe we bought her when she was at the hospital. Mr. Giraffe is soft and she loves hugging him to her chest, covering half of her face with him, and basically making out with him. She will spit out her pacifier and will suck on his ear, face, arm, etc. It is the cutest thing to see, she gets so excited when we bring him out. She will hold him (just like in this picture) and "talk" to him for like 5 minutes and then pass out.

Once she was able to semi-hold her head up she decided she didn't want to be on her stomach at all anymore. She likes sitting on the couch and hanging out with daddy. I love this picture because it looks like she is really paying attention to everything he is saying and showing her. My little business girl already! Since she started holding her head up she likes being supported while standing and facing outward in the carrier. She likes it at work when I bring her upstairs and she can look around at the shelves, produce, and everything else we come across in the store. I try to explain it all to her, the colors, shapes, smells, etc. She has started reaching out now, trying to figure out her hands and how to make her arms do what she wants. The past few days she has also started trying to pull herself up by holding onto my hands/fingers while laying down or when she's in her bouncy chair.

It seems like it's been forever since we brought her home. She has changed so much already. Everyday when she gets up and I bring her into our room (she has been in her own nursery since she was 2 months old) to "sniggle" with me she'll smile and coo and then curl up into what we call "bean form" and fall back asleep. I can usual enjoy a good 3o minutes of this before she wants to get up and eat and get ready for work with me. I know some might say this is a bad habit but it works for me. There is nothing better to start my day then to hear her voice and see her smiling face. I wouldn't ever trade that time with her for a yoga class....

Hard to believe...

It's hard to believe, and even harder to accept, that it's been 3 months and 11 days since Idella was born. Being a big fan of family memories, stories, pictures, and our daughter in general, we decided to start a blog. We have family and friends spread out everywhere so this will be a good way for everyone to keep tabs on us. We already feel like so much has happened that we've missed recording, hopefully we'll be able to remember some of it! There's no better place to start than at the beginning...

Being pregnant with Idella was definitely an experience. She was breech the entire time and was so far up under my rib cage I couldn't breathe. She kicked constantly and always had the hiccups. I was on my feet the entire time and continued to work until the day before I had her. Jacob blames me for her need to always be moving. Towards the end of the pregnancy things got bad fast. I started showing signs of pre-eclampsia and had extremely high blood pressure. After a routine visit we ended up at the hospital for an emergency c-section. We were told I was far enough along she would have to be in NICU for a day or two but that was it. That is not what happened.

Right after she was born before they took her to the NICU

Idella was born June 18th of this year, five weeks early. She was stubborn from the beginning and wouldn't eat unless it was on her terms. She was in NICU at EMMC for 8 days with a feeding tube for 6 days. This was the worst experience ever. Recovering from a c-section at the same time I think I was just on auto-pilot. Jacob was amazing, he had to take care of her from the beginning since they wouldn't let me out of bed. She was born just in time for Father's Day so he definitely got the best present ever. She was so small we started calling her Idella Bean which has now evolved into Bean, Beaner, Beansie, etc. We're kind of starting to think that she isn't going to know her real name. We're trying to make an effort to call her Idella more so she will respond to that! When we did finally get Idella home it felt like we had stolen her from the hospital. We felt pretty confident on our first night "alone" with our own child, since we had been at the hospital for so long we already had practice feeding, bathing, and changing her. However, the first few bottles we made when we got home we stupidly made with tap water... This resulted in a screaming crampy child, frustrated confused daddy, and crying exhausted mommy. We knew better than that, had been warned about it, and had simply forgotten to pick up distilled water on the way home. Luckily since we live half a mile from the store we got some distilled water and started using that for the bottles. It took two days for her little belly to adjust, it will take forever for me to not feel guilty.

Idella about a month old with her daddy

Since that first night home with her we've learned a lot. I now know that turning up classic rock music on the TV and dancing with her will calm the worst crying fit, she likes being naked, hates getting out of the bath, and many many more things. At this point she is going to bed around 8:30pm and sleeping until 5am. She doesn't really cry anymore except for when she needs something, but when she does cry it's awful ear piercing screams. She hates going to sleep and this is when it's the worst. She is awake most of the day except for a few naps between eating (which is only every 4.5 hours). We couldn't ask for better, she is amazing.

There is so much more we are going to be able to experience with her and I can't wait. The last thing I want to do though is wish away time. So for now I am trying to enjoy every minute, even when she's screaming.