Chugging along to see Santa

Getting Ready for Christmas
Some friends of ours invited us to go with them to go on a train ride to see Santa! Jennifer had a blast! She was smiling and laughing most of the time. She loved riding on the train and watching the world go by. Mommy did not like when her shoe fell off :( but we rescued it! We decided this was a much better (and free) way to see Santa than at the mall.

Jennifer was super happy and smiley!

Look! I can stand!

Starting out...

Chuggin' along...

We made it!

Santa was excited to meet Jennifer!

She found his furry coat interesting

Santa!

Jennifer got fussy...until Georgette the Giraffe came to keep her company!

Friend!

Good friends :)

...the end!

Thanksgiving

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving in Long Beach with the Hubbells. Jennifer became quite the traveler! She went on her first plane ride, rode in a rental car, and was smiley for most of it!
Here are some pictures (they are worth 1000 words, I hear):

"Uncle" Justin!

Early morning flights to and from Long Beach!

Jennifer loves Grandma!

Chillin' at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Grandpa has a silly mustache!

The view from our hotel

Playing in the hotel room after bath time!

Dave got ahold of the camera...

Thanksgiving Day was exhausting! Jenny decided to take a nap on the couch while watching football

The Hubbells invited their friends to meet their grandaughter!

Thanks to our friend for a cute party dress!

Karla Lucas: aka: substitute Grandma

Highlights: Jennifer rolled over from her back to her tummy for the first time :) We enjoyed visiting with family and friends :) Dave and Justin went Black Friday shopping :) 

 Our trip was shortened in order to travel to Redwood City (Bay Area) to celebrate the life of my Grandad. We went to his service on Saturday and then came home.

4 Months and Counting!

It's hard to believe that Jennifer just turned 4 months old! The time has flown by, but in looking back, it doesn't seem like that long. The Hubbell family has had some changes lately, so here's a short update!

Dave got a new job! In October, Dave started working for a company based out of Campbell, CA and he works from home. He is still doing software programming/engineering. This job has been a blessing to our family as it has given Dave a larger salary. He is enjoying his new job and the projects he has to work on. His job has him traveling to Campbell every week or so, and he just spent this past week in Dallas, Texas!

I am still enjoying my job teaching 3rd grade. My students are energetic and make me laugh out loud. We are learning about vertebrates (living things with spines), invertebrates (living things without spines), the men and women who founded our country, how to add and subtract large numbers, and we are constantly reading! I have also started to organize our Christmas program! We will be touring the world through the eyes of a grandpa this year!

Jennifer is growing fast! She is learning lot of new tricks, and smiling more and more! Some of her new tricks include: holding her toes, holding on to toys, putting everything in her mouth to chew on, growing teeth slowly (they have yet to appear), and squealing when happy or frustrated. She still enjoys going to my mom's house and our friend's house while we work.

The past couple weeks have been busy!
We visited with friends from Kansas as they came through California after their honeymoon.
Then, we got to visit with Chris and Sarah (my younger brother and sister-in-law) and their 2 children: Kai and Mika (Mika was born in September). They were up at my parents' house for a week before moving to Kenya! Chris has a new job as well, and it has taken them to Nairobi. They arrived safe and sound on Thursday with both kids and lots of luggage!
While Chris, Sarah, and family were visiting, Tim, Daisy, and Henry visited as well. The kids enjoyed reuniting once again, and the boys loved pushing "Fa-Fa" (Jennifer in 1 1/2 year old language) in her jumper seat!

Ok, here are some pictures of Jennifer being cute:

Jennifer the ballerina!!

We went to our church's Harvest Fair and watched all the people in silly costumes!

Jennifer is teaching Mommy to share...
Good thing she only gums the mug! The coffee is still mine :)

3 Months!

Jennifer would like to tell you all about what is going on over the past month or so...

On October 1, I turned 3 months old! I decided this made me a big girl, so I am now smiling all the time for Mommy and Daddy. I also like to tell fun stories! Mommy and Daddy are very good at understanding all my noises! They smile and laugh and even copy me!
Since I am now a big girl, I enjoy playing in my new ExerSaucer!

My morning routine consists of eating, helping Mommy or Daddy make coffee, sitting at the table in my Bumbo seat for breakfast, and laughing and smiling at Daddy and Mommy.
Then, my parents make me go play with Momma (Mommy's Mom) on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. She is a lot of fun! She has lots of fun toys, and now I get to borrow Cousin Henry's old jumper, swing, and bouncy seat! (Thanks Cousin Henry!)
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I go play with my friends Abigail, Andrew, and Elle at Abigail's house. Her Mommy, Jenna, is crazy and lots of fun! There's always someone to watch, and I get to play with lots of toys!
In the evenings, I let Mommy know how much I missed her by eating a lot and cuddling with her. On Wednesday nights, Mommy goes to Bible study, so I take care of Daddy and our dog, Sydney for her. I make sure Daddy eats dinner and that he feeds Sydney. I have so much responsibility while Mommy's gone, I get fussy and fall asleep!
On weekends, I get to play with Mommy and Daddy all day! It's great! That's also when I make sure Mommy and Daddy go grocery shopping and sometimes we find fun places to buy stuff for me! We also go to church on Sunday, where we sing songs and see all our friends!
Here are some pictures from Mommy's phone showing what I've been up to lately:

Playing on the floor mat! Thank you Bjorks!

I love playing on my changing table, and I love my friend, Georgette the giraffe! She plays "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

So, I promised pictures - here are two of our little girl. Jennifer is more awake and smiley these days. Dave is very good at making her smile and laugh! This is no surprise to me because he is very good at making me smile and laugh, too!

Jennifer is about 12 pounds now, and I just had to remove the infant head piece on her bouncy seat! She has decided growing is serious business, and continues to eat and sleep well.

We are off to crochet and get stuff done around the house!

6 weeks and counting!

So, I've been meaning to post a new blog for a couple weeks now (since Jennifer turned 1 month old), but that little girl has kept me busy!! Also, when I think to post (like today), something keeps me from being able to upload pictures from my phone to the computer...this time I left my cord @ school. So, sorry there are no pictures, but I promise I'm taking many cute ones!!

Dave is still working at AtPac, and I set up my 3rd grade classroom. I am looking forward to returning to work on September 6!!

OK, we are boring, I know.

Jennifer is eating, sleeping, and growing well! She loves to cuddle with her Mommy and Daddy, and is considering this whole "floor time" business...she still prefers cuddling! She has started smiling at us and holding eye contact. The other night, the discovery of her hands distracted her from the tantrum she was throwing.
Miss Jennifer already puts others before herself: she wants her mommy to be healthy and to have good breath! She has told me in strong tones that ice cream (milk in general) and whole garlic cloves will not help me. Oh well, that's part of being a mommy!!

Well, I will add pictures when I get a chance. :)

Social Butterfly

Miss Jennifer has had a very busy first week of life! She has many adoring fans that have come by to see her and to help take care of her parents.

Jennifer's Grandma and Grandpa Hubbell drove up from Long Beach on Thursday, the 7th and visited with her all weekend! They also brought Great-grandma Hubbell over from Placerville so she could spoil Jennifer with a beautifully knit blanket and lots of cuddles! Jennifer decided the Hubbells were OK and opened her eyes and made lots of cute faces for them Saturday evening.

Grandma and Grandpa love their first grandchild!

Great-grandma is so happy to have a new great-grand baby!

Grandpa is very excited to have a grandaughter!

Jennifer also had a visit from Megan's Grandad on Saturday morning. She enjoyed cuddling with him while her Mama and Papa were put to work by Dave and me.

This is Grandad's 11th great-grand child and his 7th great-granddaughter! We agreed Grams would have loved to see all of her grandchildren's babies.

Checking out her toes...they're all there and in the right order ;)

Jennifer also won over Carolyn Clifton's heart on Friday. Carolyn has known me and my family for 20 years! She will be one to tell Jennifer embarrassing and incriminating stories about me as she grows up!

Jennifer went to church on Sunday! We sat through music worship and announcements before going to the nursery to eat. Jennifer's friend, Rachel showed Jennifer how to sing and "read" the bulletin while we were in the service. Rachel is 10 months old, so she has a lot to show Miss Jennifer! We ended up staying in the nursery because I was enjoying talking with friends who were working in there. After the service, Dave proudly showed Jennifer off to our church family, who instantly fell in love with her.
After church, we ate lunch with Grandma and Grandpa at In n Out. Jennifer wasn't up to a cheeseburger, so she took a nap in her car seat while everyone enjoyed their food!

On Monday, Jennifer visited Dave's old job and Megan's school. She had fun at both!

Dave and I are very thankful for all the meals people have been blessing us with! Thank you to everyone who has brought us delicious food! We have definitely been spoiled!

This week, Jennifer and I are getting used to Dave going to work. He has been working half days since Monday, and he will work his first full day back on Friday.

Today is a special day because my friend had her baby girl who was also due July 9th! So, congratulations to Nick and Megan Burwell! I am so excited for when our two girls can meet!

Introducing...

Jennifer Zoe Hubbell

Born: July 1, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Weighing: 8 lbs. 3 oz.
Measuring: 20 in.






The Story:
I started having contractions on Tuesday afternoon. After 2 days and 3 trips to the hospital, I was finally admitted on the 4th trip at 2:10 Friday morning. After getting much needed fluids in her and an epidural, Dave and I were finally able to get some rest as I progressed through labor.

Unfortunately, I didn't progress very far. By 8:00 am, she had only dilated 2 more cm to 6 cm! Typically, one dilates a cm an hour, so I was then given Pitocin to help my contractions get stronger. Well, by 2:00 in the afternoon, there was still no progress, so the decision was made to have a C-section.

I was prepped for surgery and wheeled off leaving Dave alone for 15 minutes while they got me all set up in the O.R. Dave joined the O.R. and they began surgery. Jennifer arrived in a flurry and was complimented for her size. Dave was able to cut the umbilical cord after they detached it from the placenta. He watched as they cleaned her up and worked to remove the fluids from her airways. They then brought Jennifer over and laid her on my chest for a moment.

Dave carried her back to our labor and delivery room where the nurse measured her and took footprints. In the mean time, I was being stitched back up in the O.R. They then wheeled me back to our labor and delivery room where they laid Jennifer on my chest, and we were able to relax and spend time together.

Through the C-section, we were able to discover that Jennifer's head had been "transverse" - or sideways - in my pelvis, causing her head to be unable to progress labor past 6 cm. We both came out of the operation healthy, and we were able to leave the hospital a day earlier than planned because my body is healing so well.

Jennifer is a very calm, content baby, taking after her Daddy in demeanor. She has her Mommy's nose and her Daddy's ears. We are already starting to see her own personality come out, and it has been amazing to see!

We are thankful for God's protection over Jennifer and me throughout the pregnancy and delivery. We look forward to seeing our sweet girl grow up into the person God created!