Meet Ella

Baby Ella Reese - October 29, 2011

It's been a bit of a whirlwind the last month. Ella surprised us by coming over a month earlier than expected which brought us both great joy and a bit of stress.

On Friday, October 28th I went to work like usual. Over the past few weeks I had noticed that I had been experiencing quite a few contractions and was extremely uncomfortable with a sciatic nerve screaming most of the day and night. Toward the end of the day I called mom and asked her to accompany me to the hospital to get checked out. Her and dad were scheduled to leave for Maui the next day, but she had a few hours before departing for Portland, so she gladly joined me - to ease both our minds.

Once at the hospital, the drs ran a slew of tests that concluded that my water had broken. They admitted me immediately and the fun began. In hopes to speed up the process, they put me on petocin. It didn't seem to really kick in until 9 hours later at 5 a.m., when I experienced my first real contraction. OUCH! I had 5 more and felt some pressure relieve after the 5th. Head was out! and the dr wasn't even in the room. My nurse Nancy was going to measure my dialation, but was a little too late. :) She got there just as my final contraction hit and held the baby until the dr arrived.

5:44 a.m.
5 lbs, 8 oz
18 3/4" long
Beautful head of dark brown hair
and cute as a button

Baby Ella was quickly whisked away to the NICU and Adam and Grandma joined her there while I waited to be able to feel my legs again. We spent 11 days in the special care unit building up baby girls lung strength. The team of drs and nurses were so great throughout the entire experience, but I'll admit that those were some of my darkest days. Seeing my little girl all hooked up to machines to help her breath and eat was a lot to handle. Just as we got the news that we were going to be released, I got a call from Grandma, who had been watching Quinn. He was on the way to the ER with Croup - which meant that he would have to stay away from us until he was no longer infectious - 5 more days. Devastating.

The day that we were reunited as a family was the best day ever. Though very sleep deprived, we loved just being in the presence of one another. Quinn is the very best big brother. He likes to help with diaper duty and sings the Ella when she cries. It's pretty cute.

Ella just went to her 2 week follow up appointment and she's already gained 2 lbs and grew 2 inches. Looks like she won't be tiny too much longer!

Thanks to you all for your well wishes and prayers. We can't wait to introduce you to our newest family member.

Quinn & His Cars

Quinn still loves his cars. It's not very many days that we don't see a line up of cars in every room of the house - Ready to race!

Baby Dobrowolski Nursery

The nest is almost finished - not without a lot of help from Adam, Cindy and Grandma Linda. It's so peaceful and pretty - the perfect little nest for a little girl. The last thing to complete is the quilt for the daybed, but as you can see, we're not too far away from that either.

Quinn's Big Boy Room

There have been a lot of changes lately in the Dobrowolski home. Quinn has been moved into his big boy bed in his brand new room. Toys are accessible and can easily be picked up and thrown back into his little bins. This new set up is turning out great! Quinn's bed was purchased on Craigslist. It's an antique and the prior owner had plans to paint it black - A travesty. We took it upon ourselves to save it. I think it turned out beautiful!

Quinn's 3rd Birthday

Can you believe our baby is 3?! We celebrated his birthday on the pontoon boat with a shark themed party. Friends included the Pages, Marrs, Ikelers, Franz and O'Donnells. I'll post pictures soon, but it was a GREAT day.

On his actual birthday, we supplied a store bought birthday cake and a candle. We lit the candles and started to sing. Quinn yelled, STOP! "Where's my birthday hat?" Grandma ran upstairs and grabbed a straw hat. We started to sing again and he yelled STOP! "Where are your birthday hats?" Grandma then had to go gather cowboy hats, visors and whatever else she could find. When we all were properly adorned with our headwear, Quinn finally allowed us to sing to him... again and again and again. The cake was pretty much non-edible by the end of the scene because Quinn's blowing out the candles included a lot of spit. :) Love my little boy.

It's a GIRL!

Nursery theme: Nest
Lots of nuetral tones on walls, floor and window coverings and pops of robin egg blue in bedding and accessories. Crystal light fixture and a curly willow branch over the bed with dangles of sparkling crystal pennants over the crib.

Name possibilities:
Cassidy
Reece
Ella

We're taking suggestions!

Butterfly Farm

For the first day off in a very long time, the Dobrowolski's headed out for a fun day rather than working on projects around the house. We went to Buena Vista last Sunday and saw some truly amazing works of Mother Nature's art. It was a magical day that ended with some fresh strawberry shortcake from the local fruit stand. We have made a promise to try and savor our moments as a family of 3, because life is soon to change again... for the better of course. :)

Quinn's going to be a big brother!

We find out the sex of the little one on Thursday. Our family will grow by one on or about November 30th. :)

Easter 2011

We had a wonderful Easter weekend at the lake. Quinn got a bubble Mater from the Easter bunny along with finger paints and his favorite candy. We went puddle stomping in the lake and Quinn filled his boots with water more than once too. It was a GREAT weekend.

Spring in Oregon!

STORE UPDATE:
The store is well underway. Walls are painted, the window vinyls are up, the counter is built and the floors are ready for flooring. Now we just need the shelves and the big sign up top and we'll have a real store. The big unveil is scheduled for around Memorial Day. I'll post pictures soon. Adam is doing an amazing job managing all of the chaos that surrounds the store.

Quinn is so articulate now. Every night at story time we lay in bed and chat about the day. He tells me what he does at daycare and we "hide" from the monsters by burrowing under the covers. His laugh is completely contagious and is so easily jolted. He is such a wonderful spirit to be surrounded with each day.

He loves his friends at daycare. His favorite is Peyton, a sweet and adorable girl with big brown eyes and curly brown pigtails. She does have a big of an attitude which we see copied at our home from time to time. It is usually corrected by a simple reminder to "ask nicely, Quinn".

Quinn continues to adore Maggie Mae. I seriously don't know what we would do without her. "Momma, she is so cute." He said this morning as he hugged her neck and gave her a big lick on the cheek. (dog kisses) And she is amazing with him. They play chase in the back yard every day and she loves that he throws balls for her. "Go get it Maggie Mae!" She tolerates a lot. Bentley is wonderful too in that he stays out of the way. They are both just so gentle with our little person. We are truly blessed.

Quinn learned how to ride his scoot bike last weekend. He's starting to pick up the speed now. Bring on the bruises!