Happy Birthday Kelley!

This blog is a special birthday post for Kelley Marie Kroeker

Hey Kel, we wish we could be there with you on your birthday.  Dom and Rowen were super excited to work on this birthday project for you.  I'm sure you could tell by Rowen's enthusiasm and by the fact that we didn't have to bribe Dominic at all.  Love ya sis, and hope you have an awesome 29th birthday!!!  

Love,  Tay, Kimbosha, Dom, and Row-Row

Baby news

First off, I really miss Joel. He's been working out of town on weekdays for the past few months now. He usually leaves Monday morning (sometimes Tuesday if we're lucky) and comes back late Friday night. It's been so hard on both of us. We both miss each other a lot and both have additional struggles. He has to be away from Dominic as well, so I know that is tough. Dom's at the age where he really misses Joel and doesn't understand when he has to leave. He tells Joel "no work Daddy, stay home". I know it breaks Joel's heart. And for me it's hard to be here alone so much taking care of Dom and things on my own while i'm due in just four weeks. I do think this time apart has made our relationship even stronger, but we still hope to never have to go through this again! The GOOD news is that when Joel returns this weekend he will be working locally again...which is AWESOME, and he'll get a full week off (paid thank the Lord) after Rowen is born. So we have a lot to be thankful for. Here's a pic of Dom and Joel asleep on the floor. They have a special relationship. I love to watch the two of them together...it makes me love them even more.


I've come to realize that I am a very impatient person when it comes to projects. Once I have an idea in my head, or once I have decided to do something, I want it done right away! When Rowen's furniture arrived I wanted it put together right away. Joel was coming in town the very next day, but I couldn't wait for him. I put it together myself (well, Dominic "helped) and it only took me from 1pm-9pm!!! (that includes several breaks to give Dom attention and food once in a while) I am pretty impressed with myself though, because it was very complicated. There was SO much "pre-assembly" to do before the actual assembly began. But I was so glad to have it finished. (I was so sore the next day from getting up and down off the floor I could hardly walk) I had already painted the room and put up curtains, and all of the bedding and things were in the closet. Once I got all of that together I realized the walls were extremely plain and needed something. I had a picture in my head of exactly what I wanted and could not find it anywhere. It was very frustrating. I decided to attempt shadow boxes and see if I could achieve the look I was going for. I wanted to use browns and greens mostly, and I wanted it to look like a "baby room" at the same time..not too grown up.

I found some coupons, went shopping, found GREAT sales, then came home and made three shadow boxes during Dom's nap. I was so excited to get everything on the walls, I went to get the keys to our storage shed (which has all of our tools locked inside...hammer, nails, etc) and found out that Joel had them in his pocket....out of town! Joel felt really bad and knew I was disappointed...he talked me into buying another hammer and some nails : ) Here's a picture of the finished room. It's so small, it's hard to get a picture from the doorway that shows the whole room.

Here are my shadow boxes. I have to say I am pretty pleased with the outcome. It's not much but it adds a lot to the room.

I'm proud of the deals I got on this shelf and the items on top. I really wanted a memory book for the baby. It makes it easy to write down all of the things that you forget in time. If I had a blank book i'd forget to record certain things, but this has a place for everything...all you do is fill in the answers. Before finding this book the cheapest I'd found was like $15.99...I found this at Ross for $2.99 and it happened to be the right color.

Here's a picture of me in my current state - literally about to pop...

...which brings me to more news - I am dialated to almost 3cm! I've been having contractions for days, but not very close together. Then last night I had contractions ALL night long. I know what to expect this time and I was sure I had to be dialated after a night like that. This morning I was already scheduled for a Dr.'s apt. I'm 36 weeks so she wouldn't normally check me this early but I told her about the contractions. I could have the baby at any time now. She's hoping i'll go another week or two because that would be better, so i'm supposed to be taking it as easy as possible. (which is not easy with an active 2 year old and my hubby out of town) I was dialated with Dom for a week before I had him, so I have a feeling it will be similar this time. Either way, doesn't look like i'll make it to my due date : )

I have so much to be thankful for. I am so, so, SO excited about Mom, Kimmy, and Court coming to stay with me. (only one thing missing Kel, REALLY wish you could be here!!!!) They were amazing when they stayed with me after Dom's birth. I got so spoiled....they watched Dom at night, cooked, cleaned, shopped, etc. On top of all of that it's just really great to see them and spend time together, talking and playing games and enjoying the new addition to the family.

It's hard being so far away everyone : (

Now that Courtney is a blogger, I think I have 5 or 6 followers..yay : ) I have to say, I haven't really told anyone about my blog except for family. I know i'm not very good at keeping it updated or making the posts super interesting...but i'll continue to blog JUST for you Kel : ) I miss you. Love you all!

Dom's Birthday, Baby Shower, & Sickness

I know it's been a while since i've posted anything, so i'll try to give a short summary of some of the more interesting things going on in our lives. To start off, i'll brag on Joel again. I didn't think i'd be getting a baby shower for this baby since none of my friends offered to throw one. It really isn't about the gifts, it's just a sentimental thing for me. I've always loved baby showers. It's fun to celebrate your baby on the way with friends and family, and look at all the little baby things, etc. Joel planned a surprise shower for me and did such a great job. He planned it 3 weeks in advance (pretty good for a man) and he went all out. It was on a Saturday. He was supposedly helping my brother in law move furniture (he's got a big work truck so it's normal for people to ask us for help moving stuff) when really he was getting everything together. He picked out all of the decorations himself, bought me (Rowen) a few gifts, ordered the cake, and spent a lot of time making all kinds of great food for the shower. I thought he and I were going on a date and that his sister Kimmie was going to babysit Dom for us. I was taking Dom over to her house to meet Joel there, and when we walked inside it was the baby shower! It was pretty small, mostly family, but it was so special. Joel had a ribon/pin for me to wear that said "it's a boy" and we had a really good night talking about Rowen and eating and opening gifts. Here is a picture of my little family at the shower.


Dominic had school pictures taken recently and I just received them a few days ago. They turned out so cute. I don't know how they got him to pose. It was really hard to choose which ones I wanted, I happen to think my son is super handsome. They even made him a little back pack with one of his pictures on it and says North Star Academy. Here are a couple of the pics

This is Dominics class at school. He and I made cupcakes together the night before his bday and took them to school the next morning. His class sang happy birthday too him and I wish i'd taken my video camera - they were so cute. Dom was smiling so big, and the kids were all clapping and getting into it. This is just a pic of them sitting at the table waiting to start. The little boy sitting on the left in the red shirt is Jacob, his best buddy.

This past week has been full of sickness for us. Monday Dominic got sick and it was so sad to watch. I think he just had a cold, but it was so hard for him to sleep becasue of his cough and sore throat. He went a few days without eating at all. Thankfully it's easy to keep fluids in him because he's always thirsty...always. His lasted a few days. Tuesday I started getting sick. I thought i'd picked up Dominic's cold but it's continued to get worse and worse. It is honestly the most pain I can remember being in. Finally on Friday I realized it had to be something pretty serious. I tried to get into a dr. but could not find anyone who could see me. (my dr.'s office closes at 12 on Fridays. Joel was still out of town working so his sister took Dominic for me and I went to the ER. I'm glad I did. I have an upper respiratory infection, they said it is pretty serious and not only hard on my body but the strain and stress could be harmful to the baby. After they were done with me and gave me a prescription, I went up to a room in labor and delivery. They had me on a few different monitors and watched the baby for a really long time. They ended up keeping me there for a while. The baby wasn't as active as he should be and they were worried my sickness was affecting him. So I basically had to lay in the bed drinking orange juice until his heart rate went up and he started moving more. (several hours) When they released me his activity was still at the minimum of what it needed to be to let me go. So we are praying for Rowen and I will see my dr. in a few days for a check up.

On a more cheery note, Dominic is talking SO much lately. I just love it. He can put words together and make a sentence (somewhat) and he sings all the time. Sometimes i'll recognize the song (usually ones he sings at school) and other times I think he's just making things up. I'm going to see if I can add a video that I took of him in the bath the other night singing. It started off as "Happy Birthday" but by the time I got my camera I think he was just making words up : )

Love you guys, your prayers for Rowen and I are much appreciated.

Potty training, haircut, and bad weather

I can't figure out how to move this picture. I didn't want it to be at the top of my blog, but looks like it will be. This is a pic of my haircut.

My goal was to have Dom potty trained by the time the baby gets here. I realize now that probably won't happen, but we did have a break through yesterday. Dom came to me and said "tee tee Mommy" and was trying to pull down his pants. I asked if he wanted to use the potty, he said "yeah, yeah" and started running to his little potty. As soon as he sat down he started peeing. Yay! He's starting to realize when he needs to go! His best friend at school is Jacob. (there are 2 Jacobs so this one goes by first and last name, Jacob Bo...he's SO cute) Dom calls him "Jay-Bo". Well, Jacob Bo is potty trained and watching him use the potty is helping Dom become motivated, so I am thankful for that.

Last week we had a cold front come through. The high for a couple of days was 20 or 30 degrees. Two of the days there was severe ice. Our vehicles were covered with a layer of about 2 inches of ice, the roads were awful, and it was SO cold. Work was cancelled and we had a lot of fun staying home as a family those two days. Dom has his moments of disobedience for sure, but when he's home with his mom and dad he's a great kid and so much fun to be around. We can't even imagine how much fun it's going to be with two boys. Speaking of, let me brag on Joel a little bit. He has been amazing this pregnancy, just like he was the last. He's been cooking, cleaning, and getting up with Dom in the middle of the night. (we're blessed with a son who pees a LOT, so it isn't rare for him to wake up wet at 3am. It also doen'st help that he sometimes takes his diaper off) Joel's also doing the little things like bringing home flowers, candy, or a movie to cheer me up. He said he's very thankful that he isn't the one who has to carry the baby for 9 months and will do whatever he can to make it easier on me. I'm really thankful that he's so understanding. To be honest I was not very understanding (mostly oblivious I think) to all that comes with pregnancy until I experienced it myself.

Dom gives great hugs!

Dom watches Joel fix his hair and has started wanting hairspray in his own hair. Here's a picture of Dom after Joel fixed his hair into a fo-hawk. (fake mo-hawk)

I recently got my own hair cut. It's a pregnancy thing for me. I get tired of fixing my hair, the blow drying and flat ironing make me dizzy sometimes because of all of the heat....so...I get a short haircut : ) This time i'm really happy. It's so easy to fix and my husband loves it. Since getting the haircut he tells me several times daily how beautiful I am and how much he loves the cut - needless to say, i'll keep this style for a while : ) I've hit the stage in pregnancy where I feel like a huge, unatractive, beached whale....so his compliments go a long way : )

This is my first time trying to add pictures to a blog, so we'll see how it goes. I figured that if I don't add pics soon, I could lose all 3 or 4 of my readers! (I gather that from the comments that say "we want to see PICTURES) I love you all!!

The Weekend

Work is going really well. Dominic loves being around the other kids, the ladies I work with are great and I am very attached to my little 18 month old boys and girls already. The "stinkers" of the class are usually the ones I bond with the most. There is one little boy who can be such a mess, but he is just so cute and fun, I love him to death. Dominic is learning a lot. We teach sign language there so he's learned several signs, many new words, what noises animals make, and much more. I am so tired by the end of the day though. I'm really thankful that I am no longer sick this pregnancy and only dealing with the normal aches and pains. I do look forward to having the baby and staying home with my boys.

This weekend was really nice and relaxing. Joel, Dominic and I spent a lot of time together. We went to a birthday party at ChuckECheese for Dom's cousin and that was a lot of fun. He is very close to his cousins here. (and hopefully will be to his weso cousins soon...maybe if we all live a little closer one day) His favorite is Noah, who is 15 months old. He has seen Noah more than any of the others so they've got a special relationship, Dom's very protective of him. Today Noah, Uncle Shane, and Doms grandma (Nana) spent some time at our house which Dominic LOVED. Dom knows our house very well and understands what he is allowed to play with and certain things he's not supposed to touch. Whenever Noah started touching breakable things Dom would say "no no, Noah, put back" He can be a little bossy : )

We haven't had a baby sitter in quite a while. Joel's birthday is coming up on the 27th which will be on a Tuesday, so Cheryl is going to watch Dom for us next weekend and we will celebrate early. Joel and I are both really excited and looking forward to some alone time.

Tonight we finally put some pictures and things on the walls of our house. It is starting to become a lot more cozy and inviting. We're excited to get Rowen's room together but haven't had the energy. Right now it's the room where we throw things that don't have a place.

This is random but Dom made me want to write about it. I'm sitting in his room with him and he's reading his books. He's getting way too good at climbing. The other day I left him for probably 30 seconds. When I came back to his room the light was off and I was wondering how he reached it. I turned it on and saw that he was sitting indian style on the top of the changing table with his hand right next to the light switch : ) I won't be leaving him alone anymore, even for 30 seconds. But what I was going to say when I started this rabbit trail, is the Dom was starting to climb the changing table just a minute ago and I told him to get down. He responded with "mam-mam". That means "yes mam". It is funny because he knows how to say yes, and he knows how to say mam, but yes mam always comes out "mam-mam" Fine with me, so long as he obeys....which doesn't always happen. He is very strong willed and not always bothered with punishment. We are working on it.

It's almost Dom's bedtime and maybe mine as well. Gotta go.

My 1st blog ever

Side Note To Kelley: I know you think that I dispise all bloggers and think the world would be better if people would only email instead of blogging. So now that I am a blogger, I figured you would have to change your opinion of me and realize that I think a blog is a wonderful way to update many people at once, and that I simply enjoy a personal email from my favorite big sis now and then when she can find the time.

Life here is very exciting right now. We had a wonderful week long visit over Christmas to attend David's wedding and visit with the family. The week went by way too fast, I miss my family much more than they know since living so far away in TX. Visits are bitter sweet, while I enjoy every minute of the visit, it always makes life here without them a little bit harder.

Dominic is keeping me really busy. He is talking so much now. He knows that his baby brother Rowen is in my stomach, and he calls him Row, Bubba, or Baby. Joel and I still can't believe that in just a few months we are going to have two kids. We went to BabiesRus last night to look at baby things and to decide how to decorate his room. It only made me more anxious for him to arrive. I cannot wait to see what he looks like, what his personality is, and how he will be different from Dominic. Dom loves babies and will be a great big brother, but it will also be a huge adjustment for him. He's in a very clingy stage right now and doesn't understand that it's getting hard for me to hold him, carry him, or even let him sit in my lap. I remember my little brother playing with his cars and people on the "mountain".... -my mom's stomach- when she was pregnant : ) I'm sure Dominic will be doing the same thing as it continues to get bigger and bigger.

I'm new to this blog thing so i'm not even sure what to write about. I'm sure Kelley will coach me through this. Any tips/advice are welcome. Love you all - more to come later!