Weight and length

P.S. Nicole was big! 9lbs and 5oz. and 22.5in. in length! James was 9 days early and 8lbs and 22in.

New post!!! :)

Pffffffffffffffffffffffff, man it takes forever for Jeanette to post again! I know, I know! I will not apologize however, since I have been quite busy with the recent turn of events happening in our household. I will begin with approximately a month ago. So we had invited a couple (Gerrylee and Jason) over to our house from our church and the plan was for them to come on Saturday. So they showed up and they sat down on the couch in our living room and I went to the kitchen to put a pot of coffee on and lo and behold. I look out the window and there was a SWARM of people all walking up to our house each one holding either cake, cookies, drinks or some snack in their arms. I was shocked and raced to our bedroom telling Jasper to open the door. Looking back now I'm not sure as to why. Gerrylee is doubled over on the couch laughing! :) She had planned it of course! But anyways they all came pouring in and it ended up being a surprise home warming party. It was so very cool. We had our house full and lots of food and gezelligheid. The ladies were all telling me not to go into labour and making sure I felt ok. They kept asking, "Are you ok? Is this too much of a shock for you?" Haha. I told them I didn't mind at all if I went into labour. But I didn't. The next day however, I thought I was in labour and so we called up Marlies Kleen who had offered to watch James when I started labour (it's 11 at night), we dropped James off and went to the hospital (and remember this was 2 weeks before my due date) and I was assessed, but no "Not in labour" was the verdict. Rats. So we went off home and I was disappointed of course, but hey 2 weeks is pretty early. James was 9 days early though, so I'm expecting this one to be early too. About a week later, I thought I was in labour again, and so we dropped off the little guy with all the bags and stuff (it's 11:30 at night again!!) and race to the big H. And of course, its the same verdict and we had to head off home. How embarrasing! Twice! And I had told myself not to bother Marlies until I knew I was in labour...oh oh. Anyways, of course by now I'm hitting my due date (April 29) and each day that passes I'm thinking this kid is going to be HUGE! I felt big and heavy. But we had a little problem. Jasper was summoned to Calgary on May 1 for an official interview to assess if he could become permanent resident or not and May 1 was quickly approaching. I was getting nervous. I called the citizenship office and told them I might go into labour on May 1 and they told me that I HAD to be present at the interview and if I did go into labour to write a letter to the office to explain the reason why and they would set Jasper up with a new interview date. Hmm. Predicament. If I don't go into labour, do we still make the 2 hour trek up there and risk the babe being born in Calgary, which ok, isn't the worst, but it's still a 2 hour drive home and I wouldn't have my OB.  Yes! Let's risk it! So off we went and the day was perfectly uneventful, Jasper passed his exam and is officially now a Permanent Resident and we even managed to shop at IKEA for some shelves. It was a fun day. We headed home and hit the sack at around 11. Of course at 2:30 am I go into labour...so off we raced to the hospital and I'm thinking, "It's not going to be the real thing, so forget waking Marlies up, let's just go, they'll assess me and then we will know for sure. If it is, Jasper can just drop James off. It's a bit of a drive, but I'm sure the baby won't make his/her appearance instantly! So that was the decision made. Problem was I really was in labour and they don't want little kids on that ward, so Jasper phoned Marlies up and she very kindly offered to pick James up in Lethbridge. The next 5 hours, were really honestly not that bad and we welcomed little Nicole into the world at 8:10 am on May 2. What an awesome moment! Never to be forgotten. She is such a gem. I will post some pictures at the end of this blurb. Marlies Kleen came to visit me in the hospital and brought James to meet his little sister. Well, that did not go well. He took one look at her and wailed. Wanted nothing to do with her. I'm sure that'll change. It's already a bit better now that he's back home. I went home the next day and felt really well. James stayed by Marlies Kleen for a week and then I picked him up on Friday last week. My mother-in-law and brother-in-law arrived in Calgary from Holland on Saturday May 11 to visit the little baby and see where we lived. So they are still over now until this Friday and then I pick up Irene on Friday in Calgary too. YES!!! Right now my mom-in-law and bro-in-law are with Jasper in the semi truck driving around southern Alberta dropping off fertilizer in Pincher Creek. We also had baptism this past Sunday already for Nicole, because of family being over from Holland, we thought that would be nice with them there. Here are some pics and till next time!

Marlies Kleen with Nicole

New Update!~

         Wow! Has this been forever! I'm sure you're all checking my blog daily to see if there are updates...lol. But I had no internet for a good month, and we got it again yesterday so I'm very excited to post and update on our lives for you all! First off a picture of our house on the outside:

We live close to the town of Nobleford which I could walk to in the summer and take James and the new baby to the brand new splash pad and park for James to play in. I'm pretty excited for that. Here you can see Nobleford. It looks way out there, but it's really not that far.

Also I have some friends who live very close by which is always great! The yard around the house needs some doing as you can see. :) We hope to add some sort of deck on the house as well. The two big windows you see are all my living room. We have lots of light when the sun is shining. It's really nice. We also have been searching for furniture seeing as we were in need of couches and a chair and we found the perfect chair for James! Who seemed more interested in the dog though! haha.

We ended up buying a couch set that's brown cloth and is really comfortable. It's a chocolate brown, but since our room is big and sunny it fits in nicely:

James was cold, so I put him in the sun. Normally his playpen is against the wall. We also have a cute gas fireplace which is still not functioning, but the guy we bought the house off of, is going to fix it. He has been really helpful. He hopes to come by Friday this week and have it fixed. Here is a picture of the dining area. Sorry about the mess, we're still organizing things! :)

I must say it's nice to have my own things again, my piano and my kitchen supplies! I've been baking alot and making freezer meals for when the little one arrives! I am due in 19 days, but I've gotten lots done and am now totally ready for the baby. Here's a snapshot of the kitchen:

Our front door is right in that hallway beside the kitchen and if you turn right around the black fridge, you'll enter the bathroom:

Here is the fridge and freezer. We bought a new fridge because the one in the house smelled badly of smoke and being prego and also just thinking that's gross, Jasper spoiled me with a new fridge! The old fridge was originally in that hole there beside the knife block on the counter, but our new fridge doesn't fit in there so we just use that area as extra storage space. And the wall beside the white freezer is not a maroon/brown, its a dark red. Not sure why it looks that colour.

Groundhogs are rampart in this part of the world....which is cute for the first week and after that it's "watch out where you're walking because they make big holes in the ground." So anyone is welcome to come by for a coffee and some target practice! 

James is now over 1 and so I thought it time to do the dramatic change of hair and gave him a total cut. In the bathtub. Wasn't easy and we enlisted daddy's help, but it turned out ok. Here he is in the tub:

And here he is afterwards! 

James and I went with Jasper on a trip to check out what he does for a living! It was really fun. James just loved the freedom to crawl around in the bed in the back and he loved the sound the truck makes, so much so, he fell asleep...

And of course for all you curious ones out there, here's pics of my pregnant belly and no I don't pig out! :) :)

James just loves the piano and turning the pages on the Psalter:

Actually, turning pages on any book is good for him!  

Alright that's it for now, will be updating again soon!! haha. Well that depends on when this little one decides to come of course. Take care all!

House and truck!

Hi ya'll,

So we have officially bought a house! Woohoo. We have been looking at it for a while and sorted through some issues and finally can say we bought it. We already have our stuff in the house, it's just a matter of cleaning the house and organizing where we want certain things. House is one storey, 1600sq.ft., with fireplace (gas), 2 bedrooms (potentionally three), and two bathrooms. Kitchen and living room are open concept which we love! Here goes:

Kitchen to the left and hall to the right. Will be moving the piano though, not sure I like the colour with the wall. 

Trust me, it looks better by now! But this is the living room with big windows, so lots of light and the gas fireplace is barely noticable between the windows...

Laundry room 

Awesome mirror in our bathroom as well as lots of closet space!

James's bedroom...

Also bit of news is Jasper's new truck. Or should I say trucks. He is driving a semi for Vandenberg Hay Farms. Here are some pics:

And Jasper has upgraded from this:

To this:

Let me tell you, before I'm in that truck with this big belly, it takes more than a hop, skip and a jump! :) Alright that's all the news bits for now so we hope you are all doing well and that the winter flu isn't hitting too many of you!! (BTW, that house you see in the background behind the second pic of Jasper's new truck belongs to our new neighbours! :)

Bath Time

Bath time this morning...:)

cont...

Ok so continuing on from yesterday...

When we got home from Ontario James still hadn't received our present yet so we gave it to him Sunday night and it's a rocking horse. It even makes noise - which at first he was terrified of, but now he loves! Here is a little video clip of him on his horse:

Also we bought a house! Very exciting. It's located north of Nobleford. It's 63 acres and what I really like about it is that we can custom design the entire property because not much is on it yet besides the house. Also I can easily walk to town and bring James to the splash pad and playground in the summer. I also have some friends who live close by and that's always nice. We hope to have the key by Feb. 28th. We have already moved our trailer over there and moved our stuff inside because the house is empty so hopefully we will have it all ready before we even move officially! Also, Jasper bought a new truck which I haven't taken pics of yet because it has been so busy this past week and Jasper leaves for work in the dark and comes home late so I haven't been able to snap a pic yet. Will update soon!!!

James first birthday!

I went to Ontario with James at the end of January to visit mom and dad and the family. James celebrated his first birthday while we were there and the poor boy was sick on his birthday. Throwing up and sad. But he was showered with lots of presents from his aunts and uncles and he is loving playing with them now that we are back. Here are some pictures of the Ontario trip:

James was just wonderful on the airplane. He laughed when it took off, wasn't scared or anything. We sat right by the engine so it was pretty loud, but he loved it! 

More updates coming! I need to go to work now...