The Trojniaks

Halloween 2010

2011-02-06T21:36:00.000-08:00

So this was halloween. Karolina picked out her own costume this year. She was a southern belle. When we went around the neighborhood trick-or-treating one of the gals told her she looked just like Scarlet O'hara. Karolina prompltly replied, "um, no, I am a southern belle" What a doll.
Zachary was a dragon. He had way too much fun dressed up in that outfit, growling at everyone!
The kiddos got to wear their costumes to school for their party. They had a magician/juggler come. It was a lot of fun. When we went trick or treating Zach and Kara raced to every door to ring the doorbell first. Zach wasn't actually interested in the candy, which was amazing. He mainly wanted to ring the doorbell and then proceed to go inside everyone's house.

Karolina...so pretty

the juggler/musician.

We had a lot of fun!

zachary....the dragon

Zach and his classmates

karolina and some of her classmates

New Blog

2009-12-18T13:09:00.000-08:00

If I forgot you, please send me your e-mail address.

Here is the linkage:

aprilpartyof3.blogspot.com

This Blog will be Ending

2009-10-13T11:28:00.001-07:00

So folks...this blog will be ending. Please e-mail me your addresses so I can share the new blog with you! I have some new pics of the kids and other things ready for your viewing and reading pleasure! Don't forget to e-mail me your address or post your addy as a comment!!!

Happy April Fool's

2009-04-01T07:33:00.000-07:00

So some things we do on April Fool's can end up being not very funny at all....
stick with the short sheeting, and saran wrapping the toilet....

Dedicated to Mrs. Erika Bench with love.

A year...I mean whoa...A whole Year!

2009-03-26T21:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Zachary Jude!!!

You are such a sweet baby boy and now look at you one year later and still so sweet and walking!!
We went to Chicago for the weekend to celebrate your birthday and see some old friends. Zachary loved his birthday cake and eating BBQ chicken! A drumstick...forget the hotdog I tried to feed him.
And now, he has his very own race car, Lightning McQueen, to race around the house so no more worries, Karolina. He will not be using your Barbie convertable anymore :)

Here are some pics from the weekend. I cannot believe how fast time flies. It seemed seriously like just a few months ago it was just you and me chillin' at the hospital.On our way to the hospital....look at that tummy, Sexy!!

My Sweet Boy, 3 weeks old

Birthday cake...Go Lightning McQueen!

What? I don't understand...

Yeah! Everyone is singing!

Trying to blow the candle out!

Yeah! It's out....even if my sister did it.
Vroom Vroom!
Dude...frosting is awesome!Cake is even better!!!

More cake!!

Drumsticks! Forget the hotdog...I'm diggin' this.

Babcia (Grandma) and me!
The Family

Sweet baby boy! We love you, Zach!!!

Pay it Forward...or something like that

2009-03-05T10:22:00.000-08:00

So I got caught by my sister to do something nice....such an example that one....

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1 - I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2 - What I create will be just for you.
3 - It'll be done this year (might take a little while).
4 - You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5 - I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same.The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!Good luck! Oh, and you may need to find a way to provide me with your mailing address if you live far from me :)

Hope you are sitting down for this...

2009-02-20T10:32:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's right folks, I am actually blogging again. Wow, so things have been busy lately...obviously really busy because we haven't blogged for a seriously long time.

So here is a little update and I will have to add pictures later when I get home. (Since I am currently at work on my lunch break...yes...lunch break, Dad :)

Well, were to begin...ok so the big news at Christmas was Santa brought Karolina a Barbie jeep...and she was amazed that Santa was able to get it down the chimney. "He is magic and he just woosh and then my jeep is here in the living room." It was too cold to take it for a spin but she sat in it all day watching her new Ariel movie.

One sunny, semi-warm weekend, we took it for a spin with her brother....way too stinkin' cute! They were both talking on their Barbie cell phones (of course Kara has two...how could she ever live with only one??) Zachary just giggled and giggled and Karolina tried to keep the driving straight, which was interesting to watch. Reverse...that is a whole other story...

Well, Zachary has lost a little bit of weight recently due to his new achievement of walking!
Hello, world...watch out. He takes about 5 steps and then realizes he can get there faster by crawling...but he is loving being 'up' except for when his sister plows over him....

In other news, Mr. Mom is doing ok filling that role right now...he made a delicious corn & potato chowder last night....only burning half the onions :) And the previous night made tortellini with a successful 2nd batch of crescent rolls...the garlic bread was a little too toasty the first time:)

Love you, honey....

More to come....
Learn it, Live it, Love it, Cherish it...

Peace out!

More action from Zach-son!

2008-11-21T20:24:00.000-08:00

I like watching my little guy in motion. It amazes me everyday how quickly he is growing. Pictures always seem to catch the moment, but video helps give more detail to the situation. I was just sitting around with the family one day and thought it would be nice to document Zach and how well he has been crawling. He isn't fast enough to be clocked on a speed gun, but he is getting the hang of crawling and is moving fairly well. In fact I think the only reason he is still crawling is because he can't seem to master the walking part just yet. Duh! He is well on his way to walking as he is constantly pulling himself up and now shuffling along the edges to get to a new place. Even before he could crawl I would stand him up and have him practice the motion of walking. Hopefully by Christmas he will surprise us and walk to his stocking. Here is my little man crawling to get the paparazzi out of his face.

Funny Zach moment

2008-11-21T20:07:00.000-08:00

Well I haven't posted in a while myself so I thought I would contribute to the site. I kept finding Zach playing with one of the door stops and soon realized he just likes to play with all the door stops. It is funny to me because the darn thing makes weird noises, but I wish I knew what was going through my son's mind every time he would strike it to make the noise. I have to admit I would probably play with it myself if I didn't think it was silly. Anyways, I had to get it on tape to chuckle with him one day. Hope you guys think its as funny as I do.

Trick or Treating!

2008-11-04T18:02:00.000-08:00

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. Our little munchkins went to Trunk or Treat at the church parking lot. People come and decorate their trunks and back of their cars and stand out and pass out candy. There were some great decorated vehicles!

That was Thursday night, so Friday afternoon came and we started off with a bang...actually a shot.

Karolina and Zachary came over to my office for the parade of costumes, but when Nana got there they were zonked out in the back. I had to wake them up because I wanted to show off their cute costumes, but our should-have-been-princess turned into a complete BEAR! She wouldn't put on her costume. She finally did after some of the other kids showed up.

Little mister was too hot in his so I only made him wear it long enough to get pictures.

We then went down Mass. Street in Lawrence where all the business' dress up and pass out candy. It was a lot of fun. We have some friends who work on Mass so we ate pizza and passed out candy once we were done.

It ended up being a lot of fun. Zachary wore this really cute monkey outfit that my friend, Barbie, made. (Even though it was for only 5 minutes)

Yes I realize there are more pictures of Zach-man but princess-turned-bear would not pose for the camera...thus we got one grumpy shot of her at the table.

But check out the tail!!! Isn't that so stinkin' cute???

Welcome Home!!!

2008-10-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

My brother returned from his mission. We were so very excited to see him. I am so proud of him and his choice to serve his heavenly father and his people. He is still the fun loving Jed that we all know and love except he has turned into a grown up now. Way to go Jed. And he has chosen a beautiful and awesome lady to be his eternal mate. I am so excited to have her as my new sister!!! Cannot wait! Here are a few pictures from his homecoming.

Okay...so seriously

2008-10-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

Since my last post only 3 weeks ago...he is now crawling. He was barely...I mean barely sitting up by himself. Now he crawls all over the place and on Saturday night, he pulled himself up to stand all by himself! He's going to be walking by Christmas! WATCH OUT!

Looks who's Sitting!

2008-09-21T20:30:00.000-07:00

So there is much to blog about since I have been falling behind (quite a bit) but I will have to do that later since I left my camera in Portland with my sister. But here is a cute update of the little man who just turned 6 months old yesterday. He is sitting up. It is the cutest thing ever! I can't believe how quickly time passes. This becomes especially clear to me because tomorrow will by Kare-bear's 4th birthday. 4 years old! My sweet baby girl is growing up! I was able to go to my friend Heather's baby open house yesterday and held her sweet little boy. SO tiny and precious. It's amazing how fast they grow. This made me baby hungry...I know, I know, you are thinking, WHAT?!?!?! You just had a baby, but we are not done and both Rafal and I know this. There seems to be a little baby boom in our church ward which has been fun to see all these new precious gifts from Heaven added to such sweet families. Congrats to all the new parents. And best wishes in getting some sleep :)

Genius!

2008-08-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

This entry is dedicated to my beautiful princess. She is just so smart, creative, and fun to be around. She always fills our house with laughter and her imagination is so creative! The other day I found out what an amazing artist she is. She brought home this beautiful picture for me. She told me "Mommy, I drew you a picture. Can you see it's a person?" I replied, "Of course, I see the person! It's wonderful, Karolina." She then made sure that I could see the feet (one green one, and one black one). She is seriously a genius! I mean really? Have you ever seen a 3 year old draw that well??? I have to brag because I think she is so awesome!

Cereal Time!

2008-08-13T11:24:00.000-07:00

Our little boy is growing so fast! He had cereal for the first time Sunday night. He giggled and smiled through the whole feeding, but he finished the whole bowl. He did really well with it and gave mom and daddy 8 hrs. of sleep. It was a lot of fun. Karolina was so proud to be sharing her bowls that she eats out of too. The next night he figured out how to blow raspberries with his lips while eating and thinks that is so funny. He started giggling when he did it. He is just too cute. And such a good baby. We are so lucky to have him in our family.

He also got a new 'toy'. A co-worker and his wife are done having children so they had an excersaucer that they said I could have. They also had a ton of tubs of clothing that I went through. I think Karolina is set for clothes till she's six years old! Gotta love hand me downs!

He concentrates so hard when he's playing in it.

Primary Fun

2008-08-13T11:13:00.000-07:00

Rafal and Karolina experienced their first primary activity a few weeks back. I know, it's late, but I have been busy. Anyway, for some of you who don't know, he teaches CTR 7 and has been learning all the primary songs and getting to experience primary for the first time.

He has really enjoyed it. So the Primary Activity theme was about stories in the scriptures. Rafal chose to do Noah's ark, of course, I become part of his "team" to prepare for the lesson and activity, but Rafal did a pretty good job all on his own. We decided to make arks for the kids and have a relay race. Karolina has a TON of stuffed animals so we matched them up in pairs and we were surprised how many pairs she had. Rafal told the story of Noah and the ark to the kids and then we split them up into two teams and raced to see which team could get the most pairs in their ark. It was a blast. See that sexy lookin' ark?? Aren't we awesome 'ark'itects? hee hee.

New Trick

2008-07-11T14:12:00.001-07:00

How fast the time flies. My little man has learned a new trick. He is getting so strong. He is getting really good at lifting up his head now. He loves tummy time.

He loves to be talked to and play with his "chew" toys. And loves when his sister talks to him. He is always smiling. What a happy baby!

I am so lucky to have two wonderful children. Karolina is such a good helper when it comes to her baby brother. She is eager to help feed, dress, bath, and even change his diaper. It seems like just yesterday Kara was that small. Here is a video of Zachary when he started to smile for the first time. You will also hear Karolina begging to make milkshakes and take a picture of her and Zach.

Let Freedom Ring

2008-07-11T14:01:00.001-07:00

We had a fabulous Fourth of July! We went to a pancake breakfast in the morning with my dad's ward from church and saw many old friends and faces. It was great. Then we went home and picked up a little bit and then enjoyed a long 3 hour nap! Fabulous!!! After which, we all loaded up to my folks house for a nice family BBQ. There were only a few of us there, but we had enough food to have the whole family there! It was so yummy!

We then went over to see GR blow things up, while entertaining us at the same time. For those of you who don't know, GR is a good friend of ours that has his pyro-technics license. Therefore, he is able to buy and set off rather large fireworks (legally). It is a great show. Kathleen has providing root-beer floats down to a science and the kids love it. Thanks Gordon-Ross Family!

Karolina had a great time with the sparklers.

Zachary "Dude" slept pretty much through it all. Sweet baby!

Auntie's Visit

2008-07-11T12:19:00.000-07:00

The following weekend we returned from Chicago, Rafal's sister, Annette, came to visit. We had a fun filled weekend. Karolina had a blast. We went out for some yummy KC BBQ.

We went to Lawrence and had dinner on Mass. St. On the way there, Karolina fell asleep. She was so worn out from playing in her new wading pool that she got from Grandpa she fell asleep in the car ride to dinner. She was so sleepy she slept a little bit in the restaurant too!

On Sunday, we went to the near-by park and had a picnic before Annette had to leave. It was a fun weekend.

Zachary seemed to like swinging. He loves to be outside. If he's fussy in the house, I just have to take him outside and he is all grins.

I think Daddy was dizzier on this park toy than Kara. "Again, Again!" Was a popular phrase.

Chicago and Wedding!

2008-07-11T11:41:00.000-07:00

Rafal's cousin, Mark, got married in June which gave us an opportunity to make a trip up to Chicago. As many of you know, WE LOVE CHICAGO! So we were really excited to go. We flew up for a quick 2 day trip with Zachary. Karolina got to stay the weekend with her cousin and Nana. She had a ton of fun.

We had a great time too. It was outside on a golf course. They shared a really cute poem together about the reasons "I Like You." Unfortunately the "19th" hole was right next door, and we also experienced the ping of someone teeing off during the 'I do'. But dinner was great, and the band was awesome.

Here we are with Rafal's cousin, Betty, and her husband Neil....love you guys!!

Here is our little man. He was all bundled up since the AC was on high and he totally slept through the loud band. What a cutie!

Facials for All!

2008-07-11T11:37:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know I started selling Mary Kay...yes, I am now a "Pink" lady. (Some day I will have BIG hair and a big PINK cadillac :) Anyway, so I do facials and I was giving a facial to this lovely lady at my home. My daughter decided that she wanted to give a facial also. So while my hands were tied, she used about half a bottle of baby lotion on little Zachary's head. It took forever to get out!

Kind of funny...but at least he has a soft scalp now for his little bald head!

Alright Already!!!

2008-06-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

Sheesh! You people are so impatient...wait, no, it has been a whole month since I have posted last. Sorry!!! We have been so busy. Besides dodging tornadoes and putting pots under leaky roofs, we have just been doing family "stuff". Hanging out with neighbors, riding bikes, taking walks. Our neighborhood is starting to get 'full', which I love! And it is so funny how we all have children around the same age. I have started to call ourselves the wives club. Around 7 o'clock every evening we all start to emerge out of our homes with the little ones and we all hang out and let the kids play till about 8:30/9 o'clock. It has been really fun. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and it has made the days that Rafal is working go by quicker. But (drum roll please) Rafal has put in his two week notice at FedEx and now he will be home in the evenings! Hip-hip-hooray!! I have started to make great friends with all our neighbors so it will be nice to actually show off my "arm candy" to them. (He really does exist)
More posts later, I promise. I want to catch up, but I have pictures I want to post with them so stay tuned.

Baby Boy!

2008-05-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

So I had taken these pictures while staying at home with my son right after he was born! He is so precious and will be so embarassed one day by these photos. But oh so adorable!!! Granted he is a couple weeks old instead of days, but nonetheless they turned out so cute!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Familes are Forever!!!

2008-05-28T19:14:00.000-07:00

This month started and before I know it, it is ending. It has been crazy! I started back to work again, which was completely exhausting, and then Karolina got upper respritory infection and then because she loves her brother so much! and kisses him non-stop, he got sick. We were trying to get the kids healthy before our big trip to Nauvoo for Memorial weekend.
This past weekend we went to Nauvoo and it was FABULOUS!!! Rafal and I are now a forever family! It was an amazing experience, words cannot begin to describe. I am so greatful for the knowledge of the plan of salvation and for temples and the blessings that we can recieve from our Heavenly Father there.
We are so blessed to have many friends and family join us while we were there. We loved that the missionaries that help teach Rafal about the gospel were able to join us. Many people made huge sacrifices to come and participate in this sacred and eternal blessing! We feel so loved! My heart is so full! Some great family photos were taken by a friend and we will post them soon.

My Sweet babies!!

2008-05-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

As I am wallowing in the fact that today will be my last day home. Yes, that's right folks, I go back to work again on Monday.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here at home. In fact, it was brough to my attention today as I was speaking with my sister that stay at home mom's would make an average of $117,00 annually if paid for all their "services". If the government ever decides to compensate the wonderful women who are able to stay home and raise their children, I would gladly opt to join their flanks. But, until that day comes, I have to continue to work.

So back to my wallowing, I started to look at some old pictures of when Karolina was a baby and compare her and Zachary's baby pictures... It is amazing how similar they look. Such sweet babies!!! I cannot believe that my little girl is going to be four this year. Time seriously does fly!

From the top:

Karolina Mae: just new

Zachary Jude: just new

Zach: 6 weeks

Kara: 3 1/2 yrs!

A Warm Wonderful Weekend

2008-05-05T19:27:00.000-07:00

There was a lot happeing this past weekend. It was busy but so much fun. We thoroughly enjoyed the warm weather with some family fun.

McDonald's Sundaes and Colbie Caillat

So for the first time in a few months, Rafal and I had a date night, just the two of us. It was great. Rafal scored tickets to Colbie Caillat at the Uptown Theater from his work. There was a full spectrum of people there...we were right in the middle of the teeny-boppers to the old farts. It was a blast. Though I have to admit I am not as young as I once was. We stood in the crowd for all 3 hours and I was tired. We were standing near this group of middle aged ladies that Rafal nicknamed "Sex in the City". They were a perfect match to the hit TV series, high fashion clothes, high hills, and high pitched laughing. The longer the concert endured the more liquored up these ladies became. Glad the concert ended when it did...I was about to bust some chops..

To the right you will see how much fun we were having. Gotta love self portraits. But, alas, here we are enjoying our McDonald sundaes before the concert.

Please tell me that is not what I think it is.....

This would be the words I woke up to Saturday morning. And as I heard the stress in Ralph's voice I decided to hurry out of bed knowing that Karolina was already awake. As I made my way down the hall I noticed these long strands of hair making this trail towards the living room. Then I found my sweet girl sitting in a pile of her hair with a pair of red scissors in her hand. Not only was she sporting her newly self-given haircut but she was also sporting several and by several I mean like 4 rather large tattoos all over her arms and legs. She had recieved a self making temporary tattoo kit from her grandma and applied them to herself. I quickly picked up her hair and escorted Karolina to the bathroom. I ran a brush through her hair only to find that the more I brushed the more hair came out. Luckily, she cut chunks out throughout her hair all over so you don't notice it to badly unless you really look. Unfortunately she can't wear a pony tail either. Every kid has to do it right....glad she didn't go for the bangs!

Polski Day

After recovering from the haircut fiasco, we headed to Kansas City to attend Polish Day! Rafal dressed himself in a styling Polish shirt. My folks and brother and sister joined us. We all waited for the 12 o'clock parade for an hour and a half...we were so excited when it started and enjoyed the irony when the parade ended 20 minutes later! But I got a free T-shirt out of it and Karolina got a ton of candy. We had decided Karolina needed to support her Polish heritage on this day so we bought her a shirt to wear all day. She was so cute in it! We all enjoyed some great keilbasa (sausage) and saurkraut and cabbage rolls and pierogies! After that we went and enjoyed the festivities. They had a moon jump for the kids and putt-putt, basketball toss, and a dart throw. Here is my brother Kole and Rafal showing their "skills" at darts. They also had a band their playing live Polish Polka! My mom tried teaching my dad how to polka, he did a great job dancing by himself then with a partner, unfortunately I didn't get any video of that happening :) Of course we all had to finish the day off by taking a picture as traditional Polish people. So here

are a few of these great candid moments.

Chillin' at home

2008-04-21T12:05:00.001-07:00

So since I have had Zachary, I took some maternity leave from work. It has been nice. We had family visiting, my in-laws came down from Chicago. It was great to have them here. My mother-in-law cooked some great food for us and taught me how to make homemade pierogies! For those of you not in the know, they are a polish dumpling filled with goodness! You can stuff them with potatoes, cheese, mushrooms, 'kraut, blueberries (Rafals' fave!). My mother-in-law is a "eye-ball" cook. She doesn't have recipes. So I tried my hand at making them this past Friday. And they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. My mom helped and in fact she stuffed them while I went and got a much needed massage.

We were able to take a 3 generation picture with Rafal, his father, and Zachary.

It was fun to see them with their two grandchildren. And I am pretty sure they enjoyed their time here, and slept very good when they returned home. Karolina wore them out and kept them up late, but it was a lot of fun.

While they were here we also went to visit Crown Center and they had an exhibit going on of "What I want to be when I grow up.." Kara had way too much fun and it was a fight to get her to leave.

Now that I am starting to feel "normal" again. I have had the opportunity to get out and about. I went to hang out at the mall with some ladies from church one day, helped my daughter learn to peddle her bike, I visited with the neighbor while our kids rode bikes (Kara was representing all by her self!), baked food which I love to do but never have time for, spent time with my sister, and I even cleaned my house (though it didn't stay that way for too long). Of course this all happens in between dirty diapers and feedings, but when I look back it has been quite enjoyable.

Make-up and a Three year old

2008-03-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

So this can be the outcome when you give a three year old chapstick for Christmas. She then thinks that any kind of make-up is okay. We were on our way out to a Dr. appt. for Zachary and I told Karolina to go put some chapstick on. She came back looking like this...

Mascara on her lips...I have to say she did a pretty good job though...she only had it on her lips. She's going to be such a make-up pro...let's just hope the gothic look fades before her teenage years!

Of course, have to post another picture of our sweet little boy...excuse me (according to my dad) our macho, studly, handsome baby boy. ;)

The heir is born.

2008-03-22T18:43:00.000-07:00

It is truly a great day today as April and I have finally arrived home with our newest bundle of joy. It is a boy and his name is Zachary Jude Trojniak. He weighs in at 7 lbs. 2oz. and is 19 1/2" long. He was born with only a little bit of a cry, and afterwards was very good. I guess Zachary was ready to come into this world. April's water broke around 4am Thursday, March 20th and around 9:41 am she delivered Zach. The labor itself didn't last very long and April and baby did great. We didn't try to find out what the baby was going to be before the delivery and so when the baby was delivered that was the first thing I looked for. I had been telling people that I had a good feeling about this baby and said I had a 55% chance that it was going to be a boy. Sure enough it was a baby boy and I was ecstatic.

I will probably be with April for the next two weeks as she gets back on her feet and Karolina gets adjusted to sharing time with another baby. April will be on maternity leave for 6 weeks and then will go to work. I am very happy to begin life as a father of two. At least now I can spend time with my baby and it won't be playing house or watching another Barbie movie. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with my daughter, but now I have a little buddy to do guy stuff with. In fact its March Madness and we will spend some time watching the games this year. That is if April allows me to.

The most important thing is that the Trojniak name will carry on!!

The Final Countdown

2008-03-11T10:19:00.000-07:00

So, hopefully, you sang in your head the Title of this blog. Twas the point...the theme song.

My apologies...I have been slacking on the blog. But I'm going to use my very viable excuse of being pregnant. We have been trying to get ready for our new addition.

Funny story:

We got all the large pieces to the crib from the basement, and Rafal was all set to put it together when lo and behold..."April, where are the screws and stuff for the crib?" uh-oh...I thought they were in a baggy taped to the crib itself. And I was mistaken...so we dug through every box downstairs and wound up empty handed. So we got on the good old internet and looked up the manufacturer to order a hardware kit, $20...not too bad. Well, there is a nice sweet sob story on the website that says any crib before and including the year 2004 cannot be remade or the hardware be ordered because they had a flood and lost everything. OF COURSE!!! That is just my luck. So, since being pregnant, tons of coupons in the mail, Rafal suggests let's just look and see what we can order (a new crib). Even with coupons and such, if we order one similar to the one we have it will cost us $350....OUCH! So I am not happy...hormones and all. I call up my old landlord and a whim and ask if he found a baggy of odd and end nuts and bolts in the closet under the stairs after we moved. He called me last night at 10:15 p.m. and says: "You must be a lucky person. I found the hardware." Whew, and a hallelujah!!! To me that little baggy was worth $350. I made the mistake of telling him that and he now jokingly keeps bugging me for his 350 bucks for his time and gas. So cheers, we have a crib again.

I am posting some really "sexy" pictures of...myself of course. Here I am 9 months prego! And cannot wait for this little one to come home.

Karolina knows it is March now and asks every day, "When is the baby coming out?" She puts her hands on my belly and gives the baby hugs and kisses and "listens" and says to me: "The baby is saying: 'mommy,mommy let me out'" She is too cute.

We went to the hospital for a "Tyke Hyke" on Saturday. They give the younger siblings a tour of the maternity ward, let them play with the bed..up and down, and see the new babies in the nursery. They also let the kids practice changing a real diaper on a real doll! Kara did surprisingly well all by herself. As we were getting ready that morning she asks me if we are going to the "hopsital" so that I can push the baby out and bring it home. Oh, my sweet angel, I wish it were that easy.

Life has been great at the Trojniak household. On the nice days we have been teaching Karolina to ride her bike. She almost gets the concept of peddling. It's fun to watch her.
In other exciting news, our neighborhood has been filling up. We now have 11 families living in our little sub-division. Very exciting because at least 4 of the families have younger children.
Karolina is doing great at her new school in De Soto. We signed her up for dance class, but she was less than thrilled about it, so we switched her to a "Stretch & Grow" class. It's an excercise class for kids and they talk about healthy things to eat. She comes home with pictures of fruits and veggies that have certain vitamins in them. We had BLT's for dinner last night and she expressed her love for tomatoes and lettuce. But the love didn't go farther than expression...she wouldn't take a bite of either. but she ate a whole bowl of grapes with her bacon cheese sandwich.
Well, folks, I am way excited about the baby coming. I have caught a second wind and have been washing every baby item I can find. I took the car seat and stroller apart this weekend and washed it all, the bedding for the crib, clothing, and blankets. Will definitely be posting pictures of the new addition as soon as I can. Let's hope it's sooner than later!
Cheers~

Slippery Slope

2008-02-06T13:35:00.000-08:00

What a crazy time here in KCK. It is pretty obvious that weather everywhere is insane this time of year, but you would think that a city as big as Kansas City would be able to plow their roads just a bit when it is snowing. Perhaps drop tonnes of salt on the roads in the event that they can't meet the demand during the storm. Even a city built on hills would think it safe to do something to the roads so innocent people traveling could do so in a safe way. A little bit of snow and ice and no matter how much you put the peddle to the metal, that car can't make it up a hill.

Anyways I ended up driving home last night from work just as a snow storm was hitting us here. I ended up driving 20mph down I-435 eventually stopping when the wheels couldn't find traction on the slippery ice. I wasn't the only when with vehicles in front of me spinning out in the dividing grass. Luckily I was able to get moving again and continue on my path home. Nope, story doesn't end here, I was getting off of the highway so I could fill my gas tank and only to my surprise I couldn't stop my vehicle eventually skidding all the way into a ditch running over a road marker. Two hours later after a tow-truck winched me out was I able to get some gas and begin my travel back home. Quite the experience, but I was able to make it home in one piece with only my proud driving record a little bit hurt. Thankfully I was fine and the tow-truck guy was a big help.

Lets just say I am looking forward to a snow free winter the rest of the way. Spring please come quick.

The Final Countdown

2008-01-29T18:59:00.000-08:00

So I really have 8 weeks left in my pregnancy, which is a while, but we have begun the countdown. I am getting so big and more uncomfortable with each passing day. Kara is so looking forward to becoming a big sister. She thinks that I will be "pushing both babies out." She keeps telling Ralph and I that I need to push the first one out so that the second one can come out. They say little children are perceptive to their unborn siblings, as far as if it's a boy or girl and such. But from the sonograms we have only seen one baby in there so I am pleased...yet sorry to disappoint my three year old.
Ralph is surviving from his trip to the ER last Sunday. He, like a good helping loving husband, was washing the dished and broke a glass and sliced up his fingers, palm, and actually cut a nice gash in one of his fingers. He let out a nice yell and I thought he was busy watching the football game, but then I heard some concern in his voice as he started calling for me. It was a bleeder of course, and I told him I didn't know what to do with "that" because it was a gaping hole. I told him we should go to the ER. So we get there and my favorite part is when the doctor walks in pulls back the gauze and says "I don't know what to do with that." There was no skin to stitch and it wasn't a slice so you couldn't butterfly it together so they ended up glueing his finger. Yes, that is right...glue. It looks and acts just like super-glue but for skin. They just filled up the hole just like you would put putty in a nail hole. It was rather...let's use the word interesting. But he is surviving and his finger is slowly healing.
Other than the enlarging and ever expanding mid section, and the occasional accidental mutilation, we find ourselves very blessed and healthy these days.

Wetting the bed...

2008-01-21T10:23:00.000-08:00

Oh the joys of waking up to the smell of urine! Kara is really big on wearing her panties to bed now because she "is a big sister and only babies wear diapers" (She's been wearing pull-ups to bed) She had an accident the other night and I must have been too tired because I didn't even wake up when she crawled into bed with us. I woke up to this smell and it was affecting my dreams...our poor little girl was sopping wet and curled up next to me. Somehow it was sweet despite the smell.
I have also learned how perceptive my three year old can be. The other day she walked up to me and told me she wanted to give me a kiss. I leaned down and she went towards my face with her mouth wide open. The conversation went something like this:

me: What are you doing?
Kara: I am giving you a kiss.
me: Honey, your mouth is open...
Kara: I know...
me: No, give me a real kiss.
Kara: I am
me: Kare-bear we don't kiss like that, not with our mouths open.
Kara: But you and daddy do. I want to kiss you like that.

So much for PDA in our house. I was laughing so hard! She's adorable and quite smart for her own good.

In other news, I will be attending my first ever ground-breaking ceremony for a building I helped design. How exciting!
Rafal is attending a design charrette in Pennsylvania this week also. Oh, it can be fun to be a grown-up (once in a while).

Ciao~

A New Year

2008-01-10T12:25:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe it is already 2008! So many things happened this past year.
We stayed home as a family to enjoy our first family Christmas in our new house. It was a blast! Santa stopped by our house and loaded us up with lots of good things. Kara was thrilled and it was so fun to watch her. She got a doll house for Christmas and has been thoroughly enjoying herself. We had a lot of fun.
Rafal and I will be celebrating our first year anniversary this weekend, Jan. 13. I can't believe how fast a year has gone by.
We got to see our new addition to the family in another sonogram this past week. What a cute baby! Life is amazing. We will get to have yet another sonogram towards the end of my pregnancy. I'm on the home stretch! 29 weeks and counting!
I added some pictures from our First Christmas! Kara got a really cute Christmas dress from her Babcha (grandma in polish).

Cheers everyone, and best wishes in the New Year!

Hello

2007-12-27T12:49:00.000-08:00

So we are new to this whole blogging world, but we thought we'd get started. Just wanted to start this up with a quick short note. We'll update this soon!