Fresh Start!

I'm SUPER excited about our fresh start! We've been through a lot here, but it's time to move on. I've wanted to share things with you, but everytime I open this it is so easy to be punched in the throat with hard memories. On Sunday, Keller and I watch Joel Osteen (I know, I know everyone has an opinion, but I really like his messages so we can agree to disagree if need be.) it's our "church" while the boys are at CCC. Joel (we're close so I can call him that...not really but Mr. Osteen seems so formal) was talking about changing your channel to the victory channel. He talked about walking into his mother's house after losing his dad and being flooded with the memory of the night his father passed away. He said he decided to stop it right there and change his channel. So I guess you could say I'm changing my channel. I need to find a happy place to be and I've created one. www.dolendiaries.com it's new and I love it! I'd love for you to join me over there.

Lots of Love!
Shelly

Mama's Night Out

Last night I went to a Pinterest party with a holiday theme. Everyone that attended need to bring a project or craft that they did for the holidays (presumably something they found on pinterest). I bought two trees that I had made a friend's craft night back in Dec. They are super cute and easy to make! It was fun to see what everyone else had done and I came away with some ideas for next year. While I was enjoying my night out chatting it up with some awesome mommies poor Micah wasn't having such a fun time...
It was as if all three boys got together and said, "Mom's gone, let's give Daddy a really hard time tonight. We only have a short window until bedtime so we really need to go for it! Daddy worked a really long day today and has all week so he'll really appreciate our antics."
As soon as I walked out the door a little after 7 it was game on. Kell cried and was fussy the entire night. The big boys were beyond energetic and were practically bouncing off the walls when they weren't arguing. Bedtime was a joke and poor Micah was outnumbered.
I called a little after 10 to say I was on my way home only to find out that Micah was watching Chicka on the Sprout channel. Chicka is a bird puppet who communicates via kazoo noises. Apparently, Micah was desperate and turned on the channel to see if Kell would take any interest and stop fussing. He did so Micah watched. Poor Micah, not quite the fun boys night he thought he was going to have last night. At least one of us wasn't disappointed.
Fingers crossed my next night out isn't as tough on Micah as this one was.

The Boss

This week was the first full week back to regular schedule after Christmas vacation. On Mondays, I drop Ash off at preschool and then head over to my friend's house for a Bible/book study. (We're doing a book study on praying for our husbands. It's been really good for me because I was much better about praying for everyone else and forgetting about poor Micah.) There is only three of us ladies in our group and one was missing so we didn't really talk about the book but instead chatted about our breaks. Kell was sporting this puma track suit that he got for Christmas and it didn't quite make him look athletic. We decided that he looked more like a cast member of the Sopranos. Thinking this was wildly funny I called him Tony or Tone for short all day. I'm a little disappointed in myself today because I really missed out on a theme opportunity by serving left over tacos for dinner instead of pasta of chicken parm. Next time!

I think this is the most fun I've had with one of his outfits...any other ideas for future fun?

Happy New Year!

I don't think I've ever been so excited for a new year as I was for this year! 2012 wasn't so hot for the Dolen's, but 2013 is going to be FABULOUS!! (I'm singing that just in case you were wondering. Try it, you won't be able to keep yourself from smiling.) There is so much excitement after all 2013 is the year of the 1st birthdays!
To kick off 2013, we celebrated Keller's first, 1st birthday. He turned chronologically 1 on the 5th so we did a mini celebration with my parents, Kylah, and Micah's parents. It was mini, no theme (those of you that know me well are probably clutching your chests in shock because I L-O-V-E, love a good theme!) just a taco bar, some cupcakes that Gray made all by himself, and a couple of non-gifts. What is a non-gift? It's a gift that you bring to a party when the mama says no gifts. Nana and Auntie Kylah both brought non-gifts. My mom wrapped hers saying it was for his therapy, a learning tool so it didn't count. Kylah didn't wrap hers so that's how hers didn't count. It made me laugh. I would have TOTALLY done the same thing!
It was just a mini for a couple of reasons....1. It was his chronological birthday and so he's not really like a 1 yr old. He's an 8 month old. 2. We are planning on celebrating his adjusted birthday April 17th, his homecoming anniversary April 27th, and then having an actual BIG 1st birthday celebration this summer after the cold & flu season is over. I'm SO excited!! You might not get it, but that's okay. Our family is totally pumped to celebrate all the anniversaries of our wonderful little Kell.

I hope 2013 brings lots of reasons for you to celebrate, too!
Lots of Love,
Shelly

Thankful List

Kell, Asher, & the Jellyfish. Kell can't keep his eyes off of them!

Well, bummer! No video of first roll over. It cut off right before. Oh well. I know it happened!

I saw this post on Facebook about a 2 minute challenge where you write out a list of the the things you are grateful for. I love it! I can get so caught up in what's going wrong or what I want to happen that I forget to be thankful for all the wonderful things that are right in front of me! I am going to get a journal and start my lists. I would love to say that I am going to do this daily but I'm not sure I could keep that up so I'm going to shoot for weekly.

Here's what I am thankful for today....

• 16 lbs. of wonderful who is napping peacefully in his car seat after dropping Asher off at day camp.
• Encompass day camps! Both the big boys are going to camps there this week and they are having SO much fun! Gray goes all day and Ash goes in the afternoon. It's been so fun having some time with Ash in the morning and then quiet time with Kell in the afternoon.
• Starbucks Gift Cards...nothing beats getting a free coffee! Thanks Jess for the birthday present!
• Jellyfish Craft that Asher loved making with me yesterday and they provided hours of entertainment for both Asher and Kell today. I made paper divers for Asher to have swim through the jellyfish and Kell watched their tentacles dance in the breeze of the fan.
• Kiddie Pools! Last night we bought the boys a big kiddie pool. I just finished filling it up this morning so it will be ready for the boys when they get home from camp this afternoon. My little water babies will be loving life in the heat this week!
• Grapes....not the kind you are thinking of. That's what the kids call Great Grandpa & Grandma Dolen. We had a lovely visit with them last night. Kell talked the Grapes ears off. We were so happy that they got to hear his little voice and see how much he's grown. The Grapes were thrilled to see him and the big boys. We're like a tornado ripping through their house but they love every minute of it!

Lots of Love,
Shelly

Rolling

We have a roller! Kell rolled over for the first time on his own today. He's spent the past week pushing against me to give him enough leverage to get all the way over. We have been eagerly awaiting this event and I can't tell you how thrilled we were that we actually go to see it with our own eyes! I think I may have even caught the whole thing on my phone. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet to see if I did or not. The big boys spent the weekend with Nan and came home today so we were busy catching up with them and playing in the yard. It was a gorgeous day today!

Type again soon!
Lots of Love,
Shelly

This isn't from today but I haven't had a chance to upload the new ones.

Great Expectations

On the 5th of July, Kell turned chronologically 6 months old. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed. Micah and I have been doing a lot of reflection and have been able to share new thoughts and feelings that we had during our crazy hospital/NICU journey. With some distance and time to reflect we have struggled with expectations. We each had a set of expectations for the pregnancy; a set for my hospital stay; a set for the delivery; a set for the people around us; a set for each other, a set for life after Sky, a set for life post NICU, and the list goes on and on. When things exceeded our expectations it was a lot easier to take than when our expectations weren't met.
We had so many people praying for us and that WAY exceeded our expectations. There have been countless times when I have had a stranger come up to me and say, "Shelly? I know you don't know me but I've been praying for you and your family." How amazing is that!?! It is such an incredible blessing to know how many people cared for our family during our time of need. We have so many family members and friends that were AMAZING and there for us 100%. It is awesome to know that we have such an incredible support system. How lucky are we that we know who "our people" are!?!
Kell's health is exceeding our expectations. A couple of weeks ago he got a cold that immediately went to his chest where it became a nasty chest cold and earned us an extra trip to the pediatrician. During our visit, I was told to expect to be at the doctor's office every couple of days for the next 10 days or so. Praise God that one visit and the humidifier was the only intervention that he needed. It was a reality check for me for what this cold & flu season brings. I am not looking forward to it and I pray that Kell will sail through with no major illnesses that compromise his lung health.
For sleep I can expect that he'll go down anywhere from 10:30 to midnight then up at 4. He will usually go back down with me for an hour or two and then is typically up for the day. Sadly, he's not a napper...yet. He will nap, he will nap. (Positive thinking works right!?!) He likes to be carried around with me (there are carrying positions that are apart of his physical therapy) so my arms are getting stronger by the day. While I am quite the one armed ninja, you can imagine that it's not super easy to get a lot done around the house so I usually run around like a mad woman once Micah gets home. I look forward to the days of a morning and afternoon nap. I'm expecting this will happen in Sept. once we are back into a regular routine.
We're starting to see more delays the older he gets. At 6 months he should be able to grasp toys and trade them from hand to hand. He grabs my hair and clothes but will not grasp toys yet. So we're working on this. His head stability and neck strength is improving but still is behind where he should be at 6 months. We went from only 3 things to work on for physical therapy to 10. Quite a jump! We just keep plugging away everyday doing his exercises and I pray that we will begin to see that gap close.
The big boys are such brothers! Loving one minute and driving each other (& me) crazy the next. Always the little fashion plates they are already collecting their "looks" for the upcoming school year. For every new article of clothing Micah and I get to watch a fashion show. It's so funny and I can't wait to watch Kell join in this game.
My expectations for the next few weeks? Some fun summer time with my boys & that God will be there carrying us through.
Here is a sweet video of my little guy...I am in LOVE with his coos and he's seriously lucky that there are not chunks out of those cheeks! They are SO yummy!!
Lots of Love!
~Shelly