SCHOOL'S OUT - SUMMER'S HERE

On Thursday, May 24th, Bella & Lexie had their last day at pre-school for the year. Lexie finished her 2 year old class and Bella finished her Pre-K class....which means: KINDERGARTEN in August!

Here's some cute pictures of the girls with their teachers. Remember, you can click on any picture and it will enlarge in another window so you can actually see the detail (and their cute eyes!)

Bella & Ms. Clark

Bella & Ms. Karen


Lexie walks with some of her classmates & Ms. Carol


During the last weeks of school, the kids get to have a car wash and help wash all the toy cars! Bella is having so much fun with her friend, Kira.

Now that the school year is over, summer time is just around the corner and the weather is certainly telling us that we're ready to jump in the pool. While the big pool in the backyard was "getting its medicine" (Milenko was cleaning the pool with chemicals), the girls used the little blow up one. It's perfect for Lauren anyway!

They're not always like this - honestly!

Practicing the "runway walk" for Ms. America!

There's a hilarious story to this one. Bella had to go "potty" really badly. Leave it to a man to recommend peeing on the grass. While I was inside, Milenko was watching the girls and I came out just in time to snap a shot of Bella going "potty" in the outdoor toilet that Daddy recommended. They don't do this anymore and they will run across the floor wet if need be. I guess having that boy couldn't come at a better time!

Lauren's attempt at eating an Oreo cookie!

Lauren is actually impressing us with her little smarts. At 15 months, she is already trying to grow up and be just like her big sisters. The girls have a refrigerator magnet from LeapFrog that plays the alphabet. The girls have used it for the past few years at learning the ABC Song. Lauren is already walking round the house trying to sing the alphabet along with the magnet. She can do ABC and then the rest is P P P P P. She's also is attempting to do her numbers. As I try to get her to repeat ONE, she chimes in with two, three.... Nothing after that, but I sure will be proud when I get her to actually say ONE with the TWO & THREE. :) She's up to about 40 plus words. The latest and funniest is shu-up. I know it's not the best thing to teach her, but it keeps us in stiches when we hear her yell shu-up! (She doesn't know what it means though.) She's also pretty good at telling us to STOP at the stop lights. That's all thanks to her sisters who love to tell us how to drive through the red & green lights.

We're going to start off June at the Croatian Extravaganza in Sacramento. We'll be staying up there with Milenko's sister & parents for the weekend. Should be a fun one. Between that and Fathers' Day, the next round of pictures should be pretty fun!

See you in June!

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Finally!)

No news could be better than the news we heard this morning when we went in for our 20 week ultrasound.

The first bit of good news is the obvious - IT'S A BOY!
The 2nd bit of good news is that the baby looks 100% healthy in every aspect.
The 3rd bit of good news is - IT'S A BOY!!!!

Milenko and I went into the doctor's office knowing that for sure, we would hear those words - Congratulations on ANOTHER girl. The ultrasound taker just smiled and asked us if we had seen a previous ultrasound and that's how we knew. We told her it was a gut feeling. She then tells us that 90% of woman are right. We didn't expect to be the 10%. When she played the heartbeat for us (which was 170/bpm about a month ago) we were surprised at the 134/bpm count. Milenko and I both had the same thought - there may be hope after all. As she finishes up the measurements and all the things she needs to do she shows us the picture below and used the mouse pointer to show us the two legs and the "PENIS" in between. Of course I started bawling my head off and I think Milenko just went into shock!

Here's another angle but proof that the little nub is definitely a boy!

She printed out lots of pictures for us to take home for the scrapbook but we're only showing a few of the really obvious ones. The picture below is a profile of Baby Boy. He has the same exact profile as Lexie and Lauren. Already we can see it's a true Dugorepec. :)
Due date is September 26th!

Happy Easter from The Dugorepec Family

Clockwise: Dragica, Ivan, Jasna, Milenko & Lauren, Debbie, Lexie and Bella

February, March & April Updates (Finally)

Okay, after months of delay and procrastination, here's the latest and greatest going on with the Dugorepec Family. Let's start in February since that's where we last left off:

FEBRUARY 2007
Lauren turned the big ONE years old on Valentine's Day. No more infants in this house - at least not until September!

We had a small little family birthday party at the house for Lauren and it was perfect. She was teething and a little on the crabby side so it was so much nicer than having her be a pistol at big party.

She didn't really get into the cake so we helped her out a little. She isn't quite the messy kid that we would expect. Heck, we sure wish Bella & Lexie would take after that quality!

All the kids (including Auntie Sissy) got into opening Lauren's presents. Nicholas was a huge help with Lauren as he has a thing for little babies. He just adores her and it's the cutest sight you can imagine. There's another quality that we wished Bella & Lexie would take after. :)

Auntie Sissy and Lauren were pretty much glued to the hip the entire evening. Lauren doesn't do well with strangers or anyone who isn't mom and dad. However, Michelle was her favorite person all night long. Since Michelle and I wanted the opposites for children, my wanting boys and her wanting girls, we live vicariously through our nieces and nephews.

Bella and Lexie are starting to share a little more with each other. Yes, the fight more than cats and dogs do but when they do get gentle with each other, they make the house so nice. Here Bella is "reading" a book to Lexie. I had read the book to both of them just moments before and had to tend to Lauren. As I was returning back to the couch, I saw that Bella was picking up where I had left off.

Lexie's starting to act like a lady - finally. I thought she'd be a little Tomboy forever. She's starting to prove me wrong as she asks me to put her in dresses and loves to play with her pretty necklaces.

MARCH 2007
At the beginning of March we figured it was time to take the kids to see what snow really looked, felt and tasted like. It was in the 70's back here at home but we drove up to Dodge Ridge (Sonora) and the snow was quite abundant. We were able to share the snow with all the kids who just loved it. Well.... almost all the kids.

When we got up to the snow we made a quick stop at Dodge Ridge to get a bite to eat. We brought our own lunch for the kids and got a quick salad and sandwich for Mom & Dad. We also had to pick up some gloves as Bella left her snow gloves on the stairs at home.

After lunch we headed downhill to a section of the highway that was covered with snow and lots of people playing. If the kids were a little older, this would have been a great place to let them go sledding down the hill. We had to take it easy as the snow was so deep that the heavy you were, the deeper you fell. I had to go get a sled that slid down the hill and while headed that way, my feet must have gone about 2 feet deep into the snow. It was hilarious and impossible to walk. The only way to get anywhere was to roll. (I'm not posting those pictures!)

Just getting to the snow was fun for the girls. They sat on the sled while Daddy pushed them to the edge and then let them go down the embankment. What a blast for them!

Lexie & Bella loved the fact that we could eat the snow as long as it wasn't yellow or dirty. Lauren had a different impression of the snow. She could definitely do without it. It was wet, cold and not fun!

Oh yeah, Lauren's growing up so fast that she's starting to drive. We're contemplating letting her get her driver's license next year. :)

On a sad note, my Mother's step-father passed away. The really sad part is that he had passed away in his home and wasn't found until about 5 weeks after his death. John was a parculiar man who was very private and so going a month without talking was normally for he and my mom. The saw each other at Christmas and hadn't spoken since - well, he didn't answer his phone. Now we know why. His funeral was amazing though. After a lot of unsurity of everything that was going to transpire for getting the funeral arrangements done, he had a military funeral that was unbelievable. The color guard did a 21 gun salute and if you've never heard that before, it will take your breath away. He was sent off in a beautiful ceremony and laid to rest with my Grandmother. Very beautiful!

APRIL 2007
Easter time! Our family headed over to Milenko's parent's house with my Mom for a great Sunday brunch. Milenko's sister Jasna and her friend were also there to celebrate. After brunch we let the kids go into the backyard to see if the Easter Bunny came. He left behind a basket for each of the girls and lots of eggs in the yard.

Lauren was happy with whatever everyone else was doing while Bella and Lexie took their dresses up to form a basket to collect the eggs. Silly Easter Bunny even put some eggs up in the tree where the girls couldn't reach. Good thing Daddy & Baka could.

We were finally able to get a decent picture of Milenko's family to send back home to everyone. I guess we'll have to wait until next year to have the complete family again as Baby #4 isn't very noticeable yet. :)

At 5pm we had another Easter celebration at our house. We asked Dave & Michelle to come with the boys and Dan too. The kids got to do a little Easter Egg hunt in the front yard and they had a fun little time. Below is Nick, Bella, Lexie & Christian. Look at those BIG smiles!

After dinner we let the kids decorate some cookies. We gave them a bunny and a egg cookie and they decorated them with frosting, sweet tarts, sequins and gum drops.

Lexie had more fun eating the cooking than decorating it. Even before the decorations came to the table, she was nibbling on the cookie.

Of course Auntie Sissy and Mommy had to decorate cookies too. Nick & Christian had a pretty good time decorating as well.

As with all the posts, if you want to see the pictures in detail you should be able to click on any of them and they will enlarge in another window. As for Baby News, there is a link to the right side of this blog that you can click.... I better get updating on that blog too. :-)

Happy Tax Day!

STARTING OFF 2007 WITH A BANG!!!

Okay, this Blog is going to be fun. For the most part, you don’t know this news already so this is going to be a MAJOR shock to you. We have lots of new things going on in the Dugorepec household. 2007 is definitely starting out with a bang.

Lexie just celebrated her 3^rd birthday on January 5th. Out of the terrible twos and into the TORENTIAL threes. Boy are we looking forward to that aspect this year. She is blowing us away with her knowledge of the alphabet. Not only does she know all the letters but she knows all the sounds too. She's even at a point where she can do the alphabet quizes at home faster than Bella. She's going to be the brains in the house.

Lauren turns 1 year old on Wednesday, 02/14. Happy Valentines Day too! Who would have ever guessed we’d end up giving birth on a holiday. Lauren now has 8 teeth and is becoming the biggest Daddy's girl. She started walking the first week in February and she's just the funniest Frankenbaby you've ever seen.

Bella has become an artist. Her favorite thing to do in life is draw. Here she drew a pirate map and a big "X" that marks where the treasure is. She's doing well on her writing too. She's starting to actually put sounds to words and was ables to read the word HUGGIES off the diaper box with a little help.

Milenko was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes – Adult onset. We just found out about this last week and although we’ve changed his diet (and the rest of the family’s too), he still needs to monitor his blood levels and control it with diet and exercise. He’s already losing weight on the new diet so that’s a great thing. He’ll meet with the Nutritionist at the end of the month to find out the real in’s and out’s of eating healthy. We’re excited to attend that meeting so we can actually eat again.

Debbie took a pregnancy test the first week in January and it was NEGATIVE. Wahoo!! Even had a period just after that. Wahoo again! I know, you’re thinking that’s GREAT news! 3 kids are enough. Milenko and I were only “together” on New Years’ Eve and so having a period and getting a NEGATIVE reading are certainly signs of not being pregnant. NOT!!!!!!! Don’t ever let anyone ever tell you that birth control pills are 100% effective. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that if you take a pregnancy test and its negative that you’re not pregnant. DON’T EVER LET ANYONE TELL YOU THAT IF YOU HAVE A PERIOD THERE’S NOT A CHANCE IN HELL YOU’RE PREGNANT. Guess what!???? Yup, we’re 8 weeks pregnant! 3 kids aren’t quite enough for this family. We’re going for 4 kids in our humble little house. Do you think we’ll end up with a little boy this time? Yeah, neither do we. Milenko can’t make boys. He just makes girls. The cutest damn things in the world – but always girls. We want a boy too badly to get one. It’s like Milenko’s theory on the lottery. If we could play lottery and win like we do with getting pregnant, life would be so much easier. If we want a boy that badly, we won’t get it – just like the lottery.

Well we’re due around September 27^th and I’ll try (just like I did with Lauren’s pregnancy) to update the blog as often as possible with all the fun news on Baby #4… It was really fun seeing the baby’s heart beat this afternoon on the ultrasound. Seeing an ultrasound just makes the reality really sink in. Yes, we’re very nervous about a family of 6 but if we can do it with 5 and be as happy as we are, 6 shouldn’t be too hard. (Knock on wood) For those of you who are thinking this: YES, THIS IS THE LAST CHILD WE ARE HAVING!!!!!! Can you say VASECTOMY? We’re thinking of planning one of those while I’m still pregnant. With our luck, Milenko’s little boogers have these red capes with a big “S” on them. I’ll end up getting pregnant the day I get out of the hospital. You think I’m kidding? Boy, you should know how our reproductive systems work by now!

Anyway, I think that’s all the news that I can handle dishing out for the time being. I’ll give another update in a few weeks when we go back to the doctor to do some more ultrasounds.

Have a great February and don’t get pregnant!