Jen and Dillan Kroetch from Rimbey have done it again.
Not only have they had another baby, a sister for two-year-old Zachary and four-year-old Rachel, they have achieved the notorious claim to fame of having Rimbey’s New Year’s baby.
Twice!
Sweet little Olivia Marie arrived at 3:27 p.m. at the Rimbey Hospital on Jan. 5. The beautiful little lady made her entrance into the world with a head full of black hair and soft dewy skin and was Rimbey’s first arrival of 2015.
As it so happens, Olivia’s brother, who is now two-years-of-age, arrived at the Rimbey Hospital at 9:34 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2013, the first arrival of that year.
It was déjà vu for the family when the media arrived to take their picture.
“Here we are again,” said the smiling mom.
Although the babies were both first arrivals in Rimbey, there were some differences.
Zachary was due Dec. 27, 2012. Olivia was due Dec. 29, 2014.
Zachary arrived at 9:34 a.m. Jan. 1 after his mom experienced contractions off and on beginning at around 3:30 a.m.
Olivia was born at 3:27 in the afternoon of Jan. 5 after only a few hours of labour.
“It went pretty quick,” said Kroetch.
A new baby in the house to love and cuddle and watch grow is exciting for the whole family and Kroetch is happy with the age difference between her three children.
“They are perfectly spaced out and they will have a friend, always,” she said.
When Zachary was born the Kroetch family lived outside of Rimbey near the Medicine Lake Road, but they have since moved to town, so the trip to the hospital was very short.
“You can see the hospital out of my kitchen window,” said Kroetch. “It’s very close.”
As coincidence would have it, on January 5, 16 years ago, Kroetch’s cousin Rebecca Schafer was born in the Rimbey Hospital. She, too, was the New Year’s baby.