32 Weeks

Less than 2 months left now! The kids are getting very excited to have Baby Sister join us. They hug and kiss my belly goodnight each evening. Jossy randomly waves to my stomach several times a day and whispers, "Hi, Baby Sister!" She loves to help me shop for the baby, too. This baby will not be lacking for love and attention from her siblings, that's for sure! (That is until she starts crawling and learns to steal their stuff . . .)

I'm hanging in here the best I can. Pregnancy pains definitely seem more bearable after going through kidney stones again, though they're still no walk in the park either. Sleeping at night is a joke, but I wouldn't expect any else at this point. I'm just trying to get things ready for this little girl to join us, and unfortunately having 2 other kids and being frequently exhausted make it hard to get anything done. I'm sure somehow we'll be ready. (I tell myself that as I lay in bed at night stressing out and unable to sleep.)

I tried taking a few self maternity shots this morning. It is VERY frustrating for me to not be able to be both behind the camera and in front of it at the same time. Dan will be taking more for me soon and I'll show all my favorites then, but here's at least two from this morning. (My husband hasn't even seen these yet.)

Heaven on Earth

So often I write about my kids since they're pretty much my whole life right now. But since I want to (someday) publish this blog into a book as a record for our family, I want my kids to know how much I value the temple.

I went tonight and did intiatories. As I drove there I felt so grateful to have a temple just 5 minutes away from my house. No saving months or years to be able to pay for a trip, no need to plan a whole day around being able to go. Dan got home from work, I left, and was able to get back as the family was finishing dinner. How wonderful is that?! As I sat in the temple waiting my turn, I felt thankful for the peace I feel there. There's no rushing, no kids begging for my attention, no grouchy people around me. So often all I see are smiles.

It's no secret that I hate doctor's office. They make me incredibly nervous, and my blood pressure is always through the roof. I learned a long time ago that if I want a semi-normal blood pressure reading then I have to imagine myself in a "happy place" while they're taking it. So where's my happy place? The Celestial Room of the temple, the calmest place I know on Earth. My last two doctor's appointments I've had perfectly normal readings. That's the power of the temple in my life.

When I left tonight, Jossy asked me "I go to the temple someday?" Her favorite song right now is "I Love to See the Temple." My kids both are so anxious to be able to go like Mom and Dad. Though I don't want them to grow up too fast, I'm excited for when they turn 12 and we can finally go together.

What Makes a Great Artist?

1. The use of a high quality medium

2. Careful color consideration and choice

3. Meticulously planned brush strokes

4. Proper seating and posture

5. Recognition that the arts are a serious business

6. The ability to force a smile for your adoring fans

Add all these qualities together and you'll get a masterpiece worthy of any fine gallery but perhaps best served as the pride of the fridge display.

*Brought to you by the same professionals who provided you with a Lesson in Table Manners.

A Helping Hand

I thought this was too cute not to share.

100 Day

About 2 weeks ago Matty's class celebrated their 100th school day. Each kid was supposed to bring 100 of something in a jar (so they could practice counting to 100.) At first Matty wanted to do leaves, but given the lack of dry leaves outside we asked him to pick something else. After brainstorming, he chose 100 keys from a keyboard. Lucky us we had an old keyboard in our DI pile, so we let him to go town destroying it. It became a family affair.

Jossy assigned herself the job of catching the keys and putting them in the jar.

Such a fun, quick activity on a Saturday! Matty's teacher was very surprised by his jar, which made it more fun. I love that he thought of keys on a keyboard all by himself.

FYI: There are 104 keys if you're curious. :)

Worst Week Ever

I just erased a whole post I wrote because sometimes sharing the whole truth is just too much. So here's a synopsis of it:

- Had another kidney stone in the past week. It was much worse than the last one, took much longer to pass, and was beyond a horrible experience.
-During that time, Dan had a major crisis at work that added to our stress level significantly.
-About the time the pain from the stone started, everyone in the house got the flu. My poor mom had to come take care of sick kids so that Dan could try to take care of me while I was begging to die for days from the pain of the kidney stone. (Drugs only helped 2 hours at a time, then I'd spend 4 hours writhing in pain til the next pill.) It has not been a fun week to say the least.
-While I was very anxious to get back to being a mom after that experience and feeling very grateful for that gift, I've only been on my own 2 days and I'm already losing it with the kids. Them and me being sick plus pregnant hormones just don't go well together I guess.
-Braxton Hicks are not painless for me. They hurt. Badly. I get them all the time.
-9 more weeks to get ready for this baby just doesn't seem like enough time. I'm quickly stressing out about how much needs to be done, but every time I try to accomplish something the kids or my health make me stop. It's incredibly frustrating.
-I feel like I have one kid beating me up from the inside and 2 others who are beating each other up on the outside. Why can't everyone just play nice???


So so so much more I could say, (I tried to say in my last attempt at this post.) But who needs a whiny, tired, grumpy, sick mommy complaining on their computer? I'm sure I've said enough. Besides, pillows are much better at soaking up tears than keyboards.

The Best Part of My Day

When I finally get around to going to bed (which is often much later at night than it should be,) I like to sneak into my kids' rooms and check on them one last time. Jossy's such a light sleeper that I can't always check in on her or I wake her up (as I did tonight.)

I love watching them sleep for 3 reasons:
1.) It means the day is over, they're in bed, and there's PEACE & QUIET!
2.) I often find them in hilarious positions and have to leave the room quickly so my laughter doesn't wake them up!
3.) Seeing them sleep reminds me how innocent they are, how quickly they're growing up, and how much I absolutely love and adore them. After a difficult day, I tend to need that reminder.

Such a peaceful ending to my day.

The Daughter of a Blogger

I really don't sit here on the computer that often during the day (I prefer to blog, e-mail and pay bills at night,) but it seems when I do Jossy knows she's better off to play on her own. What I love, though, is that she'll often bring toys out of the play room and set them up near where I'm sitting just to be close to me.




Too bad she's not as fond of putting her toys back in the playroom after she's brought them out.

Morning Ritual

Dan drives Matty to school in the mornings on his way to work while (with any luck) Jossy and I are still in bed. Unfortunately, the kids' bedrooms are directly above the garage. If Jossy's asleep, the garage door opening wakes her up. If she's been up playing contently in her crib, she's no longer content once she hears that door open. Either way, she yells and cries for me to come in and get her out so she can wave goodbye to her daddy. It's sad that without that stupid door under her I might be able to sleep in a little more, but I just don't have the heart to deny her the chance to wave to her dad.

Once I get her out of bed, she runs to the window and waits for Dan to back out of the garage.

They wave to each other and he pulls away.

If for some reason Dan forgets to look up at the window and wave, we have tears for the next 10 minutes. One time she cried for a full hour until I was finally able to distract her. I think it's safe to say he's loved.

Recipe For a Monday Night

Take one quiet night with the kids in bed by 7:30.

Add a tray full of homemade these,

Mix in these shows,

And finally add one husband going through childhood boxes to condense and sort through.

Stir together and you get one content Koreena.

We've been going through all of our stuff stored in the basement in an attempt to organize and condense before the baby comes so that we can have more room down there to store other items currently taking up the kids' closet space. I finished going through my boxes and now Dan's working on his. It took him about 4 HOURS last night to make it through just one box because it had so many journals and letters from his mission. He still has about 4 boxes to go. We got a working light installed this weekend in our bathroom in the basement (the only unfinished room down there) and bought a storage rack so that we can use that space for storage as well.

Being the sweet husband that he is, Dan brought his boxes upstairs to sort through and was even fine with watching Bachelor so that he could spend time near me. The chocolate-covered strawberries were just to make the night more fun. :)