THREE

I heard it many times before and now I'm a firm believer.  The 3's are a lot harder than the 2's.  I didn't really get what the "Terrible 2's" were with Karis.  She was pretty easy at that age.  She maybe had two minor tantrums the whole year.  But now she can have two tantrums in one day!

She has been trying our patience a lot these days.  She acts like she doesn't hear us, she'll have moments when she talks with attitude, and sometimes she just blatantly disobeys us.  

Karis can get very set in her ways.  She'll have something in her mind and if it doesn't go that way she'll get quite upset.  It can be from her food to her clothes to the way she gets in and out of the car.  We've been trying to help her deal with disappointment, but sometimes she can be reasoned with and sometimes she can't.

It's interesting to see her be very particular in the way she plays as well.  She has a "rock garden" on the side of the house where she organizes the rocks.

The other day she took all her people and animals and lined them up and then gave each of them a piece of food.

It's fun seeing how her little mind is working and developing.  Her thoughts are definitely more complex and she has a lot of questions about every day things.  When her mind goes into overdrive, she starts to stutter.  It started back in January when she started her gymnastics class, and it comes and goes.  Certain things and events will trigger it.  We just ignore it and it doesn't seem to bother her.  It eventually passes until her next growth spurt of some kind.  

She's always been shy about speaking in front of people but lately she's been talking more to other people.  Even in a phase where she's stuttering, she's speaking up in gym class and conversing with our friends that come to the house.  I'm hoping she'll gain more confidence in her speech because she talks in great sentences to me and Derek.  

Mark Your Calendar!

This chubby little face will make his way into the world on Monday, May 14th.  I will be induced a week early to make sure he's not too big.  

Based on his current measurements (head, chest and leg), he will probably be around 8 1/2 pounds at full term.  The doctor estimated that he was 7 lbs 4 oz last week at 36 weeks.  Makena was 7 lbs 2 oz at birth!  Karis was 8 lb 4 oz, so this little guy may be our biggest yet.  

I feel like he's been growing a lot the last couple of weeks.  I can definitely feel the added weight in my belly.  People keep asking me if I'm ready for three kids.  I don't know about that, but I sure am ready to not be pregnant!

Roommates

In preparation for baby brother’s arrival, the girls are now sharing a room.  We put up our second crib in Karis’ room last Monday.  After about 30 minutes of giggling and talking, they took their first nap together.  Yay!  But, it’s been downhill since then…  On most days, they aren’t able to settle down to fall asleep for a nap.  It’s frustrating because I can’t make them fall asleep.  And even though Karis can easily skip her nap, Makena definitely needs one (and so do I!).

Makena is a light sleeper and Karis hasn’t mastered how to quietly get up and leave the room in the morning. Makena has been tired all week and she definitely hasn’t gotten her usual amount of sleep. We’re still trying to figure out how to make this sleeping arrangement work.    

I am however thankful that they both like sharing a room.  I tried to make it more fun by putting up some new decorations and “pinking” up the room.  It also helps that they have been playing really well together, especially now that Makena can understand Karis and communicate with her.  They’ve been great play buddies to each other.  

Here are two videos that show how much Makena loves to sleep!

He Is Risen!

It was fun celebrating Easter with our family and our church.  On Saturday, we went to my sister's house where she had a scavenger Easter egg hunt.  She made simplified versions for our girls.  They got to look for eggs with clues and collected gifts and candy along the way.

On Sunday we went to church where the children's ministry shared the Easter story, had an egg hunt, and a bounce house.

Makena caught a cold a few days before Easter so she didn't go to class.  I hung out with her and walked around.  Daddy was busy working as the day was packed with lots of people and things to coordinate and take care of.  But, he made time for his little one who followed him around and wanted to be held.

Karis smiling and trying to be cute as she puts another piece of candy in her mouth while asking me if it's okay.    

... and more candy in the mouth...

We had photo booths at church with tons of silly hats and props.  Here are a couple of pics of our family.

Time with Grandma

We spent the last four days visiting Grandma.  The girls really missed her so we wanted to go out there one more time before baby brother arrives.  It was pretty warm the first two days and then the next two days were unusually cool and breezy.  

The girls loved playing with Grandma, taking Riley for walks, swimming in the pool, coloring and eating lots of sweets they usually don't get at home.  Derek and I were able to sneak away to watch a movie and go out to dinner.  It's been awhile since we went on a date!

 

Today's Pics

It's 5:30 pm.  Dinner is ready.  The dishes are clean and the toys are put away.  Makena is downstairs looking at books.  Karis is upstairs drawing pictures.  And I'm at the computer blogging  We're waiting for Daddy to come home to eat.  We've been eating together as a family with all four of us at the big table.

Wow.  How different things are now compared to about two years ago.  Derek used to come home to an exhausted and cranky wife and a less than peaceful home.  The days have been a lot easier since the girls are older and a little more independent with longer attention spans.  But as I think about how nice things are now, I can't help but to think about how everything will change in about two months.

I wonder if adjusting from two to three will be as hard as it was to adjust from one to two.  I'm hoping it'll be easier!  Makena will be 26 months old so she'll definitely be a different kind of big sister than Karis was at 15 months.  Karis will be almost be 3 1/2 years old so she'll be pretty helpful and an old pro as to how to welcome a little one into our home.

I'm excited for our little boy's arrival.  This pregnancy has felt drawn out.   The extra weight has made daily activities exhausting.  My most feared words to hear are, "Mommy hold me!"  It has been a lot harder to get my gestational diabetes under control this time around which has added more stress.  I have more appointments each week than I care for.  But aside from all that, I'm just excited to meet our little boy ... to see what he looks like ... to have a baby again that will let me hold and smother him (Makena is so over that!).  Today I'm at 32 weeks.  Eight more weeks to go!!

This morning I took the girls to a bounce house place.  Our playdate got canceled and since it rained a lot yesterday I didn't want to take them to a park.  I thought the bounce house was the perfect way to spend the morning hours.

Kopycat Karis

I've been more tired than usual this past week.  The other day, it was a long day and I settled on the lounge chair downstairs and was hanging out with Makena.  Karis was upstairs practicing her letters.  She called me to ask me to come upstairs to help her spell "Fluffy."  I asked her to come downstairs so I could help her.  She didn't want to come down and I didn't want to go up.  I told her to just talk real loud and I would help her from where I was.  Here is how our conversation went:

"Mommy, how do you spell 'Fluffy'?"

"F"

"Okay, what next?"

"L"

"Okay, what next?"

....  We got to the letter "Y" ...

"Help me do 'Y'"

* sigh * I responded, "Look at your writing workbook and find Y."  

"Mommy, I can't.  Come upstairs and help me."

"No, Karis come down here and I'll help you."

She then responded, "I'm too tired."

Oh no she didn't, I thought to myself.  "No Karis, Mommy is tired. Come down here."

This repeated a couple times as we tried to convince each other we were too tired. 

One final time I asked Karis to come down.  

Karis responded "Mommy, I don't have time."

"You what?!"

"I don't have time."

"Karis, you're a 3-year old!  You have all the time in the world!  If you want me to help you, you need to come downstairs."

So, it has begun.  She's copying me by saying the two most frequent excuses I give her daily -- I'm too tired and I don't have time.  Yikes!  I didn't realize I say those things to her so often.  

A fun way she's been copying me is her interest in baking and making things.

I made a birthday cake for Makena the other day.  I try to do most of my serious baking during their naps as it's easier to do it without eager little hands that are so willing to help.  

When I was finishing Makena's birthday cake, Karis decided she wasn't going to nap.  She came downstairs and saw me using fondant and she was curious as to what it was and what it felt like. I gave her a chunk of it and told her she could play with it like playdoh.  I thought she would make some shapes out of it but instead she asked for some of the balls I had made and she made her own cake.   She also asked for some frosting to make the finishing touches.  

As she was finishing her "cake" I was taking pictures of mine.  She wanted me to take pictures of her cake too.  She then ran upstairs to get her own camera so she could take her own photos.  She was so proud of it.  It was so cute!

She was so excited to have her own cake to give to Makena.  She told me that when Makena woke up from her nap, she would show her the cake, say "Surprise!" and give her a big hug.

Makena Turns 2!

We told Makena all week that her birthday was coming up and that she'd be turning two.  Derek, Karis and I were much more excited than Makena since she really didn't get what we were saying.  But by the end of the day, she understood that a birthday meant lots of attention, blowing out candles, opening presents, new toys and cake!  

We started the day with some chocolate chip pancakes.  Good thing Daddy had her practicing blowing out candles the day before.  She did a great job!

After breakfast, Makena opened some gifts from Nana.

 

We then went to the Discovery Science Center to see the Dora and Diego exhibit.  Just like when Karis was two, Dora the Explorer is Makena's favorite tv show to watch.  Actually, Makena just likes to watch one particular episode of Dora -- Catch the Babies.

After a couple hours at the museum, we went to a pizza place for lunch.  Here is picture of the girls outside the restaurant.

Then it was time for the birthday girl's nap.  Later in the day, we went to Julie's house where Jacob and Jessi decorated with some streamers and balloons.  Here is a picture of Jacob and Makena.  Makena kept asking where Jacob was (he was in the bathroom) and wanted hugs from him.

The girls worked on putting a beaded necklace together.

Opening presents with her sister and cousins.

I made Makena an Elmo cake since he's one of her favorite characters. She loves to read his books, and she has an Elmo stuffed doll that she sleeps with.  

Our family!

Family Day at the Beach

I love that Derek gets a weekday off.  It's nice to go places with the kids without crowds.  Today was no exception.  We spent the beautiful warm day (about 80 degrees!) at Strand Beach.  

Karis loved playing in the water. Makena wasn't as thrilled with it, probably because it was pretty cold.  She was content eating snacks and playing in the sand. 

Bath Time

Leave it to big sis to make the doll pee pee on lil sis' head.