Yup.

Yeah! It's been almost a year since I've written on here. I'm super awesome. That's okay though. Everyone who reads this blog already knows what goes on in my life. Maybe that's why I haven't written in a while. Or maybe I should just keep writing and then print these all out one day for my kids. Good idea. Let's see...

We're still in Utah living in the same apartment. Hopefully not for much longer though. Our contract is up in February and we've been preapproved for a home loan! Woo! So we're going to start looking at houses soon. It's kind of a pain in the butt though. We've been looking online and we see homes that we like, but then the school districts are terrible! I can't believe that I'm in the point of my life where I need to concern myself with the surrounding school district. I mean what the heck?! Oh well. Luckily there are a few towns close by that have good (really good for Utah) schools so I think we're going to try and move to one of those places. Nick and I disagree on some of the requirements for our home but I guess that's normal. I really just want a pantry and a fenced in yard and a good school district. Nick's list is way longer.

Rory is about 8 months old now. He crawls EVERYWHERE. Like I turn my back for 2 seconds and look back and he's gone! Koen isn't too fond of Rory being able to move because now he has to share all of his toys, not just the ones that he brings to Rory. Rory is a big eater. There isn't a food that he doesn't like. Even those nasty meat combo meals. Yuck. But I'm glad because he's healthy. He's mostly sleeping through the night sort of. He goes down around 9 and then wakes up between 5:30 and 7 am to eat and then goes back until Koen wakes him up. He LOVES being around Koen. Follows him around a lot too. Koen can just lay his head on Rory and Rory will laugh for a long time. Rory is pretty obsessed with my hair. Whenever I feed him, he wraps his hand up in my hair. Then he yanks on it. It hurts.

Koen will be turning 3 in a little over a month. Wow. That's actually the first time I've thought about that. I'm about to have a 3 year old! Next year he'll be in primary! I'll have a kid in the primary program. Weird. We've been working on potty training for a while. I kind of gave up for a little bit though because I decided he wasn't ready. All of a sudden though he's been all for it again. Like today, he pooped in the toilet for the first time! I hope he keeps doing that. If I don't have to change anymore of his poopy diapers, I will be so excited. Koen is still pretty little for his age. I'm pretty sure Rory is going to catch up to him soon. Oh well.

Nick is still working and loving his job. He's been traveling a lot more that I thought he would be. In April, he went to Mexico, June he went to Mississippi, and then in July he went to Japan. Luckily he hasn't been anywhere recently, but he told me last week he might put in a request to go to Detroit. Yay. Of all the places I want him to go, Detroit is not one of them. He went there once last year, and it made me nervous. I never hear good stories about that place. We found out that if Nick does get relocated to Japan, the earliest it would be is 2015, so that's good to know. Part of the reason we're house hunting. We are so tired of living in apartments.

Nothing has really changed for me. I got called to be the beehive advisor at the end of May and I absolutely love it. Other than that, I still just stay at home with the boys. I need to start on their Halloween costumes soon. For our anniversary, I got Nick the first season of Dragonball Z, and Koen loves to watch it with him, so for Halloween, Koen is going to be Goku and Rory is going to be K(C?)rillen. Yeah. Super dorks. That's okay though because we are awesome. Rory just woke up from his nap so I should probably go get him.

Updates

Ok. So here is what's gone on since August:

• Early September we found out we are having another boy!! We are naming him Rory Wheeler. Bam. Both parties win with that name.
• We went to Arizona at the end of October for the weekend. It was awesome. Koen loved being able to play with his cousin Jaxon. 
• Koen decided that he wanted to be like a 2 year old and have his terrible twos. Yay. I'm so excited.
• He likes to throw tantrums in public now. People without kids give me weird looks. They must not have kids.
• We took Koen trick or treating. He was a hobbit. I made him an AWESOME costume. Complete with the ring (I didn't make that though). Had some crazy lady speculate on whether or not Koen was too young to be out trick or treating. Please. He was 2 (ish). Not too young. He knows what candy is and he quite enjoys it. He also kept trying to go into people's houses when they would open the door. Weirdo.
• We had a party for him on the 3rd with some family and friends. It was a blast and Koen loves all the gifts he got (Thanks everyone!) His two favorites though are the little cash register Grandma Robin and Grandpa Paul gave him and the Thomas book that Grandma Katie and Grandpa Doug gave him. Thank you for those wonderful noise making toys. 
• We finally moved Koen into a big boy bed. I let him pick out his own sheets. He picked cars (surprise!) He's getting a lot better about staying in the bed while he sleeps but there are still a few nights when we check on him and he's in the middle of the floor.
• He is saying words and phrases now. It's getting a lot easier to understand him. 
• He lets you know what he wants and when he wants it. 
• He just ate a pound of strawberries in less than 24 hours. Yeah. New favorite food I'm thinking. Too bad they will probably make him poop. A lot.
• I took him to the doctor on Monday and he went from being in the 25 percentile for height to about the 40. He also isn't gaining weight like he should be (surprise he's tall and skinny just like the rest of the men on both sides of the family!) I also don't think that they got an accurate weight on him because he was not holding still. At all. They were about half a pound off. Not a lot, I know, but still. It puts him up a little bit higher on the chart. Also, we got blood tests done on Koen earlier this year and they all came back normal, but now the doctor thinks there is a chance that Koen has Celiac's disease since he poops so dang much. If he is allergic to gluten  I will be very upset. So I have to take him to get the same blood tests done. Again. Wonderful.
• I went in to do my blood glucose test on Saturday. I drank that super nasty drink, then went in to get my blood drawn and they were like hey we don't have your paperwork and it's Saturday so the office is closed and the doctor on call is really bad at calling back so we can't draw your blood today. Fantastic. So I have to drink a super nasty drink again. Hopefully I can get that done today. Perhaps.
• Rory thinks it is a great idea to constantly step on my bladder. Or as Caitlyn likes to think of it apparently, he's doing that gangnam style. Finally looked it up. Yeah that's pretty much what it feels like. I can't wait til he's here. In happy news baby related though, only 11.5 more weeks!!! Yeah! And in that time there is Thanksgiving and Christmas! So time should go by really fast. 
• The other day (Tuesday I think) I was making Koen an egg for breakfast, turned my back for literally a second, turn back around and he's got his finger on the burner. Happy day. When the pain finally kicked in he was inconsolable. I tried running his finger under cool water multiple times, aloe, tylenol, but he wouldn't let me pull his hand away from his side. He just wanted me to hold him in our bathroom in front of the mirror. So I did, every time I tried to walk out of the bathroom he freaked out. He eventually cried himself to sleep though. On me. So I laid in bed with him and every time I tried to move him off of me so I could get things done he woke up and waved his hands at me like he tends to do if I'm doing something he doesn't like. After his nap he was fine. I hope I never have to go through that again. It is so hard watching your kid in pain knowing there is nothing you can really do after everything you've already tried. Haha now I know a little tiny tiny bit how mom and dad felt raising me. Haha sorry parents. I don't know how parents survive with accident prone children. And mine isn't even that bad. I don't know how they don't have heart attacks every single time something happens to their kid.
• Whenever it's time for a diaper change, Koen will tell me he's poopy and needs a diaper and then he runs and hides from me. 
• He sings to tv shows now. He sings to chuggington, the hot dog song on Mickey, and the Jeopardy song. 
• Thomas the tank engine is his new love. Whenever Nick or I pull out the x box controller Koen thinks it means he gets to watch trains. Only sometimes.

Okay so I think that's all the important things. Eventually I will post pictures. Maybe.

Funny things

Ok so Koen has been doing some funny things lately and I figured if I don't write them down then I will forget them, and these are the things that make his childhood awesome. So here goes. Hopefully I can remember everything I want with this pregnant brain of mine.

• Koen loves to eat frozen peas. Nick was giving him some the other day, but Koen acted like he was all done with them. Nick got up to put them away and Koen screams (literally) NOO! Then Nick brought them back over and Koen continued to eat them like candy (yuck).
• Whenever I ask Koen if he wants a brother there is no answer, but if I ask if he wants a sister he will reply "sitta?" Yes like a question.
• If he farts, he tells you. He giggles and then says "fot!" We are so proud of him for that haha
• His new favorite thing to do is grab my flip flops (which I stole from Kristin (sorry about that I meant to give them to mom to take back when she was out here)) and put them on. He usually puts them on the right feet and between the right toes too. It's crazy. Then he walks around for a little with them on all excited like. Then he usually trips and they come off.
• He pulled one of Nick's gargantuan shoes out the other day, stuck his foot in, pulled it out, looked at me and said "gucky" (yucky). I laughed for a while after this. Now he has started saying it with all shoes. He also likes to bring me my heels and try to put them on my feet (usually the wrong ones and upside-down but hey, he's a toddler so who cares. He knows where they go!)
• He has also started saying phrases. Mostly what are you doing or something like that. It comes out "whadodo?" Kristin should be able to know exactly what that sounds like because it's how Kimball says/used to say it.
• He also does really cute things too. My favorite is when he says "daddy? hum?" Which in my mind means when is daddy coming home. 
• He wants to brush his own teeth now. Randomly during the day he will lay down in front of me and say "ni ni? bush tee?" Then I have to be the bearer (barer? Caitlyn?) of bad news and tell him it's not time yet. 
• He rediscovered his blocks. On the "M" block there is a picture of a mouse and one of a monkey. He looks at the mouse side and says "mickey!" and then the monkey side and says "maky! oo oo!" He knows what monkeys say! Also whenever he sees his blocks he HAS to have that block. The "M" block is his favorite.
• The other day I taught him "Popcorn Popping" and he LOVES it. I sang it to him one time and after that he kept coming up to me and saying "pocco pa! pocco pa!" Popcorn sounds an awful lot like popsicle in Koen words so it took me a few seconds to realize what he was saying to me. Then I sang it again and he tried to do the hand motions of the popcorn popping part. So now whenever he wants me to sing it, he says "pocco pa!" while doing the hand motion so I know what he's talking about.
• We read him the Book of Mormon every night before bed. We got to the part about Jesus in the Americas and decided it was a good time to teach him who Jesus was. I was excited when he started pointing and Jesus in the book and saying "Jees! Jees!" I didn't really think he would recognize Him outside of the book, but much to my surprise he does. We were at a friend's parent's house and they have a picture of Jesus (one by Simon Dewey, love him) and it's sort of a profile shot, but Koen looked at it and got excited and started going "Jees! Jees!" I couldn't believe it! I'm so happy that he knows who Jesus is now. I can't believe he's old enough...it's so crazy.

So I think that is everything and then some that I may or may not have written about before. Nick and I haven't changed much in our lives. We bought me a car this last weekend (finally). It's old but it runs. And it's missing some things and the cd player doesn't work well (haven't told Nick yet) but  I don't care. I'm not stuck in the house all day and I can get errands done while Nick is at work! Also, with this pregnancy, it's going better now. I'm gaining weight finally. And, we find out what we're having September 7! That is so soon! And I can't believe I'm almost halfway done with this pregnancy already. I mean, what the heck? I feel like I just found out. Oh well. I'm just excited for this baby to join the real world sometime soon. I can't feel it move yet, but I want my body back. I want to be able to do things again to. Like be motivated to move around and not just feel lazy all day. One good thing coming from this pregnancy though is that I crave fruit like nobody's business. Mostly (only) oranges. I go through a 4 pound bag in less than a week. So today at the store I bought 8 pounds. And they probably won't last me very long. But at least I'm getting my vitamin C right?

Updates

Alright so I'm obviously super awesome at keeping this up. Since I haven't posted since March (whoops), here is where we are in life now:

•  We moved to Utah in April
•  Nick is working for a company called Autoliv designing airbags for Nissans
• Koen started nursery in May and I LOVE THAT HE GOES THERE!
• I am a stay at home mom
• I am 13 weeks pregnant with baby number 2

So pretty much that's all that's new with the whole family. Surprisingly, nothing much. But Koen has come a long long way. He's almost 21 months now. What the heck happened to my little baby boy and when did he get to be so big?? So I guess here is an update on Koen:

• He has quite the little temper now if you don't do what he wants (say, put on his shoes or go outside with him)
• Very big vocab now. Pretty much mimics almost everything Nick or I say to him
• He's in nursery now but he puts up a fight every week so we just leave him and then he's fine
• He will sit and watch movies now. Every morning I go get him and after his daily asking for daddy (because I get him out of bed because daddy leaves for work at 7:45), he will ask for a "foofie" (movie). Movies that he loves right now: Cars 2, Gnomeo and Juliet, Despicable Me, Tangled, How to Train Your Dragon...
• He tells you what kind of food he wants to eat: affo (waffle), oggy (eggs), fishy (fishsticks), and some more that I can't remember right now
• He gets really excited to brush his teeth. We tell him it's bed time and he says "bus tee? bus tee?"
• He lets us know when he is stinky. He'll fart and then giggle and say "fot! fot!" 
• He is still in the 0 percentile for weight. At least he was in May. He's been eating better lately so hopefully he's moved up a little bit
• He likes to throw his blanket over his head and then walk around
• He sees cars and not only points them out, but says "CAR! CAR! CAR!" over and over and over again. And then he goes "car! voo voo"
• He likes to throw his arms behind him and squat down and walk like a weirdo
• Whenever Nick sits or lays on the ground he demands that Nick lets him get on his back so they can play together
• He LOVES when Nick comes home from work. He runs from wherever he is and looks at the door and says "daddy?" It's super cute to me
• He gets into the dishwasher and pulls stuff out to play with it. I have lost quite a few of my kitchen utensils to him
• He tries to clean himself up after he eats. He grabs the paper towel and says "mess" and wipes his face. Or sometimes when I clean him up he just tries to lick the paper towel.
• He doesn't like when doctors come near me. I had to get my blood pressure taken today and when they put the cuff around my arm he started whining and saying "mommy, mommy". It was kind of cute that he was worried for me haha
• He watches golf with Nick and sometimes says "fo!" His grandpa Paul taught him to say four and swing a golf club to a ball. Yay. Another golfer in the family...
• He loves to find balls and say "ball! kick kick!" And then kicks them

So I think that's mostly everything...sorry it's kind of long but it's been a while and I want to remember these things. The other day I was talking to Caitlyn and Koen did something funny and I told Caitlyn and we both said that I needed to write it down, and later that day I couldn't remember what it was for the life of me. Now that I think about it, it might have been the fart thing...Hopefully.

So now I will complain about where I live. Haha! Just kidding, sort of. So we live in Utah now, and you would think it wouldn't be so bad, right? Well it is. The people here have all of their family around them so they don't bother even trying to make friends in the ward. We've been here since April and we have made ZERO friends. The relief society president hasn't said one single word to me since my first Sunday. Our neighbors are somewhat lame (Mike and Camille please move back here so we can be neighbors again). Once Nick was playing with Koen and the lady below us freaked out and pounded on our floor. Since this wasn't the first time to happen, I went down to ask her why on earth she was pounding on our floor at 4:30 in the afternoon (hello? Not even late) and she replied to me that it sounded like we had a herd of effing elephants in our apartment. I told her I had a year and a half old kid and he was playing with his dad. She told me to control my kid. HA! She doesn't have kids. But I went to the managers and filled a complaint form out. The next day there was an apology letter stuck to our door. She said she was sorry and embarrassed and wouldn't bother us about it again because she doesn't want to get in the way of our kid having a childhood. Funny thing about all of this? She's in our ward. Yup. Happy friendly people out here. It really hasn't been all bad though. I live sort of closish to Caitlyn, not that I see her ever haha. But when Nick goes out of town for business (man he's so grown up) I can go and stay with them. And there are some friendly people in our ward. I just am too lazy/shy (yes, I said that) to talk to people I don't know so I wait for them to come to me. It's a wonder I ever made friends haha. Sorry. I'm really not complaining. I know I would enjoy Utah more if I got out there and made friends. Nick and I are looking into some townhouses that are just down the street from us. That's where all the friendly people in our ward live. But we'll see.

I guess just to prolong this post I can write about my pregnancy. Yay! So we found out back in May, had the first ultrasound June 28, heard the heart beat today (July 26). Also, this pregnancy has been slightly more difficult than when I was pregnant with Koen. I know, I know. Not all pregnancies can be perfect like with Koen. This time I have had just a little bit of nausea, but no puking thank goodness. I have been really unmotivated lately. I feel bad for Koen because we don't go outside very often because I'm always tired and not up to chasing him around. I already have heart burn. I already feel like I'm showing. Also, the last 2 weeks I have been having a hard time eating. I'll get really hungry and then eat, but then I start eating and after 2 or 3 bites I can't eat any more. As a result of this, I dropped 4 pounds (oops). So the doctor told me if I drop any lower I need to go back in. She told me to have lots of Jamba Juice. Yeah! I love Jamba! Good bye money. Hello delicious smoothies!! One bright spot in this so far. We find out what we're having 6 weeks from tomorrow. Nick really wants a girl. When I told him I was pregnant he was like, "Well, it better be a girl this time." He's very excited for either. I don't really care what we have as long as it's healthy. A girl would be nice though. I see little girls clothes and hair things and it makes me want one super bad. But if we have another little boy I will be excited because Koen will have a little brother, and I won't have to buy new clothes.

Okay, so that's my life. Now I'm going to go and try and figure out Koen's halloween costume. Also, sorry there's no pictures. Look on facebook.

Almost done!

Alright so I am awesome at posting on this. I actually completely forgot about it. Anyway. Here is what Nick, Koen and I have been up to:

I graduated in December! Woo! Now to think of something to do with my degree...

Nick is graduating in a few weeks with his BS in Mechanical Engineering. Dental school is up in the air for now. Nick got a job for AutoLiv in Ogden, so off we go to Utah...yay...I swore to myself I would never live there and here we go! But honestly, this job that Nick got is an INCREDIBLE opportunity for us. We'll still be close to Nick's family and now we'll be a little bit closer to Caitlyn. I think this will make the move easier for us because we aren't going somewhere completely random (like almost moving to North Carolina for a job with Honda). Also, the Church is still everywhere out where we'll be so at least I know we won't be the only members for miles around.

Koen is walking and talking now. He can say: ba (ball), uh oh, dutduh (thank you), beas (please), no (not to sure how I feel about him learning this word...), ma (mom), dada (dad), whoops, ju (juice), he signs milk and all done...there's more, but I'm too tired to think now. So funny story about Koen's new words. I was at church yesterday trying to give him his drink, he looks at it, shoves it away while saying NO very loudly. It was the first time he actually said no in the context that it was supposed to be used in. Usually he just repeats it when I say it to him. Like when he's climbing on the couch or touching things he's not supposed to, I'll say Koen no no. Then he laughs and goes no no no no. He's a funny kid.

Tomorrow is my last day of work. I don't really know how I feel about that yet. On the one side I am so excited because I thought this day would never come, but at the same time I'm sad because that was how I got out of the house and had conversations with other adults.

I've noticed that God kind of plans things out for us and just lets things fall into place. I know this is a super random tangent but I was just thinking about this. He must have known (obviously) that Nick would need help getting a job, so he sent him to Japan on his mission. Honestly, if Nick didn't serve there, I don't know if he would have a job lined up at all. We are so blessed to be given this chance, so I hope that it works out. Also with this job, if Nick decides to stick with it, we might have a chance to go live in Japan for a year. Nick would love this. I would be okay with it, but I told Nick if we do, then no more than a year. Haha I can just picture Koen's little blonde head in nursery or primary or wherever he is with all the other dark haired asian children. It's a funny picture in my head.

So to wrap up what has been going on, I graduated, Nick is graduating soon, we are moving to Ogden in about 2.5 weeks, and Koen is doing what he should, getting into trouble and learning new things.

I would post pictures but I'm about 2.5 seconds away from chucking my computer at a wall right now because it's going so slow...so maybe another time.

Koen is one!

So I know his birthday was two weeks ago, but I still need to write about it. I cannot believe that my baby boy has turned one! On November 2, 2010 I went to visit the doctor because of the pain. I expected them to tell me that it was nothing and that I should go home. Instead, I found out that I was pretty much in labor. So, Nick and
I went to the hospital and a few hours later, we had a little baby boy. When he was born, he was 6 lbs 9 oz, 2
0.5 inches long with the darkest hair. He was little and wrinkly, and he was mine. Now, here we are a year later, he is 17.1 pounds and 29 inches long. He is still a little guy, but oh how he has changed in that year. Here is what he can do now: He pulls himself up on EVERYTHING. He drinks whole milk now. He can stand up on his own for a few seconds. Yesterday, he took some steps, but I think it was a fluke. He has his 2 bottom teeth, with 4 coming in on top. He knows what he wants and he will let you know if you are not giving it to him. He likes fishsticks (yuck!). Even if
we have just fed him, when we start eating, there he is, demanding that you share your food with him. He likes most food, especially if it is something that Nick or I is eating. If he is done eating, he will put it in his mouth, chew, then pull it out and throw it.

For his actual birthday, we had our neighbors over and had a little party for Koen. Mostly, he got practical stuff, a coat, jacket, cups, plates, forks...We got him

some toys too. Mike and Camille got him a spiderman ball pit. He loves it.

We tried to give him a cupcake, but it didn't work out so well.

I think that is everything that is going on with Koen for now. Oh.

We gave him a haircut today! First one! It makes him look like a big boy, I don't know how I feel about that.

Nick and I are still in school. I am graduating in about 5 weeks!! It's so crazy because I don't feel like I should be done. Nick will be done in April. He is trying to figure out what he wants to go to school for after he graduates. He is still leaning towards dental school though. I am so excited to be taking a year off. Hopefully he can find a job with his degree. Crazy thing though, we don't have a clue where we will be in 6 months. Kind of scary.

So. That is what is going on with us right now. Here is a last minute thought. Sort of. This is what Koen started out looking like and what he looks like now.

Goings on

So here is what is going on in our lives right now:

• School just started, it is my LAST one and Nick's second to last one so we are finally towards the end of our stay in Rexburg!!
• Koen has had a fever the last few days so I finally took him to the doctor today and found out that he is getting not just two, but FOUR teeth in right now. And to top that all off, he has a sinus infection. The last few days have been really hard on all of us, but this is the most snuggly he's been in a long time, so we have sort of enjoyed it.
• Nick quit his job (not ideal but with his school schedule, he honestly couldn't work).
• I still work at Subway (also not ideal).
• I am trying to convince Nick to attempt to get a job using his degree in the year that he will be taking off of school.
• We are looking at moving to Boise.
• Koen is all over the place now and moves everywhere super fast.
• Koen is about ten and a half months old now.
• I am not excited for this semester because I hardly get to see my husband EVER.

So really that's about it. Our lives aren't too exciting right now so that's why I hardly ever update. Sorry everyone. Not an exciting blog. Well, I guess I could write about what we've done recently because I guess we've done some stuff.

So we went to Utah about two weeks ago because mom and dad came out to visit (finally). It was way fun. Crowded, but fun. Then we went to visit Nick's family because they were down there because Kellie just had her baby. Koen has a friend now!! Anyways, they blessed him that Sunday and then pretty much left straight for AZ, so we helped them clean and pack up and whatnot. While the men were moving a couch up the stairs, they got stuck, something happened, the couch leg went through the glass part of the door, and glass shards dropped into my father in law's arm and he had to go to the hospital and get stitches. According to him however, it was nothing and he just wanted a band aid put on it. But Kellie and Robin made him go, good thing too because he needed another shot. So basically that is all that happened down in Utah, and some other stuff but since it's mainly family that reads this you all know what happened there because you were all there.

Also, mom, Nick opened those pickles and he says they are delicious. He says thank you and he is very happy about his pickles. I, on the other hand, do not like pickle breath. That's okay though, it's not as bad as store bought pickles.

Videos!

So I already put these on facebook, but here they are again!! Also, this semester is almost over and that means it is my last semester ever of taking music classes!!! HALLELUJAH!! Just kidding, I really like my music classes and I'm kind of sad. It's also the middle of finals here, and one of my classes is kicking my butt. That's okay though because I only have it two more times. I can do it! Nick has a lot of tests this week sadly. But then it is the seven week break and I get him all to myself! I am so excited!! It's been like a year since he hasn't had to stress about things. Although I think he is going to start studying for the DAT. Also, I recently discovered that Nick won't be starting dental school until the year after next, so he will be taking a year off. This is perfectly fine by me. I'm actually really excited. We recently decided that for a graduation/honeymoon thing, we are going to take a week long vacation next May. Just the two of us. I love my baby boy, but I sometimes miss the times when it was just Nick and I. Don't get me wrong, I love my baby boy and I'm not looking forward to being away from him for a few days, but I am in much need of a vacation. Also, I have discovered this amazing thing called kindle for my PC. This is a bad thing right now because I need to be focusing on school, but there are all of these free books that I can download. Such a bad thing because I would definitely rather read than do school work. Oh yeah, for those of you who don't know, I recently decided to change my major. The semester before I was supposed to be done with everything, haha. But it works out so much better this way. I don't have to student teach and I don't have to do a senior recital. These weren't going to really be possible anyway because next semester Nick is going to be in school until at least 5 four days out of the week so there would be no way for me to practice my music. But I am so excited. I get to graduate in December and be done and stay home and actually be a wife and mother. I am so looking forward to this. Anyways. So...let's see...these videos of Koen are a few days old now, so he actually is army crawling a lot more and all over the place now. Also, he claps way better now too. I can't believe he is eight and a half months old now. I don't know where the time has gone....

It's been a while I guess...

So I didn't realize exactly how long it had been since I had last written on here. I don't think a whole lot has changed with Nick and I. We are still working and still in school and I cannot wait for the day for it to all be over. For me that will be next April. Nick will be done next April too, but then hopefully it will be off to dental school after that. If not, then he's going to get his Masters in Mechanical Engineering. So either way, he still has a while before he is completely done with school. Things have changed a lot with Koen though. He's about 7 and a half months old now and it's crazy how fast those 7 months have come and gone. He sits up now completely on his own, but he still falls over every now and then. He isn't crawling yet, but he is starting to try and move around on the ground. He is trying really hard to push himself up but he gets really frustrated when he can't do it. He can eat all sorts of foods now, like meat...which smells like dog food. He eats crackers, yogurt bites, and little puff things, and he makes a mess with all of them. Now I'm trying to let him learn how to feed himself these little finger foods. Crackers are not a problem because they are so big, but once they get so small that all that is left is hidden in his hand he loses interest and drops them. He likes his juice too. I used to water it down, but I don't anymore because I want him to gain more weight. At the last doctor's appointment, he was in the 77 percentile for height, but only in the 1st for weight. The doctor wasn't worried though so I'm not. He was a little under 14 pounds last time, and that was about a month ago so hopefully he's heavier now. Let's see if there is anything else about Koen...Not that I can think of right now. Last weekend Koen and I got to go down to Utah with Kristin and Kimball to visit Caitlyn and her family. It was so fun!! It was crazy to see how much her girls had changed and grown, but it's been a long time since I've seen them so I guess that is to be expected. It was a nice get away because I got to just relax all weekend. Nick stayed home and went golfing with our neighbor and played video games all weekend. I think he really needed that alone time though since he's been so stressed out with school this semester. While we were down in Utah I got to see Nick's sister Kellie and her husband. It was awesome because it had been a while since I'd seen them. There was something else I was going to write about but I just completely spaced on it. I hate when that happens. So now I guess I'll put a few pictures up and hope that I remember what it was that I was thinking about. So, I don't remember. But I am also distracted by the food network. I blame my husband for this. But I love him. Oh yes, I think I was going to talk about Kristin! Haha! Well, sort of. I was just thinking about next semester and I don't know what I'm going to do. Kristin and Jacob are leaving us soon to move to Utah (I think). So now I have to figure out what to do for the next two semesters. The end!

Koen and Joci playing together! Because they're all at that stage now!!

Sisters!

On the car ride home from Utah. He was such a good boy!

Koen sitting up all on his own!

So when we were in Utah, Koen didn't have a bed to sleep in so we put him in a hamper! It was a little bit cramped for him because he was too long for it, but it worked out.

Nick and Koen playtime

My new favorite video of my men :)

Disappointed

So while Koen is sleeping on my lap, I will take this time to update our blog. Yay! So this week, all of a sudden I noticed that some of the things I watch are disappointing. I don't know if this is because I have a son now, or if I would have noticed these things anyway. The first thing was when I was watching Glee (for those of you who care, no I don't like where the story has gone, I honestly just watch it for the music). This latest episode was called Blame it on the Alcohol. For some reason this title didn't click in my head as to what the episode would be about. Duh. Underage drinking. Now, I know underage drinking is very common, having grown up with the family and fritnds that I have, just because I'm in Rexburg doesn't mean I live in a bubble. Anyway back to this show. So the principal asks the glee club to sing a song about the dangers of alcohol. Rachel, realizing she's never taken a drink decides she can't do this until she knows what it's like. So she has a party with all of the glee club. They get super drunk, most of them because there has to be a DD, and have a blast. The only downside they show to all of them being drunk is that they all come to school with a hang over. Then the teacher has a really bad day I guess, so he and the football coach go out and get drunk, where the coach tells the teacher, hey you can't prevent it, all you can do is warn them. Yeah I know this is true, but you don't tell teenagers and young kids who watch this show that. Isn't this supposed to be a family show? At least I think that's how it started out. Anyway. So on the day of the assembly, one of the girls says she's nervous about singing (Tick Tock by Ke$ha, seriously?) so rachel pulls out a concoction of all the left over alcohol from her party and they all drink. So they perform drunk and halfway through they all start puking. This grosses everyone out, the principal thinks it's all part of the show, and they don't get punished. I don't usually write about tv shows and such because I just don't feel the need to, but this just seriously bothered me. I feel like this show was telling kids, hey it's ok if you come to school drunk, but just don't let anyone really know that you are. I don't know, maybe I misinterpreted the whole episode, but I was highly disappointed with it. Then the other day Nick and I decided to watch the new Karate Kid movie with Will Smith's kid in it. PG rating. This may not be big deal to some people, but it shocked me. There was swearing in this movie. Not by the adults, but by a 12 year old. Have the swearing requirements in PG movies changed? I would like to be able to put on a KIDS movie and not have to worry about hearing that. That's why I like them. Also, I don't want to have to preview every children's movie that I get for Koen. I should be able to trust the rating right? It's really sad to me that society is letting things like that be ok for young children to hear. I'm not okay with that.

So that's why I'm' disappointed right now. In other news, Koen is almost 4 months old! Three more days and he will be. It's so crazy to me that this much time has already gone by. He hasn't really started doing any new things since the last time I posted, but he is a lot happier now. And he's more content to just lay on the ground and play with his moose or talk to himself. He still isn't sleeping the whole night through yet sadly. For some reason, he's all of a sudden waking up more than he used to. I don't know why, but it sucks for me because it means I'm getting a lot less sleep. But it's okay because I have an awesome husband. This morning, Koen woke up super early, and I fed him, but he didn't go back to sleep like normal. I didn't want to get up because we went to bed pretty late last night so I still wanted to sleep. Nick took Koen out into the living room without me asking him to, and let me get another hour and a half of undisturbed sleep. Oh how I love him! When I came out, Nick was in the kitchen doing homework, and Koen was laying on a blanket in the living room happily talking to himself. Until I came and sat down next to him to get something done. He realized he was hungry. So I fed him again and now he is asleep on my lap. And let me just say, he is like a little furnace.

Sorry, no new pictures right now, I haven't uploaded them yet and I'm too lazy to move Koen and go grab my camera. So later!

Three Months!

My baby boy is 3 months old today! Here's what he's doing now:

• laughing
• holding his head up much better
• chewing on his hands
• drooling
• blowing spit bubbles
• talking to the tv
• talking to anyone who looks at him
• loves his bath now!
• starting to grip things like his keys and his tag blanket
• only waking up twice a night
• going to sleep by 10:30 most nights

Also, on Monday he rolled over. Twice! I'm pretty sure it was an accident though. Here's what happened. I was over at Kristin's doing laundry and I laid him on his tummy. I turned around to get something out of the diaper bag and turned back around and he was on his back! I was really confused and for a minute I thought I put him on his back, then I thought about it and realized, no, he was on his tummy. So I flipped him back over and told Kristin what

happened, and he did it again! It was crazy! He hasn't done it again, so I think it was probably a fluke, but I like to think my baby is advanced.

Another thing, Koen sure knows what he wants. He knows how he wants to be held, and if you don't hold him right he screams. Right now his favorite position is sitting up or standing. He LOVES to use his legs. And to drool all over everything. Right now

his favorite thing is to sit in the corner of the couch and eat his hand.

Other Koen related things:

• 11.6 lbs
• 24 inches
• eyes are still greyish with no sign of brown (there is nothing wrong with brown, I just fear all my kids will have brown eyes because of Nick)
• all of a sudden when he sticks his hand in his mouth it looks like he's trying to pick his nose because one finger always goes up there

Naked baby!! Sort of haha

Another new favorite thing

Koen in his new favorite place

Koen has a new toy to help him with tummy time and he loves it!

Koen fell asleep like this on my lap one time and I just thought it was cute

Koen's First Captured Laugh

Here is our first recorded video of Koen laughing! He is really cute and funny to watch. He started laughing for us just a few days ago. Please enjoy. Also included in the post are recent pictures of what he looks like and can do. Basically has full control of his head now and he enjoys sitting up.






He is just chilling on the couch with me know while I watch TV.

Recently he learned how to hold his whole head up while doing tummy time. He enjoys laying on his stomach to relieve all the gas in his big belly.

Koen at christmas in Ohio. Very happy boy since he got awesome pajamas.

So I'm doing this on Nick's computer so there won't be any pictures from the holidays on this post. Just to warn everyone. Anyway. On to important things. Haha right. So the holidays came and went. They were AWESOME! First it started off with us driving to Utah to fly to Illinois, and we left on a Friday night because supposedly it was not supposed to snow. LIE. We get about halfway there and then it starts snowing so much that we can't see the road. So we follow a semi truck. Then we pull off in Tremonten and call Nick's aunt who lives in Ogden to see if we could stay there for the night. So we did. Then we headed down to Provo the next day to spend time with Nick's sister and her husband. Then we flew out on Sunday. Stayed in Chicago for a few days. It was lots of fun! Then we went to Ohio. Sadly I didn't get to see many of my friends but I got to spend A LOT of time with my family. I'm sad that we didn't get to do gingerbread houses this year. I was looking forward to seeing Dad and Nick working together on one. Let's see...all the grandkids got matching jammies but sadly we didn't get a picture of all of them. Also everyone else got matching jammies from mom. It was AWESOME! We really didn't do anything...the women went and saw Tangled with Chaela. Suprisingly it was really funny. I would like to have it when it comes out. Right now I can't really remember anything else. But it was fun just spending time with the family. It's nice to be back in Idaho though with just Nick, Koen, and I. Speaking of my baby, he is two and a half months now. So here is what is going on with him:

Two Months:

• Smiling all the time
• Getting a lot better at holding his head up, but not quite to where he can do it on his own
• LOVES tummy time
• Recognizes mom and dad's faces
• Starting to laugh (although I haven't heard him. He only did it for Kristin)
• Laughs in his sleep
• Finally sleeping in the pack'n'play instead of his carseat
• He is 23.5 inches long (one place told us this was the 61 percentile for height and another told us 75 percentile)
• He is now 10 lbs 3.5 ounces
• Getting too long for 3 month clothes but not nearly wide enough for them
• His hair is starting to grow back in his bald spots
• Loves to talk when he's happy. He takes after me haha

So that is my baby for now. He's pretty much awesome. I'll post pictures soon.

So this is turning into a really long post. But I wanted to write about my goal for the next few months. So starting on Monday I plan on starting Insanity. I don't want to lose weight I just want to get back in shape. Also, I want to start eating healthier. Not cut back on calories, just change what I'm eating. I should probably cut back on how much tv I'm watching, but I probably won't because I am out of books to read. Also, I want to start cooking more. I think Nick would appreciate that. So those are my goals for now.

And last part. I promise. We are both back in school this semester but it isn't nearly as stressful as last semester. Nick is only taking 12 credits, and I only have 6. This means we get to see each other more often! I'm really excited about most of my classes this semester. I'm getting ready for my senior recital. This means that the end of my college career is finally in sight. I'll be graduating in July!!! Also, I'm in this class called band practicum. I get to go to the middle school a few times a week and work with the students there and learn how to teach. I like this because it's going to help me get over my fear of student teaching. Also, I'm back at work now. I just had my first day back. It wasn't too bad. The only thing I don't like is that I am away from Koen for a long time now. I feel bad because Kristin has to watch him. Along with her own son. Not that Koen is a bad baby, he's just in that stage where he always wants to be held so she is always holding him.

So that's all for now I guess. And now I'm going to end this novel! Yay! Pictures soon!

Holidays

So it's the middle of the holiday season. For Thanksgiving we went and spent time with Nick's family. It was a lot of fun. While we were there we blessed Koen. Then we came back to school. Which was not fun. There's only a week and a half left though and then it's break time. This year we're spending Christmas with my family. It's going to be crazy. First Christmas with all of us together. And with all of the kids! I can't wait!! Really I don't have anything else to update on. So maybe I'll just put pictures of Koen up!

Two and a half weeks

So it's been a hectic time since Koen got here and I haven't had time to update this. Really nothing has happened since he was born. Let's see...I'm trying to do this quickly because Nick is going to be home soon and then we are going out of town. We went to the doctor when he was a few days old and was 5 pounds 14 oz. Then we went for a lactation thing to make sure he was eating alright and he was back up to his birth weight. Then we went to the doctor for a two week check up and he was 7 pounds!! He's huge! Haha not really but I can pretend. Also, I think he has colic. Or something like it. He likes to cry from about 10:30 to midnight almost every night. Nick's family came down to visit us the Friday after he was born and then mom and Kristin came the next Monday. It was really funny to see Kimball and Koen next to each other. Kimball pretty much tried to eat Koen once. It was funny to watch. Now dad's out here and it's been lots of fun having all the family out here. I went back to school last week. Not fun. Oh, so I guess I should write about when I went into labor...So I woke up Tuesday morning and I hurt a little bit but I wasn't having contractions so I didn't think anything of it, but after talking to my mom and sisters, we decided I should call the doctor just in case. The nurse I talked to didn't seem to think it was anything. She said it was normal to feel pressure but I could come in and get checked anyway. So I did. Turns out I was 4 cm dialated, my water thing was pretty much coming out of my cervix, and Koen was pushing down really hard. So the doctor was like, "Yeah, I think it's about time you had this baby. Let's get you to the hospital." Oh, ok great. So we went to the hospital, the broke my water (weirdest feeling EVER), and then they gave me the stuff that makes you have contractions. I didn't get the epidural at first because I could handle the contractions because they weren't that bad, but then they got bad so I asked for my epidural. It took them an hour and a half to give it to me. I wanted to cry. I hurt Nick's hand a lot while waiting for it. Once I got it though, greatest thing EVER. I was completely numb and didn't feel anything anymore. Also couldn't move my legs which was weird. This was about 5 at night (I was admitted into the hospital about 1:30 pm) I think, so Nick and I just sat around and watched tv for a while. My contractions were where they were supposed to be, but I wasn't dialated enough yet so we had to keep waiting. We watched Ellen, and she had Willow Smith on there and she sang that Whip my Hair song. It's weird and I don't like it. Then we put on a movie. Then we put on another one, and by this time it was about 8:30 I think, and the nurse came back and checked me and was like alright, we're going to start you pushing soon. Fifteen minutes later I started pushing. Koen was coming out too quickly though and the doctor wasn't there yet so I had to stop and wait for him to get there. And then by 9:10 Koen was here!! So I had a very easy/short labor and delivery. It's been a great two and a half weeks and I can't believe that I have a kid now. I just love the times when I lay there with him and he just looks at me. I can't even describe the feeling. I love being a mother. Sometimes it's a little bit frustrating because he won't stop crying, but it doesn't really matter to me. I don't know if that makes sense. It's another of those things that I can't really explain. But Nick is going to be home soon so I should wrap this up.

These are some pictures of mommy and baby Koen. He is doing great! Came out 6lb 9oz and a lengthy 20in. He is a really cute little string bean. Enjoy them and we'll update more later.

Koen is here!

another update!!

So I went to the doctor today again and things are progressing!! Koen is now around 7 pounds!! I'm at a -2 station, 2 and 1/2 cm and 75% effaced. I'm going to trust the doctor on this one because the nurse practioner told me last week I was 80% effaced. Not a big difference but oh well. On Saturday night I got really bad pains in my back and today when I described them to the doctor he was like, "Oh, those were contractions." So I asked, "Real ones? Not Braxton Hicks ones in my back?" He said, "Nope, those were real." I told him they hurt and he told me I reminded him of his wife when she was pregnant with their last kid. I like that doctor. Nick likes him too because he speaks Japanese. When he walked in Nick said something in Japanese and so they started talking and me and the nurse that were in there just kind of looked at each other. It's okay though because Nick never gets to talk to anyone. Sometimes our neighbor...Anyways. Back to my son. The doctor says he wouldn't be suprised if Koen comes out in the next few days. He doesn't think I'll make it the nine days til my due date. It's kind of a scary thought for me. I knew it was coming but now he's practically here. I still can't wrap my head around the thought that in just a few days I'm going to be a mom. I will have someone else in my life who, for now, depends entirely on me. It's crazy. Anyway. So I'm going back to the doctor on Saturday because even though he's growing, they want to keep an eye on us both because of my nephrotic syndrome. This makes sense. As the doctor put it, you don't want to get 99% of the flight done perfectly and then botch the landing because then the whole flight doesn't even matter. When I told mom I'm going back Saturday she said he would be born on Friday. Then she said if not Friday, then Sunday because that is the one day that I don't want him to be born. Dad disagrees. He says next Tuesday. I would be okay with Friday. Heck, I would be okay with tomorrow. But, it's all in the Lord's time and Koen will come when he is supposed to.

Koen update!

So a lot has happened lately concerning my child. Most of you already know what's going on but for those who don't here's what is going on. Last Thursday I had a doctor's appointment and found out that at almost 37 weeks I was measuring not even 35 weeks so the doctor decided I needed a growth ultrasound soon. So I got one on Tuesday and found out that yes, he is indeed small. They can estimate the weight of a baby I guess by measuring their abdomen. Koen apparently weighs about 6 pounds and 6 ounces which is small...I guess...but I don't think so. I would be okay with him coming out that size. So back to my baby. The doctor then decided I needed to come back on Thursday for a BPP test. This is yet another ultrasound for my child. It measured my fluid levels, his muscle tone, movements, and breathing movements. Everything was fine except for he is a butthead and would not do the breathing motions. This then led to me being hooked up to a machine with things on my stomach that monitored his heart rate and how strong my contractions were and then I got a little clicky thing to say when he moved. He decided it was nap time so they gave me some juice to get some sugar into him and wake him up and make him move. Which he did. After that they said everything looked fine and I didn't need to worry. Then they measured my stomach and I'm still barely measuring 35 weeks. So I'm going back in next Tuesday for another growth ultrasound to see if he's growing and if he hasn't or has for some reason lost weight then I guess it means that I will be induced. Spectacular. The only plus side I can see to this is that I will know when I am going into the hospital. My fear with not knowing when I'm going into the hospital is that I will go into labor in the middle of class. Or that Nick will be taking a test in the testing center and will have to have his phone off. Those are my fears. Anyway. I'm trying to remember if the doctor's said anything else interesting. Kristin told me to ask about hair and if they can see it on the ultrasound. They can. It looks like Koen only has a little bit of peach fuzz. So, sorry mom, Koen is not going to be a hairy little monkey like you thought. Also from last Tuesday when we were in getting our ultrasound, we had this girl who was like obsessed with his nose and mouth so she gave us a picture she took and he seriously looks like an angry monkey. Nick and I decided this ultrasound would not be going up online as it is not attractive in the least, but for some reason the girl doing the ultrasound thought it was so cute. Dang, I keep having thoughts of what else I want to say in the middle of writing something else and then I finish that thought but can't remember what I wanted to say. It's really frustrating.

In other news, Nick and I are still both in school and it sucks. For him anyways, my classes are fairly easy still. I get to sit around and make flowers. It's quite fun for me. And my teachers are being awesome about when I have the baby. My flower arranging teacher says I can bring him to class, and my art teacher says I only have to come to class once a week and they will alter my assignments AND I can bring Koen with me. Nick is still doing all his crazy math and science classes that take up forever amounts of his time. Earlier this week I went and sat with him while he was in a study group and oh my goodness I honestly felt like I was Penny from t

he Big Bang. I mean honestly. They sat there and threw out these huge words that no one in their right mind would even know. And there were jokes that again, no normal person would understand. But it's okay. Nick's nerdliness will pay off one day. And I have to throw out now that despite his nerdliness, it is part of the reason that I love him. Speaking of my wonderful husband, he has been great these last few weeks of my pregnancy when it comes to me being in pain. He constantly rubs my back because (here is a little tidbit I forgot to mention when talking about Koen) suprise suprise, my child is ON MY SPINE. Which causes me a lot of pain, so Nick helps me by rubbing my back for me. He is great. I also got to quit my job finally. And got my license renewed so now I can legally drive again (not that I know how to drive my car yet). Also one last piece of information about my pregnancy and then I will end this novel. Last Thursday (Oct. 14) I was 0 cm dialated and 0% effaced, and as of Tuesday (because I didn't want them checking again today because it is PAINFUL) I am 1 cm dialated and 80% effaced. Yes, I am finally making progress!!!

So this is something I get to spend part of some of my days doing. Personally I think it's great fun. Nick told me that I should spend my time doing something useful. I think this could turn out to be pretty dang useful one day. Maybe.