Doing today...

Dishwashing is a favorite new activity in this house... Mommy's not complaining!

Also doing today... potty training attempt version 2.0 (or is it 3.0?) We're on little man underwear #3 with numerous attempts & no successes so far. Momma's a little tired of of cleaning up pee pee.

  

Also, pretending to read books and just generally being way too grown up.

I'm still not sure how it's possible to go through this much milk. And generally we're not quite so beautifully color-coordinated.

Sweet Siblings

I love seeing Kenna and Finn love on Gunnar so much! They absolutely love having a new baby brother and we're so happy how they have taken to him with almost no jealousy. Even though the demands of three can be overwhelming, I try to always stay thankful they are each so healthy!

Baby Look-alikes.

As I uploaded photos today I had to laugh to see more of my deja vu photos that I love so much! I'm sure that with three kids fairly close in age we're bound to have several photos in which they look just alike, and I think it's fun to document them together.

Here's a fun game of big brother/little brother:

And a little episode of name... that... baby:

(Kenna, Finn, Gunnar)

It's amazing how all three can look so much alike and yet so different, each their own little selves! I love it. Here's another just for fun:

(Gunnar/Finn/Kenna)

Easter Kiddos 2013

As a pastor family now, it's nearly impossible to get a photo of us on a Sunday. I made a specific attempt at dressing the kids back up the next day and taking an Easter photo this year.

This was the best one.

I just have to laugh- these things are yet another exercise for me as a mom in letting go of the 'perfect image' (literally!) and embracing reality just as it is. . We're immensely thankful for a risen Savior, whatever the photo may say!

(Kenna 4, Finn 2, and Gunnar 1 month).

Baby Catch Up.

Well, I knew it was a bit to be expected that a third sweet baby would be a little left out of the constant and consistent chronological record I dutifully kept with Kenna and only slightly less so with Finn...  but little did I know that this poor little guy would also have to contend with a packing, moving, unpacking, a new job, and a new church along with the other demands on Mommy's time of pregnancy and two big siblings! This means that there's been not a single pregnancy post about him since we announced it back in September (at which point I was already past the first trimester) and no pregnancy baby book or photo albums so far! (Although to be fair, Finn doesn't have any photo albums yet either- I'm hoping the boys won't really care about this much when they get bigger and won't take it as a sign of Mommy having favorites or anything- Kenna, who probably will be the only one to really care, already has four.)

Maybe the fact that I've tried hard to keep the blog updated will suffice- at least that's what I'm telling myself!

So I thought I'd at least try to play catch up with some of the belly photos I did sneak in here and there through all the busy days. Almost all of them were taken with the fancy photo phone Matt picked out for me, even though he does fuss about how he'd be happy to take "real ones" for me. Somehow it just feels easier to snap a quick one with my phone on the way out the door after how long it takes to get everybody dressed and ready most days!

Baby number 3! 

13 weeks:

12 Weeks 6 days

1st ultrasound! Pregnancy confirmed and ready to announce!

14 weeks

16 weeks

Momma had just gotten herself a haircut.

17 weeks

I felt so large already in this picture!

Partly the denial, but partly that little man has been measuring big all along!

It's a boy!

A friend kept the kids while we went to the ultrasound.

Kenna was a little bummed, but got right on board with brother #2!

I think the cupcake with little blue shoes helped.

18 weeks

Packing up the whole house to move, crashing on the couch at night.

22 weeks

Walking out the door, ready for church.

(At our new house by now.)

29 weeks

Matt bought me this Shelly Moore Band t-shirt for Christmas.

He was purposely hoping it would fit my belly!

32 weeks

I finally broke down and bought a few new maternity pieces, but refused to spend much. 

This shirt was one of them, $10 at Old Navy.

33 weeks

Against my will, finally wearing maternity jeans, also from Old Navy.

I hate how badly they fall down! 

This shirt was consignment, it's super comfy.

I know I did the cute little "how are you feeling" surveys with the other two, but to be honest, this pregnancy has been harder on my body than the first two and I've been trying really hard not to spend the whole time complaining. While I'm thankful to have stayed really healthy, there's been lots more aches and pains than I remembered. Maybe I'm getting older, maybe my body is saying three is my limit, or maybe being pregnant while keeping up with two older babes is just hard work, but I've been struggling especially at night with lots of pain and discomfort, and my old friend severe indigestion. And the Braxton Hicks contractions have been no joke!

We're also having a harder time naming this one than we ever have before. Of course, because we are having a boy, all I can think of is a whole list of girl names I love and I'm really struggling with the boy ones. We've agreed not to go to the hospital without a name settled, so we'll at least have a 15-20 minute drive to decide!

Thankfully, little man moves frequently and reminds me that he is almost ready to join in the fun chaos around here. Kenna is beyond thrilled "two baby brothers," and likes to say hello to my belly and give the "brand new baby" lots of kisses. Finn has just recently gotten into taking care of Kenna's "babees," mostly kissing them and putting them "night night." It's really, really sweet and I can't wait to see what he thinks about the real deal- although we'll have to watch him like a hawk! He is quick and sneaky, and plays a little rough.

Togetherness.

It's been such an amazing thing to see Kenna and Finn's sibling interaction over the past almost two years. They've gone from Kenna barely being older than a baby herself and fascinated by this live baby doll we had living with us, to two small things that seemed like they were the same age, to definitely a big sister/little brother relationship. The biggest thing they have conflict over is toys- Kenna is a classic oldest child and likes to play with her toys exactly in her very specific way, and doesn't want them touched while she's hard at work playing. Finn is of course, a classic little brother and delights in the crazy noises his sister makes when he purposefully messes things up.

This is usually how it goes: Kenna is playing with a toy. Finn takes away part of the toy. Kenna flips out and yells. Finn laughs and runs away with the toy.

But for all the times they don't get along, there are just enough times that they do sit and play nicely together to keep Mommy sane. And it makes it extra special to see them sitting and watching a movie together- they almost always choose to sit right next to each other even when there are plenty of other seats (especially if there's a snack to be shared!). It's just extra sweet.

This morning Kenna invited Finn to sit on the chair with her while they ate breakfast. It's funny because the way they are leaning it looks like neither of them are sitting on it. And yes, they are eating goldfish for breakfast- it was easier than an argument.

Dazed and confused right after a nap (we wake up slow in this family!):

They like to play "laptop" like Mommy and Daddy:

 Pretty much, we do everything together!

Even though breaking up arguments all day can be emotionally exhausting, there is a lot of sweet togetherness going on. Kenna goes in Finn's room every morning to check on him, and if he wakes up first from a nap he will wander the house asking for sister- that's if we can keep him from going in her room to wake her up. Their favorite game is jumping on Kenna's bed together at night before bedtime.

I can't wait to see what adding a third into the mix will look like!

History Repeating

So I've wrapped up the month of August where I managed to blog one photo each day (almost!) for the whole month! In taking photos and sorting/archiving them on the computer, so many photos I took of Finn were reminding me of older ones of Kenna at his age. I had to laugh when I found this entire post of uncanny photos where almost every one I'd taken of Kenna back in March of 2010 had a current "matching" sibling one of Finn!

I already blogged about the first one here:

Finn:

Kenna:

And then literally, throughout almost the entire post I wrote about Kenna at least two years ago, I realized I'd  taken one just like it of Finn! Here are the rest:

Finn:

Kenna:

Finn:

Kenna:

Finn: 

Kenna:

And here's one more that I previously blogged about:

Kenna:

Finn:

How funny is that? I'm not sure what that says about me or my photo taking (is something in my brain stuck on repeat? Hah!) but I'm perfectly happy for history to repeat itself a little bit with how quickly these sweet little ones are growing up. I love how everything is fresh and new and exciting with each baby, but also the younger ones remind you of such happy memories of their sibling at the same age. What a precious gift for God to give mommies in the quickly fleeting baby days!