See the pregant belly?

T thinks this sweater makes you focus on my stomache. I can't see what he means... (ha). I think the tummy sticks out no matter what, so why not embrace it? People do make more pregnancy comments to me when I wear it though. He could be right. Anyways this was us a week or so ago.

The final countdown

Kelly here,
I am getting so pregnant and uncomfortable that I just have to complain and remind myself not to do this again. I am now 35 weeks and every move is a chore. To sleep is a pain, to eat is a pain (heartburn to follow), bending over, climbing stairs, wearing socks around swollen ankles, lifting 3 year olds-it's all a pain! A couple of my close friends here are newly pregnant and I say to them "that's such great news! Congratulations!" But what I am thinking is "run away!"

On the positive side I only have a month or so before I will get to meet that new spirit waiting to come down and be a part of our crazy family. There is a lot of talk and excitment surrounding the subject at this point, and I can't help but remember the overwhelming experience it has been for me in the past to bring a newborn home. They don't do much, but bring such a great peace and happiness with them that is felt by all. I know this child was meant to be in our family! T is certain it's a boy. He thought that with A too. Some of our names are Camille or Camilla, Eliza or Olivia. Boy's names are Maxwell, Sean, Seth, or Elijah. We shall see! I will look for a decent pregnant picture of me to post. I am really sticking out there!

That's all...

Faces

Pics of A going through different emotions.

Caribbean Bay

We went to this wonderful waterpark called caribbean bay. We went with a large group of friends from our branch. Here are some pictures of my kids having fun there.

Best toilet

If you were wondering where Seoul's best toilet was, we found it the other day at Emart. It was a nice toilet, and we were pleased to see that there is this contest going on, because there are some that leave lots of room for improvement!

Ultrasound

(We lived in Korea when I wrote this)


I just got back from my ultrasound appointment and everything looked good with the baby. It was kinda funny, at the end of the appointment a rather somber doctor brought us in and informed us that "we failed to find anything wrong with your baby." We thought he sounded let down by the good news. They counted all five fingers on both hands. A first for me during an ultrasound. At first the technician couldn't find the 2nd thumb but he persevered until he found it (folded over inside the fingers at first). He was showing us the face and pointed out that there was no cleft "rip." He said "see here is eyes, nose and rips" We were like- hey I thought you said no cleft lip/rip?!? We weren't really fooled by the pronunciation problem- just amused. Some other very fine news is that the results of the triple screen test came back with all favorable results. So we were very pleased to hear about that as well!

19 more weeks to go!
Kelly

PS This is not a picture of my baby- it's just an example : )

Pink shirts

Men in Korea have a different sense of style. Much more feminine. Pink is often seen with white pants and the thick white belts with metalic holes. You also see the 'man bag' as in the photo, here quite often. Seems a lot like a purse to me... I have seen a teenaged boy wearing womens low heels before as well- Oh where was my camera then! He had a very spikey hair style as well. The men spend a lot of time on the hair here. I wonder if they fight over the bathroom mirrors a lot. Could be a cause for marital strife.

Bowing for a living

Okay so this was a good example of the lengths the Koreans go to in order to be of service. This lady's job is just to bow to the cars that enter the parking garage. She stands there in the hot sun looking perfect and happy and she has two separate bows. One is the one you see and another is a fancy thing with her white gloved hands. She is dressed from head to toe like she is going to a business meeting. Heels, hoes, gloves, and hat. Now that is serivce! Or as the Korean's say it-"servicee"

"close mouth, bend eyebrow"

Well last Sunday we heard from a branch member that there was a poster up in a local mall featuring our son N. He has only modeled one time, and already he is famous! He sat for a Levis shoot a couple months back around the same time as E. I think both of them came away with a new realization of what hard work it can be and not really wanting to do it again. So it's quite fortunate that he was put up in the mall already with such little input on his part. We were surprized to see this scowl on his face and all his lovely red hair covered up. He told us he remembered making that face. They told him to "close mouth, bend eyebrow." He certainly followed directions! He also told us that they kept re-combing his spiked up hairdo only to put the ski cap right back on top of the combed hair. Like they would literally come over lift up the cap and comb only to cover it completely again- go figure. N commented that he liked his new fame and wondered aloud while we were decending on the escalator if he would be recognized by any passing Koreans. It didn't happen....

My son Ping

Isn't E the cutest boy in a Chinese hat you have ever seen? He is also seen here wearing his favorite shirt of all time. It's reversable which is a good thing since one side has a irreversable stain. So it's both sides of the coin- this shirt... hmm. Something to think about. Speaking of E- he recently became the first child in our family to own his own 100 dollar bill. Two of them actually! He has gotten on the modeling band wagon that so many American kids here do. He worked very hard for 2 days from 8:00 to 4:00 (and may I say that is way too long for a 9 year old to have to work). I was pretty tired myself and I was just sitting there watching. So we should be seeing him in some FILA cateloge come winter 2007. One of the complaints I did have was that the 2nd day they paid him in US currency. The exchange rate is bad for that right now. So she ripped him off about 11.00. I didn't notice until it was too late, and Evan was so thrilled with the big bill I decided to let it go. We probably won't do this again- too much inconvienence. Of coarse most of this goes into savings, but he did get to purchase a dragon necklace at the amusement park the other day that he is pretty proud of. It's a bit on the gangsta side for me. Next time Mom gets to help him pick...

Bravo your life

Hey there. Thought this sign was worth posting. We should all bravo our lives a bit more, don't you think? We have a lot to be grateful for after all. LIke the fact that North Korea couldn't get those missles farther that the Sea of Japan for one thing! YIKES! I am going home to Utah for a couple weeks this month and I am excited. 'Bravo my life' that I have a husband willing to take time off and watch our kids for 2 weeks while I get pedicures, facials and shop all over Provo. I guess the last 14 years of loyal service on my part is paying off. Just kidding- we are a partnership all the way. Thanks T- Bravo our lives!

Thought I'd say hello

Hi
It's Kelly at home on a hot Korean Summer day. N is away at scout camp for a week and we all miss him. I found it especially touching that the first morning when we awoke and his absence was a bit more noticable, D (the youngest son, who usually gets picked on by N) voiced his sadness at N being gone. He went on to mention how "long the scout camp was lasting, that it was 5 days and that 5 days is almost 7 days which was a whole week and if they happened to extend the length of the camp then N would be gone a week and that would just be way too long!"

I had to smile and feel a bit of remource that poor D doesn't get the kudos he deserves from his older brothers. He really loves them and he is smart enough and good enough and dangit I really like him! So do his classmates at school and church by the way. When he is spotted by any of them around town there is always the excited "AD!!" (no one from school calls him D- that is his home name only) shouted out from a long distance away by some child his age who is just thrilled at the possibility of seeing our little ball of fire. One day maybe 'the brothers' will appreciate his greatness. I guess all this humbling by his older syblings is character building for him though.... E and D are getting along great without the older brother N around though- not a surprise.

A was a handful today. She has it in her mind that we are swimming today. This is correct, but the pool does not open until 12:00 and when D had a friend's mom call asking if she could drop off her son to play A started asking for a playdate as well. I made the mistake of reminding her that she would see her friend at the pool today. She instantly darted off to change into her swimsuit. The problem here being that I am behind on the laundry and finding a clean suit was a difficulty and then encouraging her to get her clothes back on as it was still 3 hours yet until our swim time did not go over well. Sigh-reasoning with a 3 year old often ends in "stop crying about this or you will be in time out!" or worse "I am going to have to spank you." It rarely gets to that but still the threat holds great weight in her mind and so I milk it. It's very tiring. Good thing she is so dang cute. She has been included in the boys play today like no other day in history. She has been "Rosemary", D's daughter and E's neice in a little game the kids play called 'cow kids'. She kept calling E uncle. E had some offspring as well played by the local dollies in A's room. Cow kids is basically about some kids living it up in the old west. They use a lot of stuffed dogs and pillows and today E got out is guitar as well. Glad to see he is getting some use out of that musical instrument : )

Well I am being bombarded by kid requests right now-so I guess it's time to close... TNT (til next time)
Kelly

Scenes in Seoul

Here are a few little dittys for you. The first one is a misspelling of the word Nike. Look closely to see the word Nikh. Kinda sounds the same I guess. The second picture is just a nice shot of the loaded downess that the Korean's are known for when traveling on some of the most dangerous streets in the world- always a good idea to be as loaded down as possible. The others are pretty self explanitory- we love finding these mishaps in translation. It's one of the great joys in our lives living in a foregin country. Hope you enjoy them as well!
Kelly

please enjoy some pics of our recent vacation to Saipan! It was a blast.