Life is Beautiful

What I wore when I was expecting

2013-05-23T14:56:00.000-07:00

dress: isabella oliver c/o | heels: oasap

With my previous two pregnancies, I owned one maternity item which was a top that I never ended up wearing anyway. I didn't want to purchase a maternity item only to wear for a few months, it seemed like a waste of money. Why buy an item that I only get to wear for a few months when I can buy another item I can wear forever? So even if it was tight or somewhat uncomfortable, I stuck to my non-maternity clothes that worked with my growing belly. But now that I own several maternity wear, I totally understand why other mothers buy maternity clothes! It is so dang comfortable! And being pregnant is uncomfortable to say the least, so even if you only get to wear it for a short period of time, it is so worth the money!

I love the drape of this dress I'm wearing, I think it is so elegant and beautiful. I usually try to avoid certain patterns or colors when I'm pregnant because it can make me look a little funny, like if it's a wide black and white striped pattern, I just look like a zebra, if it's a yellow maxi dress, I think I look like Big Bird, you get the idea, but with this bright pink/red dress, what's the worst I can look like? A giant cherry or a popsicle? I'll take it! ;)

What are some of your favorite maternity stores that you shop at?

While mommy was away, it was a party everyday

2013-05-21T13:25:00.002-07:00

While I was in California, I didn't take many pictures but just enjoyed spending time with my parents, my siblings(three brothers & one sister), and my sister's nephew and nieces and cousins. I went to the pastry shop twice and filled up on pastries plenty, ate lots of good Korean good, took my cousin's wedding pictures along with my 7 month baby bump(I'll probably share some with you later), and came back to my home sweet home, greeted by Jay and the girls with pretty flowers and lots of kisses.

While mommy was away, Jay and the girls had a movie night, baked yummy dessert, bought flowers and visited someone at the hospital, explored the dinosaur museum, got a kid's meal at McD's, ate root beer floats, went bowling, played dress-up, had a mismatch shoe day, went to the Kangaroo Zoo, and cuddled choke with daddy.

California

2013-05-20T10:40:00.002-07:00

the LA temple

love these jacaranda trees they have all over southern california!

Hello! I'm writing this from California, I've been here for the past 4 days! Jay and I switched off where last week he was gone to HI for a friend's wedding while I watched the kids and this week, it was my turn to go to California for my cousin's wedding while Jay is watching the kids. Even though I miss Jay and the kids(a lot more than last time when I went to NY for some reason), it has been really nice spending time with my family here. My parents and all my siblings came from all over the states and with 4 siblings, that doesn't happen as often as I'd like. And being 7 months pregnant and just relaxing and not having to chase around two little kids is really nice too, I must admit. :) I don't think anything else can beat having a me-time as a mom than taking a relaxing vacation without the kids!

When I'm not on vacation, I find some me-time as a mom by just winding down at night and watching t.v sometimes. I was asked by Lifetime to watch the first episode of their new show Pretty Wicked Moms and I was happy to do so because I watch The Real Housewives of BH and OC, and those shows always cracks me up. The moms in Pretty Wicked Moms lives seem so different than mine, and it's interesting watching other moms and how they go about their day and all their dramas they have. It makes me glad that I don't have any drama in my life right now! (knock on wood ;) You can watch the preview of their show here:

Tune in to watch parenting like you've never seen before with the first episode of Pretty Wicked Moms on Tuesday, June 4, at 10:00 pm ET/PT on Lifetime "

What are some of your favorite t.v shows that you love to watch?

*This post is sponsored by Lifetime. I was compensated to introduce Pretty Wicked Moms. Thank you for supporting this blog!

What I wore when I was expecting

2013-05-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

*This post is sponsored by ShoeDazzle. The writings and opinions are my own.

dress: asos | cap-sleeve shirt: downeast | wedges: target

photographs by Jessica Peterson

This non-maternity dress has an elastic all around the waist, making it wearable while I'm pregnant. It's not a floor length maxi so it stops right above the ankle, a perfect length when you want to cover your legs but still want to show off your shoes! Wedges are my favorite shoes to wear whether I'm pregnant or not, because it is as comfortable as a flat, but offers the extra height as the high heels. I recently found out about ShoeDazzle and they offer an awesome selection of wedges, at a price of $40. I picked my favorites pictured below, but you can take a style quiz and get a personal stylist experience curated by their design team, as well as get styling tips from Rachel Zoe, ShoeDazzle's chief stylist.

p.s. take the personal style quiz and get 25% off your first order.

On another note, I received some honest feedback from my 5 year old daughter last night. She offered a family prayer before bedtime and she said in her prayer, "Heavenly Father, please help that mommy will stop being so boring and play with us more..."

After the prayer, I asked her, "Adi, am I really that boring?" She said, "Yes, you are super boring ever since you got a baby in your belly. All you do is sleep and watch us play."

These darn kids. When kids give you a feedback, you know there's no way of disputing it because it's always true. :)

Mother's Day without my husband

2013-05-14T09:49:00.002-07:00

Jay was in Hawaii the past 5 days for his best friend's wedding, which happened to fall right on Mother's Day weekend, so we celebrated without him. Jay felt really bad(but not bad enough to stop him from sending me pictures of him happily devouring all the delicious food he ate!), but I always thought of Mother's Day as a day of celebrating my mother, and I was happy Jay got to spend it with his mother since it's been about 10 years since he celebrated it with his mom! My mother and I live within 5 miles of each other, so I was able to celebrate it with her and we had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. My parents and my girls and I went out to eat on Saturday and on Sunday I received these gifts from my girls.

With the help of daddy, they made adorable cards for me as well. So this was what they were working on the night before Jay left and they turned on the music out loud and wouldn't let me go near the living room for an hour!

❤Card from Ana:❤

♡ how do you know mom loves you?

❤ she kisses me even when she's mad

♡ how are you and mom different?

❤ short and long hair. other than that, we are the same. we go potty at the same time a lot.

♡ how are you and mom the same?

❤ we both like butterflies

♡ where is mom's favorite place to go?

❤ fun center with me

♡ what do you and mom do together?

❤ go to classic fun center

♡ what is your favorite food that mom cooks?

❤ toast with white powdered sugah

♡ what cartoon character would mom be?

❤ a music one cause she sings good

♡ what does mom do for work?

❤ hard stuff

♡ what is mom's favorite food?

❤ any dessert!

♡ what makes you proud of mom?

❤ she is my favorite mommy

♡ something mom always says to you?

❤ don't whine or cry

♡ what makes mom happy?

❤ if I stop whining and crying

♡ what makes mom sad?

❤ when I be mean to Adi

♡ how tall is mom?

❤ just a little medium

♡ how old is mom?

❤ 16

♡ what is mom's favorite thing to do?

❤ nap

♡ what does mom do when you're not around?

❤ look for me

♡ how does mom make you laugh?

❤ farts and tickles me

♡ what is mom really good at?

❤ she's good at making baby in her belly

❤Card from Adi:❤

♡ something mom always says to you?

❤ to listen when she tells me one time

♡ what is your mom's favorite thing to do?

❤ nap

♡ what does mom do when you're not around?

❤ look on boring computer and boring phone

♡ how old is mom?

❤ 11

♡ how does mom make you laugh?

❤ tickle my neck

♡ what makes mom happy?

❤ if we listen to her

♡ what makes mom sad?

❤ when we don't listen, she gets strange and stuff

♡ what does mom do for work?

❤ clean the whole house and cook and nap a lot

♡ how tall is mom?

❤ medium, just little taller than me

♡ what do you and mom do together?

❤ hug, kiss, cuddle, take pictures and watch movies

♡ what cartoon character would mom be?

❤ Rapunzel cause she's my favorite and mom's my favorite

♡ what makes you proud of mom?

❤ I just love her

♡ what is mom's favorite food?

❤ saimin cause she always eats if and even when I wake up in the morning, I find saimin bowls

♡ what is mom's favorite place to go?

❤ new york

♡ how are you and mom the same?

❤ we both have black hair and I fit her clothes since we're same size

♡ how do you know mom loves you?

❤ she gives me choke hugs and kisses and even if she doesn't say it, I know!

♡ what is your favorite food that mom cooks?

❤ spaghetti, and when she lets me drink juice

♡ how are you and mom different?

❤ she cooks and I don't. and I have shorter hair and she has bigger boobs.

After reading the card out loud with the girls and laughing, I said to them, "Do you know what else I want for Mother's Day? Choke hugs and kisses(choke=hawaiian for many)!!!" And Adi exclaimed excitedly, "THAT'S WHAT I LOVE!!!" as both of them piled on me to give me many hugs and kisses. I love spending my life with these girls. They make me so incredibly happy.

The perfect Mother's Day gift

2013-05-10T12:50:00.003-07:00

photo by Jessica Peterson

Growing up, I always wished I had more money around Mother's Day so I could buy my mom fancy gifts and things she really loved instead of my lame homemade card or a small, simple gift. I felt a little foolish for only being able to give something so little to my mother who's done everything for me and thought, "Oh how she would love to receive a fancy new dress instead of this journal I got for her! Or an expensive handbag! One day when I get older and have more money, I will be sure to spoil her with all those things and give her what she would really want for Mother's Day..."

Now that I have my own children and I'm older & do spoil my mother with things, I realize how wrong I was! The perfect Mother's Day gift is a homemade card or a small, simple gift. That is all I ever want for any occasion of mine whether it's a birthday, Valentine's day, Mother's Day, or an anniversary. Spending money is easy and doesn't require much time, but a thoughtful Mother's Day card or a small thoughtful present(homemade is the best and my personal favorite from my husband- a poem!) telling me how much they love and appreciate me? No money could ever buy the happiness, satisfaction, and pride I feel from receiving those gifts.

Both of my daughters made me something in Preschool and while their teachers told them it was to be a surprise, my youngest couldn't contain her excitement so she already let me get a sneak peek and I am so excited to receive it on Mother's Day! It's a peacock she painted using her hand print on a white tile and in the back she wrote why she loves her mommy. It's the perfect gift and I can't think anything else I'd rather have. Well, besides plethora of kisses and hugs I would love to receive on Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my mother and my mother in law, and happy Mother's Day to all the women in the world! I believe this holiday is not just for women with children, but for every single woman because we are all mothers in some way, always nurturing, teaching, and helping someone outside of ourselves. May you have a beautiful Mother's Day.

Achilles's new cuddle buddy

2013-05-09T10:24:00.001-07:00

What I wore when expecting w/ Pink Blush + giveaway

2013-05-07T13:44:00.003-07:00

outfit 1: sunglasses: chicnova c/o | dress: PinkBlush | necklace: hm | wedges: target

outfit 2: sunglasses: asos | dress: PinkBlush | bag: brahmin

Photographs by Jessica Peterson.

Today we have a giveaway for you by PinkBlush Maternity, a site offering many cute maternity clothing for expecting mothers. If I had to pick one type of dress to wear during pregnancy, it would be a maxi dress because the long length drapes over the baby bump beautifully and it also hides the swollen legs and ankles I have during my late pregnancy. PinkBlush Maternity offers many types of beautiful maxi dresses as you can see here, and at such affordable prices too! Both of the maxi dresses I'm wearing is made of very light fabric with a lot of stretch to make sure it moves with me comfortably, and it's a perfect thing to throw on over my head when I'm getting ready and want to get out the door without spending much time deciding what to wear on top and bottom. And my favorite part? I can wear these dresses post pregnancy. Just put on a belt and I'm good to go!

PinkBlush Maternity is offering one lucky reader a $50 giftcard to their store and the giveaway is open to everyone. To enter the giveaway, please visit their store and comment below with your favorite item from the store. This giveaway will run until Friday, May 17th.

For extra entries:

-"Pin" a favorite item from PinkBlush Maternity onto Pinterest and tell us the link.

-"Like" PinkBlush Maternity on Facebook.

-Tell us which expecting mother you're entering for!

-Follow Life is Beautiful via email or GFC.

-"Like" S.T Collection on Facebook.

Best luck!

May 5th

2013-05-05T22:47:00.000-07:00

May 5th is a holiday in Korea called Children's Day. Children's Day is a day of showing respect and celebrating their happiness and it was one of my favorite holidays while growing up in Korea. School is closed for the day, many restaurants are free for the kids, and they have many fun contests/games for the kids to participate in. So now, we celebrate Children's Day in my own family.

Since May 5th fell on a Sunday, we celebrated the holiday the day before on Saturday. The day started with going to cheer Jay at his half marathon.

the girls wanted to wear their metals just like dad and Adi also grabbed a cone

to use as a speaker phone so she could cheer for her daddy.

there he is!

and there he goes! then we drove and went to the finish line to wait for him there.

he did it! he placed 42nd place in his age division which is not too shabby
especially for his first half marathon! I am so proud of him!

Then we went to go watch The Croods, and after the movie we went shopping where every member of our family got to pick out something from the store. Jay got a pair of pants, I got a maxi dress, Adi got a pair of shorts and a dress(to share with Ana too), and Ana got a pair of "mint sparkly slippers" as she calls it.

Then we finished the day by going to eat at Sizzler's. We love their parmesan toasted bread! If you've been to Sizzler's, you know that place is dominated by all the cute senior citizens. And every time we go there, Jay and I talk about how we're going to be one of them one day, going there every week with our senior citizen discounts. ;)

Happy Children's Day!

Why I'm gonna hide my kids from the internet from now on

2013-05-02T15:46:00.000-07:00

Hello!

First of all, have you noticed something a little different around here? I changed the blog name to Our Life is Beautiful(www.ourlifeisbeautiful.com). Ever since I watched the movie Life is Beautiful when I was 14 years old, that's been my motto. I had it under my profile on Facebook when I first signed up for Facebook 7 years ago, on Twitter, it's the name of my journal, you get the idea. When I say Our life is Beautiful, I mean everyone's life is beautiful, and I'm not just talking about our family.

Another change I've made to the blog is only the blog posts I've written the past several months are up, except for the DIY & the recipe posts, which are all up. I will be going through the rest of my old archives and carefully selecting which posts/pictures I'll be posting of my kids. Anything too personal or detailed photographs of my kids and other kids I have posted will be deleted. This is something I've been thinking about for a long time, and for about a year or so, I've been more aware and very careful about what I post about my children and deliberately posting distant pictures of my kids and nothing that they'd be embarrassed or uncomfortable about. I think I posted one picture of my first child in a diaper when only my family and very close friends read the blog in the very beginning, but I stopped and never have I posted pictures of them going potty or their excrement or any stories that are too much information. So I thought I was good, but what was my definition of too personal? After reading this and this story, my definition of personal has definitely changed. Now, I'm just down right paranoid with even posting pictures of them fully clothed! But I think being paranoid is good, especially when it comes to the privacy of my kids.

The first story I linked to is about a mother who found her kids' pictures on a pedophile website. And she says she saw many pictures of other kids, even the very innocent pictures of kids where they were fully clothed. She said there's something about the innocence of the pictures that draws these people in, as well as the not so innocent pictures. Then I scanned in my head all the pictures I posted of my kids on the blog, ones that are close shots of their face, them in a swimsuit, casual pictures of them playing fully clothed, any information about their favorite toy, food, game, oh my gosh, what have I done? Now, I'm not going to completely hide them from the internet, but it definitely made me think about my kid's privacy in general.

Then I asked myself the following questions:

1. Will my kids most likely say, "Mom, I wish you posted even more pictures of me on the internet for all your friends/acquaintances/strangers to see." or "Mom, I wish you didn't post so many pictures of me for the world to see."

2. How would I feel if I found out one day that my mom kept a blog to document my life that posted close up, detailed pictures of me on a regular basis with my milestones, dislikes, likes, preferences, quirks, videos of me singing, saying my first word, etc. on a private blog that's read by her friends and acquaintances? How about if it was on a very public blog that's read by thousands?

3. How would it make me feel knowing that not only my mom's friends and acquaintances basically watched me grow up, but by thousands of strangers?

4. How would I feel if my mom started a blog right now and posted bunch of pictures of me and things about me without asking for my permission first? That she didn't even give me a chance to voice my opinion or edit any of the content myself before approving it?

5. Do I want to use my kids as a brand? A marketing tool for my blog?

6. Because they're my kids, does that mean I have the right to do whatever I want with them? They have every right to their privacy. They might be too young now but a day will come when they'll be able to voice their preferences, vulnerability, and opinions. Just because they are too young to comprehend and voice their opinions now, doesn't mean I can just assume they won't care when they get older and won't mind it.

7. How will they feel about the blog when they find out about it when they're 12 years old?

8. Just like when I meet my parents' friends and they say to me, "I used to change your diaper!", "You were always just in your diapers running around the house!" I'd feel awkward and vulnerable, is that how my kids would feel when my friends/acquaintances/or even strangers say to them, "Hey, I know you! I watched you grow up since you were born through the blog, I feel like I already know you!"

So no more close shots of my kids, or anything embarrassing or personal, videos that I think are cute that they might feel bashful and vulnerable by, only pictures from a distance, and vague things about my kids.

That means this blog will probably be more about my life, more pictures of just me(yay for narcissism!), more about my dog, more sewing maybe? I guess we will see! But thank you for sticking around and for reading this blog of mine. It means a lot to me. Really, it does, so THANK YOU.

'Twas not a good day

2013-05-01T10:11:00.003-07:00

The day started badly when we were running late to meet a friend for a photo shoot. The girls were not cooperating with me to get ready and out the door, and when I finally got them all ready and about to load them in the car, I was brilliant enough to push the garage door open and then just a few seconds later push the button for our minivan's trunk to open. Two powerful, stubborn automatic doors opening at the same time is never a good idea, and the metal lever part on the bottom of the garage got stuck right under the frame piece of the trunk. And it was stuck there good. I pushed the garage door button in hopes that the garage door will start going down and I'd be able to push down the trunk too, but it was stuck together and it had no intentions of coming apart. I tried a couple more times but it just made it worse and the metal lever kept digging in deeper and scratching our brand new car. Not knowing what else to do, I called Jay and waited for him to get home. When he got home, he was able to separate the two in about 5 minutes(I don't even know how he did it, I ran inside the home to check on the kids and when I came back out, he was done!), but the garage is now broken and the frame piece on the minivan came out and there are deep scratches now.

Thankfully, Jay wasn't mad and I loaded up the kids and drove 45 mins. to meet a friend. We decided to meet up for lunch first since I was running super late by this time so we had lunch together and then we drove to her studio. I parked my car by the busy road and opened the passenger door to get my stuff out and the door flung open by itself due to the slanted road and smacked right into the metal pole I happened to park right next to! I had to close the door with much force since it hit the pole pretty hard and got stuck and it had scratched and dented the corner of the door about 2 inches. At the same time, one of my girls spilled a smoothie all over the car seat and the carpet of the car. After I cleaned up the mess as best as I could, I managed to get all my stuff out of the car holding a big bag of shoes, 8 dresses, a purse, my friend's leftover food she forgot to take with her from the restaurant, and an i-pad. It was too many for me to hold so I dropped some stuff on the ground and punctured a hole on my friend's leftover doggy bag, causing the soup to spill out and get it on some on the dresses I was holding. While this was happening, the girls were whining and fussing about how cold and windy it was so I irritably told them to open the door and get inside the building. So Adi tried to open the door but it was those glass/metal doors that were too heavy for her so she opened just a little bit and then let go and the inside of her big toe was in the way and got cornered in with the metal edges of the door. So she's screaming and crying, but not knowing what exactly happened, I scolded her for whining and crying and we proceeded inside the building. When I saw her bleeding toe, I felt sorry for her and then I got mad at myself for getting mad at her and then of course lovely thoughts flew in my head about me being such a wonderful mom and how am I going to handle 3 kids when my mind feels like it's going to explode with so many chaos going on simultaneously sometimes.

After cleaning up her toe and the photo shoot, I was exhausted but I had promised to take them to the aquarium so we went there for 30 mins. before we had to drive the 45 mins. back to make it in time to feed them dinner and their dance class. While I was driving back, Jay calls me and he was fuming and told me about this shocking event that had just happened to him on the way home from work. After hearing his story(sorry, I asked Jay if I could share the story but he said no), I thought, okay I guess my day hasn't been as bad but man, 'tis not a good day for me or Jay!

I am so glad this day is over.

Ice Skating

2013-04-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

We went ice skating. When I say we, I mean Jay and the girls were ice skating while I was sitting up on the benches watching them ice skate while I munched on bunch of snacks and took pictures. There was the cutest daddy and daughter duo at the rink where the girl had on a full on figure skating costume and the dad was teaching her how to skate. He must have been a professional figure skater, because dang, he was good. The little girl didn't look a day older than 3 years old but she was already very impressive as well. It was the cutest sight watching the dad hold the girl's both hands while teaching her how to skate backwards, with the little girl mimicking her dad's every move.

I told Jay to be like that dad and teach our girls some serious skills and he showed me this. You'll be able to tell from the video but Jay took some ice skating lessons in his younger years too. He almost became a professional figure skater but decided not to in order to pursue sports.

BBQ with friends

2013-04-29T09:56:00.004-07:00

We had a B.B.Q at a park with some friends. All the little kids were obsessing over Achilles and fought over who got to take turns holding his leash, the kids loved rolling down the hill with the red inflatable ball(I would've totally done it too if I wasn't prego!), and there was so much good food but my favorite was a roasted bratwurst and sauerkraut cooked in beer. It was delicious. Achilles didn't mind how the little kids fed him some hot dogs while we weren't looking either. ;)

I'm so happy it's B.B.Q weather now. I can't wait to have more!

What I wore when I was expecting

2013-04-25T10:27:00.001-07:00

outfit: striped sailor dress: eshakti c/o | cardigan: victoria's secret | wedges: target

photos: Jessica Peterson

Dresses that have an elastic gathered fabric are one of my favorite items to wear when I'm expecting. Not only does this dress work when I'm not expecting, it stretches with me every step of the pregnancy and hugs the body in a way that is very fitting and flattering, not making me appear bigger than I am. This dress was custom tailored by Eshakti's, which is their specialty where every design you can customize to your own body size and styles such as length, neckline, and sleeves. And if you've noticed, I wear mainly dresses while I'm expecting because it is just so comfortable!

On another note, at church this past Sunday I passed by a fellow church member/neighbor and she says to me smiling and happily, "Oh my goodness, I almost didn't even recognize you!" so I asked her, "What do you mean you almost didn't recognize me?" and she said, "I'm just so used to seeing you skinny!"

I found her honesty mostly funny and refreshing(mostly, not entirely) but you probably shouldn't say that to any women, especially a pregnant woman for that matter. ;)

Swagger wagon

2013-04-23T09:35:00.003-07:00

We got a minivan. Yes, we got a minivan. I was always one of those people that said I would never drive a minivan, never ever. Two weeks before we bought the minivan, we initially went car shopping for a new SUV. Then Jay suggested we check out the minivan too and I thought, why not? We are never getting one, but I can at least go take a look. Well, little did I know it was going to steal my heart with it's roomy, luxurious, 8 seat, etc. interior! Interior is far more important than the exterior so I said screw my pride and trying to look cool, we are getting a minivan!

It took me about a week to completely fall in love with it since my whole life I said never ever and it was only two weeks prior that I said well, maybe... and then a week later we were minivan owners. Now you ask? I got no shame, I'm one proud mama sporting a minivan full of babies!

Jay is proud to ride the minivan too!

If you are one of those people that say you would never drive a minivan, have three kids and go take a look inside the minivan. It'll do the same to you as it has done to me.

Anyone else proud minivan owners like us? ;)

Guess who?

2013-04-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

expected to arrive on July 27th!

Giveaway winner update and shop my closet

2013-04-19T09:00:00.003-07:00

I'm Spring cleaning my closet here!
Some are new, most are worn once or twice, and some clothes are even FREE!

To see if you're the winner of the Seraphine Maternity giveaway, click here.

I didn't have a choice

2013-04-18T10:11:00.001-07:00

Adi: "Mommy, why did we have to eat our lunch before you gave us dessert, and you didn't eat any lunch but you're having dessert?"

Me: ".............Because honey, the baby told me to."

If only I could control time

2013-04-17T09:20:00.001-07:00

I organized my girls' closet yesterday and put away all their clothes that were too small. It's always a bitter sweet emotion for me as I fold away their clothes because I can recall a memory with every article of clothing. Their cream ruffle dress they wore to our dear friend's wedding where they danced all night and laughed and didn't want to leave. Their bright fuchsia summer dress they wore on hot Summer nights when we would sit outside on our front lawn while eating our favorite popsicle and waiting for daddy to come home from work. Some memories are not so pleasant, like a pink leotard Adi wore to her recital on her last day of Summer dance camp and right when I was unbuckling Ana from her car seat to go inside, she vomited all over her, all over the car, and all over me so we had to go home and by the time I washed both of us up, cleaned the car and the car seat and quickly drove back to the recital, we had just missed it. I got back in the car after picking Adi up and cried. The funny thing is, I remember thinking being a mother is so hard and this moment sucks, but looking back, I would go back to that incident without a thought in order to be able to kiss Ana's bald head one more time, or to hear Adi's sweet little 2 year old voice once again. I need to remember that whenever I am feeling burned out or overwhelmed with motherhood, in 5 years, I would go back to right now without a thought in order to be able to enjoy my 4 and 5 year old daughters once more. And thankfully most memories associated with the clothes are pleasant and happy memories and I cry every time as I fold their clothes and put it in a bag to be put away in the basement. "Oh how I wish I could go back to this time when they used to fit into these clothes...'

Lately the girls have been into measuring their hand against mine to see how big their hands are getting. Or standing tall and straight next to me in the mirror and saying, "Mommy, see? I'm almost to your boobies!" And this is just a wild guess but I think I just might shed a tear or two, or two thousand when one day they say to me, "Mommy, see? I'm now taller than you!" It'll probably happen when they're 8, so I better start preparing myself now. ;)

2013-04-16T10:20:00.001-07:00

I couldn't sleep well last night because I was consumed by the tragic news of Boston and a Provo girl missing. But I am so happy to have just read the news that the Provo girl has been found and she is safe! My heart and prayers will continually go out to the people affected by the Boston bombing yesterday. My heart is heavy so there won't be a regular post today.

What I wore when I was expecting

2013-04-11T22:56:00.000-07:00

dress: anthropologie | cardigan & shoes: target

photographs by Jessica Peterson

This yellow lace dress is a non-maternity dress but I bought it 4 sizes bigger on purpose so that I could wear it while I'm pregnant. I plan on altering it once I have the baby and return back to my pre-maternity size, however long that'll take. I'm actually a little nervous about this being my third pregnancy and how it's suppose to be harder to get back in shape the more kids you have, but I guess I'll worry about that after this baby's out. I also get nervous about having three kids because every single mother I've ever talked to has told me having three kids is by far the hardest and most overwhelming. One is easy, two is manageable, three is super tough, and after that it doesn't matter how many kids you have, they all seem to say. One mother even told me(before I was pregnant with my third) not to have a third child and how I'll regret it and to live my life instead because with three kids, my own life, goals and dreams would be over. Another mother also told me when her third child was just a couple months old, to just stop at two kids because it was so hard. I talked to a mutual friend several months later about how every single mother has told me how difficult having a third child is, and she told me she recently talked to one mother who said it was just the same as having two kids. I asked who that mother was and guess what, it was the same mother that told me to just stop at two kids. She must have deleted the difficult moments out of her memory and no longer remember! No wonder why mothers keep having more kids, right? It's a big conspiracy, I'm telling you!

I used to get high anxiety about it where I would literally feel my heartbeat go faster and I had to take deep breathes to keep myself from feeling faint, but now I'm like, "Bring it on! It's going to happen no matter what so I'm going on beast-mode and say I can do this!!" That attitude might change once the baby's out, but you know, for now it helps with my sanity so I'm sticking to it!

If any of you are mothers with three or more kids, feel free to send me some advice/reality along the way so I can prepare myself mentally. Thank you. Gracias. Chao.

The unspoken secret to getting more comments on your blog

2013-04-10T13:23:00.000-07:00

"So how many people visit your blog everyday?" is a question I get asked by my friends sometimes. "Um, about 5,000 people a day, 7,000 on higher days..." Then they all gasp and say something like, "Whoa! That is a lot! I would've never guessed...." and they trail off before I finish their sentence for them. "Because no one comments? Haha, I know." and it makes me wonder too sometimes.

But then I don't comment on other blogs either. Not even the ones that comment on my blog. I don't really follow any blogs regularly, or read many of them so that's a big reason why, but on the few blogs I do read somewhat regularly like once or twice a month(I feel like I spend enough time on the internet as it is with my own blog so I try not to surf the internet), I leave comments on because that's my own blogging etiquette. I feel like I am not being fair to the bloggers' time and effort if I read and enjoy their blogs on a regular basis but never leave a comment. So I leave a comment maybe every few times I read their blog to let them know I appreciate what they're sharing. But that's just my personal etiquette rule and by no means do I want others to do the same. I want people to comment when they want to! I don't do any advertising or sponsoring of my blog, and don't contact other companies for sponsorship like a blogger is suppose to do, or spend that much time on the blog or take it very seriously, so naturally, my blog isn't as successful as it could be but I'm perfectly okay with that. But I have wondered how I could get more comments on my blog, because of course I love getting feedback, what blogger doesn't?

But I am recently finding out about this "secret blogging etiquette or rule" and I'm wondering, am I the only one that's been out of the loop? How come no one told me? How come no one talks about it, is it suppose to be a big secret between the bloggers?

So the "secret" I found out about is this: if you leave a nice comment on someone's blog and/or say "I'm your newest follower and/or have their blog address below", then you're very highly encouraged/should visit their blogs and leave a comment too and/or follow back. It doesn't have to be all three of them, some do leave thoughtful comments with no link to their blog, but they know you can click on their name and find their blog. It's like this secret exchange you have between bloggers.

I've read before that commenting on other blogs is a great way to make your blog successful but I didn't know exactly why. But now I know what they really meant! I come across a blog and think, WOW! How do they get so many comments when I'm literally getting 10x-100x times more people visiting my blog? They just started their blogs not long ago, what is his/her secret because I want to know! I just figured they're better bloggers, better writers, better photographers, (and some) have much higher number of readers than mine, advertise their blogs, and some even buy readership/comments/traffic etc. And many times it is true of course, I don't consider myself a great blogger and there are so many blogs that are better at all those things than me. But it intrigues me when I see start-up blogs that get so many comments(like 100) when the quality and content is similar to mine with readership less than 10% of mine. So I click on some of their comments and almost all the comments are like this. "Thank you for visiting my blog, for leaving me a sweet comment, for following me, I'm following you back!"

So that's the big unspoken secret people. I hope no one's mad that I spilled what seems to me like the-must-not-be-named secret in blogging. And those people that visit plethora of blogs daily to leave comments to engage with other bloggers and have them visit your blog too, I say good for you! That's not for me but kudos for your dedication.

Did you know about this unspoken secret exchange between the bloggers? What do you think about it?

FCC, I got a problem with you

2013-04-09T10:06:00.000-07:00

FCC, Federal Communications Commission announced it is considering dropping current broadcast decency standards that ban explicit profanity and "non-sexual" nudity.

"Specifically, if enacted, the new FCC policy would allow network television and local radio stations to air the f-word, the s-word and to allow programs to show frontal female nudity, even during hours when they know children will be watching and listening."

If you ask me, I think that's ridiculous. I want my children to grow up in a society that will honor the standards of morals and integrity, no matter what time or age. I want the outside environment to support what I'll be teaching in my own home as much as possible, not contradict it.

If you think so too, you can take action by taking a few minutes to submit your comment. Click here to read the instructions and submit a comment.

General Conference

2013-04-08T11:27:00.001-07:00

We enjoyed General Conference this past weekend with just us family. We usually invite some friends over for some loco moco(Hawaiian cuisine of white rice, hamburger patty, fried egg topped with gravy) while watching the morning session of General Conference, but this weekend Jay and I were both hashed(lack of sleep+allergies=bleh) so we kept it chill. On Saturday during conference, we ate french toast, and thanks to all the creative mothers out there via pinterest, my kids were entertained most of the sessions(download activity one, two, three, four). Between the sessions, Jay took the girls ice skating and came home with delicious hamburgers & fries from Burgers Supreme. On Sunday we watched conference, ate shrimp tacos and many snacks in between, and went on a family walk. The girls love driving their little car to the church parking lot and parking their car in one of the stalls. When we came home we had a movie & popcorn night and we got to cuddle with our girls the whole time, which was wonderful.

mother-daughter date/daddy-daughter date

2013-04-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

Adi and I went on a mommy-daughter date while Jay went on a daddy-daughter date with Ana. Adi coordinated our outfits to be matchy matchy, and "look like BFF's" according to her.

those are suppose to be leggings on Adi but i might've bought too big of a size...

so much for trying to save money and buy a bigger size so she can wear it longer...

Upon Adi's request, Adi and I went to Yogurtland where we ate frozen yogurt and talked about her friends, her teachers, and what she wants to be when she grows up. She also told me she didn't want to choose which prince she wants to marry when she's an adult, but instead wants me and daddy to choose for her! I need to voice record her saying that before she changes her mind and make her write a contract, now that I come to think of it!

Upon Ana's request, Jay and Ana went to a dinosaur museum and then to McD's for some ice-cream cone. It might seem like we eat a lot of McD ice-cream cones, but it's only because... we do.

outfit: tunic top & leggings: h&m | necklace: target | rain boots: Ilse Jacobsen