diff --git a/kernel/mm/mm.cc b/kernel/mm/mm.cc
index cc8b640..93956b3 100644
--- a/kernel/mm/mm.cc
+++ b/kernel/mm/mm.cc
@@ -20,10 +20,11 @@ static u64_t * mm_gdt;
 static u32_t mm_heap_base;
 
 /* physical addresses of page allocation pages to map in before the heap */
-static u32_t page_alloc_pages[1025];    /* supports 4GB physical memory */
+static u32_t page_alloc_page_numbers[1025]; /* supports 4GB physical memory */
 static u32_t num_page_alloc_pages = 0;
 static mm_page_alloc_page_t * current_page_alloc_page = NULL;
 static u32_t page_alloc_page_index = 0;
+static mm_page_alloc_page_t * page_alloc_pages;
 
 /**************************************************************************
  * Internal Functions                                                     *
@@ -69,6 +70,9 @@ void mm_bootstrap()
         k_early_panic("No mmap entries read from bootloader!");
     }
 
+    mm_heap_base = (u32_t) KERNEL_END;
+    page_alloc_pages = (mm_page_alloc_page_t *) mm_heap_base;
+
     for (int mmap_idx = 0; mmap_idx < mm_mmap_num_entries; mmap_idx++)
     {
         u32_t base_address = mm_mmap_entries[mmap_idx].base;
@@ -91,8 +95,6 @@ void mm_bootstrap()
             max_ram_address = (address_limit - 1);
         }
 
-        mm_heap_base = (u32_t) KERNEL_END;
-
         /*
          * loop through every page in the mmap range and add
          * pages into the free page linked list
@@ -110,10 +112,11 @@ void mm_bootstrap()
         }
     }
 
-    for (int i = 0; i < num_page_alloc_pages; i++)
+    for (unsigned int i = 0; i < num_page_alloc_pages; i++)
     {
-        mm_early_map(mm_heap_base, page_alloc_pages[i], 0, 1);
+        mm_early_map(mm_heap_base, page_alloc_page_numbers[i], 0, 1);
         current_page_alloc_page = (mm_page_alloc_page_t *) mm_heap_base;
+        /* move the heap back to after the page allocation pages */
         mm_heap_base += PAGE_SIZE;
     }
 
@@ -189,12 +192,11 @@ static void record_phys_page(u32_t base_address)
         page_alloc_page_index =
             sizeof(current_page_alloc_page->pages)
                 / sizeof(current_page_alloc_page->pages[0]) - 1;
-        page_alloc_pages[num_page_alloc_pages++] = base_address;
+        page_alloc_page_numbers[num_page_alloc_pages++] = base_address;
     }
     else
     {
-        current_page_alloc_page->pages[page_alloc_page_index] = base_address;
-        page_alloc_page_index--;
+        current_page_alloc_page->pages[page_alloc_page_index--] = base_address;
     }
 }
 
@@ -282,7 +284,8 @@ u32_t mm_page_alloc()
     u32_t page_address = 0;
     if (current_page_alloc_page != NULL)
     {
-        if (page_alloc_page_index == PAGE_SIZE / sizeof(u32_t) - 1)
+        if (page_alloc_page_index == sizeof(current_page_alloc_page->pages)
+                / sizeof(current_page_alloc_page->pages[0]) - 1)
         {
             page_address = ((u32_t) current_page_alloc_page) - KERNEL_OFFSET;
             current_page_alloc_page = current_page_alloc_page->next;