Our Little Soccer Player

The most exciting news from this week is that Harper gave Daddy a good kick! Tuli got to feel our little soccer player for the first time last Saturday morning :) His face lit up - definitely one of the coolest moments this far of our journey to being parents! We have been spending lots of time talking and singing (poor baby) to Harper, as we have read that this is the stage where babies can begin to hear and differentiate between different sounds outside of the womb. Funnily enough, I was telling Tuli that Harper will probably already be familiar with Chuck's voice, and Sibyl's meow, by the time he makes his appearance!












Other things we have learned this week about Harper: he has sweat glands, his fingernails are fully formed, primitive sperm have already begun to form, and his toothbuds are beginning to form under his little gums. It's still so strange to think that all of this is happening inside of my belly - it's pretty awesome being a woman sometimes!

As usual, we have done our weekly photo-session, and we are keeping with the trend that "there has to be at least 1 'funny' picture," so we can make sure to keep our sense of humor! I'm lucky to have a partner who shares my dorky, dry sense of humor! :) And, I love that we can both make each other laugh!!!!!





In other news (this is especially for you, Dave...), Tuli participated in a tennis tournament this weekend! Although it was a "humbling" experience, he still had a blast, and got a chance to swing his racket a bit. We went to my grandparents house yesterday for a family get together, and that was fun. We made sure to wear our Obama shirts to the Republican-filled house :) I am thankful that I have a diverse family - it makes things more interesting. Tuli and I are very excited to raise Harper how WE feel is right...although Grandpa Healy seems to think that he will be the kindergarten leader of the Young Republicans :P We shall see - if Harper is anything like his mommy, then he will most likely do things his own way, regardless of what anyone else thinks! :P

I still don't have any stretch marks (knock on wood!), and I still haven't gained any weight. I know that it doesn't look that way from the pictures, and my belly, but everything is just being "redistributed" I guess. I credit it to eating extremely healthy, and walking daily on my breaks at work. I'm thankful that all of my "cravings" are healthy - cheese, eggs, pickles, salads, sandwiches, apples and celery with cream cheese. I strive to eat as much protein throughout the day as possible because our midwife said that it would help give me more energy (because I still want to sleep all day!).

KJ (Tuli's mom) is making plans to come out here for Thanksgiving, and we are looking forward to that! Tuli's 2 brothers should also be coming, and I look forward to meeting them for the first time!

Maternity Clothes, Bananas and Laser Tag

This week I got some maternity clothes that Tuli ordered for me online. Kohls was having a CrAzY sale online...I got 3 shirts, 1 skirt, and 1 pair of pants for, get this - $24.17!!! That INCLUDES the shipping! And the clothes aren't crappy quality! They are nice and comfortable as well!



I know I may be singing a different tune in a few months, but for the time being I am loving maternity clothes. Maybe it's because the chest-area is actually filled-out on my clothing now, or maybe it's because I don't have to unzip/unbutton to go to the bathroom anymore. I just pull down the elastic-waisted clothes, and pull up! It's great for lazy people like me who wait to long to run to the bathroom! :) I have to admit I love my maternity undies too...they actually COVER what they're supposed to, as opposed to "normal" underwear :)

We had another midwife visit on Tuesday night. We really like her - her name is Colleen, and here is her website: http://homemidwiferycare.com/
We got to listen to Harper's heartbeat again - it was 156. That baby is SO consistent. Everytime we have listened to his heartbeat, it has been either 156 or 157. He's also very active - you can hear him moving around when Colleen is checking his heartbeat. I'm convinced he'll be a soccer player like me. I also think that his feet are on my left side, because almost all of the movement I feel from him is on that side. He especially likes to kick hard when Grandpa Healy sends us pro-Republican emails at work :P On a related note, we ordered some Obama Gear this week:


When Colleen was over for her visit, she had Tuli place his hands on my stomach, and press down firmly. When he did this, he was able to feel both ends of the baby! It was the first time he's "felt" anything, so it was pretty special to him.

I've learned this week that Harper is about the length of a banana or carrot, and he weighs about a pound. He also has eyebrows and eyelids now. He is producing meconium, which will be what fills his first few diapers! What a way to break Tuli into diaper-changing! :) Lucky for us, we have both have a good sense of humor, which we put to use everyday. After all, if you don't laugh about all of the huge changes we are going through (and WILL be going through), things just aren't as fun! Tuli took this "preggie supermodel" pic of me this week:



Other than being tired still, everything else seems to be getting better. I haven't had a headache in a couple of days, and MY SKIN IS CLEAR! You have no idea how much better I feel when I don't have the acne of a 13 year old!!!

For a work-outing tomorrow afternoon, my department is going to play laser tag. We went a few months ago, and not to brag, but I was the leading scorer. Pregnant. Needless to say, lots of smack-talking has been going on at work these past few days with people telling me that "pregnant ladies aren't good at laser tag!!" My response to them? Bring it. See below:

Who says pregnant people can't have fun???

On Saturday afternoon (after the Ducks won a close game against Purdue...), Tuli and I headed to Portland to see our favorite band, Michael Franti & Spearhead, at the Roseland Theater. We also went up there to visit some of our Portland friends that we don't get to see often enough.

We first stopped at my friend, Erin's, house in Wilsonville. She and her boyfriend, Eli, have an adorable 1 year old named Trenton.



We went out to dinner with Erin, and played with Trenton for awhile. Erin was kind enough to give us a baby bouncy-swingy-thingy (maybe I should learn the correct baby terminology for these things before Harper is here...), and a carseat! We aren't sure if the carseat she gave us is exactly what we are looking for, but we took the free handout gladly! :)

We left Erin's house and headed for the concert. It was a sold out show, and it was a good thing we got there early - otherwise we wouldn't have gotten actual seats. We got really good seats on the balcony, where we were able to dance, and rest as we liked. It was an amazing show as usual - we ALWAYS have so much fun at his shows! Spearhead just came out with a new album this past week, so most of his songs were from that, but he also played some of our favorites from older albums as well. Now, if only I could get Michael Franti to come sing to me during my labor....



After the concert, we went and stayed the night at Stu's house, one of Tuli's friends. He's a really nice guy, and he was very kind to let us stay there.

The next morning, we all went out for breakfast, and I got my bacon and egg fix, while Tuli filled up on blueberry pancakes, his favorite.

After breakfast, we went and visited with Nicolle, my friend that I went and stayed with in Denmark in 2007. I initially met her while working at Sym-Hell about 4 years ago, and we've been friends ever since. She is one of the funniest, funnest, intelligent people I know - she is a blast to hang out with. We had never been to a New Seasons grocery store, and she said that was not acceptable, so we went. We walked around the store, and filled up on bread and cheese samples. It's a really cool store...mostly everything is healthy and organic. Nicolle's major purchase was bacon. Another reason we're friends.

This was the first time she has seen me pregnant, and she was SO excited to see/touch my belly. She made me feel good about myself, telling me that I was one of those "cute, pregnant ladies."


So, remember how I said that Nicolle is one of the funniest people I know? Well, we kind of have this weird tradition of taking "prom pictures," and being pregnant was not going to stop that tradition. I call this one: Pregnant at the Prom. I know, classy.


We had an awesome weekend of seeing awesome friends, and seeing an awesome musician! YAY! Do I really have to go sit in a 6x9 cube tomorrow? Ugh.

20 Weeks...is this really my body?

No, it's not mine anymore. It all belongs to Harper. It's a pretty cool thought, but I'll admit that it's taking me awhile to get used to that idea. Between the sinus infections, headaches, food cravings, leaking boobs, and big, round, hairy belly, it's a lot to get used to! I have come to the conclusion that I am not one of those women who will ever say, "Oh, gosh! I love being pregnant!" I don't. I know the reward in the end will be a beautiful baby boy who will make me forget about all of my strange body-changes. Sometimes, I wish I was a cat, so that I would only be pregnant for 2-3 months...and I could get away with sleeping for 16 hours a day...