23 weeks 3 days

Happy belated Thanksgiving! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with family and friends and got plenty of turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy! We had a WONDERFUL time at the coast! Our house was a little (and I mean LITTLE!) cottage with ocean views. Jensen loved it - especially because she got to sleep with Mommy while Daddy was sent to the couch - and the dogs were in heaven with so many walks and all the fresh air. It took us a bit to get there - the roads are very icy when it's 17 degrees. But we made it and had a great time.

Jensen had a great time and was able to make sand castles on the beach on Thanksgiving day. She says it was her favorite part :) We did some shopping and went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory but mostly we just hung out as a family. Jensen and Marc enjoyed the hot tub a number of times (and Mommy enjoyed quiet reading time) and we all watched movies, ate too much, and rested. Yay for holidays!

Harper is getting bigger every day (now and ear of corn and 1.5 lbs). Thank goodness I can calculate that into my total weight gain. This holiday week sure did sneak up on me. I guess it's back to soups and salads until Christmas! Ha ha! Oh well - it was worth it. Bruce's candy shop is amazing! If I can't have wine -chocolate will have to do. So she's moving and grooving all over the place. Jensen has started talking to her and I think within the next couple of weeks Marc and Jensen should be able to feel her. We'll see but right now I've felt her a couple of times from the outside. She's a strong little one - just like her big sister.

As you can guess Christmas has exploded here at the Goodell house. We got our two (yes TWO!) Christmas trees on Saturday when we got home. A word to the wise...when you see a tree growing in the tree farm and say "It's kind of full but I'm sure it will be fine" do NOT believe yourself. It is FULL and FULL and FULLER! OMG! The tree in our bonus room is HUGE...I put on the EIGHT strands of lights I used last year on our tree up there and it only got the first third. There are close to 1400 freaking lights on the damn thing. I blew fuses, had a few breakdowns, and multiple trips to Target but it now looks great. Good thing we're having a house full of people this Christmas or else I think I would have given up! Jensen loves it - she got to help decorate it and since it's the family tree she got to do what she wanted. We have some very overloaded branches and interesting ornament placement so it's very unique! We also put lights up outside for the first time and that was the coolest thing ever to a 2.5 year old. Plus she can see them from her bedroom window which is the cat's meow apparently.

Needless to say, with our very busy schedules for December I will do my best to keep you all updated. I have an OB appointment on Friday to see how Harper is doing and will update after that. We're going on the Polar Express on Saturday night in Hood River and cannot wait! It's going to be so fun...we watched the movie as a family last Friday and Jensen loved it. She was very worried about the choo choo the entire time. She's LOVING Christmas and is going to be so fun this year. I can't wait!

Until next time...here's what I am starting to look like. I can't believe I'm going to get bigger! LOL

22 weeks 1 day

Harper has grown to the size of a papaya and 1.2 pounds. She has been a moving machine - especially when she gets some sweets. I guess she's following in her mommy's footsteps (and her sisters too!). We got her furniture yesterday - it will be ready on February 1. We have a lot to do after Christmas that's for sure. But we're excited...after the holidays it will be baby central around here! Yay!

Yesterday we went to see Addison - our friends new baby girl. She's gorgeous and so tiny. Jensen was very interested in her and very gentle too. I can't wait to see her with Harper. We're so happy for Curt and April - she's such a doll.

Now we're gearing up for Thanksgiving vacation. We're heading to Cannon Beach for a few nights - just the three of us and the dogs. This will be our first real family vacation and we can't wait. I think we're all looking forward to getting away for a few days and just relaxing. I of course got a turkey - for three - so we'll probably eat enough for 20! Oh well - at least all my pants have elastic waist bands!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving! I'll try to post from the beach with beautiful photos of the ocean.

20 weeks 5 days

As promised...PICTURES!

Here is Miss Harper last Friday:



She's doing great. Weighing about 12 oz. which is a little bigger than the average 11 oz. for this "age".

And now...here are pictures of Jensen's new room! I can't believe she sleeps in this big bed! ha ha!



Eventually the rocking chair will move to Harper's room and that area will be filled with gifts from Santa. She LOVES her room and has already started playing in there more.

Harper is moving more and more every day. She was a dancing machine last night around 10:00. I felt her for about 15 minutes straight. She must have been doing her Jazzercise or something ;)

It's a GIRL!

Woo hoo! We are so excited to welcome a new baby girl to the family soon! I knew it! Walking into the ultrasound I told Marc that I would be absolutely shocked if we were having a boy. We got to take Jensen with us and the u/s tech asked her what she thought it was. The tech said that kids under the age of 5 tend to be the best guessers...and she was right. Jensen has been talking about a baby sister ever since we told her we were having a baby.

Jensen loved seeing the "baby" on tv :) She also liked hearing the heartbeat. Then she was over it! ha ha! For the rest of the day though she wouldn't call the baby by her name...just "sister" or "baby". But by the end of the weekend she was talking all about Baby Harper. Oh yeah - her name will be Harper Leslie. We love the name Harper (To Kill a Mockingbird anyone?)and Leslie is Marc's middle name. We think it goes great with Jensen too. I like it!

Here's a picture taken on Saturday at 20 weeks 1 day. I think I'm doing pretty well. I've only gained about 9 lbs. so far...and that is a FAR cry from where I was with Jensen. Then again, I don't think I sat down for more than 10 minutes yesterday before 5:00 pm! So there you go!




We spent Saturday shopping for baby furniture. We got Harper's bedding (I'll post a photo later! sorry!) and picked out her furniture - although we have to go back to actually buy it. We're happy with her bedding - purple bedding is hard to find but we like what we got and I think it will look pretty in her room. Jensen meanwhile is being upgraded to her BIG BIG girl bed. Of course we spent most of Sunday trying to get everything set up and when we were about to actually put the bed together - the slats were too small. Ughhh! So we put the mattresses on the floor and she was happy. We'll get it all together tonight and I'll post photos too. Lots of promises I know!

19 weeks 6 days

We are almost half way there! Yippee! I cannot believe how fast this pregnancy has gone. I think I say that each week...but it's true!

We had a fun filled week with Halloween and such. It was a lot of fun and Jensen was the most beautiful Belle ever.



Tomorrow is the big day...we have our ultrasound to find out about Bean! I am in the girl camp - but you never know. I'll be sure to post as soon as I can...but I'm sure you'll all hear through other means such as facebook or email or text or every other type of communication that is available to us these days!