It's that time of year again

Santa is holding a picture that Harrison drew for him. It's a picture of Santa.


21 and 22 weeks

21 weeks

22 weeks

Flat Harrison has arrived in Belgium!

Dear Harrison,
I made it to Belgium!!! It was a long flight and with the time difference I was very tired for a few days. Did you know that Belgium is 9 hours ahead, which means while you are eating your lunch I have already gone to bed. It is very cold here right now, 27 degrees, however, it is sunny and beautiful. I am staying with a host family in Gent, BE. Many of the buildings in Gent are from medieval times and the city has quaint cobbled streets and winding canals, it even has a real castle! On my second night here my new friends took me on a walking tour of the city. I even got try one of the most popular traditional Belgian dishes, Gentse stoverij, that is a beef stew in a rich broth and is served with fries and mayonnaise (not catchup). Well, I’m off to go try some of Belgium’s other popular foods, waffles and chocolates, yummy! I have sent a few pictures of my first few days in Gent and I will send more soon. Hope you are doing great in Seattle!
Sincerely,
Flat Harrison

How you can help

We've been selling things for Harrison's preschool for a few years. He's in elementary school now and it doesn't end. Friends and family often ask how they can help or if they can buy something from him but it's usually something local - cookie dough, Christmas wreath, etc... BUT now is your chance if you don't live in Seattle and you want to help out Gatewood Elementary! Our school does a big auction in March and they are selling 50/50 raffle tickets. The tickets are $5 each and the prize is CASH! The winner of the 50/50 raffle will split the cash prize with the Gatewood PTA and does not need to be present at the auction in order to win. If you're interested in buying any raffle tickets please let me know.

Performance night

Click on the link below to see Harrison's big performance for Diversity Night at his school. It's pretty cute!

http://youtu.be/eae8Kam29yI

18, 19 and 20 weeks

18 weeks

19 weeks

20 weeks (halfway point!)

Flat Harrison

Meet Flat Harrison!

Flat Stanley is a children's book written in 1964. Here is the synopsis from Wikipedia:

Stanley Lambchop and his younger brother Arthur are given a big bulletin board by their Dad for displaying pictures and posters. He hangs it on the wall over Stanley's bed. During the night the board falls from the wall, flattening Stanley in his sleep. He survives and makes the best of his altered state, and soon he is entering locked rooms by sliding under the door, and playing with his younger brother by being used as a kite. One special advantage is that Flat Stanley can now visit his friends by being mailed in an envelope. Stanley even helps catch some art museum thieves by posing as a painting on the wall. Eventually Arthur reverts Stanley to his proper shape using an air pump used for football.

Harrison's class has read the book and they each made a Flat "Stanley" to be sent away somewhere for a visit. Flat Harrison is now in Belgium! He was emailed and arrived yesterday to stay with our friends Jill and Steve and their two kids, Bronwen and Alex. This is the email I received from Jill when he arrived:

"I just checked my email and flat Harrison has arrived, he's a little jet lagged but otherwise okay:)"

We are looking forward to seeing the adventures Flat Harrison goes on! I''ll post updates as I hear them.

A New Tomorrow by A Friend In London

Tomorrow night Harrison's team will be singing this song for Diversity/Multi-Cultural Night. It's actually a really good song. We bought it on iTunes and he loves to hear it at home.

Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/r_3Ma2URVzg

Happy Halloween!

Cupcake-head and Spiderman

Pumpkin Patch

First kindergarten field trip

First time on a school bus

Mrs. Carney's kindergarten class

Girls trip

Laguna Beach

Before I knew I was pregnant, my friend Jennifer and I booked a long girls weekend to Southern California. She hadn't been there before so off we went. We stayed at my mom's house in Corona Del Mar. We spent one day in the Los Angeles area. We went to Hollywood and Beverly Hills. It's strange having grown up down there and I had never walked on Rodeo Drive before. It was fun but most of the day was spent in the car (traffic - ugh..). Big thanks to Catrina for being our tour guide! We hit In N Out Burger on the way back to OC. It was delish!

The next day we drove to San Diego. Again, I lived down there for a few years but had never been to La Jolla Cove before. It was beautiful! I can't believe I missed it while living there.

La Jolla Cove

The trip was fun. I survived it ok without throwing up so that was good. I even stayed up pretty late (for me...).

Compare. Seriously?

Part of Harrison's homework said to get a deck of cards and play compare with someone. I had no idea what that meant but found out last night. Dave played compare with Harrison while I was at yoga. Apparently, it has been played in school so he knew what to do and taught Dave. But the best part is...compare is actually WAR! Remember war? In case you've forgotten I'm attaching the Wikipedia description for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_(card_game). Since when did the name change to COMPARE? Seriously, can we not say war anymore?? I don't get it. I am so sick of all this PC nonsense. What do they call it where you live? I plan to tell him what the game is actually called. Maybe he can teach that to all of his classmates.

Ice cream

Taco Fiesta

I wish I were in San Diego right now eating 8 of these tostadas!

16 and 17 weeks

16 weeks

17 weeks

Our next appointment is not for three more weeks. It's a big one. In addition to my regular check-up with my OB we have the big ultrasound. It is in this ultrasound that we found out that Harrison was a boy. This time around we're not finding out.
I am definitely feeling better these days. I was so much sicker this time around. I feel like I stayed in bed for about 8 weeks. In just three more weeks we'll be halfway there!

I (heart) Jeremy

Our neighbor, Jeremy, delivered these to us last week fresh out of the oven (they were still warm!). They are delicious! I don't know what he does but these look and taste a lot like my mom's famous chocolate chip cookies.

Heartbeat at 15 weeks

14 and 15 weeks

14 weeks

15 weeks (photo courtesy of big brother, Harrison)

Go Sounders!

In case you haven't heard

Yep, Harrison is going to be a big brother!

Dave and I took Harrison to Top Pot Donuts ( www.toppotdonuts.com) two weeks ago to let him know the exciting news. We showed him the two pictures you see here and asked him if he knew what they were. He said, "It's a baby in your tummy." We asked if he knew who it was and he said it was him. When we told him it wasn't him he kind of lit up. Let's say my belly was soon covered in sugar from his donut!

He is very, very excited to be a big brother. He asks about the baby all the time and can't stop kissing my belly. I'm very excited for him to feel the baby move one day. I know he's going to love it.

We've decided to not find out the sex of the baby this time around. But if you ask Harrison he thinks it's a boy. (he thinks the pictures above look like a boy - "boys have round heads") We keep reminding him that he might get a sister instead of a brother and he doesn't seem to mind. We'll see...

Stay tuned for more photos. I am 14 weeks along today and definitely showing. We'll start posting belly photos soon.

First day of kindergarten

Today was the day our baby started kindergarten. He did well this morning up until it was time to say good-bye. A few of the kids in his class started crying. I feel like that just creates chaos and then others start crying and it spirals out of control a bit. Harrison's tummy started to hurt (which we expected to happen) and I was the last parent to leave the classroom. The teacher had to peel him off of me. But he was all smiles when I picked him up. He had a fun time. He said that they all sat on the rug and the teacher asked everyone what their favorite thing was. He said most kids said "recess" but Harrison said "LEARNING."

Breakfast of champions - Cheerios!

After school ice cream at Husky Deli.

( www.huskydeli.com )

A little girl came up to him while we were there and said "do you remember me from today?" She's in his class! Super cute. On the way home he asked me if he could have her over for a playdate someday.

From the garden

Am I being naughty? I hope so...

The boot

Hey everyone! Pay your parking tickets. If you don't, you just may find the boot on your car.

In honor of the wedding

Westminster Abbey
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square

In a pub, of course...

Notting Hill

A great band in Notting Hill. We should've bought their CD when we first saw them. On the way back by we stopped and tried to buy it but they were sold out.

Tower Bridge

We got to hang out with Dave's good friend, Wayne, while in London. What are the chances we'd both be there at the same time?! It also happened to be during the playoffs but sadly the Seahawks lost.

I think the Tube was my favorite thing about London. (why don't we have this?!)

Buckingham Palace

In front of Buckingham Palace

Kensington Palace

(how I wish Princess Di was there today to see William marry Kate)