Starting week 9

So we (or Ashley I should say) are approaching the end of the first trimester. It's been a rough few weeks since Ashley hasn't been feeling 100% and I have been traveling recently. She is starting to crave cetain foods and reject others. In addition to being weirded out by certain foods, she is also hungry all the time (which makes sense to me). This can be tough with her job. I wish I could be helpful while I am at work but it sucks cuz I really can't get to her while she is in the OR. I have been trying to be as helpful as possible and getting her certain foods that she likes. For example, she recently got on a Peanut Butter Capt. Crunch kick. The box was gone in 3 days so I hit the store and low and behold they had a buy 1 get 1 free of the family size. Boo Ya! I did have to explain to the cashier my absurd cereal purchase at 10pm at night but once he heard the reason he understood.

We have also been going back n forth on finding out the gender. As some may know, she wants to wait, but I want to find out. Now, before you jump on me, since a lot of people think it is exciting to wait... read my idea. Since we are scheduled to be able to find out right before Christmas, what if the doctor wraps the piece of paper with the gender on it in a box that we open with our family at Christmas! Doesn't that sound exciting? I think it will be just as fun and then we can buy gender specific stuff.

On a last note from me, the baby has helped in our car buying decisions. Since the eclipse (I think it's still one of those, not sure since its so faded...har har) is not a good baby transporting automobile, we are being forced into getting a new car, and soon. We are looking at Accords, Altimas and Fusions...any thoughts?

-Dave "Daddy to Be"

From Bella:
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr" "Squeak squeak"
So mom has been acting a little strange lately. She keeps wanting to snuggle me more often than not. She also has been waking up at odd hours and eating odd food at these times. Just the other day I got some popcorn at about 1am. Dad has been gone recently and I have been sad. He is my play buddy...although he always wins our boxing matches...someday I'll win! Well, that's all from me....my ball is rolling away...GOTTA GO GET IT!!!!

Sharing the BIG NEWS with our Parents 9/6/2009

We went home to Ohio for Labor Day weekend. our OSU alumni tickets were for that weekend...OSU Vs Navy. We found out i was pregnant on 8/20/2009 and decided we would wait until the weekend we went back to Ohio to surprise our families...in person. we had dinner at PF Changs...Dave n I's FAV! We invited Dave's aunt Pam and uncle Larry, his grandmother, Mootzie, his other aunt, Diane and his and my parents. we thought everyone would catch on since EVERYONE was coming, but thankfully, they didn't :) Pam and Larry were late to dinner, so we decided to wait until after dinner to make the announcement. we had these two pictures in an envelope and handed them out to everyone and said "we have an early Christmas present for everyone, but you all have to open it together" in the envelope were these two pictures:




And PAM was the winner...they were all looking at them confused and then Pam screams, "A BUN IN THE OVEN?!!!"
so the first pic, which on one really got, was supposed to be "Barefoot and Pregnant" HAHA
so then we gave everyone their gifts... we got our parents T-shirts (shown below) and Diane a mouse pad that says "Soon to be known as Great Aunt" and Pam a coffee mug that says the same. lastly, we got the mothers new pandora charms (the baby carriage). Everyone was very excited! We then called Amanda and Tara on the phone :) (their gifts went in the mail)
thanks everyone for your support and enthusiasm! we're very excited for this little one :)
Dave, Ashley, Bella and Baby Hodge




this is the first pregnancy test i took -- we took it at 6am-- we were both so sleepy and i thought for sure it wasn't going to be positive, because i didn't have any of the "right" signs or symptoms...HAHA were we wrong!

The proud Daddy, Below

The BIG guns ;) hehe... only 1 month of "trying" he MUST be a beast! haha

sharing the news with Bella, our baby

we thought it was going to take a while...yep 1 month later...

yes, Dave thinks he's the MAN of all men hehe

so about a week after we found out- i still wasn't feeling any different and i kept reading everywhere that i should be feeling realyl sick...etc... so i kept questioning it (even after Michele and Kelli reassured me that pregnancy tests weren't ever FALSE POSITIVES) and ended up taking another test, just to make sure before i went to the DR...yep, SURE IS POSITIVE :)

On Sunday, my mom came and picked us up from the Kaleta's house (PARDI got married!!!, she's a Kaleta now :) ) we went shopping and she kept trying to buy me all these clothes and jackets. then i realized omgosh i will be big in the winter, i can't let her buy me a new coat!! haha so then i had to pretend i didn't like anything! it was KILLING me not to tell her all day!! so here a pic of me n mom before she knew!!

Scott just had knee surgery, so he wasn't able to hobble around

this is Jeannine and Denny when we handed out the pics in the envelopes-- trying to figure it out

Below is Larry, Pam (trying to figure out the pics) and Mootzie

Here's Denny with his "Great Dad's get promoted to Grandpa" T-shirt

Pam with her "soon to be known as Great Aunt" mug :)


my mom with her "i'm smiling because i'm going to be a grandma" T-shirt

and Mootzie...was crying she was so excited :)

with her "grandma to-bee t shirt"

Jeannine with her matching "i'm going to be a grandma" T-shirt

and Pam's mouse pad :)

the two moms after they figured it out!! so excited!! or should i call them "GRANDMAS" ehehe

opening their new Pandora charms

Dave calling Amanda and Tara to share the news

and the whole gang outside PF Changs

i love this pic :)









our wrapped up "surprises" in the mail to Auntie Tara and Amanda (Uncle Rick and Uncle Mike too)

The frames we made for our parents and for Tara and Amanda

Kelli (my fabulous and talented graphic design/artsy friends in Chas) made the inserts for us that say "Save the Date, picture to come May 2010"

thanks, KELLI!! they are adorable!!

and one last funny shot!! poor Mootzie was confused and just laughing up a storm :)

we went home and announced it to Scott and the next day had a family picnic and my aunt and uncles house and my mom and Scott wore their t-shirts to see if anyone noticed

it took FOREVER and finally my uncle read it!haha

we gave the tshirt and pics to my grandma there as well :)

we love you all!! and hope you will follow along this journey with us :)

Welcome

Hello,

We're having a baby! Horraaayyyy! We've setup this blog so you all can join us in this first-time pregnancy journey and not feel so far away :). Check back soon for posts from Ashley, Dave and Bella on the progress.

Soon we will add the pics from sharing the news with our family.

Love
Ashley, Dave, Bella & Baby Hodge with potential comments from other household members such as...Roombsters(the Roomba vacuum), Crabby McGee(the crab in the front yard) , Frank(Bella's green squeak toy) and Evil Frank(Bella's orange squeak toy w/ horns). (Yes we are dorks)