24 weeks.... 6 months!!! AND DAVE wins MVP award at work :)

Happy New Year everyone!!
we have had a busy last week... first and most exciting... Dave won the MVP award at Blackbaud!!! i'm so proud and excited for him- this is the "big" award and he so deserves it- he works very hard at what he does and always tries to help everyone else out....just like at home :) he's such an amazign guy and i'm so glad he was rewarded for his efforts!! yay baby!!!

we started our Bradley natural childbirth classes- they are on weds from 630-9 for 12 weeks!! wow- serious business :) hehe it was REALLY informative already! we learned exercise techniques and goals...which made me laugh- they recommend WALKING for 5 mins a day- to start off...HA! but i guess for people who don't workout much, you have to start small esp when you're prego :) we learned relaxation techniques... we lay on the floor on a pillow and tense our right foot, relax, then hubby massages it, then left foot, left leg, right leg.... omgosh it was heaven! all the women were asking if it were required at least 5 times a day! haha so that's the first tech. they teach during ontractions... sounds good to me! haha there are 8 couples in our class and EVERYONE except for 1 are having boys!!! (including twin boys) crazy! everyone we know is having a boy...odd. our goal for the week is to make sure we're eating at LEAST 100 gms of protein a day!! my jaw hit the floor and everyone else was just sitting there like it was no big deal- i think maybe they didn't understand what that meant-- eugh so i've been drinking protein shakes twice a day to get that amount in...

and lastly, we re-painted one room and painted the babies nursery. my wonderful friends: De and Elizabeth came over and helped me pick out colors, etc and i'm so happy with the results-- thanks ladies :)
so here's some pics below...we're also working on some videos...AND HUGE= i'm now 6 months prego!!! wow time has flown by!! i can't even believe it! i still feel great... a few uncomfortable moments, but really nothing to even mention...pray that it keeps goign this smooth :)
here's a belly pic at 23 weeks... i think you call this "i popped" haha... you can deff tell there's a belly now! people still don't notice it when i have clothes on, but i can now :)

this evening we went to dinner with our good friends, Matt and Kelly, to celebrate Matt and Dave's awards at Blackbaud and the server looked at me like i was crazy when i asked what kind of virgin drinks they had- then another prego couple sat beside us and the server said"its funny because 4 out of my 6 tables tonight have been pregnant" i wanted to say...make that 5/6...i'm prego too- that's why i asked for virgin drink- haha, but he didn't think i was, so we just left it go- kinda funny tho :)

Bella HAS to be with us everywhere we go--literally on top of whatever we're doing... yep- you guessed it- she laid in paint at least 3 times!! haha

we got all the carpets cleaned, so we had to move all the bedroom furniture-- thankfully, Dave, AGAIN, is amazing and wouldn't let me lift a finger- even though i think i'm quite capable :) so he moved everything himself--thanks again babe!

This is the old spare room-- the silly stripes that took us FOREVER to paint- are now getting painted over merely a year later! haha

the primer begins :)

the old owners used this as their nursery- soon to be our new spare room

just bein silly-- we both like Noah, but no, we haven't decided on a name yet- hehe

Bella wanted to help out!! haha

CUTEST dog EVER... hehe- she was looking out at the lake with ducks in it- wishing she were outside too :)

YAY!! new spare room...i LOVE how the color turned out- we also have white curtains with black rods up now as well as a new lamp :)... i broke that one when i lift it INTO THE FAN! haha oops

YAY- the OSU frame my mom got for Dave finally has a home- we love it :)

Daves idea... i love it!

looking into the room

the bathroom- thanks to Dave and De- is now painted... yellow- and we have a new curtain rod and the curtains are hung :)

the other side of the bathroom

Babies nursery!!! i'm so excited about the color- i wanted something kiddish...bright, but not too bright- and i think it turned out perfect. we painted the lamp blue to match the bedding and you can see the bedding laying there along with a few other Christmas gifts for the baby :)

the furniture is going to be ordered this week- its on back order- its a sleigh design in espresso- i think the dark wood will look great with the colors :)

close up on the bedding and a few other "under the sea" things we've gotten

and again...Bella laying on the fresh paint :) ... she already loves the babies room!

so- what do you think? any suggestions for nursery?

love you all

Dave, Ashley, Bella and Baby Boy

Ultrasound pics & Daddy update

So we now know it's a boy! I am super excited...I wasn't dying for a boy or a girl for that matter but now that we know, I am glad it is a boy. I think it will be easier to have a boy first. Before the ultrasound we were talking and it's funny because it is one of the biggest moments in your life. Will you have tea parties or transformers...throwing a wedding or not...so many things. Now we have the difficult task of picking a name. We have a few we like but nothing solid. The kicking is crazy! You can see it from the outside when he is kicking big. I think he is going to be pretty active based on what he's been like in there so far. Here are the pics from the Ultrasound.

Jan 4th- 23 weeks Christmas and GENDER update!!

Week 23....a long awaited update:

First, i apologize for not updating this in a while- we both took 2 weeks off work and went back to Ohio for the holidays and have enjoyed spending time with our families...now its back to work :)

Baby has been kicking like a crazy man!!! we went to the DR Dec 30th and everything looked great-- i got my first belly measurement!!! woowhooo ( i think i'm finally showing- like other people can see it :) yippie! i measured 22 cm-- and i was 22 weeks, which is perfect :) i gained 2 lbs--which i'm VERY happy about, considering i haven't seen the gym in at least 2 weeks-- ekk so that a total of 4 lbs and i'm half way through my 2nd trimester :) i'm feeling great- tons of energy and cleaning like a mad woman :) i guess this is the nesting phase of pregnancy haha. and like i said he's been kicking like crazy all day on and off- so hard that Dave and I saw it from the outside last night!! maybe he's going to be a soccer player?! haha

so here's an update on the last 2 weeks:

on Dec 17, 2009 we went to get our anatomy scan ( i was 20 weeks) these pics are from in the car before we went in--such an anxious moment!!

WHAT IS IT?!!! we will soon know...but no one else will-- ahhh can we keep the secret?!!



me getting the ultrasound:

they said everything looks great! we told her to wait until the end to tell us the gender-- i wanted to see aortas and diaphragms before i cared about genitals-- haha so i got to see the heart-- soooo AMAZING!!! all 4 chambers, great septum...no ASD or VSD...an amazing aorta-- all the same size all the way down :) a diaphragm all the way across and well formed lung tissue... she said he was already breathing (well they don't breathe yet, but they practice the motions for muscular development) and she said that is like a month ahead of normal- and his lung tissue is very well developed at this stage!! PRAISE GOD--- ECMO stay away from my little white boy :) hehe ... yes i'm a nerd-- those of you medical people will understand all of these concerns :) sooo after everything was great... now it was time for the gender

***back up to a conversation Dave n i had in the car before walking in: we were both talking about how inthe next hour our whole lives would change: either blue and football or pink and gymnastics-- haha so Dave says to me:" hunny, don't be upset if i don't respond right away... i'm just processing everything" and i said..ok- no big deal- i probably will be too- i'm so convinced its a boy, if they say its a girl i'm going to be totally thrown off!

***back to the ultrasound: the lady says: do you see what i see? and types "ITS A BOY" on the screen... DAVE THROWS HIS HANDS IN THE AIR (IN A FIELDGOAL) AND SCREAMS"TOUCHDOWN!!!' HAHAHA how hilarious!! that lady looked at me and said...uh, i think he processed...HAHA!!! we are both soo excited!! i love little boys and can't wait to raise our own. i told Dave, he is such an amazing man, husband, friend...everything that Jesus knew we need more just like him :) YAY!!! now on to decorating!

TRAVELS HOME:

we were planning on leaving Charleston on Sat am early for ohio, spending friday night having a romantic dinner together and exchanging gifts and packing up the car that night...well, Tony called me at work and said,"Ash, if you guys are heading out, you may want to leave now- there's supposed to be a blizzard hitting WV" so i called Dave and my mom and decided we should head home, exchange gifts, pack and get on the road tonight. i head out of the office to get to the car and OMGOSH high tide + lots of rain = BAD flooding at MUSC...so the water was so high i was afraid to open the door on the Explorer, that the water would gush inside the car--ekkk so i called Dave to make sure i should try to start it...i went for it-- and made it home- thankfully... we have a little lake type thing in our backyard that is usuallly 6 feet below the level of the ground... this is what i saw:

sooo- we exchanged our gifts (Dave got me a beautiful diamond + tanzanite necklace to match my ring) and lots of other great things :) we threw everything in the car and headed out.... got to NC that evening and it was COVERED with snow...yes i said NC-- so we both knew this was a bad sign. we kept driving and thought about pulling over- decided to go 1 more exit and yep- the entire road turned to a sheet of ICE- got stuck for an hour until we could finally get off the exit ( we shoulda just stopped when we first thought!) so we spent the night- work up and the roads were clear--shew... continued on to 77- got stopped in traffic for 2 hours-dead stopped--euughh!! then finally got going again-- thank goodness! only to find ourselves stopped AGAIN on the turnpike...except this time was for 7 hours!!! everyone was getting out of the car and mingling- haha we met some really cool people- let the dog out to play and everyone was bringing their kids to play with her :) you can see below how deep the snow was! they shut down the turnpike while we were on it and called inthe air natl guard-- it was that bad! 27 hours later we made it home!!

finally home :) this is me at 21 weeks

we have been looking at new cars for months now and just haven't been able to decide on which one is best for us... soo with a little push from our parents-- we finally found one :) a loaded ford fusion... its leather and has all the fun tech gadgets for Dave... a USB port (that makes it a huge ipod) you tell it what song to play and it plays it :) it also has the bluetooth and other fun features :) yay for a new baby friendly car...anyone know someone who is interested in an Eclipse? haha oh yeah and we now have a scarlet and a grey car...Buckeye fans at heart :)

a bib Donnie and Grandma made for baby boy :)

Christmas 2009 ...just love him sooo much :)

Christmas Day 2009 my family went up to Boardman to meet at the Hodge's house to play the GENDER GAME Dave and i made up- to reveal the gender of the baby :)

this is Jeannine (NaNa) ready to get the game started:
everyone gathering around ...Dave with our new FLIP HD videocamera from the Hodges :)
The mom's opening their new baby boy pandora charms for their baby bracelets :)

my grandma got the winning box, but has an eye infection and can't read too well, so Amanda got the box by default :) and ...ITS A BOY!!! they couldn't get any face pics b/c he would move from his curled up position, however, his legs were WIDE OPEN! HAHA and its obviously a boy!!!

cute lil horse mom got for the baby for Christmas...Bella is very curious about this haha

Jeannine got these sweet precious moments bears and super soft blanket


and his 1st OSU book :)





the Westport Christmas Party Dec 26, 2009

all the Westport Parents :)

AND that's our eventful 2 weeks!! sheww... we also had Jon and Becky and Pat here for the weekend of NYE....so much fun! we miss you all already! we will post the ultrasound pics soon and the video of the gender game :)

love, Ashley Dave Bella and Baby BOY hodge

oh yeah, and an updated belly pic... i POPPED...a real belly now!! i'm 22 weeks and feeling prego :) the shirt is from mom...it says " boy? girl? definately a BUCKEYE" hehe

20 weeks...Baby kicks and 1/2 WAY there!!!!

OMGOODNESSS sooo somehow here we are at 20 weeks...half way done/there!!!! i can't even believe it!! only 3 days until we find out what the sex is...can't even wait for that moment!! good thing this week is busy (helps keep my mind off of it)
i feel fantastic :) i have energy to workout and work and be a "normal" human again!! its truly wonderful :) i'm starting to get more of a belly...Dave and I think its deff obvious, even though everyone still says they can't see it...hehe however, i'm not sure i want the opposite: people telling me how huge i am...HAHA... i'm sure that will come, so for now, i'll enjoy the: "wow... i didn't even know you were pregnant" comments.
WE FEEL THE BABY KICKING!! i have been feeling little flutters and such for a couple weeks now, but nothing that was obviously the baby...until last Weds night i was laying in bed, talking to Dave on the phone (he's at OSU for 2 weeks for work) and WHOAAAAA there's an alien in my belly trying to get out!!! soooo amazing, scary, freaky, sweet, angelic...so many words to describe the feeling haha... so i wasn't sure if it felt huge b/c i could feel it inside or if you could really feel it from the outside... so baby kept kicking all night... it was kind of freaking me out b/c it was wild!! Dave was, of course, sad because he wasn't there to feel it :(
i went to work on Friday and was on bypass and felt it again!!! so my student, Courtney tried to feel it and screamed!!! haha she was like whoa-- that was a kick!! its very distinguishable...so confirmed... baby kicks CAN be felt from the outside....

this past weekend i went to Ohio to see Dave and family (we went to the Nutcracker, shopping and all that fun stuff) and Dave got to feel it both nights!! so amazing and truly makes it real for me now!! as i sit here typing... baby is kicking...violently!! i can only imagine how its goign to feel when it gets bigger!!! wow!

we went to babies r us and added more items to our registry :) a super sweet guy helped us look at strollers, etc... and i think we found some great stuff!! super excited about it all :) just can't wait to find out the sex to begin all the real planning :) we have all the border down for the nursery and the room is all cleaned out :)

can't wait for Thursday!!! keep the votes and comments coming...we love them :)

Dave, Ashley, Bella and Baby Hodge

Only 1 week left

Only 1 week left till we get to find out the gender! Everyone we talk to thinks it is going to be a boy...not a single person has guessed a girl. So it will be interesting to see! I added a new poll to the blog...vote for the gender!