Noah's NEW big boy room, silly bath time and 21 months!

So below are pics of Noah's new big boy room that he slept in last night for the first time- 21 months. the scary part was it being a whole new room, he adjusted great!

Noah being silly during bath time...just love his laughter- we are soo blessed, he is full of it!

PLEASE ignore my no make-up self- it was late, i had pneumonia and was on bed rest...yes, this was my only activity of the whole day! haha and mind you i'm not chubby, i'm prego! haha

Bed Rest 3/1/12

So...since our exciting news...some not so good news :(

I have been feeling pretty rotten for the last month, bad cough sinus infection, etc. Noah and I have been passing it back and forth and i've been trying to fight it with natural supplements and about 2 weeks ago finally said i need an antibiotic to prevent me from giving it back to Noah. Funny thing...it got worse! so I figured it must just be a virus, so i'll just have to stick it out- no big deal. Meanwhile i'm short of breath (SOB for you medical professionals) for a month or so now- since my cough started...fatigue easily, etc, etc and didn't think anything of it- i just kept thinking it was the pregnancy...then saying, WAIT i shouldn't be short of breath- i'm not losing lung space...yet-- and then i would tell myself it just must be how my body is adjusting to the increased blood volume...on and on justifying my symptoms...Wednesday i woke up after working late on call Mon and Tues and told Dave -reluctantly- to take Noah to school b/c i was just so weak i needed rest. ---SIDE NOTE--- i felt sooooo guilty b/c my call days are my days to pretend to be a stay at home mom- i get to spend the entire day with Noah- we go to the park, gymboree, out to lunch, etc, etc-- so the mommy guilt was killing me----so i laid back down after they left for work/school and fell asleep until noon!! holy moly! aparently i needed it! as im getting ready i have to keep sitting down b/c i was so weak. finally...my stubborn self decided to call my CNM on my way to work - she asked me to come in so she could listen to my lungs....ding ding ding...my lungs---all of a sudden it hit me...PNEUMONIA! of course as a health care prof i know all the signs and symptoms, but dont see them in myself--gosh i felt like an idiot...so still hoping for good news- i drove over and she said...ywp- Ash, you have pneumonia and your left side is pretty bad :( you're on bed rest until monday...eughhh--worst thing for a hyperactive person like myself...so yes- i cried...can you believe i cried- haha (i'll blame this on the hormones! haha) she then reminded me to not get off the couch or i could end up like my own patients on ECMO--reminded me how scary pneumonia is in pregnancy b/c your heart and lungs are already overtaxed from the baby...and scared the everything out of me--which, to be honest, is what i needed. One HUGE benefit to a birth center- they get to knwo you and you ge to know them and i think she knew if she didn't remind me i would be out and about...sooo i've been a good girl and only left to go pick up noah (a car ride) yesterday and today to lunch with hubby :) so here's to hoping for a clear diagnosis when i return on monday :)

Meanwhile, i have had lots of time to shop...oops! and read others blogs...i'm so inspired- i want to learn how to make mine pretty and interactive...no promises :) but i did find this below survey for pregnancy that i thought was fun...thanks Kelli, check out her blog here

How far along? 21 weeks tomorrow

Total weight gain: 0!!woowhoo

Maternity clothes? YES! i was afraid of them and refused for so long last time...then i realized how fabulous maternity pants are...soo comfy :) this time i was ready for them! And this baby is SOOO much lower than Noah was, so it was more uncomfortable

Stretch marks? no---btw my biggest fear!
Sleep: YES PLEASE :) i dont have any sleep problems thankfully :)

Best moment this week: feeling all the awesome kicks :)

Miss Anything? a glass of wine with a nice dinner...its just not the same :/

Movement: LIKE CRAZY! started at about 17 weeks and now i can feel full arm swoops, etc. and pretty constant all day :)

Food cravings: No- actually the opposite- its such a burden to eat- if i could get an IV of food all day so i didn't have to- i'd be happy :)

Anything making you queasy or sick: yea- every time i'm hungry i'm queesy and nothing sounds good so its basically constant downward spiral haha

Gender: BOY!!
Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? innie
Wedding rings on or off? i had to take my big ring off :( not because i'm swollen but because it was infecting my finger :( which is terrible b/c i NEVER take it off...but luckily-- my last PUSH PRESENT was a wedding band on the other side of the ring that i purposefully didn't get saudered, so i have that on :)

Happy or Moody most of the time: HAPPY :)
Looking forward to: not being on bed rest anymore :) and spending the weekend with my 2.5 boys :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Ashley

Gender Announcement

So on Monday we had our 20 week ultrasound. we told the US tech that we didn't want to know the gender, but instead wanted her to do something for us. i brought a bag that had one pair of boy shoes and one pair of girl shoes- after she did the gender part of the US she left the room and put the right gender shoes in the bag. i told her to just donate the others. here's photos from the US:

the bag all ready to go!!
The shoes

4 chambers of the heart...MORE important than fingers and toes to a perfusionist :)


3-D... saying no pictures please!
so cute! it was sleeping the whole ultrasound

i'm such a nerd, but how cool is this shot-- LVOT and aorta!!
yawning

We planned on going out to eat at dave's fav: PF Chang's, BUT the electronic leash wouldn't let me be free-- AKA i got called in for a liver transplant, so we had the babysitter on call incase i got out in time, but it didn't work out that way. Dave and I couldn't wait, so we decided take out would work just fine- as long as we had each other :) So i picked up PF Changs on my way home and when i got home Dave had a cute little candle and the table cleared. We ate part of our dinner and had to stop and open it b/c we were dying! I made Dave open it b/c i couldnt do it! haha as you can see by the pics we're just elated its another little BOY!!!







We told the grandparents we weren't going to find out, so we wanted to make it a surprise to them too! So on Tuesday am i called and ordered pink and blue flower bouquets with baby's breath that had a poem on them that lead them to pick up a cake at the local bakery. I ordered a cake with yellow frosting all the way around and a white question mark on top. the cake was chocolate with blue frosting inbetween the layers, so they would have to cut into the cake to find out the gender. We told them they had to wait until that evening to skype with us...little did we know i would end up working AGAIN doing another emergency :( sooo we had to postpone the cake cutting until late at night :( thankfully they waited until i got home, but as you can see on the video it was late...here's the debut on Hodge Baby #2 to the grandparents :)



Mimi and Grandfather Announcement:

Nana and Pops announcement

soooo--- ITS A BOY!!!
and so far he looks just like his big brother, Noah and his daddy :)



We are so happy and blessed to bring another little boy into this world...can't wait to meet him and learn all about him :)
love,
Mommy, Daddy and Noah

Belly Pics/ update

So- i can't believe it, BUT we're over half way!! 20 weeks and 1 day! wow has it flown by this time!

We have our ultrasound tomorrow to look at all the anatomy and we still aren't decided if we are going to find out the gender..ekk!! i bought two shoes to give the US tech if we decide to find out- we will have her put one pair in the bag for us and donate the other pair--then we are going to dinner tomorrow night to open it together. i just felt like it was so impersonal and we were unable to really react when i m laying on the table with gel all over my belly with the US tech inbetween us! haha so we thought this would be a more intimate way to share it :) that all is IF we decide to find out! we'll keep everyone posted :)

We have Noah's big boy room all ready to go- he isn't sleeping in it yet, we are waiting till he get a month or so older, just to be sure we have good first time obedience from him. we took the outside rail off his crib today and he is napping in it right now without any problems. we just want to be sure he will stay in his bed when we ask him to. he is incredibly obedient now, but i dont want to push him beyond what he is developmentally able to handle...so next month or couple of weeks we will transition him... on the other hand... he is READY to potty train...we just have to find a weekend to do it-- this weekend is a birthday party and next weekend i'm on call, so possibly the next weekend we will dive in. he's gone on the potty a few time and tells me when he's going other times---like inteh car on the way to target- when i clearly cannot pull over! haha soo...we have pull-ups, a teddy bear, training pants and a book called 1-2-3 potty training, by our favorite christian authors...the Ezzo's that attend our church...so we'll let you know how it goes!

below are pics of noah's new room- they are inthe wrong order and i can't get them to drag :( i'm not a blog expert- sorry- so start from the bottom and work up ;) we have letters on the wall and a bunch of other things in there now- including his twin bed...we'll take more pics soon to show :)

here's Noah doing a puzzle- one of his favorite things- while mommy was painting

daddy's helper- with a tape measure ;)

OH-IO!


these are the stripes on teh Buckeye helmets that we painted on his wall...BUT for those of you who know Dave know...we had to drive across Charleston to get THE OFFICIAL scarlet and gray of Ohio State--and i had to tell him we didn't have to have the official black and white-- geesh! haha but he did look up the exact dimensions so it is EXACTLY as the helmets are! haha


Noah found my cowboy hat and was wearing it around while playing with dad's tools

painting THE OFFICIAL scarlet- that required a special/ official primer



his fan pulls :)
Bella always helps out painting

taping off the lines
THE OFFICIAL OSU grey
cutie patootie



BELLY pics you've all been asking for :)








this video is of Noah forcing me to sing his favorite song...twinkle twinkle-- he does his hands and knows the words its soo funny- so please ignore my TERRIBLE singing :) i didn't say i was good at it! ha