Blogs-So many to catch up on

So, it has been about 3 weeks since my last update.  A lot has happened in that time.  I have been so busy with work and Christmas.  I am 26 weeks pregnant today.  Rachel is kicking and punching me on a very regular basis now.  Last weekend when we were watching the Chargers game, Tim was resting his elbow on my stomach, and Rachel punched him 4 or 5 times.  Apparently, she was not happy with where his elbow was...or she was just trying to say hi to daddy.  This past month, I have finally gained some weight.  Initially, I lost weight.  Last month, I got back to my starting weight, and this month, I am up about 5 pounds from where I started.  I saw her kick for the first time on December 23rd.    We are working on cleaning out the spare bedroom, which will be Rachel's room soon enough.  I hope to have it completely cleaned out by the time I go back to work on January 5th (which is the same day we pick up Rachel's crib and dresser).  I hope you enjoy catching up with what has been going on for the past 3 weeks of my life.

Christmas at my Moms

We picked names among my siblings and each of the wives picked their husbands.  So, here is Tyler opening a gift from Lacey.

Here is Lacey opening a gift from Mom and David.

Brianne and Chris waiting for their turns.

Mom waiting patiently for her turn.  We open gifts by age...so she has to wait a long time.

Tyler was going to open first, since he is the youngest, until Tim pointed out that Rachel is the youngest, so Tim got to go first.  He is opening a gift for Rachel from Brianne and Chris.

Here is Brianne's dog, Hurley wearing his #1 on Santa's naughty list shirt that Chris's mom bought for him.  What do you think about his semi-mohawk?

Christmas at the Hodgsons

All of the kids (Tim, Sam, Matt, and Myself) open one gift from each other on Christmas eve.

When we get up in the morning, we open our "stockings", which are pillowcases filled with gifts.  Big surprise, Tim is opening something with Chargers on it.

Here is Bryce opening a gift.

Heather is turning on the lights for the Christmas tree.

Marley did not want to be left out of the gift opening process.

25 and a half weeks

Here is Rachel at 25 and a half weeks.  We had an appointment on December 23rd.  Everything looked good.  The doctor pointed out her chubby cheeks.  At nearly every appointment, Rachel has her hands at her face.  The doctor can only get profile shots of her, because she is shy and covers her face every time.  We were a little disappointed because we did not get a DVD this time because the recording device did not work.  We got four pictures, but I am only showing one, because they all looked the exact same as each other.

The doctor was late to our appointment because he was at the hospital delivering a baby.  We were hoping it was my friend Marie, since she is ready, but considering Tim had seen her three hours before our appointment, we were pretty sure it was not her...don't worry Marie, Emma will be here soon enough.

Heather's Birthday

We celebrated Tim's moms birthday on December 22nd.  After opening presents, we went to Sammy's in Scripps Ranch for dinner.

Hmmmmm, I wonder what Bryce got for Heather???

Christmas in Santee

We celebrated our first Christmas on December 21st at Aunt Cathy's and Uncle Ernie's house in Santee.

We have a tradition of giving joke gifts to people...and, as usual...Grandma received a joke gift from my mom and Aunt Cathy.  (And I was able to get a picture of Grandpa without him sticking his tongue out!)

Pregnant Pics

These are some of the first pregnant pictures that I have taken.  They were taken on December 21st, when I was 25 weeks pregnant.  

When I take a picture of myself, you can really see what is getting in the way of my own view of my stomach.  Every time I turn around, it seems as if my chest is growing twice as fast as my belly. 

My Best Friend

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Canyon Lake to hang out with Becky.  For those of you who don't know, she has been my best friend since we were 5.  She is pregnant too!  She is having a boy and is due at the beginning of June.

I made her go shopping with me for a couple of hours in the rain at the Elsinore outlets because I needed presents for the following day.  When we were done shopping, I went with Becky and Beau to the Duplan's house to watch a boat parade.  It was really nice to hang out with them since I really don't see them that much anymore, but will always consider them my family. 

Our First Purchase

Tim and I went furniture shopping today.  We really haven't purchased anything for the baby...until today!  We bought this crib and the matching dresser.  It feels so good to finally have something major taken care of.  We are not going to pick it up until January, so that we have time to clean out the spare bedroom.  I have been looking for quite a long time for bedding, so that we can get started on getting our theme together and I think I may have found two things online this morning that we like.  It has been really hard to find exactly what we want in the colors that we want.  I feel like we are finally making some progress.

Thanksgiving #3

I went up to my brother's house on Friday to spend my third Thanksgiving with my brothers and my dad.  Tim did not go with me...I think he ate too much turkey the night before.  Actually, I think that he has a food allergy to seafood and spent all day Friday sick.  In this picture you see Tyler trying to fly a kite with Nathan, Kyle, and Allison.  The kite flying was very unsuccessful.  There was never enough wind and they never got it to take off.

You see how Kyle really feels about his little brother.  When they weren't posing for this picture, they spent the rest of the day wrestling and throwing each other on the floor.  I told the boys while I was watching them wrestle, that I was glad Rachel is a girl. 

Here is Tyler and Jaylin playing foosball.  Allison is the best scorekeeper.  She watches and when somebody scores she moves the slider over for them.

Thanksgiving #2

We had Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday at Tim's parents house.  My mom and David joined us there.  

Again, Tim ate too much Turkey.  I think he uses it as an excuse to be able to sit in front of the TV and watch more football.

Thanksgiving #1

We celebrated Thanksgiving #1 at my mom's house.  She didn't want everybody to worry about all of the other Thanksgiving's they have to make it to on Thursday, so she decided to do it on Sunday instead.  It worked out really well...

except Tim ate way too much Turkey and was having a hard time staying awake.

Hurley (Brianne's dog) really wanted to play with Julia's (Ziggy's daughter) Home Depot flag that she found.

ZJ (Zig Junior, they actually call him EJ for Ernie Jr.)...is a very happy boy.  He is 10 months old.

The boys are all sitting around watching football.  That's a big shocker.

The Birthday After Party

After we went out to dinner with Tim's parents, we went to a bar.  It was 9 boys and me.  They all wanted to have a good time, since Tim is going to be taking a year off from drinking.  The surprising part for me was that I was able to hang out with them until 1:00 am.  Since I have been pregnant, I usually go to bed at around 8:00.  Over the last couple of weeks, I have finally been getting some energy back.  I think everybody was surprised I hung out that long.  

Tim's 27th Birthday

Tim's parents and I got him a HD video camera for his birthday.  I spent more than our normal limit, but I figured the present wasn't just for his birthday, it is also "for the baby".

The boys couldn't wait to give Tim his gifts.

Sam's roommate gave Tim some pottery that he spent hours making.  Tim wasn't exactly sure what it was.  Once he explained it though, Tim thought it was really cool.

Jillian Lewko is here!

Jillian Lewko

Born on 11/17/08

6 lbs. 10 oz.

19 1/2 inches long

The Lewko Family...except Brody (the dog)

1 down...2 to go.  Marie Has about 6 weeks left, while I have 19 weeks to go.

19 and a half weeks

These were taken at 19 and a half weeks.  They are not nearly as good as the last ones, but they do include one important piece of information.  The first one is an arm with a hand and fingers.  The second one is an elbow.  The last one is the most important one.  Even though you may not be able to tell just by looking at it, the arrow is pointing at Rachel's girl parts.  Rachel was being very shy with her face in the corner and her hand over her face the entire appointment, but she did show us the one thing that we were really hoping to see.  Her current stats are: 9 inches and 11 ounces.  She is in the 43rd percentile for size.  The doctor said that the closer to 50 percent that she is, the better.  So, being a math teacher, I feel pretty comfortable with 43 percent. :)

15 and a half weeks

These were taken at 15 and a half weeks.  The baby is sucking its thumb in the first one, the second picture is the same picture without the thumb, and the third one is the doctor trying to figure out if it is a boy or a girl.  The baby kept its legs in the way the whole time and did not want to show us anything.  Dr. Langford said that he didn't see any boy parts, but couldn't be sure with what he was seeing.

Our Cats

These are our babies.  Kitten is on the left and Sarabi is on the right.

Pregnant Pals

These are 2 of my other pregnant friends, Marie and Kristyn.  Kristyn is due any day now and Marie is due in about 9 weeks.  We all worked together at the Sports Center and have remained friends ever since.  Tim still works with Marie at the Sports Center.