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.