Don't We All Do This TOO!?

I have some bigger clothes for Olivia and I couldn't resist putting them on Lucas the other day..it upset John after he stopped laughing---it's so funny how different Lucas looks as a little girl- I wonder how similar Olivia and Lucas will be/look:




The more I think about going to the hospital to have Olivia, the more I realize how much I will miss Lucas..he can't visit me in the hospital and I can't leave for at least 2 days...I hope she doesn't have jaundice too. I have become so attached to Lucas I hope I can share my attention with both of them. Susan and my mom will be taking care of Lucas while I am gone, so that JOhn can stay with me in the hospital for the most part. I know Lucas will miss me; he has suddenly become SOO clingy as if he knows whats to come. I am excited to get all this started and have my 2 babies at home with me :) I am hoping tomorrow is the day FULL MOON DO YOUR THING!

Don't We All do this?

I have gained so much weight through the years, especially during the 2 back-to-back pregnancies, and I really intend to get my body back into shape in every which way (via hard work, or hard-earned cash..lol) by the time John gets out and we start our real lives. And from time to time, I will look back on photos that I have and remember wanting to lose weight even when I was thin. I never cared that much, and didn't have to really, until I got married! Happily married couples gain weight together right? Right. Well, I look at this picture my sister Sarah sent me a while ago, and can't imagine ever being that small again, but it's motivation to lose weight that's for sure! I am sure most people feel that way looking at older photos right?
This is a picture of me, my sister Sarah and my friend Will in Arizona on the Salt River trip her dad's family takes every year. It's fun to float down the river for hours, getting burned:

Lucas + Dada time

This was a few nights ago after coming home from our costco trip to restock the shelves (notice the huge thing of diapers, bounty and charmin..) and Lucas played with Dada while I got dinner ready. He is walking more and more everyday, all the way across the room. He also loves to hit people, when they say "owie!" he thinks it means to keep hitting you. Another bully just like his dad...

Walking to induce labor!

Susan wanted to go to a new park to run, and I wanted to walk Lucas so we went to another nearby park called "Waller Mill." It's very pretty and has lots of trails, and boat rentals etc. BUT it was so freaking bitterly cold, I barely walked with Lucas, who I tried to bundle up as much as possible, but I was freezing so we went and waited in the car after looking at the water and the trees. Susan still ran like 4 miles, and was miserable, but she's crazy. We will go back when it's warmer--it's a nice park. Here are some pictures:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Family Time-ness

John and I made chocolate chip cookies last night, but I put less chocolate chips since I added chocolate toffee bits. They were pretty good. I have been trying lots of different cookie recipes, and am usually disappointed, but this year the ranger cookies are my favorite, and these ones were okay, but probably needed more chocolate chips (especially since John likes a lot!) Here's some Hodge family time video:

Pregnancy Appt~38wks!

I had my OBGYN appt today, and John was home early enough to come along. I am technically 38wks tomorrow. There was a little sugar in my urine, probably due to the fact that I have been drinking so much orange juice (we just stocked up on it from Costco and it's so good!) but my blood pressure was okay, and I haven't gained weight in the past week so it's not of any concern. She checked my cervix again today, and I am 2cm dilated, and the baby's head is at -1 station--here's the drawing to help you see what that means...her head is very close to being out of the cervix, and into the birth canal!

The doctor said that I will see her next monday if I am still pregnant! I said Thursday is in my mind because it's a full moon-she laughed. She said that if I am still pregnant at 39 weeks they will start considering a day to induce me. Funny how certain doctors are very against induction, and some are eager to induce without real necessity. Either way, I am ready to get her out of me and get my body back to normal!

IS THIS IT?!-false alarm..

It's 3am. I am having strong cramping in my lower left groin. Pretty sure it's the start of it all--immediately got scared of what's ahead! I just now have prepared a bag of stuff I should've done weeks ago. Hope this isn't false labor, but I hope I get in quick enough to get that dang epidural!!!! Everyone's still sleeping. Will update if I am not in the hospital!!!! GO OLIVIA!

Update: My contractions stopped being regular last night, but it was pretty painful. I guess my body was just preparing and dilating a little more, but not the real thing yet. John has duty tonight so I am kind of thinking it might be tonight---new years eve (thursday) is a full moon-- so we still have a chance at 2009! Sorry to excite anyone too early...

Christmas 2009

We went over to Jim + Shawna's to celebrate Xmas eve with a game night and a special dinner. John got his family's spaghetti recipe, complete with pork chops, sausage and meatballs, and I made it the best I could. It took 6 hours to cook (simmering) and the meat was all very tender. I will probably make it again soon, but with more meatballs (that was pretty much everyone's favorite). The pork was pretty tender too.




We got Alex a bath toy, and little Jacob a cute little owl toy. And Shawna graciously relinquished the baby girl clothes she has kept, for me to use for Olivia soon. Very cute outfits! And the funny thing is, they got Lucas a gift that he really appreciated--this little book that lights up, with music and reading, was given to him by John's mom when we were in CA, but John spilled coffee on it and we had to throw it away---so when he saw the brand new one he was so pleased that it came back to life! Thank you!




This is the book!

This is the great picture john took of me playing with Lucas lol..

And Lucas bothering Alex when he's supposed to sleep...he likes Alex:



I was having painful contractions here and there all night, thinking maybe I would have a Christmas baby, but no luck yet. Next appt is on monday, so hopefully there will have been some progress.

And then for Christmas, we really just stayed home and played a little rock band with Norman, and then Susan decided to take us all out to dinner. There were very few places open so we ended up going to this Chinese restaurant by our house--so "Christmas Story" movie of us huh? The food was pretty good and Lucas kept flirting with the chinese waitresses and playing with the chopsticks.


Everyone's so into the movie!





Thanks Susan!
This was his favorite waitress


It was an alright Christmas; we keep telling ourselves every year, "next year we will really celebrate Christmas and buy stuff for each other.." but we always have something we need to save money for and decide not to. It kind of makes me sad, but I know everything will be different when John is out of the Navy and Lucas and Olivia are a little older. I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and that you will have a happy and prosperous 2010!

Lucas in his new Carseat

Thanks to John's parents, we bought Lucas his new big boy front-facing carseat. He loves it and still goes to sleep in the car in it. But now he gets to watch his movies on the screen in front of him too! Olivia will soon be taking over his other seat, so I am glad we got that out of the way. She is coming any day now--the last appt the doctor says I am 1 cm dilated, which doesn't mean too much for typical pregnancies, but considering that I was not dilated or effaced, and my cervix wasn't even faced forward the day before I had Lucas, I think it means she is coming early. I am also having little painful contractions here and there, which I didn't really with Lucas, until the day he was born. December 31st is a full moon, so let's hope for another 2009 baby! It will be wierd to have had 2 babies in the same year, but then she can use his "Born in 09!" outfit!
Here is Lucas in his big boy seat:

A Forwarded Email- thoughts to ponder

My friend Shawna just sent these to me and I thought some of them are pretty accurate! Especially the underlined ones:

Thoughts to ponder:

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer's history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died..

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13.. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to the ten-page paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this -- ever. (well, i usually wash/dry it anyway, hence the garment is ruined and i never wear it again..)

15. I hate it when I miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

18. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

19. I think the freezer deserves a light as well..

20. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with a Budweiser than Kay.

21. Why is that no one "just drops by" when my house is completely in order, only when it looks like a tornado just struck?

That is all. Hope you enjoyed them!

Thank You Grandma Croce

We were recently sent Christmas cards from John's family with money to buy Lucas his first Christmas gifts. Here is what Lucas' Great Grandma Croce 'bought' him:


He really likes phones and already knows to put it to his hear and talk!

He will like these legos soon, but for now he enjoys breaking what John and I make:



Thank you for the Christmas gifts! He also got a Backyardigans ball and bathtub ABC's, which he really likes playing with (and chewing on). We may take him to see Santa one more time and see how he does; he is beginning to understand Christmas a little, and tries to say it. He at least likes the Christmas trees and music!

Cookie Party

I was invited by our newest neighbors across the way (the only other Navy couple in our neighborhood!--the rest are pretty much army!) to a cookie party. I wanted to go, but I was kind of hesitant because I didn't know any good cookie recipes. BUT I tried this new ranger cookie recipe I found online and made a few changes and I actually really like them!


They are pretty fluffy--they have coconut, rice crispies, chopped peanuts, and chocolate chips. Everybody's cookies were tasty, but to be honest, we all mostly had 'girl talk', and a more specific kind, which is "military wife talk." We have all had pretty much similar experiences, but I think the main difference is this: specifically with the husbands that are lifers in the military (i.e. will retire after 20 yrs), they have had deployments far away from their family quite a bit, but when they are not on deployment, they have very few hours and get to be home a lot. With John, I have been fortunate not to be separated from him for more than a few weeks so far, but he works long hours, and has duty (24+ hr shifts) and is under a lot of stress as a nuke. I wouldn't say it's an even trade--all I can truly say, is that we are both anxious for the next 483 days to be over with and to be truly free from all that worry!


We also got to share each of our miraculous birthing stories, every one different and fun to hear. Stephanie, the host, has had 4 kids, all within 2 years of each other and says she's had the most easy and quick births. I guess you could say mine went well because it was QUICK, but not having had an epidural still traumatizes me...Anyway, it was nice to bond with the nice women in my neighborhood and they all are anxious to see Olivia and help with the new baby on the block!

Lucas was all of a sudden shy and scared of everyone, and only wanted to be held by me. Honestly, it was a little comforting because he seems so independent. It makes me feel like a true mommy to be needed or preferred by my little boy. But he enjoyed watching Stephanie's kids and smiling at the women and seeing their big Christmas Tree. He was a good boy. Here are the few pictures I caught:







I said I may venture out and host a 'poker night' at my house one of these nights before Olivia's arrival. Looking forward to making some money! j/k :)

Yankee Candle Santa

John surprised us and came home last night, but he had to go back this morning til tomorrow for duty. He had been gone all week for a fast cruise. We decided to take Lucas to the Yankee Candle Factory to see Santa. We figured he would probably be afraid, but it's still cute for pictures! I fixed his hair a little and took a few pictures at home and at the factory. It's one of only 2 flagship stores and it is huge and great for free kid entertainment. Lucas liked the Christmas rooms and the real snow every 10 minutes.

Here are the ones I took at home first:




And at Yankee Candle:

Nativity Scene

Watching other kids with Santa

Lucas likes the water fountain

At the build-a-bear room

NOW he smiles..


Looking at the fake-real snow falling
They have these cute little model Christmas towns all over

Smiling for a female employee lol

Trying to walk the bridge

The strange pickle tree


The Huge candy shop---he was looking at the choo-choo-train that goes through the whole place

He knows what "Christmas Trees" are


He was looking at another little boy

And what you've been waiting for:


He cried as soon as John put him in Santa's lap, but it was still cute. He looks like me when I cried as a kid! Maybe next year he will be better with Olivia to sit with him.
Merry Christmas!