7 weeks

We can't believe it has been 7 weeks since our baby boy was born! Here is a little slideshow of pictures.

We had thanksgiving at Carrie & Jon's house this year and had lots of good food and fun. Bentley got to play with his cousin Lucy and will probably be sleeping for the next week because of it. To see those pictures, check out our gallery of pictures (the link is on the right of the main page).

It's almost been 6 weeks!

After almost 6 weeks, everyone is doing well and Mark is starting to be awake more during the day. He smiles a lot but also fusses when he is not perfectly happy (sometimes he likes his hands to be out of his blanket and sometimes he likes them to be wrapped up...it's up to us to figure it out). Sometimes he likes tummy time...and sometimes he doesn't. He loves to pick up his head though and has been turning it from side to side a lot. It is soo cute!

At first, I was ready to go back to work, but after almost 6 weeks, of course I'm starting to get sad about going back. I am going to miss being with him all day and I'm even going to miss Bentley (who always wants to go in & out at the most inconvenient times). Next week, I go back for 2 1/2 days and then I'll be off with Mark for another 2 weeks. Then, I'll officially be back to work.

I want to give a special thanks to my mom who has been coming up during the week to spoil her grandson (I mean help me). She is also going to watch him for a week in December. Blake's parents have been able to come visit fairly often too! Mark is very lucky to live so close to his grandparents!!!

Blake's 30th b-day & Halloween

Blake turned 30 in October! To celebrate, his parents and Carrie & Jon came to Richmond to celebrate with us. The original plan I had for Blake had to be put on hold...but hopefully can be done next year. We still had a great time and ate lots of chicken! Chicken nuggets from Chick-Fil-A for lunch and fried chicken from Blake's mom for dinner! She makes the best fried chicken!!!!

On his actual birthday, Mark and I went to have lunch with him at Five Guys near his work. Yum!!! At night, Mark and Blake watched the Hokies play (we won't discuss the results of that game).

Since we were not expecting to have Mark for Halloween, we did not have a costume. We looked around but weren't able to find anything small enough (especially at the last minute). We really wanted to make him the Chick-Fil-A cow. Thanks to Tory for being creative (big surprise there) and making him a costume! She used iron-on patches on a white onesie and made him a cow for Halloween! It was super cute!

Mark's 1st Week Home

Mark slept most of the week away, but made time for lots of visitors! Grandma "Dee", Uncle Chris, Aunt Debbie, Aunt Patty, Mary and Brigitte, Shannon and Sean Doherty all came to visit last week. And this weekend, Aunt Carrie, Uncle Jon, Grandma & Grandpa Hodges came to hang out and celebrate Blake's 30th birthday a little early! Blake and I enjoyed some much needed sleep this weekend as Grandma Hodges volunteered to do lots of the feedings:) Enjoy some pics. Check the link for more.

http://gallery.me.com/hodges_family/100116

Feeding TIme

Tonight, Mark ate the most he's ever eaten in one sitting! We also gave him his first bath tonight...luckily we had some coaching from the nurses and attended a "bathing class' this morning in the newborn floor!

Blake and Michelle left the hospital Monday night for the first time in a while...even though Michelle was discharged, the hospital let us keep a room to "stay in" while Mark is still here waiting for his release!

We left Monday night after Mark's 9pm feeding and got home to our house and saw Bentley for the first time in awhile - I think we missed him more than he missed us!

The house was clean from top to bottom(thanks aunt carrie & grandma trotter/hodges), fridge stocked with groceries & minivan oil changed (thanks grandma hodges) and the yard was mowed and looks better than when Blake cuts it : ) (thanks pop pop)

So far it looks like we will be able to come home late Friday/Saturday bc they want to keep Mark on his antibiotics just to be safe.

Update - Day #2

While, I have been officially discharged from the hospital today, Mark has to stay until at least tomorrow evening because of high bilirubin (Blake and I think he just wants to be orange to support the Hokies:) He seems to be doing much better and will be home with us soon! He slept in our hospital room last night so that was pretty cool too! Blake barricaded the door to make sure no one stole him in the middle of the night:)

Blake and I have learned a lot - especially from a really great nurse in the progressive care nursery (Kelly Hodges - yes her last name really is Hodges:)! She taught us how to pick him up without his head falling all over the place, how to feed, swaddle, etc. And today, Blake and I, did the first morning feeding/diaper change and got peed and pooped on. It was great!!!! Only wish we had it on video!

I will probably be more likely to just post a few pics on here and more on the gallery so check back on this link for pictures.

We love everyone and know that baby Mark can't wait to meet you as soon as we are all settled in at home together!

http://gallery.me.com/hodges_family

Mark Trotter Hodges (born 10/10/09 at 9:03am; 5 pounds 10 oz, 19.75in)

After being in and out of the hospital since Monday, October 5 with various diagnoses which included possible early labor and renal colic, our baby boy - Mark Trotter Hodges decided he couldn't wait any longer to meet us (and I guess he wanted to be here to witness a great Virginia Tech victory)! My water broke at exactly 3am after Blake and I had spent another long evening on 3West at Henrico Doctor's hospital. First, I want to thank my awesome husband for spending every night with me in the hospital and assuring me that the pain just had to get better eventually!!! Who would have thought that labor would be less painful than "renal colic" and 2 days of non-stop contractions at 2-3 minutes apart! And at least this way, going downstairs to labor and delivery was only less than 5 minutes instead of the 15 from our house. And I was able to get an epidural instead of morphine (and a constant feeling of making your baby a drug addict) so that was exciting!!

6 hours later, and with 2 great labor coaches (Blake & my mom - I think they are both seriously going to be sore from pushing so hard with me), baby boy Mark took his first breath at 9:03am. It was a really awesome experience, besides the last couple of pushes (those last couple of pictures are reserved for Discovery Health).

Mark is in the NICU for the night because he came out a little early and they wanted to check on his breathing, and he had a slight temperature. He is mainly spending the night there as a precaution and will probably move to the regular newborn nursery tomorrow morning. He is super cute and I don't know how I'm going to stop myself from spoiling him! Aunt Carrie came up this evening and brought us lunch from the Cheese Shop and dinner!!! She's also watching the other baby - Bentley for the night and is going to take a blanket of Mark's home for him!

Tory has also been a lifesaver by being on call off and on all week with Bentley! Blake and I are truly blessed by being around such great friends and family and we can't wait to introduce our son to everyone! Thanks for being a part of our lives!!!

Baby Pool!

Seriously...we will update this blog again one day. Until then...please check out the cool baby pool where people are guessing due date, weight, name, etc:)

http://bebepool.com/shelebo

The Beach

Blake and I spent the week with his family in Corolla. It was AWESOME!!! The weather was absolutely perfect and we had so much fun with everyone...especially Wes and J.D. Bentley went swimming in the ocean and will probably spend the next week sleeping to recover from all of the excitement.

More pictures are in the mobile me gallery. (http://gallery.me.com/hodges_family/100076)

Cubs vs. Nationals

Since the Cubs have lost every game I have been to in D.C. the last 2 years, we decided to increase my odds of seeing them win this year by going to 2 games. Not only did they win BOTH games we went to, but they swept the series. Exciting times:)

We only had the camera at the Sunday afternoon game when Blake and I went with J.D. and Blake's parents.

Happy Independence Day!

Blake and I went down to the Historic Triangle to celebrate America's birthday! It is one of the most appropriate places to celebrate. My parents had a cookout with some awesome food and family fun in Williamsburg. Then we went to visit Thor the bulldog. Carrie & Jon are babysitting him for 3 weeks this summer while his parents are away. He is one of the cutest dogs I've ever seen!

Finally, fireworks in Yorktown! Wasn't sure I was going to be able to stay awake, but obviously couldn't deprive my unborn child of the awesomeness that is fireworks at Yorktown! Plus, Blake got to take 200 pictures of fireworks. Again, an opportunity that just couldn't be missed!

There are lots more pictures in the Mobile Me Gallery! (gallery.me.com/hodges_family)

The "official" family car

Kissing my favorite car goodbye:(

Hopefully, this will be our new favorite car:)

Well..when people say kids are expensive, we are starting to find out why and apparently it starts before they are even born:)  Blake and I finally broke down and bought a minivan.  That's right, a mini-van.  After checking out every possible SUV, we decided that the small ones were too small for our family (don't forget that we have a 155 pound dog) and the big ones are just too big for me.  I'm sure we'll learn to love the minivan.  Blake has already requested that I drive him around so he can watch movies in the back:)  I will definitely miss my blue box!!!  Maybe it was because it was so ugly or just so perfect, but I loved that car!!!  Now I'll have carpet and push-button doors!

We took Bentley for a ride to Petco and he seemed to be just fine in the new car.  He may like it better because he has his own a/c vents in the very back!!!