Portugal-- classical dressage training

My portugal trip was great.... but lots of work!! Baby Hodgson should be an expert horseman from day one.....! I went with 2 of my horsey girlfriends, Kris and Brenda. We went to Jerez de la Frontera in Spain to see the Spanish Riding School performance, then back to Portugal for our class. There were 10 Americans in our class; my friends and I were by far the rookies!! But I think that we all learned a lot. It was an experience that I was so happy to have had, since from here on out, life will be quite different. The ups and downs of the trip ranged from being robbed in Lisbon...( I had to buy all new riding gear in Spain to replace what was stolen!) to feeling what it was like to do piaffe and passage, Grand Prix dressage movements!! All in all, a great time. But I was happy to get home to normal life and normal food....it was on the tale end of my nauseus period of trimester number 1.... I managed, but sometimes the new food smells were too much!!

New orchids in the family!!

I think that Rob would be happy if I stuck with collecting orchids instead of horses!! Although I think he'd say that I have too many.... I think he'd prefer that over my addiction to accumulating horses!! I went to the Orchid Festival in San Francisco with my friend Monica at the beginning of the month.....Here are a few of my new orchid babies!!! Aren't they pretty!

So far so GOOD!!!

Well, I just got a thumbs up at my last OBGYN appointment. Baby Hodgson seems well and so does mom! This is an image of him/her-- s/he's lying with his/her head on the right in profile, hands up near his/her nose, and feet squished upwards with toes pointing towards head.... can you see him/her? Any guesses-- boy or girl? I've had a real mixed response so far-- s/he could be either!! HUmmmmmm Life will be changing dramatically soon..... are we ready? Ready or not, here Baby Hodgson comes!! ; )

Rob's GOOD NEWS

We recently got very good news about Rob's cranial bleed. The last test that was done was an MRI to look for something called a cavernous angioma which is commonly seen in people who have venous angiomas ( which Rob has.) They were looking because these cavernous angiomas can bleed and hence if he had one, then it would be possible that he could bleed again. The very good news is that he DOES NOT have a cavernous angioma!! ; ) So, that means that he probably had a telangiectasia which bled and obliterated itself and that he shouldn't bleed again!! We are both very excited for this very good news!! Thank you God, because with my lack of cooking abilities, it was extremely important for Baby Hodgson that he have his/her dad around!!

Pregnant and in Las Vegas!

Well, we were back for another year in Vegas..... We call it C.E., but each year it's become less of a continuing education trip and more of a fun get together. In years past, there were the few of us that got up to attend those 8 and 9 am morning lectures after a night on the town, but we've grown older and wiser! I made it a point to try to attend an 11am lecture daily!! ; ) This year was no different than any other..... We stayed out until at least 2 am every night and when we did get in, we'd stay up talking until at least 3 am!! We had lots of catching up to do! This year there were a few extra 'bumps" along.... Me, pregnant with baby Hodgson, and Lisa with her breast pumping routine every 4 hours..... she carried her breast pump where ever she went! ; ) We saw Spam alot this year... and just generally had a great time hanging out and dancing! I think that we were all ready to come home... how long can our bodies take this!?