We wish you a merry Christmas!

I know some people don't like Christmas "newsletters," but I'm a fan. It's a good way to recap the year and share news with people we don't talk to very often. Here's our Christmas card message:

We have had a very exciting year! Our biggest and happiest news is that we’re expecting our first child! We are anxious to welcome our little girl in April 2008!

We’re still living in Lexington (near Columbia), South Carolina, with our very sweet and cute Yorkie, Reesey. She had a tough year-with 3 surgeries to correct a condition in her legs, a weekend in the hospital after eating raisins (which can cause kidney failure in dogs), and recently getting a chunk of her ear cut off by the groomer! She’s a trooper though and I think most of these things were harder on us than her. We know we’re capable of unconditionally loving a child!

Brian was unexpectedly recruited by FN Manufacturing and began a new job in February. He is still doing mechanical/manufacturing engineering and loves his new job making barrels for machine guns! FN is the main contractor for military machine guns. The new job provided a much more regular schedule, so Brian has enjoyed a lot of fishing and hunting (not with machine guns!) on the weekends.

I still love my job in Admissions at the University of South Carolina as Coordinator for Outreach and Enrichment Programs. This fall I had the great opportunity to teach two classes: a transition class for freshmen and a leadership class for upperclassmen. The classes and my 34 fantastic students proved to be both a challenge and a joy!

Another huge excitement of the year happened within the last few weeks: I was called by Wheel of Fortune and we took a whirlwind trip to LA to appear on the show! Make sure to tune in on February 22 as I make my television debut!

We wish all of you a happy holiday season and a great new year!

We’d love to hear from you! Email Susan at susanhhudson@gmail.com or Brian at brianhudson04@yahoo.com.

Although the date looks like this is way in the future, it's actually from December 15 on the Pacific Coast Highway during out trip to LA for Wheel of Fortune!

Here's a picture of me at 21 weeks with big sister, Reesey!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

IT’S A GIRL!!! We found out in our ultrasound December 3! We're so excited! We went on Monday and bought a little pink and white dress - so cute!! It's gonna be so much fun shopping for a little girl!! My mom gave us a pink blanket, so we have 2 "girl" things. And thanks to the Disney souvenir onesie from Brian’s mom, we have 2 outfits so far! I think we're gonna go to Target and Babies R Us to look at all the stuff we need and get registered this weekend. And I'm gonna start looking for ideas for the nursery! It definitely seems more real!

I was a little disappointed with the ultrasound b/c my mom and Brian’s parents were only in there for a few minutes. But it was helpful to have them in town to help around the house and with the huge raking project! And at least they got to see the hospital where our little girl will be born!

My appt was good after the ultrasound. We went through all the other pictures they took of all the organs and body parts. Everything looks great, which is most important. I was wondering why I'm not feeling more movement at this point. Our midwife thinks it's b/c the baby is turned in a weird position, which is also why the pictures are so bad. She said they are in the 20th percentile of bad pictures she's seen! :) My poor baby is as unphotogenic as her mother! But our baby is BEAUTIFUL of course, just bad pictures! I think the baby got the message about moving more, b/c I'm feeling it more and even felt some kicks on the outside! Brian hasn't felt them yet though, but I'm hoping he does soon.

They said the baby is 12 oz, which is on the petite side of normal at this point, but is totally ok. Normal is 12-15 oz. I've only gained 3 lbs! She said normal right now is up to 10, but most women have gained a minimum of 5 lbs at 20 weeks. So, more protein for me! And now I don't have to feel guilty about my ice cream indulgence! My next appt will be the first week of January, so I'm sure to have gained by then b/c of all the yummy holiday food!

I don't think we're gonna tell the name until she’s born... of course, we're so far from having a name picked out, that it'll probably take the remaining time to settle on something! Remember it took us more than a week to name Reesey... and then Brian’s mom was really the one who named her! I'm not very decisive about those things.

Gotta go – I have soooo much to do before leaving for LA next Wednesday!!

Here's a picture of us after the ultrasound with a new PINK blanket: