Shout Out

So I just wanted to send a shout out to all those Mom's out there that are single moms. Whether it's a more permanent thing, or just a short stint like mine was, I take my hat off to you. So for the last 2 weeks Mitch has been in Victoria helping his brother with his Christmas light business. It was a great opportunity for Mitch to help out his brother who is really ill with something his doctors cannot diagnose, and to earn some extra money for our family. He left on the 25th of November and I fly out to Victoria on the 11th of December. So in total it will be 2 1/2 weeks without that constant help and support. Note to self (and the group) DON'T DO THIS AGAIN!! I am so freakin' tired I can hardly think straight. Most days I don't even get dressed. Today I finally brushed my teeth at 3 pm. So I wanted to write this post to tell all those amazing women out there that do this frequently or full-time... you are my hero.

ZACH ATTACK

So I'm not sure how many of you know, but I recently started watching this little guy a couple times a week. He is just adorable! Zach is just over a year old and is walking and says "uhh" all day long! He loves Miss Sophie and is so good at entertaining her when she starts to fuss and I am busy. He is a great eater and a great napper (I love that part the best). At first I thought I had gotten myself in too deep, but as it turns out having Zach here helps me keep on top of things. Maybe it's from all those years of working as a nurse and multi-tasking. I find that when he is here I do the dishes, keep the place tidy, I eat regularly, and Sophie naps regularly. Don't get me wrong, it's a ton of work and I don't think I could do it without a lot of help from my wonderful husband, but I think I am learning some very valuable lessons for when I have more children. So here are some pictures of the little guy, in all his glory! In the top picture you'll notice my pancake flipper. After making breakfast one morning he saw it in my hand and decided he wanted it. So now everyday he comes over he wants to play with it!

In this second picture you can see Sophie watching T.V. in her favorite T.V. watching chair. She just sits there hanging out for a while. It's so nice as it gives me a break. Maybe I should feel guilty for letting my 3 1/2 month old watch T.V., but I don't. I'm at the stage where I think, "if it keeps her quite and entertained, so be it!" I think I had actually put something educational on... Baby Einstein. That's good right?
For this one I tried for like a good 5 minutes to get him to smile for the camera. Nope, not even close. Why do kids do that? I don't get it. Sophie does that all the time, she'll be totally smiling and happy and then as soon as she see's the camera she goes stone-faced. It actually makes us laugh. Hopefully she'll outgrow that as Mitch is obsessed with taking videos and pictures of her. I just had an epiphany... maybe that's why she stops smiling; she's tired of being on camera! Either way, hope you enjoyed these photo's of one of the cutest little guys.

Get Off My Back

Ok so here is my update, long time over due. Since it has literally been months since my last blog I have decided to just do this in point form. For some of the points I did take pictures (I did put some forethought into blogging, just never got around to actually doing it!); however, I now cant find them. I think Mitch deleted them. Anywho, lets begin:
- Sophie started giggling, October 23rd to be exact. Now if I could just get her to do it consistently! It's absolutely adorable and it melts my heart. The best part is that she will still only do it for me, so it makes me feel really special and loved by her!!
- My brother and his wife were sealed in the temple in October. It was amazing to be present for a loved one's sealing. The spirit was so strong and made me grateful for eternal families and the gospel in my life.
- Halloween. Not necessarily my favorite holiday to celebrate, but some friends of ours were having a costume party in Calgary. So Mitch dressed up as Mr. Schuster, I went as Sue Sylvester, and Miss Sophie was a nurse. See facebook for pictures.
- Sophie is still not consistently sleeping through the night. I know what you're all thinking, "she's still young, wait a couple more months." Here's the catch. I know that she can. She has done it! So I think what's going to happen is we are going to start a little bit of cereal just before bed. Just a little bit so that she has something in her tummy. We'll see how that goes.
- Last one, but most definitely my favorite. SOPHIE GOT HER EARS PIERCED!!! I love it! I think it is so adorable. She just has some little studs in right now which she has to keep in for 6 weeks. I clean them 3 times a day and she has done really well with them. So I think for Christmas she'll get a cute pair of earrings, maybe some to match Mommy's! For all of you critics out there... if she doesn't want them when she gets older she can just take them out and they will grow over.
Well I think that those are the main highlights, if I think of anything else I'll let ya know!

L.O., L.O., L.O.V.E
(for those of you who don't know, that's an Ashley Simpson song)

This post will be the tale of my birthing experience. If you are at all squimish or don't like too many details, DON'T READ MY BLOG!! For those of you who know me, this will be right up your alley!

My story begins on a friday; July 16th, 2010, to be exact. I woke up, took Mitch to work in the morning, and spent the rest of the day lounging. How does this induce labor you ask? It doesn't. However, when I picked Mitch up from work we decided to go shopping for a video camera. Background info... Mitch's parents had a video camera when he was born and he loves watching his own footage. He therefore thought it a good idea to get family video's for our future children. Continuing on... we shoppped for about 5 hours that evening. Basically until everything closed up for the night. Now at 38 weeks huge preggers, that's a lot of walking. By the time we got home I was incredibly sore and tired, and of course grouchy. We decided to start a movie to unwind and made it about 1/2 way through before calling it a night. Lame, I know. It was like 10:30! So through the night I had some contractions, but nothing consistant or worth getting out of bed for. I woke up on Saturday morning around 9. Mitch of course was still sleeping so I made some breakfast, and started watching t.v.. Mitch decided to come to life around 10 at which time we decided to finish our movie. Sidenote... we were watching the Incredible Hulk. At 10:30-ish I had a really strong contraction, after which I looked at Mitch and said, "I think that was more than a Braxton Hicks!" 3 minutes later I had another one that was even stronger and brought tears to my eyes. O.k. fine, I cried out. It seriously hurt like an S.O.B.! After that contraction I felt a gush of fluids exiting my crotchel region. I shouted out in joy, "I think that's my water breaking!"and took off for the bathroom. When I got to the bathroom and finally looked down I noticed an extreme amount of blood. Bright red, fresh blood. Not so good. I jumped in the shower, still having contractions every 3 minutes, and told Mitch what to finish packing for my hospital bag. Once he was ready we quickly got in the car and headed for the Miseracordia Hospital. We arrived in emergancy at 11:00 and I was immediately taken to admitting then the antepartum room. The OB on call was Dr. Roy, who was extremely nice and told me that due to the amount of blood loss I would be admitted and be having my baby one way or another that day. I was then taken to a delivery room where my wonderful nurse Amy started my IV (of course right in my wrist) and got me comfortable. Other than poor choice in IV placement she really was great. She was also expecting and due in November. I asked her if working in labor and delivery made her nervous about her own upcoming experience. Anywho. I had asked Amy if I could have an epidural and I was told that I had to have blood work drawn and needed to wait for the results prior to Dr. Roy agreeing to anything. Boo whore. Please keep in mind, I'm still having contractions every 3 minutes, sans pain control of any kind. Another boo whore. Well STAT blood work takes at least an hour to complete so I waited. Everything came back with acceptable results so Amy called the Anesthetist pronto. Dr. Flexor was his name. He got my epidural in lickitty-split and and HOUR AND A HALF later it finally started to work. Apparently Dr. Flexor has never had contractions (he was a man) and likes to run his epidurals like weak-sauce. However, once it started to work life was great. I slept, chatted with Mitch, updated facebook, played on my itouch, etc. Good times! I highly recommend epidurals. O.k. moving on a couple hours. Amy decided to start a pitocin drip as I had only dilated from 3cm to 6cm in a couple hours. Too long for my liking and Dr. Roy's! That was around 5:15 pm. Not knowing how quickly pitocin would work for me I told Mitch at 6-ish that he should go and get the camera we had picked out. We had chosen one the night before but had decided to sleep on it because we thought we could just go back out and get it later. Silly us. When I sent him out I specifically told him to be back no later than 7. Well of course a few minutes after Mitch left the hospital I felt "the urge to bear down!" That always sounds so disgusting to me. I felt like pushing around 6:45, so I just thought that I could handle it for a few more minutes until Mitch got back. HA! At 7:15 he still hadn't returned. Amy came back to my room at this point and could see that I was a little panicky. She asked where my husband had gone, so I explained. Luckily there was a phone in my room so she let me use it to call my missing husband. He could also hear the panic in my voice and came back quickly; camera in tow! and VOILA!! 8:10pm Sophia LeeAnn Hughes was born. She weighed in at 7lbs 5oz., was 20" long, and her head circumference was 33cm. She had lots of dark brown hair and was covered in the disgusting vernix. I had a slight tear, thanks to her need to have her hands on her face; thanks a lot child! Here are some pics of her from fresh to now, 3 weeks post womb exit. I just love her!

This last one is my favorite. Her little finger got caught in her nostril so it looks like she's waving, and she's super alert in it. I just LOVE her.

Ole Biddies

Ok, so my newest annoyance is the stinkin' old women at work who are so ornery. Is there any reason for this you ask? NOPE, NONE AT ALL. grrr sometimes I just want to scream and ask them why they are so miserable. Alas, I know this will get me nowhere and the answers I seek I already know. I think I'd be miserable too if I was still working in my late 60's. However, I feel like this is a personal choice for most. Once I calm down I think that perhaps they are just not self-aware enough to realize their tone or how cutting their words are. I become sad for people who are so grouchy in life and no longer enjoy existence, and know no joy. That being said, I think I can take these angry women and use them as examples. An example of what I never want to become. There are times in life where we can all be cutting and harsh with our tones. This is a particular challenge of mine. Mitch has said to me on occasion, (more often than I would like to admit) "can you say that nicer to me". Suddenly I realize that it is not necessarily what I have said that has done damage, but the way in which I deliver it. Moral of the story, don't become an 'Ole Biddie'!

31 Weeks and Girly Things

So I thought I would try my hand at adding pictures to this blog of mine. Lets see how this turns out! I am now 31 weeks and 2 days preggers and people (Vinnie) have been harrassing me to post some pictures of my growth. Keep in mind these are self portraits; Mitch was at work so I had to be resourceful!

There actually aren't many ledges that are at the right height to take self portraits. I set the camera on the edge of the crib. I think it turned out ok; not the best back drop but acceptable.

This is just a little snipit of our little one's room. As we are still just renting I wasn't able to paint or even do a whole lot to decorate. It made me kind of sad. So on the long weekend I went shopping with a friend of mine. We went to this store called E-Children, and it looked totally budget from the outside. Like worse than any thrift store you can imagine. Well since I have such an open mind (haha ya right, Dana just forced me in!) in we went! I LOVE THAT STORE!!! Too bad you have to be rich to shop there and clearly we arent, hence the renting business. I spent my time in the store ohhing and ahhing over the adorable things I wish I could buy. When all of a sudden Dana pointed out these incredible wall decals. They just stick on like stickers and you can peel them off and use them again. PERFECTO! Problem solved. So I picked out the one I liked best and that matched best to the quilt that another friend had made for me already. You can see the quilt in the picture too (the pinky rag quilt, the white one underneath is a different blanket). Vinnie made the rag quilt for me and I love it. I put the decals up today and was very happy with the outcome. Just need to get a different mobile for the crib. I stongly dislike Winnie the Pooh stuff, but it was free and I appreciate everything that I have been given so there is stays. Plus Mitch has a connection with Pooh stuff from his childhood. And I suppose he gets some say.

This is a picture of her stuffed closet. Please keep in mind all this stuff is just 0-3 month stuff! I love my sisters and friends. They have given me so many things. I am very grateful for everyones' generosity, it really has been overwhelming. I still have a few things to add to this wardrobe as well, I just need to go and get more baby hangers. But what is there is washed, labled, and and ready for wear. Sometimes I just go into her room and open the closet and look at her things. I love little girl clothes and I cant wait to play dress-up! I can already tell Mitch going to get annoyed by it! But I figure, I do the laundry, I make the choice. Right??

This is the last gem. So whilst at BYU some of my sisters took a basket weaving class. For credits. For real. What you see before you is one of the many creations of Mammy (a.k.a. Mandy Stewart, 2nd oldest sister). I call it Moses' reed basket. It actually is my bassinett, and has a little mattress inside. I love it and I feel like it will serve me well.

Ok all in all, I feel like we are almost ready for this little one's debut. I have almost everything except some of the little things. We have been really blessed with kindness and generosity and we really appreciate all that we have been given. I feel kind of bad; I feel like other people have spent more on our child than we have! Keep it up! Just kidding. But truly, thanks so much!

Joining The Gaggle

So, as you have correctly assumed, I have joined the gaggle of bloggers out there. I have become one of you! Please accept me! Just kidding. But I have been thinking of starting my own blog for quite some time now and I finally have succumed to the urge. Now if only I could find my camera to add some current pictures.
The real reason, or at least the reason that pushed me over the edge, was that I wanted an outlet for my crazy, hairbrained, pregnant thoughts! I consider this my new journal so feel privileged to be reading! Ok, actually for those of you who know me, I share mostly every aspect of my life so much of this I'm sure will be a repeat. But I can type faster than I can write and I tend to have OCD and judge my own handwriting. WEIRD, I know. Does anyone else do that? Probably not. Ooohhh another good reason to blog, I can pose rhetorical questions and answer them myself! Case in point... 3 sentences ago!
Ok, on to my crazy thoughts. I am currently 31 weeks preggers (as of tomorrow, but it still counts today!) and although I have great sisters, mothers, books, and other resources around me to ask lots of questions of; I still wanted to ask my rhetorical questions, as well as perhaps get answers out of some of you blog-stalkers! So here we go... Does anyone/ did any of you ever forget at moments that you were pregnant? Is that normal? Example, laying in bed, sleeping on my back (don't worry my Dr. knows that I do and she is ok with it) I'll wake up and my fetus is sleeping so I'll go to get up and suddenly reality slaps me. SMACK, 5 across the eye! I cant sit straight up! I HAVE NO ABDOMINAL MUSCLES LEFT!!! Apparentlly I'm not a quick learner either, sad to say this has happened more than just a few times! Idiot. Another, one of my sisters warned me about this one but I didn't believe her. However, before you read on, consider this a disclaimer or your notice, I rarely edit my thoughts in real life, this blog will not be much different. Ok you were warned. My pelvis (crotch as I frequently refer to it as) is so sore. It hurts to sit or stand, and clearly I cant lay down all my life. The best description I have been able to come up with to explain it to Mitch is if feels like its broken and I can feel the bones rubbing on each other when I shift positions. Ok I am a nurse and I understand what is actually happening here, but HOLY COW BURT, it freakin' hurts. Oh and also it feels like my tailbone is broken or at least severely bruised. Now a note to any of you who feel the urge to respond, "if you think this hurts, wait to you give birth," or anything else along those lines, please resist the urge. I get it. I will experience pain I cannot fathom. All I ask is remember what it was like your first time around. As one of my friends said to me the other day, this is my rite of passage into Motherhood. It's called a rite of passage for a reason!
Well, that is good enough for now of the complaints and weird thoughts (stay tuned, more to come later). On to the positive. I cannot wait to see my little girl! I have been having dreams of her lately and have actually clearly seen her. Being pregnant has been an experience that has been completely different than I expected. I have been blessed with an easy pregnancy compared to some, but I am ready for it to be over just so I can hold her and kiss her and teach her. I always thought it was hokey when women said they loved their spawn prior to it's birth. But I am a believer now! Already she means the world to me.
On that note I will conclude this first entry. I feel like this blog will be theraputic for me. And sometimes I feel like I need a lot of therapy!