Merry Christmas to Us!!

I have held out on this post as long as I possibly could. It has been one long, winding, and tough road but we have finally made it. We are going to be parents to a little baby girl in April!!

Matthew and I have decided to name her Isabella Faye Hughes. Yes, we know Isabella is the #1 girls name in the U.S. right now, but we don't care. We had already decided on that name two years ago when we started trying. And how many Matthew's and Rachel's are there in the world, really?! Yes, we know it is eight letters long and probably fairly difficult to learn to spell. But we are just hoping she will take after her mommy's spelling abilities and not daddy's. And yes, we know people will probably call her "Izzy" or "Bella" but frankly we don't care. We will probably have our own nicknames for her as well, and "Little Monkey" is already starting to stick for good reason. That blog post will have to follow.

Right now I am 21 1/2 weeks along. We both can feel her kick and squirm. She mainly responds to Matthews voice in the evening when he gets home. But I am finding more and more things that make her ill inside me. I am starting to show, but yes I am not as big as most 5 1/2 month pregnant women. The UPS guy commented today that he just thought, "the holidays were getting to me."  I have not had the usual pregnancy side effects like most pregnant women, but the ones I do have are very prominent. I'm just not hungry. I don't have cravings or heartburn. I do have restless leg syndrome and leg cramps at night which cause a little bit of insomnia. Honestly, if I didn't know for sure I was pregnant and I didn't feel her kick, up until now I swear I could be on the show I Didn't Know I was Pregnant.

Yesterday, we had our routine 20 week ultrasound. (I say routine because the 10 that I have had in the past have been due to some minor complications.) I was so very nervous. Matthew seemed to remain calm, but I could tell that he was so very excited. We also took Matthew's Grandmother Faye with us as a sentimental gesture and it worked out great because she had a doctor's appointment in Memphis that morning. I went in wanting a little girl, but in the back of my mind I just knew it was a boy. I just knew I would be walking out a little disappointed. Matthew wanted a little boy. One to pass the family name on to. However, he was the one that was going to be walking out disappointed. It was a beautiful (squirmy) little girl. So neither one of us walked out upset, because Matthew just started beaming and he was so excited he was going to have Daddy's little girl soon.

 
This is my favorite picture. She is all up in a ball with her feet above her head. I drink a ton of milk already, but I think I need to drink some more to build up those long legs she is forming.

She is already so loved. We are so excited about such a wonderful gift from God. No matter what obstacles we have gone through, this miracle is so worth every little bit of it.

Don't Worry I Am Not Holding Out On You

Don't worry I haven't given up blogging, and I haven't been on a hiatus from it. I have just been without a camera for a couple months now. For Christmas 2009 I asked for a new camera. Andrew Hughes decided to help my in-laws out with picking out a camera for me. (which I must say I am glad he did) I loved my camera, but my clumsy self decided to slam my purse in my car door. Not a big deal MOST OF THE TIME, but this one time this happened:

I was crushed that my AWESOME camera was crushed. I tried to use it, but I couldn't tell what I was actually getting and the picture was terribly blurry. The following attempt was me trying to get a picture of my ducks:

Yep, totally missed!

But don't worry I bought my birthday present from Matthew all by myself (with his EBay account, without proper consent, ooops!) Yep, thats right! The exact same, minus the broken part, camera!

See all better. Andy was a good sport by being my test subject. And don't worry I have quite a few posts up my sleeve so you will be hearing from me soon!

Hughes Household Update

I know when I started this blog I wanted to do it umm.. maybe on a weekly basis. Well then it became a monthly basis. And now its a when I can muster up enough umph to do it. Well finally I am doing it.

Life here has been well...lazy. Sleeping late on Saturdays, trying to get to church on Sundays. Then of course the usual 9-5 through the week. Or in Matthew's case 4:30a.m. - ??? But recently he has changed that. It has only been 5:30 - 5. The extra hour helps fend off the sluggishness that comes from the long days.

We now have new occupants at our house. I just love waking up to find geese either in our yard or down on the pond. I love wildlife, but I love it even more that it is in our back yard (even though we live in town).

Now we have seven new little ducklings that calls our house home. I haven't been able to get very close to get a picture. It was hard enough getting close enough to see how many there were. Our overall opinion is that there is seven. Now we just have to pray that the turtles in the pond don't get them.

Just Some More Fun Pics From Our Snows

The ducks that have made a nice home on the pond. I have been trying to keep them fed during the cold so they won't leave us. I really enjoy having them here.

I woke up to this after our first snow. It was very sweet! Too bad I still had to scrape the windshield off.

This was Bobby in his wadding boots breaking up the solid ice so the ducks would have a place to stay. The weather had just been to cold they left us for a little while. I am glad they are back now. In the mean time I got a good giggle watching Bobby in the pond. I don't think it was above 20degrees this day.

These pictures are from the first snow and ice. It looked just like frosting on a cake. As pretty as it was and still is, I will be happier when spring finally arrives.

Rain Makes Rainbows...And Where There is Rainbows, You Can Always Find...SNOW?!?!

Every since I was a child I have always wondered what is at the end of the rainbow. I have always been told that it was a big pot ‘o gold. Well I will tell you that 2010 has made me a non-believer of that myth. I have really come to believe that the only thing that comes at the end of a rainbow is snow. Why you ask?

This was the beautiful rainbow that came on a Sunday afternoon. It was the last Sunday in January. (Yes, January not June) We were doing what we typically do on Sunday’s…wash cars. It was beautiful, in the upper 50s, sunny with a pop-up shower here and there and then all of a sudden came this HUGE rainbow. You couldn’t even take it all in with one view. I couldn’t even get my camera to take it all in one shot either. I just knew spring was just around the corner!

Haha, I could barely type that sentence without bursting out in a full belly laugh. By Friday we covered in our first snow and ice. It was slick and yucky to drive it, but it was just like icing on a cake…so pretty! It thawed out quickly though. Then Monday it did it again! This time it was more the snow than the ice, but it was still slick and yucky, but pretty! Too bad they are calling for more snow possibly this weekend.

I want to be back in that hole with that darn groundhog. Maybe I could give him a reason to think twice about seeing his shadow next year! I miss Illinois ALL the time, but this snow is one thing that I don’t miss. Spring can’t get here fast enough for me!

Making Memories That Count

Nothing is more cozy than snuggling up on the couch, watching a movie, with some popcorn underneath that quilt that has been in your family for years. Right? Well since I don't have one of those quilts yet, last year I decided to take on a project. Well actually I had my family take on a project with me. It was one of the best ideas ever.
I wanted a quilt. I wanted a quilt just like the lovely one that is on Matthew's grandmothers bed. It is cute, but very very very...well you get the point...old! I could never think about getting any popcorn butter on it. So I asked Matthew's grandmother to help me recreate that quilt. At first I was apprehensive as to how I was going to help. Me sew? Truth is I wasn't as bad as I thought I would be. Not only did Grandmama agree to help, Granddaddy engineered our template. How wonderful, huh?
42 blocks later and almost a year later we were ready to start quiliting. By this time I have had input from multiple family members. Nancy has put together some blocks. Andrew has simplified our embroidery stitch. Granddaddy has built our template and has put in his two cents in here, there, and every where.
Eventhough this quilt hasn't been completed yet, nor has it been passed now many years like most quits, or even had many memories made snuggled up underneath it, it still has many memories in the making. I can't wait until it is finished. I am more excited to pass one of my own quilts on. More importantly I am the most excited about the many memories that I have already of this quilt, will have, and will be able to share. There is just something about quilts that bring warmth to everyone's heart that shares it.