Obnoxiousness...

Is that even a word? Who knows...but it certainly applies to the lady I am watching on "Crosswords" on CW (weekdays at 2:30!). Her name is, get this, Zabeth! Give me a break! Your name is Elizabeth and you didn't want to be provincial so you went the way of Topher Grace. Ridiculous! There's a whole SNL skit making fun of people like you (revolving around a guy calling himself "Thew", short for Matthew).

Okay...I'm done now. Gotta go do 800 lbs of laundry. Calgon, take me away.......!

A challenge...

I have been faced with a challenge...to name a movie from just one quote. As that is the name of my blog, you would think I could live up to the challenge. But alas...I feel I have failed my anonymous questioner. Fortunately, with the help of Google and IMDB (Internet Movie Database), I have the answer for the inquisitive commenter: (drum roll)

While You Were Sleeping

Sandra Bullock is talking with her boss about her impending wedding to Peter (the guy in the coma) and he's giving her grief about it. She makes a statement about how she wishes it were tomorrow because then she'd be on her honeymoon and her passport would finally have a stamp in it. Jerry (the boss) says, "What happened to the other guy?" She says, "He didn't want me."

Hooray! I solved the problem! I wish I could have done it without help from the internet, but at least I have helped a ponderer figure out the quote that has been driving them nuts for a long time! There you go, internet friends! If you have any further quote questions, please feel free to shoot them my way!

Okay...so I lied

In my last post I said I would post later that evening...sadly, that did not happen. But HERE is a fresh new post, just for your reading pleasure! (Why do I get the feeling that I've lost all my readers due to my inability to post frequently? Alas)

SO...what's new with the Hughes household? Well, what's new right this second is J.J. just came out from playing in my closet (I asked him to put up some of Mommy's shoes...start 'em early!) and there was a familiar scent preceding him. Not the usual malodorous offense one usually associates with a 2-year-old boy still in diapers. No, this was a pleasing odor. It smelled like....Johnny. Apparently, J.J. has discovered how to spray Johnny's body splash (Bath & Body Works...mmmmmm!) and he decided he needed to put some on this morning. Hmmm...wonder how Daddy will feel about that.

Let's see...what else is new? OH YEAH! We have good news on the Hadley front! Two weeks ago we took her in to see the gastroenterologist for a follow-up after having her blood tested for allergy indicators again. It had been a few days since I'd seen "gross" blood in her diaper (visible spots), but there was always the probability that there was still microscopic blood there. The doctor did a swab and tested it and there was NONE!!!! Nada! We were SOOOO excited! Of course, then the doc put a damper on the happy times by saying she had gone from the 75th percentile to the 10th percentile for her weight. Hmmmm. Then he proceeded to tell me that I needed to start pumping to see how much milk Hadley's getting when she nurses. Why is it that men always think that's the easiest solution? Will they ever learn that you NEVER pump as much as the baby actually nurses?

So, I opted to ignore him and just started feeding her more often. We had an appointment with Dr. H (the pediatrician we all know and love...okay...Gina and I love her!) on Friday and she said that since her height was at the 25th percentile and her weight was too (she'd gained a couple ounces), that she was proportionate and that genetics probably kicked in (meaning, my stubby genes are taking over and she's gonna be wee). So no worries there! WHEW! We do get to start trying cereal any time now, so I'll let you know how that goes.

Hmmm...what else? J.J. is using lots of complete sentences and cracks us up on a regular basis. His most recent laugh-inducer? He and Daddy were admiring "Baby Sissy" and J.J. was showing her one of his works of art from Mother's Day Out. I think it went something like this:

Daddy: Are you showing her your house, buddy?
J.J.: Yeah. See? This is the roof...this is the door...
Daddy: What does she say about it?
J.J.: Daddy, she can't talk.

I LOVE IT! Seriously, every day he cracks us up! If it weren't for all the disobedience, I'd say this was my favorite stage!

Anything else? I finally finished the scrapbook of Johnny and me dating. Yes, I know we've been married for almost 7 1/2 years. Yes, I know I started the book in 2004. Yes, I realize that was 4 years ago. Can you not just be happy for me that I finally finished something? Seriously! Anyway, the last 2 months have been scrapbook heaven for me! I've gone to Buffalo a couple times for a crop session they had at the church that went till 2 am on Friday and 6 pm on Saturday and then some ladies at our church decided to do a crop this past weekend all day Friday and Saturday! So, instead of my usual "do 2 layouts in a weekend" routine, I got 6 layouts done! YES! Now Johnny and I are about to get married and J.J. has had his first doctor appointment (in book-chronology). There really is nothing more satisfying than finishing an entire scrapbook! Okay...there probably are lots more satisfying things...knowing that your children have accepted Christ, having enough life insurance to know your family's covered if something happens to you, $1.81 gas, a really good cheeseburger (hello, Freddy's Frozen Custard!)...but you get my point.

Oh...and just a little update. If you may or may not have read on my "7 things you may or may not know about me", I said I wanted a minivan. Well, guess what?

It came at a cost, though. I had to give up my precious 4Runner. It was a bittersweet day that day. New van...no more SUV. But I LOVE my van! You really can't beat dual power sliding doors when you have 2 kids! It's the best!

Well, I should probably try and get some laundry done. I was going to attempt to go to Mom's Group today, but I think the overflowing laundry baskets are trying to tell me something. Can someone please explain to them that if they would go ahead and fold the clothes themselves that would make my life a LOT easier? Sheesh! Such lazy baskets! Just sit around holding clothes all day! Ridiculous! Okay...I'm off to empty out drawers so that I can actually put the clothes that are hanging out in the lazy baskets away. I'll leave you all with an adorable picture (and maybe, just maybe I'll do a post of nothing but pictures in a bit). Toodles, all!

A little selfish ambition for a Thursday

So, I've become a new subscriber to a blog called "Simple Mom" and she's having a giveaway for a free Christmas Card file (she makes it w/ your photo, you print away to your heart's desire) and also another one for a free Epson photo printer that pretty much rocks my face off! SO...to earn 3x the entries, she requested that you mention the giveaways on your own blog. So I am. I've mentioned it. Now I just sit back and wait for "Sweet Potato Pie"!

I promise...I'll update soon! Maybe this evening. Much to say, little time to write. Love you all!

What is my deal?

I can't seem to keep my blog up-to-date...you'd think I had two kids to run around after! :) (Okay, Hadley doesn't really keep me running, except when she's crying in the other room) But here's a quick update, followed by some cute pictures and 7 interesting facts you may or may not know about me (Tracy tagged me, so I feel obliged):

Update:
* Still nothing new regarding Hadley's intestinal issues. We're still just waiting it out to see if everything heals up on its own.

* J.J. went back to the allergy doctor yesterday for a follow-up. Nothing new...just got some good stuff to put on his eczema.

* I applied to be an online transcriptionist to earn some extra money. It took me 25 times to pass the typing test (65 wpm w/ 90% accuracy and I got 66 wpm w/ 94% acc.) and after they read my resume they said my background and experience didn't qualify me. Whatever.

* I'm tired of everybody mocking the republican candidates because they have stars in their eyes from Obama and are disillusioned by Bush. And I'm REALLY tired of the stock market crashing day after day! The only redeeming quality would be if I won the lottery and then invested it all while everything is WAY low and then quadrupled my $ when it went back up. But I don't see that happening anytime soon...so I'll continue to be disappointed by the tumble.

* I am LOVING the gas prices! Our local 7-11 is down to $2.73 now! (Really sad that I can say that I love that price.)

*I'm watching The Amazing Race from Sunday while I type this. All I can say is Terrence is a HUGE baby! He keeps screaming at his partner/girlfriend Sarah and won't let her talk to any other teams because he thinks that she's betraying him by doing that. Grow up, tiny running man!

Okay...that's about all for now. On to some cute pictures:

The first day of school


Riding the Gator at Nana & Pappy's


Sooo smiley!

OSU is ranked WHAT?!?!? Sweet!!!

Playing together (sorry it's still sideways)


Okay...7 facts you may or may not know:

1) I tried out for Millionaire (I think everyone who reads my blog knows this, but since this pops up on Facebook, too, there are people out there who had no idea). I flew to New York on a Wednesday, tried out on Thursday for Pop Culture week, and flew home Friday. I spent 6 hours in Manhattan, total. Did I mention I did all this with an 8-month-old baby boy in tow?

2) I LOVE old-timey things...old cameras, vintage home decor, etc. I want a 100-year-old house with a basement and a front porch that I can decorate with primitive fabrics (calicos and ginghams and plaids)...that or a log cabin.

3) I am addicted to some pretty girly shows right now...Tabatha's Salon Takeover, Top Design, Project Runway. For someone who played with GI Joes and He-Man when she was little, that's a big step.

4) I really want to learn how to braid hair. I don't want my daughter to have rag-a-muffin hair all the time because her mom doesn't know how to do pretty hair.

5) My dream is to learn photography and take pictures of people and lovely places for money. Who wants to teach me that? Any takers?? :)

6) I have a love-hate relationship with organizing. I LOVE to look at organizing magazines and books and the Container Store is near and dear to my heart, but I HATE actually trying to organize things.

7) I really want a minivan. (Did I actually just type that out????)

Okay....um....I tag....Rachel, Gina, Julie K. (I believe I'm the 3rd person now), Julie N. & the hubster (and anyone on Facebook who wants to do this, too). Have at it!

Update on Hadley and various other stuff

Sorry it took me so long to get this out there in web-land! Sorry, faithful friends! We got the test results back last week and they were negative for allergies. This could mean lots of things. It could mean it was a virus. It could also mean it's something called lymphoid hyperplasia, where the lymph nodes swell in the intestine, much like they do in your neck when you have a cold or the flu. If this is the case, that would explain the bleeding, because every time she poops, it tears those. This should heal, but the dr. said it could take 2 or 3 months. Another possibility is that it still could be allergies, particularly to cow's milk protein, but because I'd been off of it for 8 weeks (WOW...that's a long time for no cheese or ice cream!), the test was showing no raised levels. Therefore (insert the Hallelujah chorus here), I've been allowed to eat dairy again!!!! And just in time for my birthday, too! The reasoning behind me going back on dairy is to see if, in a couple weeks, the blood tests come back positive for the indicators of allergies after I've been exposing her to the protein again. If that's the case, it will a) make me feel better because we know that's what is causing all the yucky diapers and b) stink because I'll have to go off dairy again, probably until she's a year, because that's when I intend on weaning her (I nursed J.J. for a year).

SO...there's an update for you! Now...here's a little J.J. snack...a tidbit of some of the convos I've been having with my firstborn recently:

Me: "J.J., why are you out of bed?"
J.J.: "I scared."
Me: "What are you scared of? (Knowing full well that this is just a tactic to keep us from getting mad at the fact he's out of bed 2 hours after we put him down!)
J.J.: "Monsters"
Me: "J.J., there are no monsters in your room. Where did you see this supposed monster?"
J.J.: "The closet"
Me: "Do you want me to show you there are no monsters in your closet?"
J.J.: "Yes" (At this, he bounds over to his bed and plops himself in the middle, sitting indian--oops! native-american--style. I start to open the door...)
J.J.: "Careful!"

Don't you just love it!?!?!? Every day the little man says something that makes me roll off my chair, practically! I absolutely love being his mom and getting to hear him say things like this:

"Aaaaah! Good stuff!" after taking a much-needed swig of milk in the middle of Target.

Or this:

"Stand back, Mommy!", while he's "painting" the bathroom mirror with water, using his Elmo toothbrush. He didn't want me to get "paint" on me, I guess!

I'll upload some pics of the kiddos soon...for now, go check out Johnny's blog about our recent household developments. I promise, you won't be disappointed!

My poor baby's tummy

As I said in the previous post, Hadley has been having tummy issues. The projectile vomiting and straining to poo. A couple of weeks ago, we had another episode of projectile puke...4 times in one day. This time we went to the doctor for it. Our dr. said it was probably a virus, since there were really no other symptoms (and her daddy had some tummy issues that night, too). But, she sent us to have an ultrasound done on her tummy to see if it was maybe pyloric stenosis...a condition where the muscle at the bottom of the stomach is overdeveloped and doesn't allow stuff to go down into the intestines, causing it to come back up (because it has nowhere else to go). Well, fortunately, that came back negative, so we went under the assumption it was a quick virus. We did decide I should try to feed her less at a time (5 minutes per side, maybe even just one side)

This brings us to last Monday (Labor Day). We were up in NW Oklahoma visiting Johnny's dad & stepmom. I was changing her diaper (which had gotten increasingly mucusier (I know...it's not a word) and noticed some streaks of bright red blood. I remained calm (amazingly enough) and showed it to Johnny and Nana and decided to call the on-call peeps when we got back to civilization. They told me to keep one in a ziploc in the fridge (gross, I know) and call the doctor to get an appointment the next day. We took her in and the doctor said it was probably a tear somewhere and that it should heal within a week.

I should mention in here how much my baby weighs now, because it's hilarious! She's 11 lbs!!! Hello, hoss! She's in the 90th percentile for her height and 75th for height (22 inches) at 2 months! The nurse kept saying I didn't have a baby...she went straight 6-month-old! Okay...not really...but WOW she weighs alot (especially in her carrier...I need to start working out!)

ANYWAY, fast forward a week to this Tuesday. We're at the zoo with my wonderful friend Margo and her 4 hilarious boys and I change her diaper and see that there is some blood in there (there hadn't been for a couple of days, so we thought we were in the clear). Drat! So I make a mental note to call the doctor the next day and leave a message with the receptionist (our doctor doesn't work on Mondays or Wednesdays) for her to see. I got a call yesterday from one of the nurses and she told me the doctor wants us to go see a gastrointestinal doctor, just to see what's going on.

So I called the g.i. doctor and they just happened to have a cancellation for today at 1:00! Thank you, Lord, for Your divine intervention! So, we're going today to find out if we can figure out what's going on with my baby! Please, if you get a second, pray for her. Pray that the doctors figure out what's going on so they can fix her. Pray for me that I don't go crazy if it's not-so-good news (I'll be there by myself, since Johhny and my mom both have to work). Pray that whatever it is isn't some horrible, unfixable thing!

Okay...gotta go take a shower so I'm not late (again!) taking J.J. to Mother's Day Out. Hope you all are enjoying the rain (if you live around here) and remember to pray for those in the path of Ike...I don't think it's going to be as uneventful as Gustav turned out to be.

Toodles!

New pics and a little news

I've been informed that my lack of posting has become a problem to those of you out there who want to see pictures of Hadley...so who am I to deny you! Sorry for the hiatus...what can I say...sometimes I like to lurk and forget that I need to post myself!

So far, so good...except for a little speed bump in week 2. One night Johnny was holding little girl and she let loose...not the way babies do usually (in their diapers). No, this was full-out barfing! Projectile! I of course FREAKED OUT and ran to call the on-call pediatric service to see when I needed to rush my baby to the nearest ER (yeah...I probably was a little over-dramatic, I think). They told me to just keep an eye on her and to elevate her head after feeding her. If she did it again, she probably needed to go in to see our doctor the next day, but we should call her anyway even if she didn't just to see what she said.

Apparently, I was making a much larger deal out of it than I should have, because she did it again the next night (and after calling the on-call peeps again that night and the nurse at our dr.'s office the next morning) and AGAIN a few days later. We did take her in to check some dark spots on her tummy, but the wonderful dr. (and Gina can attest to her greatness, as she's been HER dr. her whole life!) said it was probably just a birthmark of sorts (hemangioma for those of you interested). BUT...I'm off dairy. And I have been for 2 1/2 weeks now! Hadley had been straining to poo or even pass gas so hard that she would basically scream and cry, so we're trying to see if maybe she has problems with the protein in milk (God, please don't let that be it!). So poor Heather has been without cheese, milk, ice cream, pizza, Doritos, butter, pancakes...the list goes on and on...for that long and she's getting a little tired of peanut butter & jelly or honey sandwiches! But if it means her baby girl is more comfortable, it's all worth it!

OKAY!!!! Without further ado--wait...J.J. went to the allergy doctor on Monday and instead of finding out for sure that he was allergic to peanuts (jury's still out on that one), we found out he's allergic to (and those of you who have known me awhile will know how wrong this is) CATS!!! Really allergic! My mom (who has 3 at home) now has to make sure she showers and puts on freshly cleaned clothes before she comes over...and we can't go over there! Not good!!! We'll find out more about the peanuts when we get the results back from Johns Hopkins! I'll keep you all posted. Meanwhile I get to check labels for peanuts and tree nuts (because he is allergic--mildly--to almonds and walnuts).

Okay...NOW here are some adorable pics of my adorable girl (and some of you may have seen these elsewhere...but their worth seeing again, I think!)

These first few are from our photo shoot w/ my amazing friend Jamie who took our maternity pics for me (for FREE!!!! AGAIN!!!! I am truly blessed to have her as my friend!)








These next few are just some fun cute ones we've taken...enjoy!




Some pics of her room (that she's yet to even BE in!)




First bath...clearly not happy!


A fun face that says, "Mom...REALLY????"

SHE'S HERE! SHE'S HERE! SHE'S HERE!

I would like to proudly introduce Hadley Rose Hughes, born July 8, 2008, weighing in at 8 pounds, 4 ounces and measuring 20 1/2 inches!




J.J. meets Hadley for the first time



J.J. giving "Baby Sissy" mooches


Our first family pic




Some pics of Hadley meeting her family members:

Grammi Hughes & Meme


Nana & Pappy



Grandma Lyle


Aunt Carisa & Uncle Matthew


Cousins Halle & Hadley meet for the first time...Halle's not too sure about not being the baby anymore


The wonderful Dr. Hager (the most amazing doctor on the face of the earth!)


We have TONS more pics, but I think I'll save them for another post. I just figured I better get some of these up on the web before people started yelling at me! :)

Things are good here...just adjusting to no sleep again. It's not so easy with another kid to take care of! Fortunately, we've had family here for the weekend and are looking forward to the grandmothers being here the next two weeks when Johnny goes back to work (Aaaaagh! NOT looking forward to that!) Right now it's just difficult trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in. The back doesn't work because I get a huge knot and wake up not being able to move or breathe, and the side is a little uncomfy due to my incision. But I trust that someday, I'll be able to sleep longer than 2 hours a night! :) For now, I'm finding all kinds of interesting shows on TV that I never knew existed!

OH! Here's a link to some more pictures that Johnny uploaded:

Hadley pics

For now, I'm going to take a nap...either that or upload some pics to Facebook...hmmm...which one is the smarter thing to do?

The day is almost upon us!

In 12 hours, I will be at the hospital, getting prepped for Hadley's arrival! I really can't believe she's almost here! This time tomorrow, I'll have a little baby girl in my arms! Unbelievable!

Today has been a VERY busy day here in the Hughes household. After a lovely time swimming at my friend Jamie's uncle's house (a weekly event this summer) with our boys and our moms, we came home and the fury that is cleaning my house began! Johnny's mom came over, along with his grandma MeMe, and it has been a cleaning frenzy ever since! The kitchen has been cleaned (including the fridge bins!), the bathrooms have been cleaned, our bedroom has been vacuumed and steam-cleaned, laundry has been done, a sign-in page for Hadley's visitors has been made, furniture has been dusted, ebay disputes have been settled (don't get me started on that one), and Amazon.com books have been shipped to their purchaser. OH! And my mom made one of those plastic bag stuff-sacks (that you can store Wal-Mart sacks in) for Hadley's room that is OH SO CUTE (Jo...I bought the fabric at our favorite quilting store!)

Now we're waiting for Johnny to get home so we can go eat our celebratory meal at Texas Roadhouse (a "tradition" we started when we had J.J.)...and there he is, so I better go! Fear not...pictures will get posted as soon as possible! Love to you all and pray for us if you're awake tomorrow morning at 7 am...that's when I'm scheduled to start!

What J.J. decided to do instead of nap today

So today, after church, Johnny and I were trying to catch up on the most recent episode of Last Comic Standing. We'd gotten about halfway through it when we heard J.J.'s door open, signaling that he was up from his nap. This is a usual occurrence, so we didn't think twice about it. We did, however, think it hadn't been long enough, so Johnny suggested going in to check his diaper and see if maybe he would lay back down. This is what I was greeted with:




He looks a bit...um....shinier than usual, wouldn't you say? At first I thought it was sweat...that he had gotten really hot. Then my mind switched to water...maybe he'd gone into the bathroom and we just hadn't heard the water running. Then I saw the glop on his face next to his eye and it hit me: it was Vaseline! Yes, that's right....Vaseline! (I guess technically it's just petroleum jelly since I never buy name-brand medicinal items)

We were laughing too hard to get mad at him...I tried to upload a video so you can see the extent of the "oiling" his room and he both got, but alas it didn't want to upload. You'll just have to use your imagination, I guess.

Just thought you all might enjoy a little snippet of what it's like raising a 2 1/2-year old boy! I called my mom and she said, "Hmmmm...that sounds a lot like the baby powder incident." I have no idea what she's talking about...something to do with me giving a nice dusting (read: dumping an entire bottle) of baby powder all over our coffee table, the floor and me.

A plea for help from everyone I know...for a friend in desperate need

I post this entry with a heavy heart. One of my good friends from church's husband has been involved in a lot of trouble with his job. He recently found out some things about his boss, who happens to be the director of the Oklahoma Merit Protection Commission, that are not good. He has reason to believe the things he has found out not only involve her, but also some people higher up in the Oklahoma government...and possibly the federal government.

His name is Austin Gilley. He is (or was, as he's been put on administrative leave with pay) the deputy director of the Oklahoma Merit Protection Commission. I'm not really sure what they do, but Austin seemed to think that his job before was to make sure corruption like this DOESN'T happen...now he's thinking that his job for the last 2 1/2 years has been to cover things up.

Last August, he was offered a job with the Grand River Dam Authority, up in northeastern Oklahoma. It was the perfect opportunity. He was getting paid more, could afford a bigger house for his wife and daughter, and would be closer to her parents. He worked there for 4 days, found out things he didn't want to know about and decided he needed to come back here. Fortunately (or at least he thought at the time), he got his old position back. Now it turns out there may be a connection to the things he found out about the GRDA and his boss...and a possible real estate scheme that's going on up by Grand Lake, one of the elite real estate spots in Oklahoma where lots of well-to-do people want land.

As a result of him knowing these things and sending out this email, he was put on administrative leave with pay and asked to turn in a backup tape and network passwords in the Attorney General's office last week. Unfortunately, he felt it would be detrimental to his case to turn over the passwords, as he would then possibly be giving his boss a way to get rid of any incriminating evidence regarding her or anyone else involved. He took with him to the AG's office a briefcase full of documentation, the keys to his office and the backup tape. The AG's office refused to take the briefcase and insisted on the passwords. Austin refused to leave unless the assistant AG who demanded his information in the first place took his briefcase and itemized all that was in it because he felt it was important to his credibility. If they did not, then he had reason to believe their boss was in collusion with his. As a result of the stand-still that came about, the AG had Austin arrested for "disrupting government business" because he would not leave, which sounds a bit like they were trying to find a reason to arrest him to shut him up. After his jail experience, he believes his suspicions about his boss and the AG's involvement together were validated.

I'll let the video he made tell you the rest...it's about 14 minutes long....but PLEASE take the time to watch it so that you get his side of the story. So far, all that's been said was this article in the Daily Oklahoman that mentions nothing of why he refused to give over the passwords or anything having to do with his side: State official arrested in dispute

Here's the link to the video on Metacafe, a site that's based out of Israel, similar to Youtube...but, of course, not based in the US...which he felt might be better. Austin's video

His main concern is getting this information out to the public. He feels that the more the public knows, the less the government will be able to strong-arm him into doing what they want, which is keeping quiet. All he wants is a fair hearing, because he knows that if that happens, the truth will come out.

PLEASE pray for him and for his wife and two daughters (one will be 2 in July, the other was born in April). He feels like those closest to him don't believe him (including family and close friends) because they think he's paranoid. It sounds like something straight out of a movie, I know. But it's not one he wants to be in because, as he said, he's not Harrison Ford or Brad Pitt or some other action hero!

If you feel so led, spread the word! All that can do is further his cause of bringing the truth to light!

Ummmm.....YUM!!!!

My dear hubby is always forwarding me fun things that he finds when he's reading his dozens upon dozens of blogs that he's addicted to. Some are bizarre things from other countries, some are fascinating things from the world of science, some are just random fun toys he thinks are cool. Every once in awhile, there's a food item that really tickles my fancy. Today, he forwarded just such an item.

Now, this may not seem like the most exciting thing in the world, but to a pregnant girl who can't seem to get enough chocolate (resorting to eating chocolate chips straight out of the bag), this sounds like the perfect dessert...AND it's a nice refreshing treat to beat the summer swelter! Without any further ado....PLEASE follow this link to check out homemade ice cream cupcakes!

J.J. and the McDonald's play area

So today for lunch, J.J. and I met Johnny at McDonald's so that we could let J.J. run off some excess energy before naptime.

(Sorry...interruption....what on EARTH is the deal with that Nintendo DS commercial with Carrie Underwood in it where's she playing with a sim-dog? That's all there is! Her scratching a dog on a video game and saying, "Cool!" WHY?!?!?!?)

Okay...I'm back...sorry about that! ANYway, while we were sitting in the play area, we noticed that the rules sign said ages 3-12. ???HUH??? Why do 12-year olds need to be playing in the same place that a 3-year old is? SERIOUSLY! And why don't they have a height requirement instead? Granted, by those rules, J.J. wasn't supposed to be in there, since he's not 3 yet. But I think it's a bit ridiculous for a play area to not allow toddlers on it! And to also allow GIANT pre-teens on it at the same time!

Sorry...this is my last rant (hopefully). And why is it that NOBODY ever obeys the "Socks Required At All Times" rule? I know it's summer and kids don't usually don't wear socks, but if I can remember to put socks on my kid when we go to McDonalds, can't everyone else? I mean, I can barely remember my own name, and yet I can remember that socks are supposed to be worn!

Okay...now that that's over, I'll get onto the cute part. This is really only the 2nd or 3rd time he's been in our local McDonald's play area, and the last two times he's been really reluctant to go any further than halfway up the first tube. Today, he got a little braver. He went all the way up...and then I lost him for a second...and I got a little worried, because there were giant brute boys running around playing Freeze Tag. But then I saw him reappear in the first pod and I convinced him to go down the first slide (by climbing in the end of the slide and letting him know where it ended). He LOVED it!

He did that a couple or 3 more times and then a couple girls that were probably 4 and 6, who had previously been playing with the brute boys, kind of took J.J. under their wings and the next thing I know I'm hearing his voice WAAAAAY up above me in the high tunnels! I was really afraid my pregnant belly was going to have to get lugged up through that thing, possibly causing a traffic jam when it got stuck! Finally, after about 5 minutes, he appeared at the bottom of the tallest twisty slide with the biggest smile on his face! He had a blast!!! So, he went back up with them and found his way into another high tunnel with a window and waved at me...sooo cute!

Needless to say, my fears of him getting stuck and freaking out were gone...but I think the next time we go, it will be BEFORE the lunch rush!

Maternity pictures

Since I mentioned last week that I had them taken, I thought I'd put a few treasures from our maternity photo shoot....so here they are! :)






















Those are probably my favorites of all of them. I LOVE the one of my tummy w/ the rose! It's absolutely amazing what you can do with Photo Shop!!! Now I just have to upload these to Snapfish so I can order prints. But which ones? How many of each? Oh, the decisions!!! But what glorious fun it will be!


Oh...and I finally found a border for Hadley's room (here's a picture),
so now I can go tomorrow and pick out paint colors and have my dear friend Julie's hubby Tyle get me a fabulous discount before he leaves his job! Man! Do I have the hook-ups or what?!?!? :) Free photo shoot, cheap paint...what more can a girl want? :)

The "Mug"

So, as some of you may know, one of the things I was most excited about delivering at our new hospital was the fact that every mom who delivers there receives a giant mug with a lid and a straw with the hospital name on it. I know this may be a SILLY thing to be excited about, but nevertheless, I was pumped! All my friends had one and the dumb hospital I delivered at previously gave me nothing but that teeny little pink plastic cup with the matching pitcher and "barf tray"! How do they expect new breastfeeding mommies to stay hydrated!?!?!?

Needless to say, should I be in a position to get more than one of those mugs, you would expect me to be very excited! Right? Not so much. Let me explain...

Thursday afternoon, about the time Johnny came home from work and was trying to get the living room cleaned up for his weekly singles' Bible study, I went to lay down in bed because I had a bit of a headache. As I lay there, I started feeling some mild Braxton-Hicks contractions. No big deal, right? Well...they're not a big deal if they go away. These were not. They were coming every 3 or 4 minutes and they were pretty low. So I start looking online about preterm labor and it says that most early contractions will go away if you lie down and drink lots of water (that day I had had a glass of grape juice and a Diet Coke to drink...it was 5:45 pm). So I had Johnny get me a glass of water. When I finished that I had him get me another one. Still no stopping those contractions.

So I call my friend Amanda, who is pregnant herself and has 2 kids already, and has the same doctor as I do. She told me that our doctor's policy is that if you have more than 5 contractions in an hour, you're supposed to go to labor and delivery. So, I tell Johnny what's going on and he insists I call the on-call nurse. She picks up and I explain what's going on and she informs me that I do in fact have to go to the hospital.

My heart sinks. My mind immediately goes to, "Please don't let my little girl be born at 32 weeks! That's way too early!" Of course, it's probably just nothing and they're just going to monitor me there, but my hormonal pregnant mind automatically goes to the worst-case scenario...and I start comparing to my friend Kari, whose little boy was born at 36 weeks and has hearing loss! Not a good thing to be thinking!

SO I tell Johnny we need to go and start calling people to see if they can come watch J.J. while we run to the hospital. EVERYONE I know is either at work or sick! So, we end up taking him with us. Fortunately, his uncle Matthew came up and got him around 7:30 and took him back home to eat and go to bed.

We make it up there and I fill out paperwork and they put me in a room. I have to don the lovely open-backed gown that we all know and love and make a "deposit" in a cup. Then the nurse (who was FABULOUS!) comes in and tells me she has to examine me and give me a Fetal Fibronectin screening, which tests to see if I'm going to deliver within the next 2 weeks. THAT was a FUN test, let me tell you. Nothing like laying flat on your back (32 weeks pregnant belly and all), with your hips up in the air being supported by a bedpan (which I'm still not sure the use was) while the nurse swabs away at your insides. Ahhh....felt great!

After a few minutes of watching "So You Think You Can Dance", the nurse comes back in and tells me that I have ketones in my urine sample. What the heck does that mean? It means I'm REALLY dehydrated.

So guess what I got? Yep! THE MUG!!!!!! I almost did a little dance right there in the hospital bed (except that would have made for some interesting blips on the monitor and may have pulled a couple of cords out of things that were otherwise supposed to remain plugged in)! The blessed chalice of motherhood! I had finally received my mug! I was told to drink the contents as quickly as I could and when that was done, to get a refill. So I obeyed and drank. And drank and drank and drank. I went through three of those puppies in about an hour and a half. And guess what? No sign of the contractions letting up!

So what did that mean for cute little Heather? Ahhh...a shot of Terbutaline (Brethine)! Yay...a shot. And the best part was when the nurse said, "This will make you really jittery, so we're giving you some Ambien to help you sleep when you get home."

Five minutes had past after the insidious injection that stung like a giant bumble bee attacking my bicep, then my contractions stopped. All done! So they sent me home with my beloved mug and told me to eat soon or I would fall asleep before I got the chance (it was now 9:45 and I still hadn't eaten anything but some graham crackers the nurse so generously bestowed upon me, after lots of begging and pouting).

After chowing down on some Braum's, I made it to bed at 11:00 and slept a gloriously uninterrupted 9 1/2 hours!!! J.J. even slept in until 8:30, which he NEVER does!

So, now everyone I know keeps bugging me about drinking water. My mom, my friends, my hubby, my extended family...complete strangers, even (okay...not really)! The thing is, I never felt thirsty that day...it's not like I was ignoring my body telling me to drink...I honestly wasn't thirsty! Weird. But rest assured, I have had my trusty beverage container by my side constantly for the last 4 days. Needless to say...there have been MANY trips to the bathroom...it's really getting old.

32 Weeks

Oh my WORD!!! I'm 32 weeks!!! Is that actually possible??? Okay...so not officially until tomorrow (Monday), but close enough! We don't have anything REMOTELY close to ready for little Hadley's arrival! The room is still pitted out w/ Mommy & Daddy junk, along w/ gifts that people so generously keep giving me. We need to steam the carpet, paint the walls, maybe put up a border, sew the bumper, dust ruffle and curtain/shade, and get everything organized! I need to have Johnny go up into the attic and get all of the baby toys, chairs, etc. down and give them a good cleaning. I need to go through clothes and see what all I have in what size and then wash it all! Then we still need (okay want) a Baby Bumbo (which I know she won't be in for awhile after she's born, but I still want one), another Boppy so I have one here and one at church in my office, a double stroller, possibly a new glider (or have the one we have fixed and re-cover it)...WHEW!

There's even more to do, but that wore me out typing it! Clearly, I have LOTS to do and not a whole lot of time to do it in...plus I'm tired and Mother's Day Out is over, so no more days without another child to take care of! Oh...I'm overwhelmed!!!!

On another note, I got to sing in my good friend Jenny's wedding yesterday. We (the chorus) were VERY worried because we didn't get to practice together until Wednesday night and one of us didn't arrive here until the day of the wedding! Nerves were abounding! But we pulled it off and, according to everyone that I saw that night at the reception and even at church this morning, we sounded "amazing"! :) What a relief! It was a fun time (even though my feet were not feeling so swift after the end of the day) and I'm so glad I got to be a part of the ceremony. I've known Jenny since we were in 1st grade together and we've had SO many adventures (read: injuries...mostly mine!) together. Her family is the reason I stayed in church growing up. They made sure they came and got me every Sunday morning and night and Wednesday night...basically whenever they went, I went. For 6 years, until I could drive myself! Love those Robinsons!

One last thing: I get to have pregnancy pictures taken tomorrow by one of my best friends from high school. She started a photography business back in October or November and told me that she would take my pictures whenever I wanted....ahhh...friends! Gotta love 'em! I'm very excited (except that it's supposed to be 90+ tomorrow!)...J.J.'s coming along so he can be in some of the pictures and Jamie's hubby is bringing their son Luca so J.J. will have someone to play with when he's not being photographed. Yay for fun pictures! I just hope I don't melt into a pregnant pile of goo!

Did I mention that I'm 32 weeks?!?!? We're having her on July 8th (did I mention that?!?!?), so come Tuesday, we'll have 7 weeks left!!!! Did I mention that I'm overwhelmed?!?!?!? Anyone want to come help paint a baby room??? :)

Christians and global warming

Just wondering what you all as Christians think about this whole global warming fiasco...should we not be concerned since eventually we won't be here? Or should we strive to take care of the earth we live on, since God entrusted it to us? I would like to hear your thoughts!

Some of you may have already seen this picture before, but I thought it was worthy of a post:



I don't know about all of you....but Obama's actions speak pretty loudly to me. Even Hillary knows enough to show honor to her country.

Ahhh...sweet....freedom?

We are officially a dogless family now. On Friday, the guy from Johnny's work came and picked up Molly. I know that she will be SO much happier there because she'll be given the attention a cute little dog like her needs and deserves. The guy told us that when we decided to let him have her (2 weeks ago), he immediately scheduled a mobile groomer (they actually come to your house! Why didn't I know about this before!?!?!?) every 3 weeks and had already scheduled play dates with neighbor dogs. Then, on Thursday, on his way home from work he stopped at Petsmart, then went to Petco and THEN went to ANOTHER Petsmart! And to top all of that off, he put an "It's a Girl!" sign in his front yard Friday morning! So...yeah...I think she may be a little spoiled now, which is great!

Friday, before he came over, we took some pictures of "Molly Gog" with J.J. one last time and a pic of her new owner. That evening, when we got back from dinner and walked in the house, J.J. kept asking where Molly Gog went and we had to keep saying, she went bye-bye...a little tough, but he's only done it a couple of times since then. I will say it's REALLY weird to walk into the kitchen and not be greeted by her, but after I swept and mopped last night, it's really nice to know I won't have my kitchen floor covered with grass tonight because a little dog kept bringing it in on her feet!

OH! And now that our sunroom is no longer the "doggie limbo room" (the room where doggies are held in between outside and inside while their muddied paws dry off), it is now officially Johnny's "man cave". He has moved a big comfy chair out there, a TV and the Playstation 2...next in will be an old couch, affectionately known as "Ghetto", from his step-brother's house (if Matthew agrees to let him have it, that is), a mini fridge and a rolling cart for the TV. He's very excited about his own personal room and officially broke it in last night with our friend Ryan.

Here are some pictures of Molly's last official night as a Hughes...followed by some pics of Johnny in the man cave w/ J.J. after church on Sunday:


J.J. posing w/ Molly


One last hug for "Molly Gog"



Molly's new owner


Some burp cloths I made Fri. night for a Sat. baby shower


J.J. and Daddy in the "man cave" having lunch