Merry Christmas!!!

Dan, baby and I all wish you a very Merry Christmas!! We hope you all get to spend it with tons of friends and family and get to eat lots. I am looking forward to eating Christmas Dinner!! More things look good and sound good now, it is one way to keep the weight off during the holidays (being Prego) but there is a ton else that comes with it so think about that decision very carefully if you are in fact contemplating this weight gain prevention programme. Thanksgiving was wonderful, tons of wonderful food, but I was unable to eat my normal 2 plate fulls, I think I finished a 1/2 a plate of mainly stuffing and turkey and some desert, so I am geared up for Christmas Dinner, maybe not 2 plates, but at least more than TG.

We love you all and wish we could be with all of you this special, magical time of year, so know that you are in our thoughts and prayers often!!! And pray for lots of snow for Cloudcroft we need it in more ways then one!!!!

Belly Shots

Okay, here are some belly shots. Dan promises to take one tonight. This picture is of he and I for our Christmas cards, I was about 12 weeks here. The second picture is at 15 weeks. The baby must be growing cause my belly is. :)

The Picture of Julie and I was taken around 12.13.08, we had to start getting sister belly shots, right!! We both found out what we are having, Julie and Jeff are having a boy and we are having a girl...supposedly.

Wow the most recent shot looks much bigger (the picture in the red shirt), I am 21 weeks and 4 days so it has been a while since we have shot the belly. Some days it feels bigger than others, and this picture was right after lunch.

More Exciting News in the Family!!!

This comes a little late, but Julie, my sister and her husband Jeff are due June 19th, so the cousins will be close in age. I guess we are just tag teaming my parents and my poor mom, maybe they'll be spaced out just enough. :) We are excited and it is fun and trying being pregnant at the same time. She and I are very different and can get on each other's nerves so now we just have to try extra hard. We have a cute picture of us and our belly's so I'll see if she'll let me post it. I think we are going to have lots of fun with it. She hasn't been sick really, but working a ton of hours so she is tiered, but excited.

The debate, find out or don't????

Dan absolutely wants to find out what we are having, we don't have a preference, healthy and happy and full term, that is all we are praying for right now. My dad however, doesn't want to know, so I don't know how we will work all of that out, but we'll try our best Grandfather (my dad requested that the other day...) I think we can find out what we are having in another 4 or 5 weeks so...the wait for daddy continues, he is just excited and said he can talking to it when he knows if it is a boy or a girl. Most of our friends have had girls so Dan is convinced we have to have a boy. We'll just wait and see.

Gifts for Baby Hughes

We have been so blessed by friends and family already. We have gotten a few things our selves, the crib and mattress (Dan wanted to set it up the other weekend and I talked him into waiting cause we have plenty of time and it won't get dusty waiting on the baby in the box), I got the camo onesie and the "I love Daddy" bib for Dan to tell him we were expecting. The rest you see in these pictures are gifts from clients, friends, and family. Thank you all so much and we know that Baby Hughes will so enjoy all of these great things. Some things not pictured that we are also really enjoying are: "The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy" from Aunt Hannah, so funny and makes me laugh about some things which is good, we were also blessed with a book from friends at church "Meditations for the Expectant Mother" full of wonderful verses and encouraging stories and words which was much welcomed after reading all the medical stuff (it gets dry after a while), we also got a Jingle Baby shirt for me to wear, a cute white snow hat and a gift certificate to The Caboose, here in Cloudcroft. We are so thankful!!!

Nursery Before Photos

This will be the baby's room, as you can see we have our work cut out for us. It is the catch all room right now, so what happens after the baby, I guess you move all the catch all stuff to another room.

2nd Doctors Appointment

Well all went well at our last Doctor's appointment the Monday before Thanksgiving. We got to hear the baby's heart beat again and it was 166 beats per minute, good strong heart beat, we could also hear it moving around. I haven't felt it move around at all, but some day I will and then it will probably start keeping me awake at night right :). Our next appointment is January 5th, I'll be 18 weeks then and we'll probably get to find out what we are having soon after that. In the mean time we have had some many wonderful friends and family shower us with gifts and love! I'll try and post a before picture of the nursery soon and all the gifts we have gotten so far.

Dan is still taking such good care of me. I am feeling better. Headed into the second trimester makes a huge difference. I am gaining weight a little at a time, maybe 4 pounds by now and it is all in my belly. I'll try to post a belly shot sometime soon too, so you can all watch it grow. I have started wearing my tummy sleeve with my slacks at work because you can't rubber band those so that makes my days more comfortable, I love it, great invention.

We had a great weekend with Julie and Mesha Smith and the Morris'. We got to hear all about what Mesha is doing in Peru with Food for the Hungry, what an amazing work for the Lord that she is a part of and doing a fantastic job. We also had our company Christmas party on Sat. and had about 45 people to my mom and dad's house, it was great and we were so excited and thankful for everyone that came. Sunday night we had the Morris family over for spaghetti and the boys played with our dog Tucker for ever, I think they even tiered him out. Then Monday we got to all have pizza together, what a blessing to see them. They are such a wonderful family!!

Now, it is off to my once a week work out. Just ate a bean and cheese burrito (the new fav. for the time being) and now I have to work it off for an hour. We hope all of you are well and can't wait to see some of you at Christmas!!! We are wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a new year full of blessings!!!

My first picture! Clues....I am upside down, head down and legs up! And I like it in here and I am currently the size of a grape and still growing everyday!

The Latest -

In case you haven't heard and are viewing this for the first time, our apologies, but...
WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!

We have always talked about having a family of more than two, Lord willing, and it just came earlier than expected. There are a few things left for us to do. I still have 6 ARE tests to complete before this baby gets here, but that is definitely the deadline I needed to get me in gear to study for them. Dan has mentioned building our first house on our property starting in March, so we'll see if the almost Architect can get those drawings done in time. So, with those two things being the most pressing we will not be bored awaiting our little ones arrival. We found out about 3 weeks ago and so many prayers have gotten us through what I hope to be the hardest part. So thank you all for your prayers, some days that is all that gets me through.

Dan and I went to our first appointment Oct. 28th. We got to hear the heart beat. We were both really amazed by the good strong sound of a heart so little. We also got our first picture of the little one. Every thing looks good and we'll go back Nov. 24th for our 12 week check up. We are eight weeks and sicker than I have ever been. I have been starting off the morning with a cracker and really eating crackers all day and night, I have them in my purse, in my bed side table and in my desk drawer. I feel a little qweezie most afternoons and some days I get sick and others I just stay close to a trash can or have the car door ready to swing open. But, we are excited. I'll be even more excited as I get to feeling better, so here is hoping for feeling better in no more than 3 or 4 weeks. Dan has been such a blessing, cooking dinner, cleaning the toilets, making sure I am okay and not putting any extra pressures on me at work, so I can't help but think of him when I am counting my blessings.

Dan's away hunting this weekend, so it is a girl weekend with Julie and mom and I, my dad is in Mexico on his bike. So we will probably watch girl movies, something I am getting really good at, laying on the couch and doing nothing, however, it does take work. Julie's birthday is today (Happy Birthday Jewls!!!) so we are going to pass out candy to the kids at the office and then take her to dinner at the Lodge for her big 2-6.

Hope you all have a great weekend (Happy Halloween) and I'll try to post blogs often and I'll even get Dan in on it so that when the baby comes he can keep you up dated and keep pictures posted. Thank you for your continued prayers and support. We love you all and may God Bless you today, tomorrow, and always!!