our smiles by wire

go to http://www.smilesbywire.com and enter the following:

Customer Name: becky hughes
Access Code: LTP32202020001JCP

I wanted these sweet pictures with the girls and me...
but I waited too long to really get what I wanted. 
I was hoping to have one where Ellie and I were looking at Ava,
but she was too big to do pictures that way.
I honestly like taking my own pictures
because I'm never really happy with "studio" pictures.
I still think these turned out okay, though.

8 months old

and Ava is standing, cruising, trying to walk (holding your fingers), jumping (in her johnny jump-up), laughing, talking...she thinks she's as big as Ellie! :-)

fun in the summer sun

HOW MANY GIRLS CAN YOU FIT IN A BABY POOL?

Our neighborhood is filled with kids...and we have a pool, trampoline, swing set...the list goes on and on. Which means, the kids usually end up all playing together and at some point during the day, they are at our house. Ellie and Ava LOVE to have company and Ellie asks to have friends over every day. $1 water balloons provided some great entertainment today!

Holiday World "08

Click here to see pictures of our trip to Holiday World.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37388&l=5756d&id=504816953

standing

Ava is almost standing...she is trying SO hard!!!!!

funny stories

Ellie tells such funny stories and is just a sponge right now. She sounds exactly like me, which is so scary. I'm constantly thinking about what I'm going to say and whether it is completely appropriate or not - especially when my little mocking bird is in public and decides to tell the world something I have said, without saying I said it. One of the best examples was tonight right before she got ready for bed. She was playing in a little tub of dried rice, noodles, and beans. She loves to scoop and pour them and she was making us strawberry milk (for me) and chocolate milk (for Jeff). It was actually just a cup of rice, beans, and noodles. Anyway, she asked me if I wanted "lsdkfjsldjf". I had no idea what she was saying, so I asked her several times. I never could understand her, so she finally got frustrated and said, "It's a recipe I got from Hopey's mom's blog. You can check my blog and get it from there."

Can you tell how I spend my free time? :-)

random labor comment...

Okay, when I was in labor with Ava, I hadn't had any child birth classes, including breathing/labor techniques. We signed up for a class before Ellie was born, but it was rescheduled for after her due date, so it wouldn't have done me any good. With Ava, I was planning to get my epidural early on like I did with Ellie, so no worries...right? Well, I was not in labor for very long with her. It started at 5:30am and she was born at 6:38pm, but the earlier contractions were not "hard" and I was waiting for my water to break - but it wouldn't on it's own and my contractions just kept getting stronger and stronger - and lasting much longer (some as long as 3 minutes). However, when I got to the hospital at 3:00, they decided to break my water at about 3:30, so things progressed quickly after that, since I had been in labor for so long already. I asked for my epidural and they ordered it...but they had me lying in the bed doing nothing, just trying to breathe through my contractions. Nobody told me to get out of the bed and try to walk around, which really gets to me, even to this day. Poor Jeff was trying to remind me to breathe because when the contractions would come, I would hold my breath. I read on another blog (some of our friends from TX are due soon and they had a child birth class) that labor is not an illness and you should NOT have a love affair with the bed while in labor. I SO WISH I HAD HEARD THAT BEFORE I WAS IN LABOR WITH HER. I wouldn't have asked for medicine to help with the pain until my epidural came, which ended up making me puke in the poor doctor's face while I was pushing. I might have not even asked for the epidural. Once I sat up in preparation for the epidural, I was able to breathe through the contractions, but no one told me to get out of the stinking bed?!?!? Shouldn't that nurse have known that??? I finally got the epidural about 45 minutes before she was born. Live and learn, right? I'll know better next time!! :-)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

4 Generations!

Happy (belated) Mother's Day to all the Moms out there ~
aunts, cousins, friends, babysitters, grandmas ~ young and old!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Today was a day of good news!! First of all, CONGRATULATIONS Landy! My cousin got in to nursing school!! (You can see her picture with the girls below.) I am so excited for her! She just found out today and she called to let me know. I don't remember all the details, but I do know that it is hard to get in, so it was a huge blessing that she was able to get in and she'll start in August. We also found out that 2 of our good friends are expecting - one couple is expecting their 3rd, and this is the other couples' first!! God is good!

Donations Accepted

We are doing the "walk" for Juvenile diabetes and are accepting donations...let me know if you are interested. :-)

Landy aka "Effie"

My cousin came to stay with us last night. We have had the best time. We ate, went for a walk, watched old videos, talked, laughed, and just enjoyed being together and playing with the girls!