Welcome Eldon Theodore Hughes!

I am so glad he finally came and really glad my mom was here to take care of the boys.

Eldon was a little sad to go home. He had just had his circumcision done is the real problem.
Eldon with all his grandma(Gram) gifts.

So the birth story (for my records). WARNING: Contains graphic material.
I had been having contractions for three weeks before he finally came. The contractions were the ones that feel like more than just the Braxton Hicks that I had been having since week 10. They would keep me up at night. They were doing something since I was dilated to a 3+ at my 40 week check-up on Thursday. At that same appointment I had my membranes stripped. Which caused a lot of discomfort and I was still bleeding on Sat. I also asked at my Thursday appointment if there was anything that I could do to keep the contractions going once they start since they keep stopping and starting.
When I started contracting Sat. at about 3p.m. I took my midwifes suggestion and pumped a little to see if it would help keep them going. Surprisingly it did and they got stronger. Don't know if it really worked or if I just really was in labor. They got to the 3-5 min. apart that they need to be. Still not painful at all, but hey the right time apart. I decided we better get to the hospital quick before they stopped. This was around 6p.m.
They second we got out the door they seemed to stop, but Don convinced me to still let them at least check. I was dilated to a 4+ and 80% effaced. Monitors said contractions were every 3-5 min. Didn't even feel them really. Dr. Yeager decided to keep me. I asked to have my water broken and they said they would the next time they checked me. They came in at 9:30p.m. to check me and break my water. Contractions were starting to be a little uncomfortable, but nothing I couldn't ignore. At this time I was still the same as when they had admitted me. This is when things got really exciting! Contractions got worse by the minute and before I knew it I was using the breathing, relaxation, positions, and all that jazz I had prepared myself with. My main phrase I repeated in my head "Eldon will be here soon." I tried to concentrate on that moment and the joy and happiness. Don was wonderful doing counter pressure, message, and helping me rest between contractions. His touch was the most reassuring thing of all.
The pain got really bad about 10:45p.m. so I asked to have someone come in and check me. The nurse came in a little bit later and said I was a 7-8, and she started to get things ready for the baby to come. At this point I was kneeling on the bed gripping the handle bar. I started feeling tons of pressure so I told the nurse. She said it was okay he was just really low. Then I said I was burning, she said it was okay he was just really low. I then said I felt like pushing and asked if that was okay. She said sure. If any of you know about labor you know, just like I did I was about to deliver, not sure why the nurse didn't catch on. So I started pushing and then I started screaming she asked if I needed anything and I said, "A DOCTOR! He is coming out. I am holding his head." She finally looked over and had me turn on my back. Sure enough I was holding his entire head. She called the doctor in to have him catch the baby, really, no joke. So I pushed 3 maybe 4 times total. A little surprising and fast I think that I went from an 7-8 to delivered in under 10 minutes. So this is why his face is a little bruised.
Just for the record childbirth hurts really bad and I will have to re-think doing it all natural if we have another one. It was really nice to be able to feel my legs and have control the entire time though.

Jaron & Bryson

The two big brothers are doing great!
Jaron loves school and his friends. He also is eating good so he can be big like daddy and play basketball. Today we had the following conversation:
Jaron: "How tall is dad?"
Mom: "6feet 7inches"
Jaron (with wide eyes): "That is big. How tall am I?"
Mom: "Over 3feet tall."
Jaron: "No I only have two feet, not three. If you take away one of my feet I will only have one. If you take away another foot then I will have no feet and you will have to carry me all day long."
A little word confusion, but at least he is getting subtraction!


Here is a picture on the day we were learning "P". They were pirates searching for "P" treasures.

Jaron loves Eldon very much. I do think that he is a little threatened by him since Eldon gets so much attention from Mom. But he is still loving and kind to him.


Bryson has entered a new level of craziness. Here is one of his latest . . . projects, he was very proud. Yes it is permanent sharp marker.
He is having a very hard time leaving mom's side even for her to go potty. We have been working on the separation thing at home, but still in crowds or nursery it is a no go.

This is how he does story time at the library at mom's feet.

Bryson loves his baby brother and surprisingly we don't see any signs of jealousy yet. He is so good with Eldon. A picture would just not do it for his first photo with Eldon.

Mothers Who Know

Since I have been helping with this Joy School for Jaron I started thinking, "I spend so much time making sure he knows his letters, numbers, and other themed things to help him do well on a secular level. But am I putting that much time and effort into his spiritual growth?" We try really hard to do scripture study, prayer, and family home evening and I would say we are successful for the most part. But I spend hours thinking of fun activities for the letter M and sense of smell; shouldn't I spend that same amount of time, if not more, thinking of fun ways to teach his the story of Nephi or how to feel the spirit? Just food for thought and something I feel prompted to work on.
Here is the talk that really got me thinking.
Mothers Who Know
~Julie B. Beck

Cheek-to-cheek

Jaron and Bryson have started this thing they call "cheeks" mostly with Don, but I get it sometimes too. It is just a kiss on the cheek or cheek-to-cheek press. They love to do it and think it is really funny.

I Love to See the Temple

On the 29th we all drove in to Dallas to go to the temple. Kathleen and Eric, who are awesome people, watched the boys while Don and I went. It was really nice to be able to go and it was fun to go to such a small temple. It is not a live session which Don and I haven't been to for years, so that was fun too.

We then went and spent the afternoon with Kathleen, Eric, and Avree.

We then took the boys back to the temple on our way out of town. Jaron's response was priceless and I am very sad to say I didn't get it on camera. Right when he got out of the car I told him this was our new temple. He looked up and got so excited, "That is amazing!" and did the best he could to whistle. He kept on talking about it wide eyed and with the most excited voice.
Bryson loved the water and flowers! He also loves to sing the "I love to See the Temple" song.

Our family is so blessed to be sealed and it is nice to be able to let the world go and remember the true reason we are here.

What's New

Whats new? Don will be waiting for a few weeks to see if he got the part time FedEx job. It looks like he most likely will, so he turned down the one he got from the post office that was a fill in position. He can't work for competing companies. Hopefully that works out. He has been taking as many shifts as he can get at the golf course. The savings we had is gone now so he is feeling the added pressure to provide. Medicaid went through for me, but we were denied other benefits since we had so much savings when we applied. We will try again as soon as we get a bank statement showing that the money is gone.

I started a little joy preschool with some other moms so that Jaron can go to "school", he loves it. We are all still getting used to classroom rules and getting 7 kids to all sit has been challenging. Some are Jaron's school year and some are going to kindergarten next year. But it is only the first week. Jaron is so bright and very obedient. He is such a good kid and I realize that now more than ever. If I think I can handle it I might start up a preschool next year to help out with things, but we will just wait and see.

Bryson is talking more and more. He is very imaginative and likes to pretend play a lot. He has this fake voice when his little people talk to each other is is so cute. I will try to get it on video and post that on the blog.

Eldon has dropped and I am measuring smaller because of it. I don't have the OB check my cervic since that doesn't really indicate when I will go into labor. I think next week sometime, but then I am most likely wrong.

So we are great really, dirt poor, but then the poorest people are the happiest sometimes right? Don really has been saying more and more he will be going back to school so this year he will take a break and start in the fall when we get the resident tuition cost. Don't worry too much about us we will figure things out. Just wanted everyone to know what is up.

Update

I haven't posted for a while so I thought I would just put up some random pictures.

On the 24th of July our ward had a fun party. We all brought blankets and had a picnic on the ground in the gym. After dinner we had a pie eating contest. Don was a good sport and gave it a try. Jaron & Don had fun in the tug-a-wars. They had a pie contest, so we all got to eat a lot of pie for dessert. It was lots of fun and good to have a something on this Utah holiday.


On Wed. or Thurs. they have story time at the library. The boys have really enjoyed going the library once a week and getting books. We also get cartoons from the video section, since we have no TV. The story time lady is really great and she always has a fun activity to follow the book reading. This last week they had a blind man come and read to them in braille. They had someone there turning the pages to the book as he was reading so they could see the pictures. Then the got to chose the letters of their name that had braille below it and put their name on a bookmark. We then took it to the blind man and he read their name. It was really cool.

Still no "real" job yet. Don is working more hours at the golf course now that school has started for most the guys that work there. He has gotten a fill-in position at the post office in Chandler. He would cover three routes and only work when one of the carriers were sick or on vacation. He has an interview this Fri. for a part-time FedEx courier. We are really thinking this might be the job that we have been waiting for, but don't know for sure. He would still work at the golf course part-time too and we would get benefits and tuition reimbursement if we decided going back to school was the next step. If we do get the FedEx job he won't be able to work for USPS too, conflict of interest.

I am doing good. Lots of last month aches and pains. Insurance has been difficult and we are really hoping that that all goes through this week. Our AC broke this week so we had a really rough couple of days. The apartment didn't really cool down at night so we sat in 90-100 weather for a few days. We got out as much as we could, but it still was a big challenge.

The boys are good. Jaron is excited to get his new bed that will be delivered this week. He asks almost every day if we can go to the zoo. Finally we had to tell him that we can't go until dad gets a job that makes enough money. Jaron is really into Don's job search right now so he can go to the zoo! He is having a hard time not having friends to play with. It used to be that we could go outside and play with friends on the playground, or family was close. I am trying to get things together so I can invite kids over to play more often. I have just been so tired and things it hasn't happened yet. Jaron loves church and playing with friends there.
Bryson is still a no go for nursery. It is nap time and he really doesn't like big crowds. There are about 15-20 kids in there every week. We are working on that. Other than that he is doing great. Talking more and more everyday. He is also starting into the help-out phase, which is awesome.

Summer Days

It really hasn't been that hot since we got here, but this next week should be in the high 90's. Luckily we have a pool in the complex. Don likes to wait until evening to go when it cools a little and the pool is shaded by the buildings, which is around 6pm.
Jaron took a little coaxing to get in pool since it is all "deep." But once in we convinced him his new arm floaties would help him not go under the water and he was just fine. We have since had the trouble of getting him out of the pool. Offering a treat when we get home always seems to do the trick.
Bryson not so much. He took more than one day to get into the pool and still we have to hold his feet the whole time, he must not like not touching the bottom. We did get him laughing and having fun the other day, progress is good.

Moving to Texas

So I was really scared to drive 22 hours with the boys, but luckily it turned out just fine. We did three days of 7hour stretches.




Day 1: We started around 9am, stopped in Moab for lunch then went on to Farmington, New Mexico to stay the night.

Day 2: We headed for Amarillo. This day was a little longer, but after we stopped in Albuquerque for a lunch/breakfast Jaron road with Don the rest of the day. He had tons of fun ridding with Dad. It was a battle to get him to ride in the car after his day in the truck.

Day 3: Was Bryson's turn to ride in the big truck. It was a short day to Carrolton (just outside of Dallas) where Kathleen lived. My cousin was nice enough to let us stay a night with her. It was really lots of fun and even though I was doing well with the move so far, it was nice to see someone I know so far from home. Sadly enought I didn't take any pictures while there.

Day4: We headed to our new home in Tyler, TX . This drive took us around 3 hours. We did have to stop for gas and Jaron needed a potty stop along side of the road; during which he had his first encounter with fire ants. Their mound was under the long grass and I didn't see it. He started screaming about his feet, so I looked down and there were ants all over his feet. I got them off quickly all the while thinking, what the crap they are just tiny little ants, they don't bit. He was very brave and still has the red bumps to show. Back to the drive, so we got to Tyler at 11am and the Elder's were there to move us in. So I took care of things in the office while we were moved in. The apartment is old but very nice. I will post picture of that when I can.

All in all we are doing good. Don LOVES it here. He loves the people, the rainstorms, and the landscape. He is working at the golf course until he can find a more "career" oriented job, but it will pay the rent. There are lots of options for jobs here. We had a few leads from the ward but those don't look like they will work out right now. We have a few others though. So things keep coming up on the job front, just waiting for the right one.
The boys have had a hard time understanding what is going on exactly and that Grandma's house is far away. On the second day of travel Jaron asked when we were going back to grandma's, I told him not until after Eldon was born. I think that is when it really hit him and he understood what was happening. Since we got here they have been more irritable, but we have had a couple of really good days so I think the worst is over. We are all making new friends quickly as our ward is very friendly.
I have never handled change very well and this time is no different, but I really think I am doing okay, all things considering. The pregancy is really being hard right now. I don't mind the heat, but I think it makes me more tired & swollen. I also have something going on with me tailbone/hip which makes moving very painful. I need lots of down time, so this week of Don being around more has really been a blessing. He has helped me out so much with the boys and getting the house in order. I have started the process of getting into a doctor, but that might take a while. Tyler is a very green and beutiful place, I don't mind the humidity all that much. Also yesturday during our drive back from the library I actually felt like I knew what direction I was facing most the time. With no mountains directions are hard especially with such curvy roads.

. . . so super long post, more fun to come.