Eldon's Broken Arm

Poor little Eldon! The little mischievous daredevil knows he isn’t suppose to climb the bunk bed ladder so he did it before anyone even knew he was up. Don rushed in to his obviously hurt cry. Don was on his way out the door to work and still went so he wouldn’t have a late on his record. Sadly he wasn’t able to come home, they were way short on men that day. So I called a friend to come with me. I can’t carry him, or take him into X-ray. He was fine with Stacy Noyes holding him the whole time. The day of the broken arm was a little rough for him. But he adjusted just fine. He even figured out how to pull the splint off with his teeth. I had to hide the end of the wrap so he couldn’t find it. When we went in to get it casted she did the full arm since he kept taking the splint off and also because he was so active and fell often enough and would jam the broken arm again. This way when he falls he won’t jam the arm. It only has to be on 3 weeks since he is so young bones heal quickly. He is doing great with the cast. The only person that has gotten hurt from it is him. He fell on the tramp and smacked his face with his cast. He has a few bruises and scrapes from that.

Also he really is a mischievous little guy. So we washed and got out of the bath. But he was not done yet I guess. Before I could even get off the floor he had climbed back in for another bath.

Eldon has started talking a lot this last month. He loves to sing and dance. He tries hard to keep up with his brothers when they talk or sing. His favorite song is Apples and Bananas, or whatever it is called and he loves to dance to the Beatles.

I'm Thirsty Anyway

You know that Jo Dee Messina "Bring on the Rain"? I have always loved that song. For some reason it reminds me that things always pass. Every time I listen to the song I think of all the times I have listened to it and how hard those times seemed, but they did pass. It reminds me to not have fear, have faith instead. And "I am thirsty anyway, so bring on the rain. " Trials are the refiners fire and we always come out better than before.
I also have a confession. I am not superwoman. I know that might come as a HUGE shock, it was for me. Several of my friends have said at time, ". . . you can do it, you are supermom." It is totally meant as a compliment, and it is. It has given me several times the strength to be what they think I am. But as we found out this last week, I am just human. I have complete confidence that everything will be just fine with this pregnancy. I will go full term most likely. But I do need to get enough sleep, eat enough food, and drink enough water. I also need to stop when my body says it is sick. If I keep pushing the card that I am fine and don't need those things, sooner or later I won't be fine.

I e-mailed this to a lot of family and friends, but want it for my personal journal. I print my blog every year and keep it so here is what happened.
I had been having contractions since Friday, which were 10 min apart. But since several hours of rest was helping I didn't worry too much. We had a little scare on Sunday when contractions were coming 2-3min apart at 4:30pm. We decided to go in to labor and delivery at around 6:30pm where I was given shots of Terbutaline. The first shot stopped them briefly but they came back stronger and more frequent. The second dose did the trick and slowed them down to every 10 min. They let me go home at this point which was 2:15am. They continued at 10 min apart until Monday at 4pm. This was not labor as there was no cervical change during contractions. I was put on bed rest until I could go in to see my OB. I had an appointment with her on Tuesday. She did a Fetal Fibronectin test which came back negative. She said that I should be good for the next few weeks and not go into labor. She did say that that many contractions still are not good, I need to take it easy. So try and rest more and get help when I need it.

The little guys need me, but I will post about the other fun adventure we had this week soon.

Family Trip to Utah 2011

Okay, so we just spent 2 weeks in Utah with family and I took very few photos. It could be that we were kind of busy, that I was sick, or that I just am not into photo taking these days.

So Don decided that he wanted to drive straight through. The boys did great! On the trip there Knick was not a good traveler, but that is because he was not in his kenel. On the trip home he did great. Bryson had a few rough patches, but the rest of us did good. Don really drove the whole way. I tried to stay awake as much as I could so I could keep him up. On the way there I slept for about 4 hours and did drive for a few hours in the early morning. On the trip home I only slept about 2 hours or so hours. So needless to say I was really tired. Don handles being tired so much better than I do. I just don't function. So even after we got home, I was the one to go to bed while he stayed up with the boys until nap time. It has been a rough adjustment back to real life. The boys are really demanding and are fighting a lot. They were spoiled way too much when we were there. But we are starting to get back into our routine and things are going better now.

We did so much while we were there . . . I am not sure I even want to attempt to recap. Everything we did was really fun and wonderful. Family did their best to make it a good time while we spent time with them. It is always fun to create memories.

Nothing too new

I realize I have not posted for over a month or so. The thing is nothing is too new. Don't get me wrong we are busy, just nothing out of the norm.

Knick our dog was hit by a car. So that was really sad. It broke his hip and pelvic bone, but he is almost back to his usual self. The boys took such good care of Knick. Bryson slept by him at nap time to make sure he was okay.


Eldon turned 18 months. Which means NURSERY!! He goes in ever week no problem. There are three older nice ladies that work in the nursery and they say that he cries a lot and they just have to hold him. But he doesn't put up a fuss about going. He does have a break down of tears when I get him from nursery, that just breaks my heart. Eldon is such a big boy. Saying lots of new words, running all over, and climbing up and down the ladder to the bunk bed. Eldon is very helpful when he wants to be. Getting drinks for others, throwing away diapers, putting his clothes in the dirty clothes. However when he doesn't want to do something he doesn't. He hits a lot and just is and 18 month old. Discipline is always fun. He also is in a toddler bed now getting ready for baby to come. Which is going fine.

Bryson is now 3 and a half. Man what a grown up kid he is. He is very inquisitive and observant of the world. He knows a lot more than he leads on too. I catch him every now and then just singing songs I had no idea he knew, or he will tell me a scripture story when I thought he wasn't listening when I told it to him. Here are a few things he has said lately. I facebooked this but think it need a permanent space in history.
Jaron: "Bryson if you don't stop breaking my puzzle I am going to punish you." Bryson: "Man will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's transgression." Totally funny, but he send it with such meaning. Then the very next day he was playing with all the zoo animals and picked up the dolphin, hugged it and said, "Dolphins are nice and so is Jesus and Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father loves everyone, and wants us to come to the spirit world with him." I mean too cute and what a great connection. He is so tender, most the time, and is very excited for baby Landon to come.
Jaron . . . is not a toddler any more and I am having a hard time accepting the fact. He LOVES to learn and show it off. He follows the rules and is very concerned about pleasing others. He likes making friends. Whenever we go to a playground he always is talking to everyone. It is kind of funny.

As for me and Don. We are at a good place marriage wise, which is always good. Don really does good dealing with "Pregnant Pam." He is liking work and having a hard time deciding what is next career wise, but that is fine. I had this thought the last month that helped me gain perspective on the situation. What did the Savior do for a living? He was a carpenter right? But how much of the scriptures are about that? Don't get me wrong it is important to provide for your family, but sometimes we put too much stress on making the money. Don makes it a priority to lead his family spiritually, reading scriptures, FHE, and those things. Which bless our family in other ways. Just some thoughts I have been having.
I am good, pregnant and everything, but good. Well time is up.

It's A Boy!

Baby boy Hughes #4 is due July 9-11. My calculated due date is the 11th. When I went in at 9 weeks the due date was the 10th. These tend to be the most accurate. This ultrasound we had on Feb. 21 said he is due July 9.
Everything they saw looked good. He had his back to us so they could not get around front to see his heart and kidneys. We will have to go back later, but I am sure he is fine. Of all the things we saw we saw that it was a boy, for sure. He also had one arm behind his head, in the Hughes boy fashion, it was really funny. All 4 of the boys in this house lay with their left arm behind their head, looks like we have a 5th now. He had thumbs up the whole time too.

As for a name. We really want to stay with the tradition of ending in 'on. We have been through tons of 'on names, this is the 4th. The boys are convinced his name is Landon so I THINK that is his name. It was one in our list that Don and I both like. As for now Landon Wenzel Hughes is his name.

Jaron's 5

February 23rd, Jaron turned 5! It was a fun filled day. The night before Don and I decorated so when he woke up there were balloons and streamers. Then waffles for breakfast.
After we all got ready we headed to Chucky Cheese. What a fun time! We know now what we want to do now and they know how to do the games they want.
Dinner was spagetti (all meals were his choice today). After dinner we did a quick clean up for to get ready for his party. He wanted a fish cake. I was showing him all the different cakes he could have and he settled on the cupcakes. The party goes to the theme of the cake so we got blue lights, hug fish, and had cans of gummy works. It was a nice under the water/sea feel.
He invited just a few friends since there are so many his age. We invited preschool friends and his primary class (there are 3 of them). Joram, Robby, Kaylie & Addison are the ones that made it to the party. We started with coloring a fish then made an under-the-sea foam craft. Cake & presents came next. Right before they left they fished for their favor. I had given Jaron the instructions to hand the pole to the people in line, after they got their prize he helped them take it off and said to each person "Thank you for coming to my party." It was really so cute, yet grown up.

Our little guy is getting so big. He is really mature and has lots of questions. Like yesterday he asked how fog forms and then remembered my answer. This year he started reading and now is finding words he knows everywhere. He only does it though when he wants and not on demand. He is a big help around the house doing lots of chores. His biggest one is unloading the dishwasher and for now at least he doesn't mind helping. We are still working on articles of faith, he knows up through 6. Scripture stories are really interesting to him. He loves to learn about the prophets and Jesus. His most favorite one is Jonah, because there is a big fish.
He does really enjoy playing the wii. He loves to play board games too. His favorite song is "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission." Favorite color is blue.
We love our boy! Happy Birthday!

Hair cuts

I cut the boys hair. Don thought it would be fun to do a before and after photo. They sure do look lots better.

Super Bowl Sunday

My family usually does a get together at my brothers house to watch the super bowl, talk, and EAT. I have made sure that we still do this even though we are far away. This year all our friends had plans or were not interested in watching so it was just us.
I made lots of fun things: queso, spinich and artachoke dip, hot wings, a vegie tray, cookies . . . that is all I can remember. Our little family ate well.
That really didn't make up for fact that our team lost, boo!

YW

In October we made quilts together.

Our Young Womens Christmas party. It was a missionary effort and I am really impressed with the Beehives. Their friends that came are still coming to things!

Our welcome dinner for Lali (Regan and Sis. Loughmiller are pictured). When a new girl came up we made sure to do something special!

New Beginnings. I headed this up with the help of everyone else. It was a great event and the girls had fun dressing like princesses.

I had never had the chance to serve with the youth until July when I was put in as second counselor in the young womens. I was really overwhelmed at first not knowing what I was doing. The calling was really demanding of my time and often times I had to take a step back and realized that family comes first. Just as I was getting a hang of things the boundaries in our stake changed. Most of Tyler 2nd ward was given to Whitehouse ward, another large chunk when to Tyler 1st and the rest of us stayed in Tyler 2nd and absorbed the Lindale Branch. The branch is very large in area but there are very few active members in that area. I have to say I cried, I am pregnant so cut me a little slack. We have been calling all my Beehive "my girls" for over six months in our house. They really have been an important part of my life. I have learned a lot of new things as I have served with them, including major spiritual growth as I did the Personal Progress Program with them. It is such an inspired program. If you want to grow closer to the Lord and prepare for/honor your temple covenants this program is for you.
I look forward to what lies ahead as second counselor in the Relief Society and Don as the 1st counselor in the Young Mens and Varsity Coach for scouts. Life should be busy, but good.