Introducing Hazel Ashley!

Hazel Ashley Hughes was born August 9, 2011 at 1:06 pm. She weighed 7 lb. 3 oz. and measured to be 20.5 inches long. She came two and a half weeks early but is healthy and was able to come home the next day!
Jeffrey meeting Hazel for the first time. He instantly gave her a hug and his version of a kiss. Super sweet! He is all ready becoming a great big brother! He enjoys pushing her in her swing, giving her loves, helping me hold her bottle, sharing his toys and snacks, and pointing out her eyes. He loves his sister!

Hazel coming home!

Mommy and Hazel recovering in their room!

After five hours of labor, one epidural and one push later, we had Hazel!

Welcome Hazel!

More Easter and Things in Between!

On Easter we went to my Grandma and Grandpa's for their annual Easter celebration. It was a lot of fun and Jeffrey loved the Hershey kisses! The day before Easter we went to my parents house for an Easter egg hunt. Jeffrey had fun and really enjoyed learning how to throw rocks in my parents waterfall/pond water feature. He caught on pretty quick!
And we painted Jeffrey's new room! He is not moved in yet, but we are beginning the process with Hazel arriving in August. Any suggestions on moving a 17 month old from a crib to a bed is welcome!

Jeffrey in his Easter duds.

And his first time swinging! He is such a ham! We first put him in the swing and gave us this look like "this is it?!" And then I pulled the camera out and he started smiling and hamming it up. The beginning of summer has been busy with Grant co-managing a pest control office in Boise and I started some online classes to ensure my graduation next May. Coming up on the blog is our trip to the Boise Zoo, swimming, and every day life with Jeffrey!

Hughes Easter Party

The Sunday before Easter the Hughes family got together for dinner and an Easter egg hunt! It was a lot of fun getting together with family and some dear friends we had not seen in a while. The family photo, and of course, Jeffrey is getting harder to make him cooperate!
Jeffrey began walking at 13 months, so it made the Easter egg hunt fun, but a little unbalanced! Here's Jeffrey pointing at more eggs to find.

Jeffrey hated the feel of the grass! It was super funny!

Jeffrey and I at his first egg hunt.

He's growing way too fast!

HAPPY EASTER!

Hope everyone has a Happy Easter!

The Hughes Family

Baby Update

It's a Girl!

Grant and I are super excited for the new addition that will be added to our family in August!

Jeffrey Turns One!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Once Jeffrey woke up, Grant and I went in singing and taking pictures. Jeffrey thoroughly loved all the excitement!

That night for FHE we were able to celebrate Jeffrey's 1st Birthday with the Hughes family with cake, ice cream, and presents. It was a lot of fun! Grant wanted it cowboy themed, and unfortunately Jeffrey wouldn't wear his cowboy hat and I forgot to take pictures of the decorations, but there was a theme!

Jeffrey again was unsure what to do with all the attention and the disbelief we would give him his own piece!

With a little help and prompting from Uncle Harrison, Jeffrey remembered pretty quick.

Happy Birthday Jeffrey!

The Festivities Begin!

The day before Jeffrey's birthday, Sunday ,we went to my parents house to celebrate! Jeffrey enjoyed the tissue paper, and Annie. Other than that, Mom did the unwrapping of gifts! :)

Jeffrey loved his new cars! Thanks Stevens!

And of course, the cake! Jeffrey, according to our family tradition, gets to go at the cake all on his own. I altered it a little bit by getting his own special cake from Pastry Perfection . . and it was really good! He was a little timid at first, but soon he got the picture.

Jeffrey with Dad

Grant and I got Jeffrey this sweet bike which Jeffrey absolutely LOVES! Can't you tell?!

Mutual with Dad

Grant took Jeffrey to Young Men's the week before J's birthday while I had my night class. They went to Jump Time which the boys loved and Jeffrey enjoyed watching them! I had to post about it because I had no idea Boise had anything like this and I love Jeffrey's big eyes!

Ten and a Half Months . . A While Ago!

Jeffrey at 10 1/2 months. What a little man! Crawling like crazy, standing, cruising around furniture, playing with his toys, and learning new words! He is changing drastically every day and I need to play catch up tomorrow with the blog! Jeffrey's 1st birthday, Grant's trip to Panama, and I being officially 5 months pregnant tomorrow, just to name a few!

Christmas Catch Up and Announcements!

So I need to post Christmas, and then I am pretty much caught up! We spent Christmas morning at my parents house and had a wonderful Christmas! The day after we headed up to my parents cabin in McCall. Jeffrey had a bawl and loved all the festivities! Here he is on his ride on toy that also converts into a walker. He enjoys it!
Here is Jeffrey in McCall being goofy! He started biting down on the spoon and being silly so we had to capture the moment!
Jeffrey loved standing in the windowsill to look out the window. Then, of course, he would let go and fall onto the couch that is right behind him. He thought it was a great game, but it gave my Mom and I heart attacks so it didn't last long!
Jeffrey at our house after coming back from my parents Christmas morning. He enjoyed his 1st Christmas!
Christmas morning with Grandpa Erekson and cousin Bristol.
Jeffrey's favorite was a barrel full of monkeys from my Nana and Grandad. He loved it!
Jeffrey and Dad Christmas morning opening presents. It was an early morning to say the least, can you tell?! That morning at breakfast we also made an announcement . . . Jeffrey is going to be a big brother August 26th! That's right, baby #2 is on the way and we are so thrilled to be blessed with another little spirit to join our family!

CHRISTMAS EVE!

So with the forgetful brain I have, I am shamed to say picture taking was minimal Christmas Eve, ok and Christmas but there is some evidence that we celebrated! Our first Christmas Eve celebration was with Grant's family the Sunday before. There was food, singing, dancing, and just good times! But of course we forgot our camera, ok so we forgot our WHOLE diaper bag, so we weren't able to take pictures. But Jeffrey loved singing and dancing with his cousins and refused to be baby Jesus. And on another note, my pictures uploaded backwards, so the events are backwards. :)
At my Grandparents house, the Long's, each grandchild receives a stocking, or a bag of gifts from my Grandparents. First thing that Jeffrey pulled out was Green Bay Packer pajamas AND HE WAS SO EXCITED! I have never seen him that excited! The Packers are my Grandpa's favorite team, so Jeffrey must be following suit.
Grandpa reading The Night Before Christmas, a yearly tradition.
Grant played his guitar with my Mom, sister Steph, and cousin Pookie. They were awesome and it was beautiful. We had a delicious dinner and good times with my relatives.
For lunch Christmas Eve we went to my Nana and Grandad's house. Lunch was scrumptious and it was nice to visit with them. It was only my immediate family and my grandparents so it was very relaxed, which was awesome. Here is my sisters Hailey and Annie, who adore Jeffrey. They have a lot of fun together.

Finally . . . Christmas Break!

Christmas time means family time! Steph, her husband Ty, and my niece Bristol were in town for Christmas so we got to spend a whole week together! Bristol and Jeffrey get a long pretty well, with a few hug exchanges, but also a few stolen toys. But progress is being made!
Jeffrey at the Hughes Christmas party sat on Santa's lap! I thought he would cry, but Santa quickly gave Jeffrey some candy, and Jeffrey's look seemed to say "OK, I will sit on your lap for some candy" and he did great!
The weekend after Grant and I were done with school (hooray!) we headed up to McCall for some fun and relaxation. We were invited to my Uncle Scott's and Aunt Laurie's for dinner and we got to see baby Esa and Sarah too! It was a lot of fun to catch up.
We bundled Jeffrey to go outside and sled, but we had to take a picture of us and the big icicles first.
Classic! I love this picture! Do not worry, we did not have him go down by himself, but we had to have a candid moment. He actually did not care for sledding down the hill, so we had Grant pull Jeffrey and I around the coldesac on the sled. He was a good puller :)
Once we got home we had a lot of needed down time to play and spend time together.
Jeffrey is now scooting and starting to crawl! He finally found some presents, and this one totally says "Let me open this and no one will get hurt"
And I couldn't help myself but to post this picture! I love his little physique :) And next nap time, I will post Christmas Eve, Christmas, and time spent in McCall after Christmas!