Dang Monkey

Hey blog family, hope your weekend was eventful.

Mine was...well, stressful. Much to say on that front.

However, on a lighter Monday note...I decided to blog about Luke's latest.

Here lately, we can't seem to lose the monkey fetish in our household. As most of you know, Luke loves these little animals. He's been so fascinated with them that in the last year he had to always have one for the car, in the doctor's office, or grocery store. He could never leave home without carrying an animal.

Well, the last 2 months...he's been stuck on this monkey! At first, we thought the monkey would be a phase much like the Lion, giraffe and bird, but nooooooo, not this dang monkey. It's officially attached to his hands.

He takes a bath with it, scoots with it, rides in the car seat with it and SLEEPS WITH IT! I have to pry it out of his hands post sleep time.

My kid loves his monkey. Here you go. Monkey boy. (I'll blog about the 'stuff' tomorrow..too tired to blog 2nite) Love you, A

Cuz I'm cute and that's all there is to it!

Luke: I ain't lying. I'm cute. I know it. I scream, kick and get my way a lot. So what? I'm a baby. Well, at least my mom still says I am. So..I'm going to milk it. As long as possible. Ain't no baby girl gonna step on my turf. I'm cute..and that's all there is to it.

Mom: Stop taking Hannah's paci away from her mouth. I'll beat your butt mister. Stop that!

Bottomline: Luke is testing momma! Can you see it in his eyes below! Sneeky mister.

Pup chop muffin in PT therapy

Hi blog fam,

Ok. A much needed blog post for Luke. He's rocking it out in therapy. It's unbelievable. Luke has had a new Physical therapist for about 2 months now and she's amazing. He really likes her and works so hard for her. An answered prayer for us.

We are praying, praying he starts walking in the next few months. He's climbing on EVERYTHING, taking more risks than ever before and really becoming independent.

He's even starting to hug his regular therapists when they come in. Our little social bunny. (just like his momma) lol.

Ok...so brace yourself...it's amazing! We stand in awe of our mister!
Love you so much family,
A

Oh...one critical note: Notice the huge hole in the back of Luke's pants! That's right friends...Luke scooted a hole in his pants! You see?! I'm not the crazy no pants mother you think I am. I'm really not. There IS PURPOSE in the madness around here. My mister is a butt scootin hole pants fool. So extend grace loved ones! lol.

A Splash of Luke's new sister..Hannah Hope

Luke Smiling.....isn't he adorable?

This post is for the Grandparents of the family. A little spice of Hannah bean.

Of course, had to post Big Brother first. A close up shot of mister.

Photography by Ericka O'Malley.

Only one little issue with our photo shoot: Little Hannah is too strong! I can't believe I can actually type these words out. However, we missed the Anne Geddes approach of wadding up a newborn in various positions and they just lay there accordingly. Not happening with this little missy. We would fold up her legs under her belly and she would kick them out! So funny.So...flat on the back she goes. Enjoy--she's our angel girl.

Thanks Auntie E...we love you.

Hope you enjoyed! She's becoming seriously alert this week. So fun to see. Love you all, A

The Mayo Clinic confirmed...

That Hannah does not carry the CMS gene mutation.

I got the email several days ago and wanted to post this as I know some of you were not aware.

My heart: Uggh, my heart. Well, I got sad. Then, I got sadder. Started thinking of 'well, she would have been healthy if it were not for downs'. Etc, etc. Lots of thoughts.

Many of you have said "I'm speechless". Well, know that we feel the same way still off and on. Just speechless and walking each day out.

I must say, she's incredibly strong. Very healthy. Just like a naturally healthy newborn. It's radical actually. Aside from the label of down syndrome, you would never really know.

I'm going to be bold and speak my mothers' intuition. She's going to be fine. She's going to be bright, smart and high functioning beyond what anyone could possibly see now.

I see it in her eyes when she looks at me. Just like when our little Luke could not move very much and a past therapist we had early on claimed he had neurological problems..."I boldly rebuked it, fired her and then said 'no, my child is in there..I know it, I see it, he has the will, God has shown me in his eyes'.

By God's grace and mercy...Luke is exactly what God showed me! Smart, bright and learning by the day.

I claim and profess boldly the same intuition that God gave me over my Hannah. She's going to be amazing. No specialists needed for momma.

Love you blog family...thanks for listening.

To God be the Glory,
A

Thanksgiving..our sweet dysfunction 1x a year!

Thanksgiving day. A day of hectic food cooking; rushing around and trying to meet the deadline eat time; loving the new baby; attempting to photograph a family portrait; and pretty much random fun in the Hughes household. I was feeling 'physically' ill off and on all day. This c-section stuff is a killer. Hope to feel back to normal soon.

So...let's begin blog family. I will try to make this quick..I'm in rush blog mode these days and I hope and trust my summary bullet points speak about our hearts and mind when posting.

Here goes...much love, A

All the pictures below are power blogged. I just put them up there for your viewing. I'll sum up the day and you can view the pics and figure it out! It was a good day.

• Attempt to take a family picture of me/jon and the kids. Total nightmare. Not surprising. Jon hates pics and is difficult through the whole process (to which I am greatly bitter about) and Luke is....well, same O Luke. Enough said. Hannah was the only one cooperative. Here's the best of the best below. *can you see my bitter smirk? LOL
• p.s. Ericka..this family shot above in front of the toys is actually quite appropriate. The toy box is our life these days. I actually love the background setting. :)
  
• Family member pics scattered throughout. I think you can figure them all out. Lulu is the blonde...my grandmother wore her cowboy shirt because she got 10% off at the Grocery store for wearing it. Gotta love that. (cracked me up)
  
• Josh and Ronya came and that was fun to see them. (ohhh, to have college romance love again) So fun to watch.
  
• Ericka/Lisa are always invited to our Thanksgiving. Thank you ladies for loving us 'just as we are'. We love having you. Picture of Lisa and Ericka below. I loved it.
  
• Random picture of Lisa and stuffed olive.
• Luke having a 'out of sync' moment! He hated the noise on his new laptop computer that grandma got him. :)


• Luke and Lulu.
  
• Momma and Luke time.
  
• Jon's kids and their kids. So fun to see them!


• Jon's skin funk picture.
  
• Uncle Josh and Luke time!
  
• Bubba and Pa
  
• Me sipping hot latte that Jon made with a dash of starbucks liquor..so good.

Lastly, INSANE GOOD food pictures. We are DANG good cooks people. We really are. Texas cooking at it's finest. I love Thanksgiving food,...turkey, sweet potatoes, corn casserole, apple spiced rum cider, aspargus casserole, green beans, mashed potatoes, cranberries, dressing (to die for from Lulu), deviled eggs and so on and so on. Aww, let's not forget the homemade pies from 'momma' my stepmom. She rocks those out.

Hope you enjoyed family...love you much. A

THANKSGIVING FOOD -------a glimpse of great cooking.