The next few months

Haven't heard from me in a while

2011-10-05T09:06:00.001-07:00

In the last 16 months our lives have changed drastically. Amalia was diagnosed with several food allergies (ranging from life threatening to mild intolerance), several chemical and synthetic allergies, Eric graduated with his M.Div and we moved off campus.

We are currently living in Wisconsin, while Eric continues working on his counseling degree and helps out at his father's church. I still work as a grant writer and am directing a musical this Fall at Trinity College. We started more intentional preschool with Gareth (4 1/2 with a very loose tooth!), and Amalia is much healthier and happier having gotten rid of so much that was hurting her or making her sick.

My blog posts basically stopped when Amalia's allergy diagnoses opened up a gigantic project for me to find out how to take care of her and keep her safe. That and getting an iphone. With posting pictures to facebook and emailing videos instantly, the blog wasn't as important for keeping grandparents and family members connected with our family.

We'll see what the becomes now...

Adler Planetarium-Apollo 13

2010-05-08T19:26:00.000-07:00

In March I found out that April was the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 13 space flight. Gareth is currently in love with all things space and air related and very specifically Apollo 13. He watches the lift off sequence and explosion sequence from the film on YouTube regularly. So when I found out the Adler Planetarium was having a special Apollo 13th month I had to take my astronaut boy. Aunt Mikayah went with us and we had a great time.

The Planet Explorers area for kids was fantastic for Gareth. Here he is with a flight jacket and space pack.

I don't get to be in pictures with my kids very often and especially not Gareth anymore, so I really like this one.

Preparing the rocket for launch.

This is a really neat video game type program that talks you through a launch. He had to push the right buttons and then got to dock the rocket using the joystick. I have a video of this but can't get the video clips to work right on the computer I'm using. I'll keep working on it.

Aunt Mikayah and Amalia exploring "Planet X".

Just a little spacewalk.

Gathering some space rocks.

Sliding down a space slide :)

Amalia had to have a turn, too.

February-April and some of May

2010-05-08T19:05:00.000-07:00

Gareth and Amalia Easter 2010.

Gareth got a guitar and amp from his Grandma and Grandpa for his birthday. Here he is playing along with his favorite band, Imagination Movers.

Gareth and Amalia January 2010
So, I have finally found a way to upload photos and videos from my sometimes working camera to the blog. So I'll try to provide a broad view of our lives since February. Basically, we've been sick for the last 4 months. I think we've gone one full week without one member of the household having something. We're currently celebrating day four of being sickness free (most recently an ear infection, Gareth's first). Here are some highlights of the past few months.

March: Discovered Amalia has a severe egg allergy. She will go in for the big allergy testing in June.
April: Visit to the Adler Planetarium (will have its own post)
May: Eric is finished with his third year of seminary (yay for 3/4 done!) in three days

Belated Posts

2010-02-07T10:38:00.000-08:00

I have many Christmas pictures, New Years pictures, Gareth's 3rd birthday pictures and video of Amalia crawling, pulling up (and soon to capture the cruising she started in the last week). However, technical and medical difficulties have prevented me from posting any of the above. While celebrating Christmas and Gareth's 3rd birthday in Oklahoma with grandparents, aunts, uncle and cousin my camera stopped working. Well, started over working really. It turned itself off and on anytime you tried to do anything. Then upon returning home and settling in (after celebrating Christmas in Wisconsin with the other grandparents and uncle) the kids decided to get sick. First Amalia, then Gareth, then Amalia again. We're starting week 4 of having a sick kid in the house and hopefully she'll recover this week. It's already February and I feel we haven't had a chance to begin the year yet. We haven't even had a chance to go to the library! On top of that last week my laptop where all the pictures and videos are stored stopped working. Now everything is stuck on a hard drive that is inaccessible. So until we can resolve the computer situation, get people better and work with the camera, I won't have any pictures or videos to post (which, after all, are the point to this blog).

First Food for Amalia

2009-12-11T19:14:00.000-08:00

First bite of some organic brown rice cereal-mmmmmm

Yeah, not a fan.

The much watched event (witnessed by Daddy, Gareth, Aunt Mikayah and Titus).
I let her play with the spoon afterwards to try to get her to suck on it and swallow a bit of the cereal.

Crawling practice. She can really crawl now (12/11) but this is when she was just rocking.

A little downward facing dog to strengthen and stretch a girl. (She tried to move forward by doing that.)

Gareth's debut

2009-12-11T19:01:00.000-08:00

Our church has an annual Hanging of the Greens service in early December. During the opening number all the children in the church bring banners, lights, garland, etc. The last group to come are the Jingle Bears (the 1-3 year-olds). They have bear hats on and bears with jingles on them to shake to the music. Gareth didn't want to participate last year (which did not surprise me). I thought he was ready to do it this year and started talking it up a few weeks before it happened so he'd know what was going to happen. He was pretty excited about it. Grandma and Grandpa came down from Wisconsin to see Gareth's theatrical debut. And Aunt Mikayah and Titus (boyfriend) came up from Chicago to see it as well. Thanks to Aunt Mikayah for the pictures and video. There are many people in the way of seeing Gareth, but just look for the cream colored sweater vest and that's him.

Beatles Rock Band at Thanksgiving

2009-12-11T18:50:00.000-08:00

Lead Vocalist=Aunt Robyn
Harmonies=Grandma
Guitar/Bass=Daddy and Uncle Josh
Bass=Gareth (unplugged)

Thanksgiving

2009-12-11T18:32:00.001-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving with Eric's parents in Wisconsin and had a nice, low key time. That was good considering the kids went into it with 2 colds and an ear infection between them and came out with 2 colds, an ear infection and a virus. We spent the following week recovering.

Amalia and Mama before her first Thanksgiving dinner (to attend, not eat).

Amalia met Great Aunt Robyn.

Gareth got in some good play time with Grandpa.

Uncle Josh helped make the meal (see the yummy brined turkey in the back).

Amalia had duck.

A lovely meal.

A little post-turkey Beatles Rock Band. Gareth had this guitar (unplugged) and was playing bass (so he informed us). He played watching the screen for about 20 minutes straight. He's a serious rock band guy.

The day before Thanksgiving we got to tour a business that works on train cars. It was in a giant old tractor factory in Milwaukee and Gareth just wanted to run up and down the train tracks. The business restores, repairs and creates fantastic passenger/train cars. They did Obama's car that he road in across country.

Here's the outside of the car we toured. It is a fully restored 1912 train car for repopulating fish populations. (There were tanks for ice that they'd put buckets of fish in to carry and some places for the crew.) They do metal, wood, paint (almost everything) in shop, hiring out to local artisans for what they couldn't do. They were in the final phase of a 2 year project that cost something like a million dollars (can't remember exact details, was too busy making sure a 2 year-old didn't ruin the ridiculously expensive car). It was being redone for a museum and we got to go inside (no one will get to when it's in the museum). It was really neat.

Gareth talking about motorcycles

2009-12-01T19:24:00.000-08:00

This is for those of you who don't get to hear Gareth talk very often. He's particularly interested in motorcycles right now so I tried to get him talking about that.

Amalia can really sit up now!

2009-11-21T18:03:00.000-08:00

The Music of Our Lives

2009-11-03T13:31:00.000-08:00

Over Halloween weekend, Aunt Mikayah was visiting. This is her hanging out with the kids. Gareth is humming "All Aboard the Choo Choo Train" (Disney channel thing). Amalia is complaining because Gareth has her book.

Quotable Gareth

2009-11-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

"I will never walk again"-while throwing a fit and walking down the hall
"I got flewed by a chicken"-referring to a chicken flying by his face when Abba opened the chicken house in the morning, it was very traumatic
"I want Aunt Mikayah to go in the potty chair and flush away"-while being tacky about his Aunt when she was visiting
"I want Aunt Mikayah to go to her train station and go to Chicago"-while being tacky about his Aunt when she was visiting (yes, he is tacky about her a lot, haven't figured out how to stop that one yet)
"I wipe my spanking off, wipe, wipe, wipe"-after receiving a spanking
"Yes, Ima loves me"-to the tune of Jesus Loves Me

Gareth's big boy bike

2009-11-03T13:09:00.000-08:00

Gareth's Grandma got him this bike about the time Amalia was born. He can go "super fast" on it and "lean into the turn" just like motorcycle drivers do. He also has knee pads that he wears sometimes. He really likes his bike, needless to say. And has taken a few tumbles, but gets back on after an appropriate grieving period.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-03T13:00:00.001-08:00

Aunt Mikayah was able to be with us Halloween weekend and was part of our festivities. Here she is with Amalia, the chili pepper.

Daddy and Amalia. Before the cold trick or treating.

I asked Gareth to stand like a football player :)

Close up showing the last minute though, mascara smeared under the eyes.

The obligatory pre-trick or treating pose. Gareth decided this summer he sometimes does not like having pictures taken of him. So here he is sitting next to Amalia, helping her because she was having her picture taken.

In the stroller, how she spent the entire trick or treating outing.

After getting some candy.
Finished with trick or treating, a little foggy looking because the camera was fogging over from the warmth inside.

Amalia really wants to sit up

2009-10-09T07:57:00.000-07:00

Amalia practicing sitting up. She does not face plant at the end of the video, it just appears that she does.

Amalia having tummy time

2009-10-09T07:44:00.000-07:00

Not an exciting video, but interesting if you love her and don't get to see her very often :)

Amalia has discovered her upper register

2009-10-09T07:37:00.000-07:00

A taste of how she "talks" by squealing...and a little spit up at the end.

Gareth and Liam racing

2009-10-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

Two two-year-olds racing :)

Amalia having tummy time-Summer 09

2009-10-07T16:28:00.000-07:00

Amalia did not really enjoy tummy time. This is her trying to get out of it at 2 months old.

My adorable nephew and son dancing-Summer 09

2009-10-07T16:20:00.000-07:00

Liam doing his ballroom dancing, while Gareth makes up his own dance.

South Carolina

2009-10-05T12:19:00.001-07:00

Eric finished his military training for the Army chaplaincy at the end of August. CH-BOLC at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. Here he is waiting for the graduation ceremony to start.

After the graduation with Roy Beebe (the EFCA endorser for the chaplaincy) and Amalia.
The family after successfully getting Eric through two summers of military chaplain training. Very proud!

Berry Creek Farm

2009-09-14T13:00:00.001-07:00

A few highlights of our time on the farm. Liam and Gareth at the feed store.
Gareth would go out in the mornings with Abba and feed the chickens.
We visited the Oklahoma City Farmer's Market where Abba and Ima sell.
Just resting during harvesting.
The harvesting. AKA picking and eating as many grapes as you can reach :)
The grapes-super yummy off the vine (and pestcide free so no worries).
A box of grapes ready for the market or CSA's.

What I did Last Summer by Bethany Hughes

2009-09-14T12:23:00.000-07:00

We started driving on July 13th. Here's Gareth with his purchased especially for the car trip race car driving toy.

On July 14th we made our final stop before our destination, McDonald's in Tulsa. Had to have a playground after two days in the car.

Within minutes of arriving at Bethany's parents' home cousin Liberty was holding her favorite baby cousin. Thanks to Aunt Mikayah being on snack, toy and pacifier patrol, Bethany was able to arrive sane.

Cousin Liam had to have his turn with Baby Mall Mall (his name for Amalia). Liam loves babies.

A little swimming in Abba and Ima's front yard with the cousins.

What Amalia did for most of the trip to Oklahoma. See her incredibly dry, excema ridden skin. It's a constant fight, but we have come to manage it with hydrocortizone and Aquaphor.

Gareth playing baseball with Ima. Photographic evidence of Ima playing an outdoor sport.

Liam giving Aunt Bethany the thumbs up. He is incredibly charming and very athletic.

A little night night story with Abba and the cousins.

Crazy how big Gareth is compared to Amalia!

The Cherry Girls. Both were wearing cherry apparel and therefore needed a picture.

The boys, waiting to dig in at our shrimp boil.

Amalia spending some quality time with her younger cousin. He should arrive in October.

Amalia's first visit to Ted's Escondido Cafe in Oklahoma City. It's fantastic Tex-Mex.

We traveled to Texas for a wedding and spent a little time in the hotel pool. Gareth has decided he doesn't like pictures taken of him. So that's why he always looks glum.

Gareth and Amalia with their first cousins (Liberty and Liam) and their second cousins (Anna and Alex). We had lunch with them on our way out of town during our Texas weekend.

Bethany with her sisters, brother-in-law, cousins, and the above.

Bethany's parents, aunt and uncle (mom's side) and the above.

Liberty and Liam are quite a team. Smart and sometimes sneaky :)

Gareth with a Sonic ice cream cone. The Sonic near Abba and Ima's has a playground and volleyball courts.

Had to hit the pool with Abba.

A girl has to sleep a lot to keep up with this crew.

Liberty is a reading girl, introducing Amalia to the wonders of the written word.

Amalia meeting her Great-Grandpa and his wife Sherry. We had lunch with them on our road trip back to home.

One more thing...

2009-07-06T21:27:00.000-07:00

The cake we made. Gareth helped pour the ingredients for the cake. Our neighbor Melissa put the stripes on, Bethany did the rest. It was good, everyone seemed to like it and it sure looks harder to do than it is.

4th of July

2009-07-06T21:16:00.000-07:00

Daddy helping with a sparkler.

Throwing "snappers"

We had a small gathering at our place on the 4th. Just some neighbors, Grandparents, food, sparklers and snappers. It was a nice day. We watched some fireworks the night before outside of our apartment building. We could just see them over the tree tops. Gareth told us we needed an airplane so we could fly over the trees and see all of the fireworks.

Gareth dancing

2009-07-06T21:08:00.000-07:00

Here's a recent dance Gareth did at his Grandparents' house. Grandma is singing.

MLB

2009-07-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

Us in our Brewers gear. Yes, Amalia had a Brewers outfit on too. Thank you Grandma for everything.

Gareth tried one of Grandpa's peanuts, unshelled. He didn't know you had to take them out. He didn't want to eat anymore after he spit out the peanut and shell, but he liked picking the peanuts out and collecting them.

Grandpa, Daddy and Gareth
We went to a MLB game at Miller Stadium in Milwaukee. The Brewers lost 1-0, but we had a nice time.

Busy Times

2009-07-06T20:55:00.000-07:00

Daddy is loved!

Mwah! She is very loved...sometimes bothered by Big Brother.

The last few weeks have been very busy. We've had birthday parties to attend, friends to see, a museum to go to and grandparents to visit. Here are some pix.

Mama Should Know Better

2009-06-26T07:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I made Gareth cry. I felt awful. We were outside having some bike riding time, which translates to riding the various tricycles that live outside our apartment building. He pointed out a plane flying overhead and informed me it was a jet plane. Knowing how much he likes songs I started singing Leaving On a Jet Plane to him, thinking I'd add a song about jet planes to his repertoire. I only know the opening and first chorus, but by the time I stopped singing his lower lip was quivering and then he burst into tears. It took hugging me, getting back on the tricycle, bursting into tears again, hugging me again, getting back on the tricycle again before he was sufficiently recovered from the song. At which point he informed me he doesn't like the jet plane song. I asked him if he thought I was going to leave and he said no. It's just the song that makes him sad. I should know better. I was the toddler who cried at songs, too. And what's worse is this is not the first time I've done this. I learned last Fall that Little Bird, Little Bird from Man of La Mancha makes him cry as well as reading the Velveteen Rabbit. I totally agree with him on all of these fronts. We don't read Velveteen Rabbit anymore since it makes him sad and it's always made me sad. Interestingly all three of these things are about separation and people leaving.

Glass of Water

2009-06-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

We have a large fly in our apartment, which sort of scares Gareth. We've explained that the fly won't hurt him and he's gotten better. But he does want it gone. Eric got the fly swatter out and chased it for a while but was unsuccessful. A few hours later Gareth spotted the fly and announced he needed a glass of water to kill the fly. It took a few minutes and several repetitions on Gareth's part for us to figure our he meant fly swatter. Sounds sort of like glass of water if you run the words together :)

Owie

2009-06-16T10:51:00.000-07:00

Gareth got a small (think tiny) scrape on his leg from falling down a few cement stairs. We put an Elmo bandaid on it (from Ima), but as a result he walks gingerly. He informed us he could not run because of his owie. Here he is showing Eric the bandaid.

Gareth the Guitar Boy

2009-06-16T10:35:00.000-07:00

Gareth loves drums and guitars and particularly The Imagination Movers. If you are not familiar with The Imagination Movers, it is a show on the Disney channel about a band that has a business solving problems. I wouldn't recommend the show, it's not that well written. But, there is a band and several songs during each episode, which is what Gareth loves. Here he is with a Rock Band/Guitar hero controller singing part of the Imagination Movers theme song.

First Bath

2009-06-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

She seemed to be alright with the bath. She did empty the contents of her stomach, bladder and large intestines on the first try. This is a video of the second try, after we cleaned out the tub.

The first four weeks

2009-06-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for our possible future of pink and sparkles. Who knows...maybe she'll be a sports girl?

Cute sleeping baby

Cute slightly awake baby

Amalia will be four weeks old tomorrow. She is gaining weight well, spitting up a lot, smiling some (though it doesn't seem connected to anything in particular) and is colicky from about 9 pm-12 am. It's not the worst colic ever and the Gripe Water the pediatrician recommended is helping. We've been told chiropractic care helps colic quite a bit and are looking into that, too.

Pictures and Video of Amalia

2009-05-26T17:16:00.000-07:00

Gareth really likes holding her. He comes to find her when he wakes up, gives her kisses, holds her hand and is doing very well being gentle when he touches her. He would like her to wake up though :)

One day old, getting ready to come home.

Gareth holding his baby sister for the first time, giving her a hug.

Minutes after she was born.

This is about as much action as we see in her :)

Amalia Prairie Marie Hughes

2009-05-26T16:58:00.000-07:00

Amalia Prairie Marie Hughes was born one week late (one week is a looooong time). At 2:39 am May 20th she arrived. She was 7 pounds 10 ounces and 20 inches long. We were able to go home the next day and are doing well. She had a 3 day old check up and a weight check at 6 days. She was tested for jaundice but everything came back fine. She's doing well and is almost back up to her birth weight. She is sleeping pretty well for a newborn. We get a few 2-2 1/2 hour stretches at night and my mother is here for about 10 days so that's a big help. Gareth is LOVING her. He's over tired and over stimulated, but doing very well. Eric is sick, some sort of sinus infection or something, but is doing fine. My recovery is going well.

The labor and delivery went very smoothly, though it was a bit more exciting at the end than I anticipated. I started having contractions around 5 pm and by 10 pm decided they weren't going away and were getting stronger so we started timing them. By 1 am I called the doctor to say the contractions weren't even or consistent but were getting stronger. He said to go ahead and pack and come on in. By the time Eric's mom arrived at 2 things had moved pretty quickly and it took Eric some time to get me out of the house. He got us to the hospital in 6 mintues, arriving at 2:30, and she was born 9 minutes later. I wouldn't suggest cutting it that close :)

Elephants

2009-04-14T19:05:00.001-07:00

Tonight Gareth and I read an Animal book for his nighttime story. He was telling me all the different animals he knew and what sounds they made. We got to the elephant and he asked me what sound it makes. I told him I did not make a very good elephant noise, that Daddy and Grandma were much better at it (also, with a cold, I didn't think trying was a great idea). I told him they sort of trumpeted. He said "trumpets go do-do-do-doo" in a heraldic sort of way and then informed me that's what elephants say. Just so you know, elephants basically sound like they're announcing the entrance of nobility :)

Various Updates

2009-03-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

Gareth giving the baby kisses. It took some convincing for him to not lift up my shirt and kiss my bare skin, which is how he does it at home :)
A picture of Gareth, me and the little one (who's hiding)

Gareth and his new tool belt and tools. It was a Christmas/birthday present that has been in the closet. He got too many toys and we didn't have a place to put them all, so we've been saving some to hand out for the next few months.

We have lost Gareth's last "baby" word. Ga-ga. It means guitar. He now says "got-tar." Much clearer and grown-up. But it made me sad. No more baby Gareth.

On the fun side of growing up, he really enjoys helping do things. He was very eager to help Eric carry in the groceries today, helping carry the box of diapers into his room and such. These are a picture and video clip of him helping Eric build the new shelves for Gareth's (now "the kids'") room.

We got a new, much bigger, shelving unit for one wall and a toddler bed. So now we're all set, furniture wise for the new baby's arrival. We're in pretty good shape for 8 weeks out. Basically we could survive 4-7 days with what we've got (clothes, diapers, car seat, etc.), which makes me feel a lot better. Now I just have to get everything washed, organized and put away. Does nesting hit earlier the second time around? I've been making these mental lists of things I need to clean and organize (like the toaster oven and our DVD collection) because I know once the baby arrives it won't get done for a year.

Here comes the music

2009-03-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

Singing the alphabet, minus a few letters.

He just started singing Baa, Baa, Black Sheep today. I forgot that you can't take video longways on my camera. It's probably just as well, he sways for the entire song, which might cause a bit of motion sickness in som.

Here is a song about a fire truck, fire fighters, fire engines and sirens.

This is Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Here are the words he's actually singing:
Take Me Out To Ball Game
Take Me Out Poud
Buy Some ...Cacker Jack
I Carry Never Get Back
Woof, Woof For Home Team
They Win Shame
1, 2, 3 Strikes Out
Old Ball Game

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star arr. Gareth

The Ball

2009-03-07T14:30:00.000-08:00

At the end of February Eric went to a military leadership conference, I got to join him on the second day. Our first overnight without Gareth. He did really well with Grandma, and had much potty training success with her. I enjoyed reading and resting for a day and not changing a diaper for over 24 hours. Eric and I attended the Ball and dinner. We were all dressed up and had a nice time.

This was the formal portrait we had taken at the Ball. It's over-lit and Eric's tie is crooked, so it's not a great representation of how we looked, but you get the idea. Also, I scanned it in at the wrong resolution so it's a weird size. Sorry.

Valentine's Day

2009-03-07T14:28:00.001-08:00

For Valentine's Day Gareth and I made these Linzer cookies. I really like the recipe we used. The dough had a little spiciness to it (think spice or gingerbread cookies) to offset the sweetness of the raspberry jelly and the powdered sugar. Gareth helped push down on the cookie cutters and sprinkle the powdered sugar over the cookies. He also helped with eating.

The last month

2009-03-07T14:18:00.000-08:00

He's becoming interested in having his picture taken. But timing the "cheese" with the actual picture taking is a nuance that he has not grasped. This is the end of "cheese"

He was having a snack one day as I did dishes in the kitchen (his table is in our living room). I walked in to find him, feet up, snacking :) Note the play-doh on the table. He really enjoys it.

Gareth sleeps all over his crib, but lately he enjoys sleeping across it with his feet sticking out between the slats. We've mostly given up trying to fix this, it just happens too frequently. And he normally fixes it all by himself and goes right back to sleep.

Eric and Gareth playing with some Legos (Duplos)

Diaper Saga

2009-02-06T11:00:00.001-08:00

So, Gareth has been consistently leaking out of his diapers every night for about 2 weeks and regularly for about a month before that. We've tried Pampers Cruisers in size 5 and 6, Pampers Baby Dry in size 5 and 6, Huggies Overnites in size 6, Pull-ups and a pull-up over a diaper. He is over 37 inches and weighs 31 pounds. His torso always grows first so we need extra height in the diaper more than the extra room around. He holds his belly button for comfort (and can unzip pajamas to get to it), which means he can shove a diaper out of his way to get to his belly button comfortably. He is leaking out the side of the diapers (his hip and thigh are wet on the side usually). He sleeps in pretty much every position all over his crib every night, so I know that doesn't help. Our pediatrician recommended Diaper Doublers, inserts to increase absorbancy, however when I went to Babies R Us to get them they told me they've been discontinued. Maybe they'll come out in a new model or something, but they didn't know when that might happen. He eats dinner around 6 then has a snack (applesauce) right before bed (about 8), but doesn't drink a full glass of water or anything with the snack. He's not really ready for serious potty training (he's 25 months) and we have a new baby coming in about three months so I don't want to start something I can't be consistent with when the baby comes. It's getting old, the nightly changing of the diaper, pajamas and sheets. And when he leaks out an hour or two before he should wake up he usually can't fall back asleep. So he's been cranky and tired during this whole process. Looking for solutions...

Big Boy Haircut

2009-02-04T16:04:00.000-08:00

I finally told Eric he could give Gareth a real haircut, not just a trim like I'd been doing. So here he is brushing his teeth and you can see how short his hair is. I miss his baby hair, but he looks very grown-up with his haircut :)

Gareth's 2nd birthday party

2009-02-03T19:44:00.001-08:00

The giant crane he got. Most of the birthday presents are still in their boxes in his closet, because he got so much for Christmas we don't have space to keep them on his shelves and in his baskets (and he doesn't need that many new toys at once, so we're spacing them out).

Lego set with Thomas the Tank Engine. The legos have been a big hit. Mostly he wants to build steps, cars, airplanes, buildings, towers and occasionally a train.

A little cake and ice cream to celebrate the day. Gareth is a pretty clean eater, which disappoints other people, but makes me happy :)

The cake was decorated by Liberty, Ethan, Elijah and Gareth

Grandpa spoke and Abba prayed, we all sang and ended the dedication with a prayer.

I love picture like this of my son.

Here are some pictures for Gareth's 2 year-old birthday party, which also included his dedication. It was just family and our next door neighbors.

Sonogram pictures

2009-02-03T19:40:00.001-08:00

Her spine is at the top and she's looking down at the floor.

She's facing you laying on her left side. Her eye and mouth are open.

As you have gathered, baby number 2 is a girl. We found out on Christmas Eve, and I'm just getting around to posting these pictures. She moves more than Gareth did and she doesn't like her space being invaded. If something is resting on my stomach she'll kick against it.

Christmas 08 part 4

2009-01-09T22:26:00.000-08:00

A little piano time with Liam and Ima, waiting for Christmas dinner. Gareth calls Liam "lima" and Liam calls Gareth "gare-gare." They have a blast together. Hugging, wrestling, playing, trying to get the other one to play what they want, etc.

Christmas 08 part 3

2009-01-09T22:16:00.001-08:00

Eric and I got him a OU football uniform (jersey, pants, shoulder pads, helmet and chinstrap). He's a sports boy-other gifts this year include a golf set, a bowling set, and ABC football and baseball books

After a few weeks of use, Eric and I are now believers in the electric toothbrush. It'll change your mouth...

If Gareth can't hold a belly button while sucking his fingers, Mama's mole will do (unusual I know, but just the way he is-I keep telling Eric he will grow out of it)

The fire truck was a very big hit

Cowboy Gareth

Oh, the goodies that Santa brought :)

Christmas 08 part 2

2009-01-09T22:02:00.001-08:00

He insisted on wearing his Santa hat to bed

Matching Christmas pj's. Difficult to get a still and happy picture that late at night

With Liam. They are even cuter in person

The one he got to eat after decorating one for Santa

The Hughes side (missing Aunt Kirsy)

The Hocking side

Our family after the Christmas Eve service at Grandpa's church

Building a snowman with the cousins

Wrestling with Liam

Christmas 08 part 1

2009-01-09T21:58:00.000-08:00

This Christmas Abba, Ima, Aunt Ashley, Uncle Jeremeh, Aunt Mikayah, Liberty and Liam drove up (in the ice and snow) to Wisconsin to celebrate with us and Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Josh and Aunt Kirsten (and Lisa and Metta). We had lots of fun-snowmen, decorating Christmas cookies, Christmas pj's, opening presents, Christmas dinner, a trip to two museums and a birthday party. All in 6 days!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

2009-01-09T21:54:00.000-08:00

This Christmas we invited our neighbors over to help decorate the tree. It was a win-win. Eric got out of decorating, which is not his favorite task. I got company, which I always enjoy. Gareth got friends to play with. And our neighbors got to decorate a live Christmas tree, something they don't get much back home in Singapore. The above picture was the one that turned out of all three of them. Trying to get them all holding still at once was a feat, we didn't even worry about them looking pleasant or smiling :)

Circus

2009-01-09T21:50:00.000-08:00

Gareth, Mama and Daddy all had the opportunity to go to the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus in December (thank you Abba and Ima). It was Eric's and Gareth's first circus. We got to sit on the front row and ride in a little tea cup car around the ring, watching things from up close. Our cautious son spent the first 2 hours on Mama's lap listening to us explain everything and taking it all in. In the last 5 minutes he finally understood it enough to relax and then wanted to get down and dance to the music.

Thanksgiving

2009-01-09T21:45:00.000-08:00

This year (well last year now) we celebrated Thanksgiving at the grandparents' in Wisconsin, with lots of friends and family. Our next door neighbors from Singapore came, our friends from Korea (by way of mission work in India) and our Israeli friends (by way of Ukraine and Belerus) came, too. We had a great time together and everyone really enjoyed it. We also brined our turkey and it was fantastic. I highly recommend it, even though it is a pain.

Fire Station Visit

2008-12-02T09:02:00.001-08:00

Fire Fighters testing the hose
Fire Fighter Micah giving the tour
With Fire Fighter Ray in all his gear

Pictures from OK and KS

2008-12-02T08:55:00.001-08:00

Shoveling in the queso at the best Tex-Mex place ever-Ted's (Norman location)
Having a snack with Luthy at the park in Wichita
Halloween 2008-Princess Liberty, Sir Gareth and Liam the Dragon
Cousin Liam-this boy knows his way around a farm
Cousin Liberty-up to something, can you tell?

The Promised Pictures Cometh

2008-12-02T08:52:00.002-08:00

"Driving" Abba's tractor at Berry Creek Farm.

Updates coming

2008-11-17T14:31:00.000-08:00

I feel I shouldn't update the blog until I can do so with the appropriate video and photo support. But that's still going to be a few more days. Suffice it to say, we visited Oklahoma and Kansas, Gareth dressed as Sir Gareth for Halloween, I sang in a concert, we saw Uncle Jeremeh's police car, we visited the fire station and Gareth made his first craft project at Moms Morning Out-a turkey. There will be visual evidence of all of these forthcoming.

On another note. I'm out of my first trimester, feeling less sick and tired, which is nice. And I'm able to face food and cooking again. Always nice for me. I have such a good relationship with food that to have to abandon it is hard on me. Anyway, so what's been sounding great this week is Moroccan Chicken and Cous Cous (which Gareth really likes saying). Here's what I do...

Chop one zucchini and one yellow squash into bite size pieces, put on a cookie sheet (with sides)
Toss with olive oil, salt (I like kosher salt for this) and pepper (I like fresh ground)
Roast in a 400 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes, until the veggies are tender
Meanwhile...
Season 4-6 chicken thighs with salt and pepper (same as above) and brown in oven safe skillet
When browned on both sides pour in some chicken broth/stock, a few handfuls of dried fruit (apricots, prunes, raisins), squirt on some honey and sprinkle on some cinnamon. I add a little more broth to make sure the fruit is covered and stir everything around a bit. You can also turn the thighs over a few times to get them coated with the sweet sauce (they turn a nice brown with the little bit of honey on them). Now it's ready to go in the oven to finish cooking the chicken through.
(This should take about 20 minutes so when the chicken in ready to go in, the veggies are ready to come out)
While the veggies cool...
Grab a box of plain cous cous and fix according to the directions (using chicken stock improves the flavor)
When the cous cous is ready (about 8 minutes later) you should be able to put it in a serving bowl and mix in the roasted veggies.
By the time you've done that...
The chicken should be done (about 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven should be enough, but check it with a thermometer to make sure, I put mine in a thigh when I put it in the oven and set the alarm to go off when it reaches 165 degrees).
Serve...(if I liked salad, I'd probably serve it with a salad)

You can use a different part of the chicken, but the thighs are so tasty (and inexpensive) I've never tried another. You can also use water instead of the stock/broth but it's a little less flavorful.

Gareth Counts

2008-10-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

More Singing

2008-10-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

Gareth Sings :)

2008-10-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

Check out Gareth's moves:)

2008-10-16T19:40:00.000-07:00

The reason I haven't updated in a while

2008-10-16T19:38:00.001-07:00

Here's the reason I haven't had the time or energy to post lately. Baby #2, due mid-May 2009.

Sandbox Time

2008-09-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday while we waited to switch laundry we had some sandbox, slide time.

GOALLLLLL!

2008-09-04T20:07:00.000-07:00

Mobile blogging

2008-09-04T19:57:00.000-07:00

Sent from my iPhone

Last Labor Day Beach Video

2008-09-04T19:51:00.000-07:00

Finally, Gareth was getting annoyed at the water for knocking him around and getting in his face. At this point he decided that the volleyball games going on were of more interest.

Labor Day at the Beach

2008-09-04T19:40:00.000-07:00

We spent Labor Day with some friends in Chicago. It was a full day, train ride, lunch, beach, train ride, playground, dinner, football. Here is him running at the beach.

Pre-Potty Training

2008-08-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

We're doing pre-potty training with Gareth and have been since he was 12 months old. He just sits on the potty chair (with a child-adapter seat) for a little while regularly. As he's gotten older we talk about when he's wetting or dirtying a diaper and how grown-ups potty. He also often is in the bathroom with Eric and I as we're going potty. (He's gotta see how it works and think it's cool to want to do it.) Last night we had a break-through of sorts.

Gareth has been asking to sit on the potty chair every day or two in recent weeks, normally just because he wants to use toilet paper (which is apparently the coolest part about pottying in the potty chair). Last night he asked to sit on the potty chair, so I said okay. His diaper was a bit wet, so I assumed he just realized he'd wet his diaper and was connecting it to the potty (not a bad connection for an almost 20 month old to make). Turns out he had more in there. Once he went a little and got major cheering and applause (he's a sucker for applause) he wanted to do more. So he continued pottying until there was nothing left and we had to tell him that he was finished so he would stop straining. This was terribly exciting to me and a good experience for him. Hopefully by the time he's 2 we can start taking potty training a bit more seriously. But for now, and for a boy, he's doing great.

2008-08-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

more t-ball, again, sorry it's sideways

2008-08-25T13:40:00.000-07:00

More t-ball, sorry it's sideways

2008-08-25T13:35:00.000-07:00

First t-ball set

2008-08-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

The first blog entry-original, huh?

2008-08-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

Here's my entry into the blogging world. Just so far away family and friends can see pictures and video of my very cute son. And occasionally get info on the rest of the family, a recipe or two, etc.

The next few months

Haven't heard from me in a while

Adler Planetarium-Apollo 13

February-April and some of May

Belated Posts

First Food for Amalia

Gareth's debut

Beatles Rock Band at Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Gareth talking about motorcycles

Amalia can really sit up now!

The Music of Our Lives

Quotable Gareth

Gareth's big boy bike

Halloween 2009

Amalia really wants to sit up

Amalia having tummy time

Amalia has discovered her upper register

Gareth and Liam racing

Amalia having tummy time-Summer 09

My adorable nephew and son dancing-Summer 09

South Carolina

Berry Creek Farm

What I did Last Summer by Bethany Hughes

One more thing...

4th of July

Gareth dancing

MLB

Busy Times

Mama Should Know Better

Glass of Water

Owie

Gareth the Guitar Boy

First Bath

The first four weeks

Pictures and Video of Amalia

Amalia Prairie Marie Hughes

Elephants

Various Updates

Here comes the music

The Ball

Valentine's Day

The last month

Diaper Saga

Big Boy Haircut

Gareth's 2nd birthday party

Sonogram pictures

Christmas 08 part 4

Christmas 08 part 3

Christmas 08 part 2

Christmas 08 part 1

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Circus

Thanksgiving

Fire Station Visit

Pictures from OK and KS

The Promised Pictures Cometh

Updates coming

Gareth Counts

More Singing

Gareth Sings :)

Check out Gareth's moves:)

The reason I haven't updated in a while

Sandbox Time

GOALLLLLL!

Mobile blogging

Last Labor Day Beach Video

More Beach Video

Labor Day at the Beach

Pre-Potty Training

more t-ball, again, sorry it's sideways

More t-ball, sorry it's sideways

First t-ball set

The first blog entry-original, huh?