The Hughes Family

Happy Half Birthday, Avery!

2009-09-27T19:52:00.000-07:00

I (Rachel) have always loved celebrating half birthdays, whether it is 5 1/2 or 25 1/2, so it is especially exciting to be able to celebrate the first half birthday of our baby girl! I thought it would be fun to have a half birthday party, and we could wear half a birthday hat, and Avery could wear half her bib, eat half a jar of peas, and...... What actually happened, was that I made dinner, and then Avery went to sleep, and that was the day. Nothing crazy. Oh well, we'll try again next half birthday.

So the other day I went to get Avery from her crib, and she was STANDING. Standing! Holding on to the crib rail. I couldn't believe it. She has since been trying out her new skill, and has succeeded a few more times. She has barely started crawling! I tell ya, it's hard to keep up with this girl. She moves fast. She definitely keeps John and I laughing. When we're not laughing, our character is being tested through and through. Avery is a daily reminder to me of how I need to rely on God for strength, patience, kindness and love. I come to the end of my rope pretty easily, and I am forever thankful that God's 'rope' doesn't end, and that I have access to Him through Jesus. Thank you, Jesus!

Avery also started eating 'real' food this past month and seems to really like vegetables. She hasn't really tried much else. We keep telling her she's missing out by not eating things like pizza, or lattes, but she seems pretty content with milk and peas - for now.

This is her first time eating rice cereal - yum. I tried it too - not so tasty.

She is beginning to resemble John in more ways, and this picture shows it well.

"I can sit now!"

Playing with her toy box and toys

Going for rides in her toy box

Fun with the mirror:

July

2009-07-30T10:31:00.000-07:00

Avery is 4 months old!

This past month Avery has really started exploring her surroundings, and has become more and more interactive. She's definitely not the baby that will sit quietly - she wants a piece of the action! She will grab anything she sees, and put in right in her mouth. She doesn't even like to sit in her chair much anymore - not enough room to roll and move. :)
She started sucking her thumb this month - yae!! She also has mastered rolling - any direction, anytime!
We've made several trips up to Hume over the last month, some just work related, and others to hang out with family or friends. A highlight this month was spending several days up at Hume with John's parents, sister, brother, and sister-in-law. Another highlight was helping our friends build the deck on their house. Avery has several friends up at Hume - three with birthdays within two months of her! John's sister, Kelly, is working up at Hume - at Wildwood, the camp both John and I worked at in college. It has been so fun to be able to see her more often, and to visit her up at 'the wood'.
The fourth of July was a fun event for us, as John was introduced to a central valley 4th - setting off fireworks! We spent the day with some of our good friends in town, and the guys had a blast (literally) setting off fireworks in the street.

She's going to be a reader...

A little unstable in her shoes

ah, 7:00....ready for bed time :)

Avery loves the bathroom. She loves looking in the mirrors, and touching all the shiny things. If she is fussy, often just a trip to play on the bathroom counter will cheer her up.

Avery is twice her birth weight - at over 14 1/2 pounds.

Avery helping John with some work. She liked the mouse.

Avery's first trip to Sonic. Yummy! (for us, that is...)

Grocery shopping at Trader Joe's

We found her sleeping like this. She had a smile on her face and was very content!

Visiting Kelly at Wildwood

Avery and her friend Thomas, playing while their Dads build a deck.

Fourth of July!

Happy 3 Months, Avery!

2009-06-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe it's ONLY been three months since Avery was born. She is so much a part of our lives that the pre-Avery days seem far away. She continues to bring us so much joy, as she grows and grows and grows. Here's a quick snapshot of what she's been doing this past month. We recently got her a jumper toy that lets her stand up, since standing up is her favorite position. She seems to have skipped the whole sitting-crawling stage and is just working on her standing-walking skills. :D We'll see how that pans out. She often acts like a little puppy when we hold her - almost imposible to hold still, and many times jumping right out of our arms and laps! She loves to roll all over her crib, often while eating Mr. Cow (her toy, not a real cow). She also is perfecting her vocal skills. Sometimes she will wake us up reeeeally early in the morning with yelling and squealing - all happy sounds, but definitely screams at the top of her lungs. I am sure the neighbors can hear. She will often just 'talk' for minutes on end, and have 'conversations' with us. She tells us all about what it's like to be a baby, and we were able to capture on video her reflections on what it's like to be three months old (see the video at the bottom).
She defintely keeps us busy and entertained!! We love her so much and thank God for the past three months, and pray for many many more to come.

Laundry Day!!

uh oh, here it comes................Ahhh!!!

"Life is good... two fingers to suck on, and I can jump as much as I want."

Playing with Mr. Cow

"Yummy yummy Mr. Panda."

"This is MY Mr. Cow. Don't even think about taking him."

Avery does NOT take a pacifier.

Bedtime Stories with Dad!

"Seriously, Mom - you're taking a picture of this?"

I love baths!! (but I forget that every time)

"Being 3 months old is pretty sweet...."

In her own words, what it's like to be 3 months old (sorry it's sideways):

Weekend at Hume

2009-06-08T12:22:00.000-07:00

We just got back home from spending five days at Hume for staff summer orientation. Even though John is working full time (year round), he still was part of summer orientation with the rest of the full time and summer staff. While he was in meetings and working all day, I had the pleasure of babysitting some of our friends' kids. I didn't know exactly how watching three kids under the age of 4 would pan out, but I had fun and everyone made it through alive. =) The weather was pretty chilly and wet, but so beautiful. Camp started yesterday, and we anticipate God moving in big ways this summer. He is a big God!

Grandma & Grandma J visited for a few days, too!

walking on the table in the Dining Hall - Avery loves to "walk".

Put away the summer clothes, it's almost snowing outside!

catching some zzz's

Heat

2009-05-20T21:19:00.001-07:00

It's sooooo hot here!!!

Summer has come to the valley!

2009-05-20T19:04:00.000-07:00

Avery is 7 1/2 weeks now - and growing up so quickly! Every day she seems heavier, and we are beginning to see bits of her personality, which is fun. So far our hunches from when she was in the womb have been true. Avery is turning out to be a very active girl! She loves to move, and doesn't like to stay still. She is already using us as jungle gyms!! Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks. I'm going to try to take more pictures of things we're doing, especially as we take a lot (hopefully) of summer adventures.

Mother's Day in Turlock

Sleeping with Grandma :)

4 Generations of women!

We are trying to stay cool the first day it was over 100 degrees when our air conditioner went out.

She sure can put down the food :)

Avery Eating My Arm

2009-04-30T16:26:00.000-07:00

She's trying so hard!

Week 4

2009-04-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

Here are some new pictures of Avery from week four. It's hard to believe it's only been four weeks since she was born. We have really enjoying her this past week, as she has been adjusting to life with us more and more. She has been doing SO much better than the past few weeks, and this is partly due to the hours she spends sucking on our fingers! :D She has become much more vocal, with happy and not so happy squeals - they are funny. She is also smiling a lot more, and is getting heavier! We love her!!

Week 3

2009-04-18T20:09:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe it's only been three weeks since Avery was born. She has changed so much already (in our eyes)! Our lives have changed quite a bit during the past three weeks as a result of Avery, and also in other ways. Last Saturday we moved from Orange County to Fresno, and we are so happy to be living in Fresno! We're slowly getting settled in, and will someday be unpacked. Avery has been quite a handful this past week, and we are hoping it is just stress and overstimulation from everything we've put her through, and not anything more serious. You would never guess from the pictures below she could cause her parents grief, but boy can this child scream!!

This is Avery when she realized we were going to the mall!

Finally - rest!

Bath time photo shoot:

Beautiful girl!

2009-04-08T20:00:00.001-07:00

Life with Avery - Week 1

2009-04-03T17:07:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe Avery's been with us for almost a week. The past week has been amazing though, and we are loving her more and more each day. She continues to amaze us at everything she is learning and doing. For example, at her doctor's appointment yesterday she surprised us by getting back up to her birth weight after just 5 days! The doctor said we don't need to worry about waking her up to feed her, which has translated into a little more sleep for us - yae! Last night she didn't even fuss - what more could we ask for. :) We'll see how long it lasts... we seem to think we she's a pretty smart chica.

Here are a few more shots from the week:

Yummy Yummy! Avery's favorite food: anything cotton

Happy baby, happy mama

"Ahh, this is the life"

Avery's first dance

We're going home!
For some reason they brought me a wheelchair... ?

Precious!

Sleep...

Sleep...

and more sleep...

Her first bath: not that fun. :(

morning with Dad - what could be better?

Avery's first walk: where'd she go??

There she is!

Avery on the changing table:
"Hey mom and dad, I've got something FUN for you!"

Happy Birthday Avery

2009-03-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

Friday morning (3/27) started out like any other Friday morning. John got up a little late, tired from softball the night before, and Rachel followed shortly after, getting ready to tackle the day. Since Avery was already about 3 days past her due date, Rachel had a checkup at the doctor's office that morning. By 10:30, we knew that our daughter was ready to meet us. Because of really low amniotic fluid levels, Rachel had to be induced into labor right away. By 1:30 the process had begun and we were excited to get things going (little did we know it would be 24 hours until labor was over!). The rest of that day and evening weren't fun. It took quite a bit of Pitocin to convince Rachel's body that going into labor was the thing to do, but thanks to a steady dose of drugs, we were able to make it through the night and get some rest to prepare for the next morning. By 10am, Saturday morning, it was go time, and the pushing began. Two hours and 50 minutes later, Avery had joined us! She came into this world on March 28, 2009, weighing 7lbs. 7 oz. and measuring 20 1/2 inches long. We also learned that Avery was Dr. May's 9,417th delivery! Talk about having some experience with the process. Rachel was amazing through the whole process. Rachel is looking forward to hopefully some day experiencing labor starting naturally, and not having to go through a drawn out induction again. John is never going to complain about any sort of pain ever again (OK, that's a lie). Rachel and Avery are doing fantastic. Avery is very healthy and as you can see below, adorable - more so today (Sunday) than Saturday. We were thankful to have had both sets of grandparents here for her arrival, along with John's sister, brother, and sister-in-law. So, enjoy the pictures below and we will be sure to include many more in the days/weeks/months to come.

Before the fun begins

John's "doing his part"

She's here!

Rachel and Avery (doesn't they both look great!?)

John and Avery

Thank you everyone for your support and prayers!

Life Changes

2009-03-08T15:24:00.000-07:00

Rachel and I like to think of ourselves as the type to take advantage of opportunities. As we have Avery Joy arriving any day now, we would only expect our lives to change greatly. We figured, if we're going to have one major life change, then why not throw in a couple more!? Only seems logical, right?

So, shortly after Avery graces us with her presence (who knows when that will be), we will be packing up all our possessions and beginning this new phase of our life, as a family. Just recently, I (John) accepted a full-time position at Hume Lake Christian Camps (http://www.humelake.org/) to head up the accounting department as Controller (sweet title). With that comes a major move to Fresno, where the job is located. It has been a desire of ours to be involved with camping ministry full time. And for me, this has been my dream job. Thus, with one major life change, we couldn't say no to another. I mean, really, what better time to start something new than when we begin our family together?

With that, on April 11, 2009, we will be heading North to begin a new life adventure. We are sad to leave behind friends, jobs, our church, the Counter, and Golden Spoon, but we know that this is what God has called us to, and there is nothing better than knowing we are following in His will. Orange County has been good to us over the past five years, but we are excited to see what the Central Valley has to offer. However, I'm not looking forward to the hot Fresno summers.

Check back again soon, as the next 30 days are going to be full of exciting new things.

She's growing!

2009-02-14T22:01:00.000-08:00

I admit...we're not too good at this blogging thing yet. After our little girl, Avery Joy, graces us with her presence, we're going to update it more frequently. After 8 months...Avery looks like she's about ready to pop out of Rachel's belly!

We're getting really excited!!

Day at Disneyland

2008-12-08T08:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we took advantage of a couple tickets to Disneyland that were given to us by Rachel's sister and husband (since they moved to CO, they didn't have as much use for them). It was nice to get out and do something youthful. While there, I couldn't help but think, "soon enough, we'll be one of those parents pushing a stroller around this place". Excited nontheless, but a little...frightened. Needless to say, we enjoyed ourselves and are looking forward to future visits. Soon, we'll begin to see this place from a whole new perspective.

P.S. It was probably the cheepest Disneyland trip ever. $12 for parking...that's it.

Gala!

2008-11-10T12:34:00.000-08:00

The, "Christmans Card" pose...

The, "Look what we're getting" pose....

We were at the Volunteer Center of Orange County gala. It's good to know people sometimes.

The First Post

2008-09-21T16:29:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our blog. We are very glad you've decided to check it out. We will admit, our lives are not overly exciting. Actually, they're not really exciting at all, but if you stick around for a while, you might just be surprised.

Between Rachel and I, we hope to keep our friends and family up to date with significant events, milestones and well...just plain ol' fun stuff.

So, with that, here we go...