Family Portraits

All of Jaycee's Family


The Jeffery and Linda Hughes Family

The Duane and Norma Henrie Family

The Tom and Natalie Hughes Family

Our sweet little Jaycee in her blessing dress



While all of our family was here for the move and Jaycee's blessing, I wanted to go get professional family pictures done. Hope you enjoy!

First Visit To Grandpa Hughes

Jaycee and Grandpa Hughes' Headstone

Jaycee, Auntie Melinda, Me and Tom with Jeff's headstone

Jaycee with Nana and Grandpa Hughes

The whole family!

As many of you know, Tom's dad passed away when he was 14! I have never had the pleasure of meeting this great man, but I look forward to that someday! I do feel like I know him though and that is a great comfort to me! I believe very strongly that Jaycee still remembers her Grandpa and other family members who have passed away! It was neat, especially for Tom, to take Jaycee out to the cemetary where her Grandpa is buried. We were able to do this the same Sunday that Jaycee was blessed because it happened to be Jeff's birthday! That day will always be special for 2 reasons now! I think it is neat that she was able to be blessed on his birthday!

Move and a Blessing!

Jaycee and Grandpa and Grandma Henrie

Our family

4 Generations

Jaycee and her cousin Danielle

So, March 26-27 we moved into a new apartment! Our other apartment was home, but it was time to move on! I am doing a class to do Medical Transcription from home so I can be with Jaycee more and still be bringing in money. They apt we moved to is setup in a way that I can have my office in the main area of the house so it's not in a back bedroom. We like the new place and are excited to be part of the ward! They seem really nice!

March 28 Jaycee was blessed! Her daddy did the blessing and did an amazing job! There were so many family members and friends there to support us and we really appreciate it! Our parents and siblings helped us do a luncheon after at Auntie Melinda's apt clubhouse and it was so nice! Lots of people brought salads that were so yummy! It was truly a great day!!

Always listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost!

So I have to say how grateful I am for a husband who is so close to the Spirit and listens when the Holy Ghost speaks to him!

Last night we were out doing errands after dark and I had to mail a couple of my assignments to my school! I like putting it into a mailbox rather than just send it out from my house, so that I know when it will go out! Tom doesn't think that makes much sence but he puts up with my OCD anyways! Well, our post office is stupid and you have to get out of the car and go inside to mail your letters instead of putting it in that blue box because there is no outside blue box! So I told Tom to pull in the parking lot with the car lights shining in the building so he could watch me while I was in there. I got out and got to the first set of automatic doors and they opened and Tom started honking the horn. I was kindof upset cause I thought he was just trying to scare me! I looked back at him and he was waving frantically at me and hurried and rolled down the window and was like, "I have a really bad feeling, get in the car right now!! I am taking them in!" My heart started racing! I was like what is going on? Tom went inside and kept looking to the south in the building. When he got back in the car I asked him what he was looking at. There was a guy just hanging out in the dark in there just around the corner from the door so I couldn't see him as I was getting ready to go in! I don't know why this guy was there, and don't really know if anything bad would have happened, but it was all just a little too freaky!! I was so grateful that Tom had a feeling that I shouldn't go in there and told me to get back in the car! I am so grateful that He was worthy to hear the voice of the Holy Ghost and was close enough to listen!!

I love my hubby so much! He is my whole world!! Thank you baby for protecting me! I am also grateful to the Lord for warning my husband that something was not right!

Just as a side note, Jaycee's personallity is really coming out! She is smiling when we talk to her and I think she knows who Tom and I are!! I love my little girl and don't know what I would do about her!!

My Smart Sexy Hubby!

So, Tom has been telling me for a while that he needs to go to the eye doctor, but we have both been putting it off due to the expense issue! Well, yesterday we passed a doctor that took walk in's so we went in. He got his eyes checked and did need glasses. His perscription isn't terrible, but it did help to get the glasses. He can see street signs better and see products on the shelf at his store better! He doesn't need to use them all the time, but he does like to wear them most of the time!! We got him some really nice looking frames, and it didn't take any time at all for me to get used to him wearing them! I think he looks hot!! (But of course I think that all the time...so this is nothing new!) So what do ya think?

One Month Already!! I don't know if I am ready for that!!

Three days old

One month old
Jaycee is one month old today!! How can she be that old already? This little girl has brought so much love and joy to our little home and family! The Lord has truly blessed us with a special spirit! She is amazing!
She is 9 lbs today. So she's gained about a pound and a half since birth.
She is more alert and awake during the day.
She is getting more chubby and eating really well.
She is recognizing mom and dad's voices.
She has met lots of people in her extended family and is happy to be held by anyone.
She is sleeping 4-7 hours a night. (The good news is when she does wake up, she eats and goes right back to sleep.)
She can control her neck muscles really well, and can hold her head up by herself most of the time.
Her legs are very strong.
These are just a few of her landmarks! We already don't really remember life without her, and definitely don't know what we would do without her! She is the best thing that has ever happened to us!
Mommy and Daddy love you Jaycee!!

She's here!

Woo Hoo! Our little Jaycee was born February 9, 2010 at 10:07 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 21 inches long. She was 3 days past her due date and Mommy and Daddy were getting VERY anxious, not to mention Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles. Here's the story. It's a little long, so I wouldn't be offended if you didn't want to read it!
At 3:00 am my water broke, but we weren't exactly sure that's what was going on. It didn't happen like all the books said it would so we were a bit confused. We later learned that it was a high tear and they actually had to break my water again later that day cause there was still a pocket of water that was under her head that was preventing me from dialating more and preventing her from coming down like she should. Well, we got to the hospital at about 5:30 am and they tested me and my water had definitely broke and we were there to stay...finally!! We called both of our parents and they moved me to a delivery room. They started me in pitocin because the contractions I had been having were just not strong enough and they immediately gave me my epidural. I was surprised that they offered it so quick, and I thought about just putting it off until I was in more pain, but then I decided that 16 weeks of contractions was enough, and I went for it! I was completely calm until the anesthesiologist got me to sign the consent. I got really nervous then. Tom acutally said he had never seen me that scared before! The anesthesiologist had me lay on my side and gave the lidocaine. That was painful, but then when he started putting the catheter in the pressure was worse. (Thank goodness for the lidocaine!) The hard thing too, was that I was still getting over the strep throat and had to cough, but I knew that I couldn't. Tom was so great! He just held me and had me look in his eyes and I am happy to say that I made it through! The rest of the day went pretty good! I was dialated to a one until about 1:00 pm. They broke my water again around 11:00 am, so it took a while, even with the pit to get things going! I was totally comfortable though, so I didn't mind. I was just glad to not be sent home! My mom got there around 3:00 pm and I was dialated to about a 5 at 5:00pm. At some point they rushed in and put me on oxygen and made me lay down on my side. Aparently her heart didn't like the fact that I was sitting up, so we did that and everything looked great again. Within the next couple of hours I increased to 7 cm. The nurse said I was doing good, about 1 cm per hour. Then about 30 min later I was feeling pressure and they checked me again. The doctor said, "You don't have a cervix." I actually looked at him and said, " Where did it go?" Not my best moment! He had to remind me that it meant I was fully dialated! We were so excited! We were about to meet our little girl! He said she was still high, so we needed to let the contractions work a little more to bring her down. He needed to go check on another patient and said I could probably start pushing in about 45 min. It was actually a good thing that he gave us this time, cause it kinda hit Tom and I like a ton of bricks that we were almost parents! We were both pretty emotional! Tom suggested that we say family prayer. (I love what a Spiritual giant my hubby is!) My mom said the prayer and it was beautiful! We were all 4 bawling at this point, Tom, I, my mom and Tom's mom. I didn't quite make it 45 min before I was feeling like I needed to push. Tom and I had decided ahead of time that we wanted to be the only ones in the room when we had her(along with the staff). So our mom's went out into the waiting room. Tom was absolutly the best coach EVER! He kept kissing me and telling me I was doing a good job! He would help me push even if the nurse had to step out of the room. Tom vowed he would not watch her come out though cause he thought that was gross. The nurse was like, "Oh, my gosh! She has dark hair!" That was it! He had to see this hair! He kept telling me that he couldn't believe how much dark hair she had! I was so excited to see this! About an hour and 15 min into pushing my epidural started to run out and wear off! I really wanted them to dose me again, but I didn't want to pay for another bag, but the biggest reason is when they dosed me that afternoon the numbness went up to my armpits and I couldn't cough, which was really hard, cause I was still getting over this strep! Tom's mom kept having to pat my back to I could keep coughing! I was so grateful she was there!! Plus I didn't want to be all numb for hours after I had her! So for the next 45 min the pain just kept getting worse, and I was getting really tired! The nurse finally at almost 10:00 pm said would you like me to go get the doctor to see if he could help! I told her I don't care if they had to use the vacuum to get her out or whatever, I was getting way too tired! Dr. Barton came in and we didn't need the vacuum. He gave me a small episiotomy, only 2 stitches worth. It was all kindof a blur and all of the sudden she was here. Tom said she came out and Dr. Barton moved her around just a bit and her eyes opened right up! They put her on my belly and of course Tom and I were immediately crying! It was such a spiritual experience! Tom was able to cut her cord which was also pretty special! They took her over into the warmer and Tom got to go watch them do their assessments and give her the vitamin K shot and put that stuff in her eyes. In the mean time, I was over in my own little world bleeding way too much! I was watching her be cleaned off and weighed and I could feel myself falling asleep! Dr. Barton was getting a little concerned, I could tell! He was massaging my uterus from the outside and the inside to try to get it to clamp down. They gave me 3 meds, I think, to help me to stop bleeding. In the midst of all this one thing I could never forget is how Tom thought she was so cute! You see, he doesn't think newborns are cute! I told him that Jaycee was going to come out as a newborn, and was probably not going to be that cute either. He said if she wasn't cute, he would tell me! Well, while they cleaned her off, he came over and gave me a kiss and said, "Babe, she's absolutely gorgeous!!" He was in love!! While they were trying to get my bleeding stopped I remember saying, " I want my baby!" They gave her to me and I tried to breastfeed immediately. She latched right on, but I didn't remember much after that! Tom went out and got our mom's but I don't remember them coming in! My mom was really concerned that I would drop Jaycee, which was a valid concern. She was also really nervous because she hemorrhaged really bad when I was born too! I don't remember them taking her away from me! Well, they got things under control and I woke up a little more! They had me move over to the stretcher to take me up to maternity. They put her in my arms and we were off! We got upstairs and they took her into the nursery to do her assessments there. Tom got to go with her. They brought her back and bathed her right in the room! I fed her and we were all exhausted! At about 2:00 to 2:30 am my mom went back to my house, Tom's went back to hers and we sent Jaycee to the nursery because I didn't feel like I could take very good care of her because of how tired I was and how much blood I had lost! I was up about every hour trying to go to the bathroom, and by 6 ish I couldn't handle it anymore and wanted her back! So they brought her back to me! I was feeling much better at this point! All in all, it was a great experience, and yes, I will do it again! She is absolutely gorgeous and we love her very much! We thank the Lord all day every day for this beautiful addition to our family!!