Wishing you a Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from the Hughes family!!!

Hudson Hughes - 1 week old!

Hello all!  We're finally finding a few minutes to relax and are settling into a new routine at home. We couldn't be happier with our new little addition to the family!  It's been a whirlwind week and a half, but here's an effort at catching up:

Julie woke Tuesday morning, December 13th to a little bleeding, so we took her in to get checked out.  We never did find the cause, but in having some blood work done, found she also had a low platelet count.  (low platelets indicate blood may not clot well, and also precluded an epidural to help Julie with pain later in labor.)  We were within a few days of her due date, and everyone agreed it was best to help get labor started to limit any risks that could get worse with time.  Julie responded well to the Pitocin they started early Wednesday, having mild to moderate contractions all morning.  Her water broke around 1pm, and the contractions were instantly more intense!  About 6:30pm, Julie told us she felt something had changed and she had a strong urge to push.  We rounded up our doctor (in a hurry!) who confirmed that it was time!  Hudson joined us at 6:56pm on the 14th.  We owe a special thanks to our doula, Heather for her coaching through labor, Julie's mom for her support, and all of the wonderful nurses and staff at Providence Medical Center in Portland.

We rested in the hospital for two days, then came home Friday afternoon.  It's hard to believe a week has passed already since then!  We've been blessed to have Julie's mom, Judy with us since just before we checked in to the hospital.  Her help and support has made this time even more special for us.  Hudson's aunt Heidi visited in the hospital before he was even a day old!  His grandpa Howard and "grammie" Sandra made a weekend trip from New York, the grand-Hughes' drove from Seattle, "Grandie Sandie" came for a day from California, and many more visits from extended family from the local area have kept us plenty busy this week.

Happy holidays from our whole family!

Meet Hudson Alexander Hughes!

Hudson Alexander Hughes was born on Wed., December 14th, 2011 at 6:56 pm. He weighed in at 8lb 7oz, and is absolutely perfect!  We are in LOVE!!!! We are proud parents and will have our story to share in our next post when things settle down. We are thrilled, exhausted and have a revolving door of family and love!!!

Baby Bump - 38.5 weeks and waiting!

Well, down to the home stretch, hoping that this little guy will come around 40 weeks... Keeping our fingers crossed he is not super late. We are ready to meet him and have lots of sleepless nights! I am feeling as good as I think I could feel at this rate. Every pregnant woman has their "issues," in which I have surrendered to them and it is what it is at this point.

Wish us luck as we hurry up and wait! Hopefully our next post will include some baby pix!

Baby Bump 35.5 weeks + kicking!

I have been so bad about posting, so time to update everyone on our little man. He is a kicking machine, having a party in my belly! I have surrendered to sleepless nights (in prep for when he comes out) and just excepting that he will be here between 4-6 weeks! We are hoping for closer to 4 weeks though.

We had a lovely quick overnight visit from my Dad to see my growing belly. It was a great visit and he had to take off in less than 24 hours of showing up. He was very impressed with how active the little monster is.

We also thought we should show off some Halloween photos and just what has been going on for the last few weekends here in Portland.

Baby Bump 31 weeks - The Pumpkin Patch

Sunday was an amazing fall day to check out The Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island, just on the other side of Portland. We took off to meet our friends Sarah + Andy with their baby Ally to go pick some pumpkins, go through a corn maze and get some fresh produce to go. It was warm, sunny and a blast. We were all on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin to take home (with hundreds of other people having the same idea!) We had some good laughs and Randy sure did his part to make me smile!!! I feel so lucky to go through this with Randy.

31 week baby bump - about the size of this pumpkin?!

Randy making me feel better about my size!

I think he was having a little too much fun!

Corn Maze.

Andy + Sarah bringing Ally to her 1st Pumpkin Patch.

Baby Bump 29 weeks - Fly fishing on the Kalama River

So all summer we have been waiting for a perfect day to learn to fly fish for Steelhead. We hired a awesome guide to take us on his raft down the Kalama River in Washington. The weather worked out, it only rained a little, my waders still fit (I was a little worried about that!), and we went home with an awesome fish to fillet up. Randy was the lucky fish winner this time, but it is his birthday this week, so he deserves it!

We have only gone fly fishing for trout over the years and it is a huge expense to get into the set-up for Steelhead, so we wanted to do it right with an expert to teach is the ropes. We have a long way to go... patience is a virtue, and the prize was huge! And I was glad I could still climb in and out of the raft!

29 week baby bump! So in style in my waders!

With our guide Jason.

Randy caught a Steelhead!

31" fish. That is a big fish.

A spawning salmon. This one goes back in the river.

One of my silly itty bitty fish... doesn't count!

Baby Bump 28 weeks

Things are changing fast and life is slowing down! (A broken toe will help you slow down, too.) We are enjoying our free time in Portland while we have it, and I have been trying to get around as much as I can before we are in "lock-down"! Randy and I took our friend Tiffany for a scenic flight around the area, I took a day on my own to see the Japanese Gardens and the Rose Gardens that are famous here, and of course knitting away to have some fun things for baby.

Captain Randy takes us for a beautiful ride!

Tiffany's first flight in a little plane!

I love how well black hides my size!

Japanese Gardens - waterfalls

Japanese Gardens Rock Garden - A special pattern for the rice harvest.

Japanese Gardens

Portland Test Rose Gardens